Askold

Askold was, according to the chronicles, prince of Kyiv in the second half of the ninth century, who ruled together with Dir and was killed in 882. He is called "right-⁠believing", and in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine he is venerated as a martyr. Little is known of him for certain, mostly from the Tale of Bygone Years, written some two hundred and fifty years after the events.

According to the chronicle, Askold and Dir were men of Prince Rurik of Novgorod, who let them set out for Constantinople. On the way along the Dnieper they settled at Kyiv and took power over the Polans, who paid tribute to the Khazars. The chronicle places under their leadership, in 866, the first Rus expedition against Constantinople, which Byzantine sources date to 860 without naming the leader. The chronicle's account shows a storm that scattered the Rus ships after Patriarch Photius and the emperor prayed in the church of the Mother of God at Blachernae and dipped the hem of the Virgin's robe in the sea. Byzantine sources say that after this expedition Photius sent to the Rus a bishop who baptized them. Church tradition holds that Askold and Dir were baptized, with their boyars and some of the people, around 867. It is said that Askold received the name Nicholas at baptism.

Toward the end of their lives Oleg, a kinsman of Rurik who guarded the young Igor, came with warriors toward Kyiv, by guile. He sent word to Askold and Dir that he was a merchant bound for Greece and called them to meet him. When they came out, the soldiers leapt from the boats, and Oleg told them they were not princes nor of princely stock, but that he was of princely birth, and showed them Igor, son of Rurik. They killed them and buried them on the hill called Hungarian. After that Oleg settled to rule in Kyiv, calling it the "mother of Rus' cities". Some historians, like Tatishchev, thought the coup of 882 was the reaction of the pagan Varangians to Askold's baptism, calling him the first Rus martyr. Askold's grave in Kyiv, in the area called Hungarian, is a well-⁠known place. His name is of Scandinavian origin, by the most probable view.