The empire was attacked in southeastern Europe by still
other barbarians, among whom were the Russians. This Slavic people, led by
chieftains from Sweden, descended the Dnieper and Dniester rivers and, crossing
the Black Sea, appeared before the walls of Constantinople. Already, in the tenth
century, that city formed the goal of Russian ambitions. The invaders are said
to have made four attempts to plunder its treasures. Though unsuccessful, they
compelled the emperors from time to time to pay them tribute.
WORK OF THE EMPIRE IN EUROPE
Christianity reached the invaders of the Balkan peninsula
from Constantinople. The Serbians, Bulgarians, and Russians were converted in
the ninth and tenth centuries. With Christianity they received the use of
letters and some knowledge of Roman law and methods of government.
Constantinople was to them, henceforth, such a center of religion and culture
as Rome was to the Germans. By becoming the teacher of the vast Slavic peoples
of the Balkan peninsula and European Russia, the empire performed another important
service to civilization.
