Vikings used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr for Constantinople, the Byzantine capital.
The name is generally interpreted as “Great City” or “Great Enclosure.” Constantinople was one of the most important destinations in the eastern Viking world, connected to Scandinavia by river routes through present-day Russia and Ukraine. Norse travelers and merchants reached the city by sailing and portaging between river systems.
Many Scandinavians served in the Byzantine Empire’s Varangian Guard, an elite unit whose members included warriors from Scandinavia and later the wider Rus world. Constantinople therefore appears in Norse historical and literary traditions as a major place of travel, wealth, and military service.
Miklagarðr should not be confused with Garðaríki, the Old Norse term commonly used for the lands of the Rus in eastern Europe. Norse sources also used other names for cities in the region, reflecting the different political and geographic worlds encountered along the eastern routes.