The Caspian expeditions of the Rus were several raids undertaken by the Rus on the lands located on the shores of the Caspian Sea between 864 and 1041.^[1] Initially, the Rus appeared in the region in the 9th century traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route. The first small-scale raids took place in the late 9th and early 10th century. Then, Azerbaijan and adjacent areas were pillaged first in 943 and subsequently in 943-44. Sviatoslav, prince of Kiev, commanded the next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965. Afterwards, several more raids occurred; the last attempt to reestablish the Volga trade route in 1041 was unsuccessful.

Background and early raids

The Rus first established themselves in the Muslim areas adjacent to the Caspian Sea as traders rather than warriors. In the late 9th century, ibn Khordadbeh described the Rus buying goods from the Khazars in the market areas on the lower Volga and selling furs, sword-blades and spears on the markets of Caspian towns. Small groups of the Rus even went on camels as far as Baghdad to sell their goods; their European slaves interpreted for them.^[2] Thomas Schaub Noonan suggested that the Rus reached Baghdad as early as 800; this argument is supported by the finding of Sassanid, Arab, and Arabo-Sassanid dirham coins dated no later than 804-805 at Peterhof, near Saint-Petersburg.^[3] In ibn Khordadbeh's account, the Rus are described as "a kind of the Saqaliba", a term usually used to refer to Slavs, and anti-Normanist scholars have interpreted this passage as indicative of the Rus being Slavs rather than Scandinavians. In the interpretation of the Normanist scholars, the word Saqaliba was also frequently applied to all fair-haired, ruddy-complexioned population of Central, Eastern, and Northeastern Europe, so ibn Khordadbeh's language is ambiguous here.^[4]

The first Caspian raid of the Rus occurred sometime in the reign of Hasan Ibn Zaid, ruler of Tabaristan (864-84). The Rus sailed into the Caspian Sea and unsuccessfully attacked the eastern shore at Abaskun^[5] This raid was probably on a very small scale.^[1] The second raid took place in 909-10 and was likewise aimed at Abaskun;^[4] like the previous one, this expedition was a small one with only sixteen ships participating in it.^[1] The third raid took place in 911-12.^[4]

The raid of 913

The Rus launched the first large-scale raid in 913. A fleet of 500 ships reached the southern shores of the Caspian Sea through the country of the Khazars. In order to secure a peaceful passage through the land of the Khazars, the Rus promised the Khazars half of their spoils. They sailed down the Dnieper River into the Black Sea, then into the Sea of Azov, then up the Don River past the Khazar city of Sarkel, and then by a portage reached the Volga, which led them into the Caspian Sea.

The Rus attacked in the Gorgan region around Abaskun, pillaging the countryside as they went. An attempt to repel them as they lay in anchor near islands in the southwestern part of the Caspian Sea proved unsuccessful; and they were then able to roam and raid at will. Across the sea they raided at Baku in Azerbaijan, penetrating inland a distance of three days’ journey,^[1] and plundering the regions of Arran, Balakan, and Shirvan.^[4] Everywhere they took as much spoils as they could, including women and children as slaves. The news of their outrages preceded them as they headed homeward^[1] and, in the Volga delta, the Rus were attacked by Khazar Muslims, as well as by some Christians, apparently with the acquiescence of the Khazar ruler. According to al-Masudi, those who escaped were finished off by the Burtas and Volga Bulgars.^[4]

The raid of 943

The second large-scale campaign is dated to 943, when Igor was the supreme leader of the Rus, according to the Primary Chronicle. During the 943 expedition, the Rus rowed up the Kura River, deep into Azerbaijan, defeated the forces of Mazurban ibn Muhammad,^[6] and captured Barda, the capital of Arran. The Rus allowed the local people to retain their religion in exchange for recognition of their overlordship; it is possible that the Rus intended to settle permanently there.^[7] According to ibn Miskawaih, the local people broke the peace by stone-throwing and other abuse directed against the Rus, who then demanded that the inhabitants evacuate the city. This ultimatum was rejected, and the Rus began killing people and holding many for ransom. The slaughter was briefly interrupted for negotiations, which soon broke down.^[8] The Rus stayed in Barda for several months, using it as a base for plundering the adjacent areas, and amassed substantial spoils.^[9]

The city was saved only by an outbreak of dysentery among the Rus.^[10] Ibn Miskawaih writes that the Rus "indulged excessively in the fruit of which there are numerous sorts there. This produced an epidemic among them . . . and their numbers began thereby to be reduced." Encouraged by the epidemic among the Rus, the Muslims approached the city. The Rus, their chief riding on a donkey, made an unsuccessful sally after which they lost 700 warriors, but evaded encirclement and retreated to the Barda fortress, where they were besieged by the Muslims. Exhausted by the disease and the siege, the Rus "left by night the fortress in which they had established their quarters, carrying on their backs all they could of their treasure, gems, and fine raiment, boys and girls as they wanted, and made for the Kura River, where the ships in which they had issued from their home were in readiness with their crews, and 300 Russes whom they had been supporting with portions of their booty."^[9] The Muslims then exhumed from the Rus graves the weapons that had been buried beside the warriors.^[10] It is possible that Oleg of Novgorod, mentioned as Helgu in the Schechter Letter, was the donkey-riding chief of the Rus who attacked Barda. According to the letter, Oleg went to Persia by boat and died there after a failed attack on Constantinople in 941.^[11]

Destruction of Khazaria

The sources are not clear about the roots of the conflict between Khazaria and Rus, so several possibilities have been suggested. The Rus had an interest in removing the Khazar hold on the Volga trade route because the Khazars collected duties from the goods transported by the Volga. Byzantine incitement also apparently played a role. Khazars were the allies of the Byzantines until the reign of Romanus I Lecapenus, who persecuted the Jews of his empire. According to the Schechter Letter, the Khazar ruler Joseph responded to the persecution of Jews by "doing away with many Christians" and Romanus retaliated by inciting Oleg of Novgorod (called Helgu in the letter) against Khazaria.^[4] The conflict may also have been spurred by the Khazars' decision to close passage down the Volga in response to the raid of 943. In the Khazar Correspondence, written around 950-960, the Khazar ruler Joseph reported his role as defender of the Muslim polities of the Caspian region against Rus' incursions: "I have to wage war with them [Rus], for if I would give them any chance at all they would lay waste the whole land of the Muslims as far as Baghdad."^[12] Earlier conflict between Muslim elements of the Khazar army and Rus' marauders in c. 912 may have contributed to this arrangement and the hostility of the Rus' against Khazaria.^[13]

In 965, Svyatoslav I of Kiev finally went to war against Khazaria. He employed Oghuz and Pecheneg mercenaries in this campaign, perhaps to counter the Khazars' superior cavalry.^[14] Sviatoslav destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel around 965, and possibly sacked (but did not occupy) the Khazar city of Kerch on the Crimea.^[15] He subsequently (probably in 968 or 969) destroyed the Khazar capital of Atil.^[16] A visitor to Atil wrote soon after Svyatoslav's campaign: "The Rus attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch."^[17] Ibn Hawqal is the only author who reports the sack of Semender by the Rus. Svyatoslav's campaign is believed to have brought the prosperity and independence of Khazaria to an abrupt end.

Later expeditions

In 987, Maymun, emir of Derbent, asked the Rus to help him against local chiefs. The Rus, many of whom appear to have been professional soldiers, arrived on 18 ships. Uncertain of their reception, they sent only one ship in to reconnoitre the situation. When its crew were massacred by the local population, the Rus went on to loot Maskat. In 989, this same Maymūn is reported to have refused the demand of a local preacher to turn over his Rus mercenaries to him for either conversion to Islam or death. Maymun was driven from the city and forced to surrender the Rus soldiers, but he returned in 992.^[4]

In 1030, the Rus raided the region of Shirvan; the ruler of Ganja then paid them much money to help suppress a revolt in Balakan. Afterwards, the Rus returned home. According to one source, in November 1031 the Rus returned, but were defeated near Baku and expelled. The year of 1032 saw another Rus raid into Shirvan; they were joined by the Alans and Sarir. Local Muslims defeated the Rus in 1033. It is unclear to which Rus grouping these raiders belonged. Omeljan Pritsak suggests that they operated out of a base near the Terek estuary and had their principal home in Tmutarakan.^[4]

The Yngvars saga víðförla describes the last expedition of the Rus into the Caspian, dated to 1041 and connected with the Georgian-Byzantine Battle of Sasireti; in the saga much legend is conflated with the historical facts. This expedition was launched from Sweden by Ingvar the Far-Travelled (Ingvar Vittfarne in Norse), who went down the Volga into the land of the Saracens (Serkland). There are no less than twenty-six runic stones, twenty-three of them being in the Lake Mälaren region of Uppland in Sweden, referring to Swedish warriors who went out with Ingvar on his expedition to the Saracen lands, an expedition whose purpose was probably to reopen old trade routes, now that the Bulgars and the Khazars no longer proved obstacles. A stone to Ingvar’s brother indicates that he went east for gold but that he died in the Saracen land, "his body food for eagles." Afterwards, no attempts were made to reopen the route between the Baltic and Caspian seas.^[10]

Based on a passage from Khaqani telling about a Rus raid in 1173 or 1174, Pritsak hypothesized that the Rus were involved in a power struggle in Khwarezm at that time. These Rus appear to have been Volga pirates who came in 73 ships. The shirvanshah Ahsitan I turned to the Georgian king, George III for aid and together they defeated the Rus and the Kipchaks, who attacked simultaneously. Georgian sources, however, do not mention Rus in connection with this event.^[4]

Notes

References

• Artamonov, Mikhail Istoriya Khazar. Leningrad, 1962.
• Barthold, W. (1996). "Khazar". Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill Online). Eds.: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill.
• Christian, David. A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. Blackwell, 1999.
• Dunlop, D.M. (2006) "Bardha'a." Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill Online). Eds.: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill.
• Dunlop, D.M. History of the Jewish Khazars. Princeton Univ. Press, 1954.
• Golden, P.B. (2006) "Rus." Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill Online). Eds.: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill.
• Logan, Donald F. (1992). The Vikings in History 2nd ed. Routledge. ISBN 0-4150-8396-6
• Noonan, Thomas Schaub (1987-1991). "When Did Rus/Rus' Merchants First Visit Khazaria and Baghdad?" Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 7, pp. 213–219.
• Pletneva, Svetlana. Polovtsy Moscow: Nauka, 1990.
• Vernadsky, George (1959). The Origins of Russia. Clarendon Press.