Novgorod is among the oldest cities of Russia, founded in the 9th or 10th century.
The Sofia First Chronicle first mentions it in 859; the Novgorod First Chronicle mentions it first in the year 862, when it was allegedly already a major station on the trade route from the Baltics to Byzantium.
Archaeological excavations in the middle to late 20th century, however, have found cultural layers dating back only to the late 10th century, the time of the Christianization of Rus' and a century after it was allegedly founded, suggesting that the chronicle entries mentioning Novgorod in the 850s or 860s are later interpolations.
Bronze monument to the Millennium of Russia (1862)
The Varangian name of the city Holmg�rd / Holmgard (Holmgar�r or Holmgar�ir) is mentioned in Norse Sagas as existing at a yet earlier stage, but in this case historical facts are difficult to untangle from legend.Originally, Holmg�rd referred only to the stronghold southeast of the present-day city, Ryurikovo Gorodishche (named in comparatively modern times after the Varangian chieftain Rurik, who supposedly made it his "capital" around 860). Archeological data suggests that the Gorodishche, the residence of the Knyaz (prince), dates from the mid-9th century, whereas the town itself dates only from the end of the 10th century; hence the name Novgorod, "new city", from Old Russian ???? and ?????? (Nov and Gorod), although German and Scandinavian historiography suggests the Old Norse term N�gar�r, or the Old High German term Naugard. First mention of this Nordic or Germanic etymology to the name of the city of Novgorod (and that of other cities within the territory of the then Kievan Rus') occurs in the 10th century policy manual De Administrando Imperio by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII.
Slightly predating the chronology of the legend of Rurik (which dates the first Norse arrival in the region
