His breast was broad, his neck thick, his eyes blue, with heavy eyebrows.

He had a broad nose, heavy moustaches, but a slight beard.

The large mass of hair which covered his head indicated his nobility.

From one of his ears there was suspended a ring of gold, decorated with two pearls and a ruby.
As Sviatoslaf, with his shattered army, ascended the Dnieper in their boats, the Petchenegues, fierce tribes of barbarians, whom Sviatoslaf had subdued, rose in revolt against him.

They gathered, in immense numbers, at one of the cataracts of the Dnieper, where it would be necessary for the Russians to transport their boats for some distance by land.