In this video podcast, Professor Simon Franklin (Head of the School of Arts and Humanities) offers an introduction to Kyivan Rus', the first polity to emerge among the Eastern Slavs. Topics include Volodymyr the Great, Yaroslav the Wise, the Law of the Rus', the Primary Chronicle, the Tale of Ihor's Campaign, the Novgorod birch-bark letters, and the treasures of Kyiv's Monastery of the Caves (Pechers'ka Lavra) and Saint Sophia.