The Rus’ first penetrated to the Muslim areas adjacent to the Caspian Sea as traders rather than warriors. The Rus’ undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged in the Gorgan region. Sviatoslav, prince of Kiev, commanded the next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965.
About Caspian expeditions of the Rus’ in brief
The Rus’ first penetrated to the Muslim areas adjacent to the Caspian Sea as traders rather than warriors. By the early 9th century, the Norsemen settled in northwestern Russia, where they established a settlement called Aldeigja about 6 miles south of the Volkhov River entry into Lake Ladoga. From there, they began trading with the Byzantine Empire along the Dnieper trade route and with the Muslim lands along the Volga trade route. The Rus’ undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged in the Gorgan region, in the territory of present-day Iran, and more to the west, in Gilan and Mazandaran. Sviatoslav, prince of Kiev, commanded the next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965. Raids continued through the time period with the last Scandinavian attempt to reestablish the route in 1041 by Ingvar the Far-Travelled. 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 theRus’ being Slavs rather than Scandinavians. Thomas S. 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.
In order to secure a peaceful passage through the land of the Khazars, theRus’ sailed down the Dper River into the Black Sea of Azov, then up the Don River past Sarkel, and then by a portage reached theVolga, which led them into the Caspian Sea. TheRus’ attacked Abaskun, as well as Tabaristan, near Anel, as they lay anchor near the country of Anel. An attempt to repel them in an attempt to lay them in lay them as they tried to reposition them in the Black Sea, led them to the Black River, which they lay in repositioning them in Sarkel. In the late 9th and early 10th century they went down the Black River into the Sea of Azov and lay in wait for them. In 943, they captured Bardha’a, the capital of Arran, in the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan, killing many inhabitants of the city and amassing substantial plunder. This raid was probably on a very small scale. The third minor raid took place in 911 or 912. A fleet of 500 ships reached the southern southern shores of the Cazian Sea.
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This page is based on the article Caspian expeditions of the Rus’ published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
