Khazaria And International Trade In Eastern Europe 163
and others from the country of Kashak (Kasogs)—i.e., from the region of the
Khazar sphere of influence”.61
The growth of Kiev during the tenth century raises a further question. At
the time when the Upper Volga hoards with dirhams began to decline, they
started to increase in the area around the Middle Dnieper and on the right
bank of the river.62 According to T. Noonan, Kiev’s initial stage of development
as a city is related to the changes in Eastern trade during the tenth century
(the first dirhams that have been found in the area around the Middle Dnieper
are Samanid ones). At the same time, it is not quite clear by which road the
dirhams reached the Middle Dnieper. The scholar believes that two roads were
used: from Volga Bulgaria along the Oka and from Khazaria along the Severski
Donets. The ties between Kiev and the East were active during the first half
of the tenth century, but “growing conflicts between the Rus’ of Kiev and the
Khazars may have disrupted Kiev’s participation in the Islamic trade during
the second quarter of the tenth century, a development that was accentuated
by the growing trade between Kiev and Constantinople”.63
61 Novosel’tsev 1990, 115. The Byzantine seals found in Sugdea indicate that the city had
direct trade contacts with Constantinople and other Byzantine ports in Asia Minor
(Aibabin and Makarova 2003, 59).
62 Noonan 2000a, 386.
63 Noonan 2000a, 388. The rift in relations between Khazaria and Byzantium is of significant
importance for the break-away of the Rus’ from the Khazar influence (the subordination
of Kievan Rus’ is noted by Gumilev 1997, 212, according to whom the threshold between
the ninth and the tenth century marks the “culmination of the Judeo-Khazar power”, as
well as by J. Shepard, in whose opinion the trade routes indebted the Rus’ to the Volga
Bulgars and the Byzantines, as well as to the Khazars (Shepard and Franklin 2000, 166).
During the tenth century, the main source of dirhams for the Rus’ was Bolgar. At that
time, Byzantium was attempting to draw the Rus’ closer. This is evidenced in the text
of the agreement between Byzantium and Rus’ from 907 and their treaty from 911, after
which the Rus’ were exempted from customs duties in Constantinople (Shepard and
Franklin 2000, 161–162 and 166). The Caspian campaigns of the early tenth century cor-
responded to the desire of the Rus’ to obtain the necessary Arab dirhams. Their failure
may have become an additional reason for the search of other markets (on this issue,
see Zuckerman 1995, 269). The Rus’ campaigns in the Caspian Sea, as well as the treaties
with Byzantium, may perhaps indeed have been caused by the attempts of Khazaria and
Byzantium to neutralize and use Kievan Rus’ for their own political purposes. As stated in
a letter by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos (901–907, 912–925) to the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon
(893–927), after 917 Byzantium tried to organize a coalition against Bulgaria, which
included the Pechenegs, Magyars, Rus’ and Alans (Zlatarski 1994, 247–249). Such a coali-
tion could have also acted against Khazaria. The flow of dirhams towards Kiev began to
decline around the mid-tenth century. At the same time, there is no evidence of a decline