262 CHAPTER 5
Bulgars), mentioned in the particularly interesting account of Al-Masudi from
the 950s.186
The Khazar ruler stated that he was fighting the Rus’. Theoretically, it is
completely plausible that the military actions between the Khazars and the
Rus’ also included the Severski Donets region. The fortresses and settlements
located there may have been subjected to attacks and plunders from Kievan
Rus’. Such a conclusion seems probable also in light of the comment in Hudud
al-ʿAlam that “the Inner Bulgars were at war with all the Rus’ ”.187
Povest’ Vremennykh Let describes the campaigns of Prince Sviatoslav from
964–966. The Chronicle mentions only that he subdued the Viatichi and
seized Sarkel, before fighting with the Yases and Kasogs somewhere along the
Don and Kuban Rivers.188 Another interpretation is also possible, namely that
he conquered not only Sarkel, but also “their city” (that of the Khazars).189 On
the basis of Ibn Hawqal’s account (977), it is presumed that “their city” is in
fact Itil. According to Ibn Hawqal, in 968–969 the Rus’ seized Bolgar, Samandar
and Itil. The Eastern writer adds: “the Inner Bulgars—Christians and Muslims.
But in our times almost nothing remains of the Bulgars, Burtas and the Khazars,
since they were attacked by the Rus’ who conquered all their lands; those who
saved themselves settled in the neighboring regions”.190
Ibn Hawqal’s account is the basis of the hypothesis that after his campaign
against the Viatichi in 964, Prince Sviatoslav marched on along the Oka towards
the Volga without returning to Kiev. He spent the winter of 964–965 some-
where in these lands, before attacking the Volga Bulgars and plundering Bolgar.
As he continued southwards along the Volga, he seized Itil and Samandar, after
which he conquered the Yases and the Kasogs and overtook Sarkel, before
returning to Kiev.191
Already V. Bartol’d began to doubt the possibility of Sviatoslav having passed
through Volga Bulgaria on his way to the Khazar centers along the Caspian
coast.192 T. Kalinina has proven that the events, described by Ibn Hawqal, do
186 See in chapter 2. According to Tortika 2006a, 245–246 and 497, the Rus’ aimed to tear away
Sarkel and Samkerts from the khaganate. Khazaria perished after the Rus’ campaigns from
the second half of the 960s and the establishment of the Rus’ Tmutarakan principality.
187 Hudud al-ʿAlam &45, in Minorsky 1937.
188 Povest’ Vremennykh Let, in Adrianova-Peretts 1950, 46–47.
189 Golden 1980, 82.
190 The text can be found in Novosel’tsev 1990, 221–222; Kalinina 1976, 91; Dunlop 1967, 215–
217; Golden 1980, 83.
191 See for instance Gadlo 1971, 60; Pashuto 1968, 93; Gumilev 1997, 240–241; Artamonov 1962,
427–429.
192 Bartol’d 1963, 850–851.