The “Internal” Ethnic Communities in Khazaria 263
not refer to 965, but to 968–969. According to her, in 965 Sviatoslav seized
Sarkel and conquered the Yases and the Kasogs, without continuing on towards
Itil or Samandar.193 This viewpoint is wholly supported by A. Novosel’tsev, who
does not see any reason to believe that Sviatoslav devastated the area around
the middle reaches of the Volga and Volga Bulgaria in particular.194 All three
scholars believe that Ibn Hawqal mixed up the Volga Bulgars with the Danube
ones. It should, however, be borne in mind that the Eastern writer explicitly
names the Inner Bulgars. So, if the devastation of Bolgar did not refer to Volga
Bulgaria, it is quite possible that the account was referring to the Black (Inner)
Bulgars. It should also be noted that the earliest texts of Povest’ Vremennykh
Let were written in the early twelfth century, when Russian sources used the
ethnonym “Yases” for the population of the Don Region. This confirms that
the breakthrough of the Rus’ in the war against Khazaria was implemented
through the Bulgaro-Alanian lands near the Don and the Severski Donets.195
Russian geographical notions of the steppe zone during this period probably
did not extend farther than the Don to the east. The main center to the south-
east, for which some vague records existed, was Tmutarakan.196 It is highly
possible that “their city” (if it does not refer to Sarkel) could be Samkerts
193 Kalinina 1976, 93. Tortika 2006a, 186–187 expresses a similar opinion.
194 Novosel’tsev 1990, 225; a summary of the various views on the topic can be found in
Romashov 2005, 119–128. In Romashov’s opinion, Sviatoslav advanced from the Sea of
Azov and seized Samkerts, before conquering Sarkel and moving on towards the lands of
the Kasogs and the Alans in the Caucasus. Sviatoslav did not participate in the campaign
of 969 (the conquering of Itil and Samandar) (Romashov 2005, 128–129 and 135–138).
195 According to Tortika 2006a, 229, the destruction in Sarkel and the Tsimliansk hillfort was
most probably related to Sviatoslav’s campaign. This campaign aimed to “intimidate” and
to undermine the military potential of the Bulgaro-Alanian population in the Severski
Donets area (who had the diplomatic and military support of the Khazar “government”
until the mid-tenth century), the result of which was the conquest of Sarkel and the
defeat of “some” Yases and Kasogs (Tortika 2006a, 492).
196 The earliest preserved copies of Povest’ Vremennykh Let date from the early twelfth
century. They include a second edition from 1116 (in the Laurentian Chronicle from 1377)
and a third one from 1118 (in the Hypatian Chronicle of the fifteenth century) (Mikhailov
1999, 11–12). At the same time (1117), the population of Belaia Vezha (Sarkel) migrated to
Kievan Rus’. After 1094, there is no more mention of Tmutarakan in the Russian chroni-
cles. It is presumed that the end of the Tmutakan principality came along with the migra-
tion of the Belaia Vezha population to Kievan Rus’. From that moment on, not only the
areas around the lower reaches of the Volga, but also the Don Region (generally the whole
steppe, which the Cumans conquered by the end of the eleventh century) became terra
incognita in the geographical notions of the Rus’ (see for example Artamonov 1962, 444
and 452–453).