For the first time in historiography, the article analyses the descriptions of the people Romaioi (Romans), designated as “Greeks”, in the original (“non-translated”) Old Rus’ literature of the 11th–12th centuries. The Greeks are depicted by Old Rus’ authors as bearers of high culture, endowed with exceptional spiritual (primarily true Orthodox faith and uniquely beautiful rituals) and material values. A typical Greek is characterised by possessing unique knowledge, skills, and technologies, such as philosophy, rhetoric, winemaking, healing, and icon painting. Greeks serve as teachers whose evaluation of the achievements of the “new Christian” people, Rus’, is exceedingly important. At the same time, Greeks frequently employed their skills for nefarious purposes which instils distrust in Rus’ regarding them and their matters: they use philosophy and rhetoric for deception and manipulation, wine for poisoning, and so on. The ambivalence surrounding the Old Rus’ ethnic stereotype of a Greek reflects the complex duality in the relationship between the peoples of Rus’ and the Romaioi, who were, on the one hand, co-religionists and often allies, yet on the other hand, just as frequently military opponents and competitors in various realms.
Аleksei S. Shchavelev (Wed,) studied this question.