The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 99
vicegerent. This information brings the Rus’ government system closer to the
Khazar one.370
T. Noonan does not believe that Ibn Fadlan’s account refers to the land
of the Rus’ with the center of Kiev, since the Rurikids were far from such a prac-
tice. Such a form of government could have existed among the Rus’ commu-
nities in today’s Northern Russia.371 On the other hand, some representatives
of the Rurik dynasty bore the title of khagan.372 However, the adoption of this
title “was not accompanied by any elements of the state administrative system
of Khazaria”.373 According to V. Petrukhin, “the stories about the ceremonial
way of life of “the king of the Rus’,” as well as of that of the Khazar khagan
himself, were intended for an “outside” observer (Ibn Fadlan) and should not
be associated directly with the realia of these worlds (this also applies to the
notorious problem of the “diarchy” in Khazaria and the Rus’ state)”.374 In other
words, it appears that the notions of kingship that the population had may not
have been implemented in its contemporary political reality. However, their
understanding is important, because they often uphold the power itself, espe-
cially when it is sacralized. And what is actually real in the notion of a power,
given that for the archaic, but not only, mentality “the outstanding reality is
the sacred; for only the sacred is in an absolute fashion, acts effectively, creates
things and makes them endure”.375
According to an account of a Chinese traveler from the twelfth-thirteenth
century that referred to the Byzantines, “Their kings do not last for long. They
choose the most capable one and they put him on the throne; but if a misfor-
tune or an unforseen event should befall the Empire, if the wind or the rain
should arrive at the wrong season, then they immediately depose the emperor
and put another in his place”.376 Such customs were, of course, never practiced
in Byzantium.377 As for Khazaria, it should be borne in mind that according to
the Russian Primary Chronicle, in 965 the khagan himself led the army against
370 Dunlop 1967, 238; Zakhoder 1962, 205; Golden 2003, no. 6, 87.
371 Noonan 2001, 92–93. Tortika 2006a, 222 expresses a similar opinion.
372 On the issues regarding the so-called Rus’ Khaganate, see Novosel’tsev 1982, 150–159;
Golden 2003, no. 6, 81–97; Konovalova 2001, 117–125; Petrukhin 2001, 73–74 and 2005,
75–76; Stepanov 2000, 198–208.
373 Konovalova 2001, 125.
374 Petrukhin 2005, 76.
375 Eliade, 2002, 18.
376 Dagron 2006, 39.
377 See for instance Ostrogorski 1996; Bozhilov 2008.