VI century AD. The breakdown of the tribal system among the Dnieper (eastern) Slavs. United by a common language, way of life, and culture, and forced to defend themselves against the raiding attacks of nomads, the Dnieper Slavs come to realize the need to act together. Thus the foundations of the state of Kyiv are laid. “Rus’ from the beginning” is a multi-layered work—but two lines are clearly drawn in it: the Slavs and Byzantium. At the very time when great constructive work is underway in Rus’, the mercenaries of the Second Rome destroy myriads of “heretics,” devastate Asia Minor, Egypt, and North Africa, and burn Italy by war. As the Eastern empire begins to grow weaker, it fiercely defends slaveholding orders and the interests of an autocratic church.
In this novel, Valentin Ivanov appears not only as a writer, but also as a researcher—an historian. “Rus’ from the beginning” is the first work, not only in Russian but also in world literature, devoted to the VI century.