The Rus in Arabic Sources: Cultural Contacts and Identity
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Dissertation for the degree of Philosophiae doctor (PhD) The Rus in Arabic Sources: Cultural Contacts and Identity Candidate: Thorir Jonsson Hraundal Supervisor: Dr Ildar H. Garipzanov Centre for Medieval Studies University of Bergen February 2013 In the memory of my parents, Jón and Karólína, and my brother Samúel List of Contents Acknowledgements vi List of Figures vii A Note on Spelling viii 1. Introduction: Sources, Perspectives, 1 and Theoretical Approaches 1.1 Outline of the Source Material 5 1.2 Earlier Historiographic Approaches 12 1.3 Political and Cultural Contexts 19 1.4 Origins, Identity, Ethnicity 25 1.4.1 Etymology 25 1.4.2 The Scandinavian Element 27 1.4.3 Social Structure and Characteristics 30 1.4.4 Trade as Cultural Contacts? 33 1.4.4.1 Exchange, Reciprocity, Acculturation 33 1.4.4.2 Acculturation and Identity 35 1.5 Structure and Objectives 41 2. Arabic Sources on the Rus 44 2.0 Introduction 44 2.1 Islamic Geography 45 2.1.1 The View of the North 49 2.2 Earliest Reports on the Rus 54 2.2.1 Ibn Khurradadhbih and Al-Khwarizmi’s ‘Mountain of Rus´ 56 iii 2.3 Reports from the Mid-ninth to the Early Tenth Century 63 2.3.1 Al-Ya‘qubi 68 2.4 Tenth Century Accounts 70 2.4.1 Ibn Rustah and the Jayhani Tradition 71 2.4.2 Al-Mas‘udi 76 2.4.3 The Balkhi Tradition 80 2.4.3.1 Al-Istakhri 81 2.4.3.2 Ibn Hawqal 81 2.4.3.3 Al-Muqaddasi 83 2.5 Late Tenth Century Accounts 84 2.5.1 Al-Turtushi 84 2.5.2 Hudud al-Alam 85 2.5.3 The Fihrist of Ibn Al-Nadim 86 2.5.4 The History of Sharvan and Darband 87 2.6 Later Accounts 88 2.7 Conclusion 89 3. Ibn Fadlan’s Rus 92 3.0 Introduction 92 3.1 The Author and his Text 93 3.2 The Rus Passages 100 3.3 The Ritual and Cultural Context 110 3.4 The Ritual and Rus Identity 123 3.5 Conclusion 126 4. Material and Symbolic Markers of Cultural Contacts 129 4.0 Introduction 129 4.1 Routes and Mobility 130 4.2 The Archaeological Evidence 132 iv 4.2.1 Coins 137 4.3 Oriental Currents on the Trade Routes 141 4.4 Graffiti on Coins 151 4.4.1 Oriental Inscriptions 153 4.4.2 Symbols Relating to the Spiritual World 158 4.5 Conclusion 162 5. Rus Contacts with the Turkic World 164 5.0 Introduction 164 5.1 Geography and Identity 164 5.2 The Rus and the Turkic Peoples 166 5.3 Vestiges in Scandinavian Languages and Literature 169 5.4 The Issue of a Rus Kaghanate 174 5.5 Conclusion 182 Conclusion 184 Bibliography 192 v Acknowledgements This dissertation owes much to several people and institutions. First of all, I give my thanks to the Centre for Medieval Studies in Bergen where the atmosphere and facilities have been very conducive to research, not least due to the able directorship of professor Sverre Bagge. I also thank my many colleagues as well as the administrative staff at the CMS who have contributed on both the academic and the social level over the last five years. My doctoral position was established and funded by the University of Bergen as part of the YFF project ‘The ‘Forging’ of Christian Identity in the Northern Periphery’, financed by the Research Council of Norway. This generous stipend allowed me to make numerous visits to libraries, museums and conferences in England, Germany, France, Austria, and Ukraine, that have significantly contributed to my research. Thanks must also be given to the Centre Franco-Norvègienne for a one-month research grant in Paris and Caen. Throughout the doctoral period I have been lucky to receive sound advice and motivation from many individuals. I am grateful in particular to James Montgomery, Lesley Abrams, Jonathan Shepard, Judith Jesch, Przemyslaw Urbanczyk, Oleksey Tolochko, Irina Konovalova, Daisy Neijmann and Amy Ch. Mulligan. Special thanks go to my dear friend Bergsveinn Birgisson, who has encouraged me on many a hesitant occasion. A special mention must be made of the invaluable contribution and encouragement of Jon Karl Helgason and Haki Antonsson, and in particular their countless useful comments and suggestions in the last phase of writing. I also extend my warmest thanks to the helpful and indefatigable staff at the Humanistics library of the University of Bergen, the University library in Reykjavik, the University library in Cambridge, and the Bibliothèque National de France and the Library of the Maison Fondation des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris. Very special thanks go to my supervisor, Ildar H. Garipzanov. I would have been hard pressed to find another scholar with such vast grasp of different source material, and his insights into Russian and Soviet scholarship proved especially valuable. His innumerable useful suggestions as well as efficient and prompt feedback at all stages proved crucial for the progression of my research. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to my family and my parents in law for their unfailing support through the years. My deepest gratitude goes to my wife Heiða, and my children Alexander, Óðinn and Lilja, their patience and love, and it is to them that this piece is dedicated. Needless to say, all errors in here are mine. Reykjavik, February 2013 Thorir Jonsson Hraundal vi List of Figures Figure 1. The lands of the Khazars and their neighbours 20 Figure 2. A sample from the Kitab Surat al-Ard 58 Figure 3. Ibn Al-Nadim’s rendition of a Rus inscription 86 Figure 4. Inscription on an Ottoman coin 86 Figure 5. Ibn Fadlan’s route from Baghdad to Bulghar on the Volga 96 Figure 6. Zdeňek Vaňa’s artistic rendition of Ibn Fadlan’s account 114 Figure 7. Locations of finds of Scandinavian character in Eastern Europe 133 Figure 8. Distribution of Scandinavian female brooches 135 Figure 9. A Thor’s hammer ring and its distribution 136 Figure 10. Distribution of hoards containing Islamic coins 140 Figure 11. Bronze vessel from Birka with Arabic inscription 142 Figure 12. Objects of Islamic design 143 Figure 13. A silver ring with ‘Allah’ inscribed on amethyst 143 Figure 14. Balances and weights found in Sweden and on Gotland 144 Figure 15. Oriental pendant from Birka and a sabretache 145 Figure 16. Mounts of oriental provenance 146 Figure 17. Distribution of mounts 146 Figure 18. Distribution and provenance of beads 148 Figure 19. A large and unusual brooch from Elets 149 Figure 20. A drawing of a Samanid dirham with an Arabic inscription 153 Figure 21. Oriental inscriptions on coins 155 Figure 22. Dirhams from the Peterhof hoard with Turkic runes 157 Figure 23. Solar symbols and swastikas incised on coins 158 Figure 24. Abbasid dirham, al-Shash 159 Figure 25. Amulets and game-pieces carved in bone from Saltovo-Maiatsk 160 vii A Note on Spelling This work contains words and references to works written in Arabic, Persian, Old Slavonic, Old Norse, Russian, and more. The principle has been followed throughout to make the text easy on the eye with a minimum of diacritics. For the Arabic, the language most referred to, this has the disadvantage that long vowels and some of the consonants are not distinctly rendered. For those seeking more linguistic information behind the forms appearing here, this can be obtained in many of the editions and translations cited and also in the Encyclopedia of Islam (see bibliography for details). ‘Turkic’ refers to one of the branches of the Altaic peoples, to which also belong the Mongols. It comprises all the Turkic speaking peoples, also the Turks of Turkey. ‘Turkish’, however, only refers to the latter. The medieval emporium on the banks of the river Volga, near modern day Kazan in Tatarstan, and its predominantly Turkic inhabitants, were referred to in the Arabic sources as Al-Bulghar. In modern usage, it is customary to call the people Volga Bulghars, and their habitat either Bulghar (on the Volga) or Volga Bulgharia, and should not be confused with the Slavonic Balkan Bulgaria through which runs the Danube. viii Chapter 1 Introduction: Sources, Perspectives, and Theoretical Approaches In the course of the ninth and tenth centuries a new entity emerged in the part of Eastern Europe where today we find Ukraine, Belarus and parts of Russia.1 Byzantine, Latin and Arabic written sources from this time and onwards mention the existence of a group or groups of people in this region alternatively called Rhos, Ruzzi, or ar-Rus. The surviving accounts are nearly as varied as they are numerous, and the identification of the people referred to with this term and the earliest developments associated with them have been a bone of contention for at least two and a half centuries. In simplified terms, the debate has stood especially between Eastern European scholars interpreting the history the Rus primarily as a history of a Slavic people, and Western or Scandinavian scholars who have emphasised the role of a Scandinavian element.2 1 The tedium of toponymic inconsistency is not only a pre-modern phenomenon. Even today, Eastern Europe means different things for different people. It is preferred here, however, over the more neutral yet less familiar ‘western part of Inner Eurasia’. Eastern Europe in the following comprises European Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, with a particular focus on the tracts between the Baltic and the Caspian sea. 2 This debate, sometimes referred to as the Normannist controversy, has been long-lived and lively and the exponents are too numerous to mention all.