In the novel “When Chersonesus fell” the narration is told on behalf of the Byzantine patrician, the enlightened Greek Heraclius Metaphrastus - a witness to the events of those days when the relations of Byzantium began to develop with its pomp, luxury of attire, magnificent imperial “exits”, but frozen there, shackled by unbreakable traditions, with the young, daring, sheepskin-clad Kievan Rus that suddenly grew up in the Black Sea steppes.