Comments by "Julian Petkov" (@julianpetkov8320) on "The Histories" channel.

@johns2226 There never was no such thing as "Rus". Modern Russia is spelled Россия (Rossiya) with an "o". Sometimes the "o" transitions into an "u" for ease of pronunciation as in русский (russkiy - Russian). The Greek word "Rosia" (Ρωσία) was brought by the Greek Merchants the Romanovs (anagram for Romei - meaning Byzantine Greeks). It comes from the Bulgarian word "рожь" (rozh' - rye; offspring; red hair) which was a nickname for the Kievans. It is pronounced similar to the French "rouge" but with an "o" not with an "ou". Our Greek neighbours do not have this sound "ж" and replace it with "s".
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@johns2226 Asia Minor is still the original motherland of the "Hellens". The reason why historians prefer to use "Byzantium" instead of Roman Empire is to emphasise the split Rome/Constantinopol (although both empires remained Greek in their most inner core, something historians avoid discussing like the plague, because it is the same families ruling today, since the Bronze Age).
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