Volodymyr Immensus Drunk with Success

painted wood and metal, 16″ x10.5″ 2003

Volodymyr Immensus (AD 960-1015) was a man
of great talents and great appetites.
A mighty warrior, he subdued the
fiercely independent tribes of his realm.
An accomplished diplomat,
he molded them into a nation.
A masterful administrator,
he baptized the population en masse
in the Dnieper River, making them all
answerable to one Christian God.

But having been born a pagan, Volodymyr was famous throughout Byzantium for the 1000 concubines that he kept. However, that is another story.