Rus' people
The first author who wrote about the tribe is Tacitus, who in his "Germania", from 98 CE mentions the "Suiones". They are possibly first mentioned locally by the Kylver Stone in the 4th century. Jordanes, in the 6th century, mentions "Suehans" and "Suetidi". "Beowulf" mentions the Swedes around 1000 A.D. According to early sources such as the sagas, especially "Heimskringla", the Swedes were a powerful tribe whose kings claimed descendence from the god Freyr. During the Viking Age they constituted the basis of the Varangian subset, the Norsemen that travelled eastwards (see Rus' people).