The collection offered to the attention of readers was prepared for the anniversary of Elena Aleksandrovna Melnikova, Doctor of Historical Sciences, head of the center “Eastern Europe in the Ancient and Medieval World” of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The collection includes articles written by E.A. Melnikova individually and in collaboration with V.Ya. Petrukhin and T.A. Pushkina. The articles are organized into four thematic sections, covering the processes of formation of early states in Northern and North-Eastern Europe and the role of the Scandinavians in the formation of the Old Russian state; the origin of the name “Rus” and the formation of the Rurik dynasty; the role of the Scandinavians in the life of the Old Russian state; the place of Ancient Rus' on international routes. For historians, philologists, specialists in the field of auxiliary historical disciplines, for researchers of the history of Ancient Rus'.