Abstract
Several Byzantine princesses married the prince from Rurik dynasty, but we have only vague information about most of them, and we don't even know their names. The exception is only two of them, Anna Porphyrogennéta, the wife of the Russian prince Vladimir I. - however, almost nothing is known about her fate after arriving in Kiev - and especially Zóé Palaiologovna, the niece of the last two Byzantine emperors, who married the grand duke of Moscow Ivan III in 1472.
In connection with Ivan's marriage to a member of the Palaiologian imperial dynasty, the historical discourse focuses primarily on the question to what extent Sofia could have conveyed the so-called Byzantine heritage to Moscow. Did the ruler of Moscow really sign up to take over the Byzantine imperial idea and consider himself the heir of the defunct Roman Empire with this dynastic marriage? Was it its consequence that he began to use occasionally the imperial title and seal with a double-headed eagle? What appears to be an obvious thing at first becomes much more debatable if we ask what the daughter of a despot of Morea could have offered her husband, that is, what her Byzantine heritage actually entailed. This leads to another question, whether it was Sophia who conveyed to the Moscow court the knowledge of the lavish Byzantine ceremonials and where the Moscow grand duchy court inspired to prepare the first coronation ceremony, which took place in 1498.