The monograph “Byzantine sources on the history of ancient Rus' and the Caucasus” by the famous Moscow Byzantinist M.V. Bibikov is devoted to the study and analysis of bilateral national and state contacts, political, trade and cultural Russian-Byzantine ties during the period of the 12th–13th centuries. Based on rich and diverse materials (secular and ecclesiastical, rhetorical and epistolary), the author proves that until the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, there was no decline in the history of Russian-Byzantine relations. Also, for the first time, the stages of Polovtsian history have been traced at the modern level based on Byzantine data.

Contents: M. V. Bibikov. Byzantine sources on the history of Rus' and the Black Sea region (XII-XIII centuries)

History of the study of the topic. Objectives of the study: First experiments in studying Byzantine sources on the history of Rus', the Northern Black Sea region, and the Caucasus. Period of formation of the problem. Modern period of studying the topic. Results and objectives of the study.

Problems of studying sources. Questions of methodologyTerritorial and chronological framework of the studyMain types of sources studiedPersonal experience and traditional ideas of Byzantine authorsThe problem of ethnonyms, territorial and state namesEthnogeographical ideasTo the analysis of an ethnic portraitTo the problem of medieval historicism

Rus in Byzantine sources of the 12th - first half of the 13th century Ethnogeographical data about RussiaByzantine sources on the place of Rus' in international political lifeAthos acts as a source on the history of the Russian military corps in ByzantiumFrom the history of the Russian monastery on Athos

Nomads of the Northern Black Sea region in Byzantine sourcesLatest information about the PechenegsThe main stages of the military-political history of the Polovtsians in the Black Sea region in the XII - first half of the 13th century. Materials on the history of Polovtsian settlements

North Caucasus in Byzantine sources of the 12th - first half of the 13th century. Ethnogeographical data on the North CaucasusFeatures of the socio-political system of the Alanian state

Conclusion

Appendix. System of accepted abbreviations of Byzantine sources