Peculiarities of the Functioning of the Volga-Don Ship Reloading during the Khazar Time
pdf (Русский)

Keywords

ship reloading Volga-Don route Khazars Russian people Ancient and Medieval geographers affluent ships simple ship drag route protection trade

How to Cite

1. Bubenok O. Peculiarities of the Functioning of the Volga-Don Ship Reloading during the Khazar Time // Journal of Frontier Studies. 2020. № 4 (5). C. 59-84.

Abstract

In the early Middle Ages on the territory of the Khazar Khaganate the waterway from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea existed thanks to a land portage for ships in the place of closest convergence of the Volga and the Don rivers (60–80 km). However, there is still no consensus on some issues related to the functioning of this communication. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide answers to them. In the main part of this research, a comparative analysis was carried out: the data of Muslim geographers of the 9th – 10th centuries AD were compared with the information from Christian authors on the navigation in Europe and West Asia. The Ancient maps and archaeological data were used as well. As a result, we can establish the following: already during the 40th years of the 9th century AD the Volga-Don land portage for ships began to function again, that coincided with the first voyages of the Rus’; in spite of common opinion, the route of ship dragging could pass from a springhead of an affluent of the Don river to the main stream of the Volga river (20 km); in the 9th century AD the Rus’ people could transport their ships with the help of special devices, and by a simple drag in the 10th century AD; therefore, in the 9th century AD their ships could be commercial, and in the 10th century AD they could be only military and light; at the place of transfer the protection of ships from attacks by nomads was ensured by the Khazars fortresses and also military garrisons at fords across the Don river. Thus, in the 9th century AD the Rus’ain people and the Khazars used the ship portages as trading partners and then in the 10th century AD the Rus’ people already thanks to the ship portages began to attack the Khazars.

https://doi.org/10.46539/jfs.v5i4.234
pdf (Русский)

References

Alikhova, A. E. (1949). To the Question of the Burtases. Soviet Ethnography, (1), 48–57. (In Russian).

Artamonov, M. I. (1940). Sarkel and some other Fortifications of Khazaria. In Soviet archeology. Volume 6 (pp. 130–167). Moscow; Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).

Artamonov, M. I. (1962). The History of the Khazars. Leningrad: State Ermitazh. (In Russian).

Asadov, F. (2012). Khazaria, Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate in the Struggle for Control of the Trade Routes of Eurasia in the 9th ‒ 10th centuries AD. In Cauca-sus and Globalization. Vol. 6. Issue 4 (pp. 159‒172). Baku. (In Russian).

Bartold, V. V. (1963). Arabian Tidings about the Rus’ian People. In V. V. Bartol’d, Sochineniya. Vol. ІІ. Part. І (pp. 810–858). Moscow: Oriental Literature Publish-ing House. (In Russian)

Beilis, V. M. (1984). Al-Idrisi (12th century AD) about the Eastern Black Sea Coast and the South-Eastern Outskirts of Rus’ian lands. In Ancient States on the Territory of the USSR. Materials and Research 1982 (pp. 208‒228). Moscow: Science. (In Russian).

Bubenok, O. B. (2013). Strategic Position of Sarkel in the Steppes of the Volga-Don Region. In Bospor Studies. Issue XXVIII (pp. 318‒346). Simferopol; Kerch. (In Russian).

Constantinus Porphyrogenitus (1991). De Administrando Imperio. G. G. Litavrin and A. P. Novosel’tsev (ed.). Moscow: Science. (In Russian).

Dubov, I. V. (1989). The Great Volga Way. Leningrad: LGU. (In Russian).

Firks, J. von. (1982). Vikings’ Ships. Leningrad: Shipbuilding. (In Russian).

Garkavi, A. Ya. (1870). Tales of Muslim Writers about the Slavs and Rus’ian People (Since the Half of the 7th Century to the End of the 10th Century AD). St. Peters-burg: Imp. AN. (In Russian).

Golb, N. & Pritsak, O. (1997). Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century. Moscow; Jerusalem: Gesharim. (In Russian).

Herrmann, I. (1982a). The Slavs and the Normans in the Early History of the Baltic Region. In Melnikova E. A. (ed.) Slavs and Scandinavians (pp. 8‒128). Moscow: Progress. (In Russian).

Herrmann, I. (1982b). Introduction. . In Melnikova E. A. (ed.) Slavs and Scandinavians (pp. 6‒7). Moscow: Progress. (In Russian)

Holovko, O. B. (2014). The North Black Sea and Azov Sea Regions in the Political and Economic Development of Rus’ (9th – middle of 13th centuries AD.). Ukrainian Historian Journal, (1), 21‒39. (In Ukrainian).

Ilovayskiy, D. I. (2015). Investigations about the Beginning of Rus’. Instead of an In-troduction to Russian History. Moscow: Academic project. (In Russian).

Kalinina, T. M. (2007). Waterways Communication of Eastern Europe in the Represen-tations of Arabian and Persian Authors of the 9th — 10th centuries AD. In T. N Jackson, T. M. Kalinina, I. G. Konovalova & A. V. Podosinov, “Russian River”: River Ways of Eastern Europe in Ancient and Medieval geography (pp. 101‒172). Moscow: Languages of Slavic cultures; Sign. (In Russian).

Kalinina, T. M. (2015). Problems of the History of Khazaria (According to Eastern Sources). Moscow: Russian Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Sci-ence.

Konovalova, I. G. (2001). Composition of the Story about the “Island of Rus’ian Peo-ple” by Arabian and Persian Authors of the 10th – 16the centuries AD. In The Ancient States of Eastern Europe: 1999. Eastern and Northern Europe in the Middle Ages (pp. 169–189). Moscow: Oriental literature. (In Russian).

Konovalova, I. G. (2007a). Volga-Don way in the Arabian Geography of the 12th centu-ry AD. In Khazar Almanac. Vol. 6 (pp. 133‒139). Kiev; Kharkov. (In Russian).

Konovalova, I. G. (2007b). Hydrography of Eastern Europe in the Geography by al-Idrisi. T. N Jackson, T. M. Kalinina, I. G. Konovalova & A. V. Podosinov, “Russian River”: River Ways of Eastern Europe in Ancient and Medieval geog-raphy (pp. 173‒250). Moscow: Languages of Slavic cultures; Sign. (In Russian).

Kovalevskiy, A. P. (1956). The Book of Ahmed ibn Fadlan about his Journey to the Volga River in 921–922. Kharkov: KhGU. (In Russian).

Kudryashov, K. V. (1948). Polovсian Steppe. Moscow: Geografiz. (In Russian).

Kunik, A. & Rozen, V. (1903). Evidences of al-Bekri and other Authors about Rus’ and the Slavs. Vol. 2. St. Petersburg: Imp. AN.. (In Russian).

Latyshev, V. V. (1948). Evidences of Ancient Writers about Scythia and the Caucasus. Pomponium Mela. Geography. Journal of Ancient History, (2), 215‒314. (In Russian).

Levochkin, I. V. (1983). The Oldest List of the Spatial Life of Constantinus the Philos-opher. Soviet Slavologist, (2), 75‒79. (In Russian).

Life of Constantinus (2012). Zhitiye i deyaniya blazhennogo nashego uchitelya Kon-stantina Filosofa, pervogo nastavnika slavyanskogo plemeni. Retrieved from: https://ru.pravoslavie.bg/житие-и-деяния-блаженного-нашего-учит-2/ (In Russian).

Mas‘udi (1966). Murudzh ad-Dzakhab va Ma’adin al-Javahir. Vol. 1. Without place of publication. (In Arabic).

Matuzova, V. I. (1979). English Medieval Sources. Moscow: Science. (In Russian).

Mechev, K. (1965). To the Question of Authorship of the Wide Biography of Cyril and Methodius. In Izvestia na Instituta za literatura BAN. Book 16 (pp. 105‒124). Sofia. (In Bulgarian).

Minorskiy, V. F. (1963). History of Shirvan and Derbent in 10th–11th century AD. Mos-cow: Oriental literature. (In Russian).

Novoseltsev, A. P. (1990). Khazar State and its Role in the History of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Moscow: Science. (In Russian).

Novoseltsev, A. P., Pashuto, V. T., Cherepnin, L. V., Shusharin. V. P. & Schap-ov Ya. N. (1965). Ancient Russian State and its International Significance. Mos-cow: Science. (In Russian).

Romashov, S. A. (1993). Where was the Black Bulgaria. In Eastern Europe in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Controversial Issues (pp. 66‒68). Moscow. (In Russian).

Strabo (1964). Geography in 17 books. Moscow: Science. (In Russian).

Tortika, A. A. (2006). The North-Western Khazaria in the Context of the History of Eastern Europe (the Second Half of the 7th ‒ the Third Quarter of the 10th Cen-turies AD). Kharkov: KhGAK. (In Russian).

Zabelin, I. (1879). The History of Russian Life since Ancient Times. Part 2. Moscow: Printing house Grachev and K. (In Russian).

Zagoskin, N. P. (1910). Russian Waterways and Ship Business in pre-Peter Russia. Historical and Geographical Research. Kazan: Litho-typography of I. N. Khari-tonov. (In Russian).

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.