cover of the book Byzantium and the Viking World, with a picture of a building against a blue sky in the upper fourth of the cover, a black background for the lower 3/4s with the title in pink and blue in the middle; in the lower left quadrant is a statue of the lion of Piraeus, taken by the Venetians in the late 17th century, which has runes carved into it. The names of the three editors are in the lower right quadrant.

Two books that relate Scandinavia and the Vikings to Byzantium and the Balkans were acquired in March 2016. The first is:

Byzantium and the Viking World, edited by Fedir Androshchuk, Jonathan Shepard, Monica White (Uppsala, 2016).

Contents, v-vi;
Acknowledgments, vii;
Preface, ix-xi;
Notes on contributors, xiii-xxvii;
Abbreviations, xix-xxii;
General maps, xxiii-[xxvii].

Part I: Contacts and Cultural Transfer Between Byzantium and the Viking World

1. Jonathan Shepard, “Small worlds, the general synopsis, and the British ‘way from the Varangians to the Greeks,'” 3-35;

2. Lesley Abrams, “Connections and exchange in the Viking world,” 37-52;

3. Roland Scheel, “Concepts of cultural transfer between Byzantium and the north,” 53-87.

Part II: Contacts Reflected in the Material Culture

4. Fedir Androshchuk, “What does material evidence tell us about contacts between Byzantium and the Viking world c. 800-1000?” 91-116;

5. Marek Jankowiak, “Byzantine coins in Viking-Age northern lands,” 117-139;

6. Florent Audy, “How were Byzantine coins used in Viking-Age Scandinavia?” 141-168;

7. Magnus Källström, “Byzantium reflected in the runic inscriptions of Scandinavia,” 169-186;

8. Thorgunn Snædal, “Runes from Byzantium: reconsidering the Piraeus lion,” 187-214;

9. Fedir Androshchuk & Gülgün Köroğlu, “A Viking sword-bearing resident of southern Asia Minor?” 215-240;

10. Valeri Yotov, “Traces of the presence of Scandinavian warriors in the Balkans,” 241-253;

11. Mathias Bäck, “Birka and the archaeology of remotion: early medieval pottery from Byzantium and beyond in eastern Scandinavia,” 255-280;

12. Inga Hägg, “Silks at Birka,” 281-304;

13. Valentina S. Shandrovskaia, “The seal of Michael, Grand Interpreter of the Varangians,” 305-312.

Part III: Contacts Reflected in the Written Sources

14.  Elena Mel’nikova, “Rhosia and the Rus in Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos’ De administrando imperio,” 315-336;

15. Anna Litvina & Fjodor Uspenskij, “Contempt for Byzantine gold: common plot elements in Rus chronicles and Scandinavian sagas,” 337-343;

16. Sverrir Jakobsson, “The Varangian legend: testimony from the Old Norse sources,” 345-362;

17. Scott Ashley, “Global worlds, local worlds: connections and transformations in the Viking Age,” 363-387.

Part IV: Christianity and the Intensification of Contacts

18. Monica White, “Relics and the princely clan in Rus,” 391-408;

19. John H. Lind, “Christianity on the move; the role of the Varangians in Rus and Scandinavia,” 409-440.

Glossary, 443-445;
List of illustrations and acknowledgements, 447-451;
Index, 453-463.

Scandinavia and the Balkans: Cultural Interactions with Byzantium and Eastern Europe in the First Millennium AD, edited by Oksana Minaeva and Lena Holmquist (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015).

cover of the book shows a map in the background with the title in black in the center of the cover, the editors names are at the bottom.Table of Contents, v-vi;
Preface, vii;
Introduction: Scandinavia and the Balkans in the Eyes of Each Other, ix-xxi.

Part I: Glimpses on Early Contacts between Scandinavia and the Balkans.

Ivan Marazov, “The Gundestrup Cauldron: Iconography and Semantics of the ‘Warriors’ Frieze,'” 3-14;

Zarko Zhdrako and Emilia Dencheva, “An Epigraphic Monument of the Goths from Constantinople,” 15-28;

Vladimir Petrukhin, “Rus’, Scandinavians, and the Balkans in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries,” 55-66;

Pavel Georgiev, “The Old German Runics and the Gotho-Moesian Alphabet of Bishop Wulfida from the Foot of the Balkan Mountain Range (Village of Bogomolsko, Antonovo Municipality),” 29-52.

Part II: Meetings of Scandinavia and the Balkans as Reflected in Written Sources

Vladimir Petrukhin, “Rus’, Scandinavians, and the Balkans in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries,” 55-66;

Elena Melnikova, “The Penetration of Eastern Christianity into Scandinavia: Historical Memory as Reflected in Sagas,” 67-71;

Tatjana Jackson, “Harald, Bolgara Brennir, in Byzantine Service,” 72-82;

Galina Glazyrina, “Gaining Glory, Wisdom and Knowledge: Scandinavians in Byzantium (The Case of Eireks Saga Víđörla),” 83-95;

Tsvetelin Stepanov, “The Giants-Motif in Europe, North and South,” 96-105;

Antoaneta Granberg, “The Episode about the “Unclean” Nations in the Serbian Alexandrida and the Chronograph-Alexandria,” 106-119.

Part III: Scandinavia and the Balkans: Evidence of Artefacts

Thomas Thomov, “Drekar from Hagia Sofia,” 123-137;

Georgi Atanasov, “Concerning the Size of the Rus’-Varangian Army of Prince Svyatoslav During his Raid to Bulgaria and in the Battle at Drastar in 971,” 138-157;

Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, “Close Encounters with the Byzantine Border Zones: On the Eastern Connections of the Birka Warrior,” 158-173;

Valery Sedykh, ” Jaroslavl Volga Area in the System of International Relations During the Early Medieval Epoch,” 174-186;

Valery Yotov, “Traces of Scandinavian Warriors’ Presence in the Balkans,” 187-203;

Frans-Arne Stylegar, “Eastern Imports in the Arctic,” 204-214.