THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

The first written mention of the term "Rosia" (gr. Ρωσία) dated to the middle of the tenth century. He found in the writings of Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, On ceremonies, and "About managing the Empire" as the Greek name of Russia . In Cyrillic, the word "Russia" was first used on 24 APR 1387 in the title of Metropolitan Cyprian, himself signed as "Metropolitan Kyivsky and all Rosia". In XV—XVI centuries Hellenized name "Rosia" stuck in the Russian lands, which were merged into a single state under the authority of the Moscow Principality. The official status it acquired after the wedding of Ivan IV to the throne in 1547, when the state became known as the Russian Kingdom . Modern spelling with the double "C" appeared from the mid-seventeenth century and was finally established during the reign of Peter I. Peter I in 1721 was proclaimed the Russian Empire.