**Ancient Rus and the Varangians; Slavs and Vikings; Rusichi and Normans... An eternal confrontation? One of the pressing issues in our national history? No, argues the late historian and writer Yuri Petukhov (1951—2006) in this book: there was no confrontation at all! The Varangians are simply one branch of the superethnos of the Rus, and the term "Normans" merely refers to "northern people," the northern Rus... Petukhov's original concept of the primordial, "core" superethnos that shaped the development of humanity offers a fresh perspective on the history of Eurasia — particularly the relationships between Rus and the Scytho-Siberian world, as well as Rus and the Golden Horde...** **TABLE OF CONTENTS** **INTRODUCTION...3** **On Terminology...5** **RUS OF EURASIA: FROM ACHILLES TO SVYATOSLAV...10** **Troy. The Connection of the Rus of Asia Minor, the Aegean, and the Balkans...10** **Europe 4000–3000 BC. The Indo-European Rus, Boreal Rus, and Peripheral Pre-Ethnos. The Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age...30** **Northern Caucasus. Eneolithic. Early Bronze. 4000–3000 BC...33** **The Southern Russian Steppe in the Eneolithic and Bronze Age...43** **Rus of Trypillia. The Flourishing and Decline of a Stagnant Branch of the Superethnos...47** **Southeast Europe. The Bronze Age of the Mediterranean Rus...55** **Rus of Greece, Goritsa, and the Aegean...61** **Rus of the Aegean, Cyclades, Cyprus, and Crete. The Early Minoan Culture of the Rus...77** **Rus of Central Asia and Southern Siberia. Secondary Superethnoses. Mongoloids...96** **CLASSICAL INDO-EUROPEANS...121** **Rus of Europe 4000–3000 BC. Bearers of Megalithic Culture and Other Branches...128** **Rus of the "Battle Axes and Corded Ware" Culture...160** **THE WEST - THE SLAVE-HOLDING "CIVILIZATION" OF CANNIBALISTIC "HUNTERS." PARASITIC SYMBIOSIS...173** **From Beastly Cannibals to "Civilized" Cannibals. The Hunters of the West...173** **Cannibalistic Hunters of the Near East. The Symbiosis of Beastly "Hunters"...176** **The West: Transformation of Cannibal Hunter Packs into a "Society" of Slave-Holding Hunters, Parasitizing on Slaves...177** **"The Oldest Democracies" — Cannibal Slaveholders...180** **Near Eastern "Hunters" and Slave Traders...188** **Symbiosis of Involutionists — Totalitarian Power of Neo-Archanthropes...193** **VIKINGS. NORMANS**