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Abstract
This thesis tracks the cultural, epigraphical, and artistic traces left by the Scandinavians, who were ascendant within the Byzantine world between the 9th and the 12th centuries, and their military action. Whereas the Scandinavians in the Empire had been typically mentioned simply as Byzantine imperial bodyguards within the historiography of Byzantium, the Scandinavians, within the present work, are analyzed within the context of personal searches for memory and group demonstrations for collective consciousness. Thesis examines how the Scandinavians expressed their presence within Byzantium with various sources, including runic graffiti at Hagia Sophia, graffiti of ships, iconographic scenes, and epichoric discoveries of weapons. The study depicts how the graffiti are not merely spatial leftovers, but signs of personal memory as well. Scandinavian warriors in the frescoes reflect how Byzantine society regarded the soldiers, and arms are signs of identity and status. In this context, the thesis not only studies the Byzantine Scandinavian relations but inter-boundary-society relations, the diffusion of culture, and the interrelation between the historical memory and space. The Scandinavians' imprint upon Byzantium is an echo not only of the military presence but also the desire to inscribe their cultural signs in a lasting way.
