The article deals with the activities of Scandinavians who came to Byzantium directly from the North during the Viking Age. The main stimulus for their travels to the Empire was acquisition of riches and fame. Both goals were best achieved by military service in the Byzantine army and fleet from the beginning of the tenth century and in the emperor’s guard since the end of the tenth century. The trade expeditions from Scandinavia to Byzantium which started probably in the ninth century were suppressed in the tenth century by the Rus’ (Scandinavians who took roots in Eastern Europe) that seized Kiev and settled there. The trade with Byzantium was a vital necessity for the Rus’ and they strived to monopolize it. After the adoption of Christianity in the eleventh century the earliest information about the pilgrimages to Constantinople or the Holy Land appears. Such travels were not numerous though the sacral objects and places in Constantinople attracted attention of Scandinavian mercenaries who served or passed the one of the capitals of the Christian world.