The band was founded in February 2002 by two members of Dolgoprudny Slavic Neopaganism Society: Masha "Scream" Arkhipova and Alexander "Warlock" Korolyov, originally as Giperboreya (Гиперборея – Hyperborea).

Arkhipova opted to continue and wrote the material for a solo album, which she presented to the members of Nargathrond, another project she was singing for at the time.

By this time the band featured three new members: guitarist Sergey "Lazar", bassist Ruslan "Knyaz" and drummer Vlad "Artist".

[3] 2005 saw the release of the band's third and highly diverse album Vo slavu velikim!, featuring an acclaimed Russian folk multi-instrumentalist Vladimir Cherepovsky (Mevent, Voinstvo Sadov, Veter Vody) as well various members of Svarga and Alkonost groups.

The group's October performance at the CD's presentation ceremony was recorded, to be released in March 2006 as live DVD/CD Zhizn Vo Slavu.

Arkona's fourth studio album Ot serdtsa k nebu, recorded again with Cherepovsky (various members of the Belarusian folk choir Gostitsa also took part) was released by Soundage Productions in 2007.

[2] In January 2014, Arkona announced on its Facebook page that drummer Vlad "Artist" Sokolov had left the band, citing personal reasons, marking its first lineup change in 10 years.