71 Wüstenfeld 1.723.19–727.21 = §§2–4, 39–44, 48–50, 51, 53–56, 59, 61–63.
72 The scribe writes “Asad,” clearly an error for Rāshid.
73 Wüstenfeld 2.436.20–440.6 = §90. This passage is, in fact, a quotation from al-Iṣṭakhrī’s Kitāb Masālik, 220.1–222.3. See Dunlop, The History of the Jewish Khazars, 89–115, especially 91–95 and 96–97. On this lemma, see my comments on pp. xxxiv–xxxv.
74 The name means “Black Khazars.”
75 This is the point at which the Mashhad manuscript ends.
76 Klyashtorny, “About One Khazar Title,” argues that this word is an abbreviation of a Turkic honorific that he explains as “head of the royal falcon hunting.”
77 In view of the association in Ibn Faḍlān’s text between tents, illnesses, death, and burial practices I have opted here to render bayt as “tent,” though “chamber” may equally be intended. See above, n. 12.
78 The identity of ‘they’ is not specified in the text. Presumably the Khazars generally are meant, and not, as in the following sentence, the men who actually place the khāqān in his grave.
79 Noonan, “Some Observations,” 208, infers from this number that the Khazar khāqān ruled “over 25 distinct peoples.”
80 The year 310 H began on May 1, 922.
81 Wüstenfeld 2.484.10–485.23 = §§8–11.
82 ʿAbdallāh is Yāqūt.
83 See Q Insān 76:13.
84 Wüstenfeld 2.834.18–840.12 = §§74–89.
85 See Q Muddaththir 74:50–51.
86 This is how the word is written in the edition. It seems to be a hybrid of khadhank and khalanj.
GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND TERMS
ʿAbdallāh ibn Bāshtū al-Khazarī (§§3, 6, 8) the name of the Khazar who serves as the envoy from the king of the Bulghārs to the caliphal court. To judge by his name, ʿAbdallāh, he is a Muslim, a fact that has led some to suspect that he was a political activist working against the Khazar khaqanate.
The name of his father is transcribed as “Bāšto” by Togan (Reisebericht, 3), “Bachtū” by Canard (Voyage, 28: see 96, n. 10), and “Bāshtū” by McKeithen (Risālah, 27–28 and n. 14) and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 3). It is not clear whether the final alif has a phonetic value or is alif al-wiqāyah, to indicate that the wāw is a long final vowel ū.
See Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:160–62.
Abū Bakr (§47) Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (r. 11–13/632–34), the first of the four rightly-guided caliphs, dubbed “the Veracious” (al-Ṣiddīq). The Bulghār king calls Ibn Faḍlān “Abū Bakr the Veracious.” Just what the king means by this reference is not clear.
Adhl (§34) the fourth river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from the territory of the Ghuzziyyah.
The name is transcribed as “Odïl” by Togan (Reisebericht, 32, n. 6), who identifies it as the modern river Uyïl (or Oyïl), as does Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 191, n. 303). “Uzil/Uïl”: Canard, Voyage, 48, 107, n. 134; “Udhil”: McKeithen, Risālah, 76, n. 199; “Ūdhil/Uil”: Lunde and Stone, Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45; “Udil”: Frye, Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 42. Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) gives its contemporary name as the “Oyil”; in Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223) it is the Uil.
Āfr*n (§4) an otherwise unattested name of the Ṭāhirid outpost which the embassy reaches after crossing the Āmul desert. Popular candidates for the location are: Āfrīr (al-Dahhān, Risālah, 76, n. 1); Firabr (McKeithen, Risālah, 33–34, n. 42); Afirabr (Lunde and Stone, Ibn Fadlān, 4, 224, n. 18). It is probably a scribal error for Firabr, which seems the likeliest: Canard, Voyage, 97, n. 26.
Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī (§4) a member of the caliphal force sent to combat Yūsuf ibn Abī l-Sāj, the ruler of Azerbaijan who had, in 304/916, ousted Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī Ṣuʿlūk, the Samanid governor of Rayy, Aḥmad’s own brother. After the defeat of Yūsuf ibn Abī l-Sāj, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī was given control of Isfahan and Qum, and Rayy was put under the control of ʿAlī ibn Wahsudhān. On the assassination of ʿAlī ibn Wahsudhān, Ahmad ibn ʿAlī took control of Rayy without caliphal authority. Baghdad sent Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān, Ibn Faḍlān’s patron, against him, but Muḥammad died in the campaign. Baghdad subsequently recognized Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī as the Abbasid governor of Rayy. He died in 311/924.
See Canard, Voyage, 96–97, n. 20; McKeithen, Risālah, 31, n. 28.
Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāshid ibn Ḥammād (§§1, 3, 14, 40–41, 44–47, 48–53, 58–59, 61, 63, 66–68, 70–71, 73–74, 80, 82, 88; Yāqūt §§1.1, 1.3, 2.1–2.2, 3.1–3.3, 3.6–3.7, 3.9–3.10, 4.1, 5.1, 5.4, 5.6, 5.11, 6.1, 6.9–6.10) the representative of the caliph al-Muqtadir on the embassy, delegated to read the official correspondence from Baghdad, to superintend the presentation of gifts to the Bulghār king and other local dignitaries, and to supervise the jurists and instructors sent with the embassy to instruct the Volga Bulghārs. Before the mission, he had been under the sponsorship of the powerful military commander Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān.
Aḥmad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārazmī (§5) an otherwise unknown person, whose role in the embassy was to take over the running of the estate in Arthakhushmīthan and, presumably, provide the envoys with the money required by the Bulghār king to build his fort.
Akhtī (§34) the seventh river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Ghuzziyyah territory.
Togan (Reisebericht, 33, n. 2), makes several suggestions as to which modern river it corresponds: the Buldurti, the Ashshi-Say, or the Ashshi-Ölenti. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192, n. 304) identifies it as the Ankaty. It is the “Ankhati/Grand Ankati” according to Canard (Voyage, 107, n. 134, though the name of the river is omitted in his translation), the “Akhatī” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 76, n. 202), and the “Akhtī/Ankati” according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) transcribes it as “Akhati” and identifies it as the modern “Ankaty or Buldurti,” which corresponds to the Ankati on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223).
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (§9; Yāqūt §5.4) cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muḥammad and the fourth, and last, of the rightly-guided caliphs (r. 35–40/656–61), greatly revered by Shiʿis. The cursing of ʿAlī referred to in the text may be a survival from the days of Umayyad rule.
Almish, Son of Shilkī see al-Ḥasan, Son of Yilṭawār.
Āmul (§4) not to be confused with Āmul, the capital of Ṭabaristān, this is a city on the river Jayḥūn (Oxus, modern Amu Darya), present-day Chardzhou or Turkmenabat. Āmul marks an important crossing-place of the Jayḥūn on the historic route from Nishapur and Marw to Transoxania and beyond. The town of Farab (or Farabr/Firabr), a dependency of Bukhara, lay on the opposite bank.
See Togan, Reisebericht, 6, n. 2; Kovalevskiĭ, Kniga, 168, n. 62; Le Strange, Lands, 403–4.
Ardkwā (§9) a place in Khwārazm otherwise unattested, the inhabitants of which are known as al-Kardaliyyah.
The commentators and translators, unable to decide on whether the wāw has a phonetic or simply a phonemic value, differ in transcribing the toponym: “Ardakuwâ,” according to Canard (Voyage, 33, 100, n. 50); “Ardkwa,” according to Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 30, who renders the name of the inhabitants as “Ardakiwa”); “Ardakū or Ardakūwa,” according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 8, 225, n. 28).
Ardn (§34) the fifth river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Ghuzziyyah territory.
Togan (Reisebericht, 32, n. 7) suggests it is the modern Zhaqsibay (now dried up), just north of the Aral Sea. It is the “Erden” according to Canard (Voyage, 48, 107, n. 134) who may take this form from Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 130), the “Ardan,” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 76, n. 200), and even the “ʿArdin” (with a ʿayn), according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45). It is the modern “Zhaqsibay or Kaldigayti,” according to Fr
ye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97); on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Kaldyigayti.
Arthakhushmīthan (§§3, 5) one of the estates of Ibn al-Furāt in Khwārazm, according to Ibn Faḍlān.
Yāqut (Muʿjam al-Buldān, 1.191.11) vocalizes it as arthakhushmīthan. The Mashhad manuscript reads arnkhshmthīn at folio 197a.7 and artkhshmthīn at folio 197b.8. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 122) suggests Arsakhushmisan, and Krachkovskiĭ (Puteshestvie, 56) reads Artakhushmathin, but neither elaborates on their readings. Barthold (Turkestan, 148) suggests that it corresponds to modern Khojayli, in the Karakalpakstan region of Uzbekistan. Canard (Voyage, 96, n. 9) and McKeithen (Risālah, 27, n. 11) provide references to this location in other Arabic sources.
Askil (§§69, 72) the name of a clan subject to the Bulghār king, given as Asghl by Ibn Rustah (Kitāb al-Aʿlāq, 141.11). Their king is allied to the Bulghār king through marriage. The clan seems to seek to dissociate itself from the Bulghār king’s conversion to Islam.
The tribal name is generally translated as a personal name: e.g., “King Eskel” by Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 59). See Zimonyi, Origins, 48–49; Golden, Introduction, 254; Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe, 225.
Atrak, Son of al-Qaṭaghān (§§30–33) the military commander (sü-bašı) of the Ghuzziyyah Turks, who receives a letter from Nadhīr al-Ḥaramī, the embassy’s representative in Baghdad.
There is some discussion as to whether the name of his father, written as al-qṭʿān in the manuscript, is a title or a proper name: Togan (Reisebericht, 142) discerns a Mongol origin. The Mashhad scribe writes the word with ʿayn where others see a ghayn: thus Togan (Reisebericht, 142); Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 188); Canard (Voyage, 105, n. 114); al-Dahhān (Risālah, 101); McKeithen (Risālah, 69, n. 175).
See Golden, Introduction, 209; Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe, 225 for the use of ghayn and kāf in Arabic transcriptions of Turkic words after the sixth/twelfth century.
Azkhn (§36) the third river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Bajanāk territory.
It is “Irkhiz (Irgiz)” according to Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192), Canard (Voyage, 49: see 107, n. 138), and McKeithen (Risālah, 78, n. 212). It is “Arkhaz/Irgiz” accoding to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 23, 226, n. 46); “Azhin” according to Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 42), who identifies it as the modern “Irgiaz or Talovka” (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97). According to Togan, who reads azḥn (Reisebericht, 34, n. 3), it may refer to a small river between Chaghan and Mocha. On Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Irgiz.
Bājāʿ (§36) the fourth river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Bajanāk territory.
This a further instance of the Mashhad scribe using a ʿayn where modern scholars would see a ghayn: bājāgh. Togan (Reisebericht, 34, n. 4) suggests it is the modern river Mocha. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192) follows Togan. It is “Bâtchâgh/Motchka,” according to Canard (Voyage, 49: see 107, n. 138); and “Bājāgh,” according to al-Dahhān (Risālah, 107, n. 4); McKeithen (Risālah, 78, n. 213); Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 23, 226, n. 46). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies the “Bajagh” as the modern “Mocha”; on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Mocha.
Bajanāk (§§35–36) Petchenegs, a nomadic or semi-nomadic Turkic people first reported east of the Caspian Sea and the second Turkic tribe encountered by the embassy on its route to the Volga Bulghārs. During the third/ninth century, they migrated west, under pressure from the Ghuzziyyah. The Petchenegs, allies of the Byzantines, constituted an important force on the Pontic steppes and further west, near Kievan Rus. By the late third/ninth century they had driven the Magyars to the Pannonian lowlands, where the state of Hungary was established.
bāk (Yāqūt §4.2) one of the titles of the vice-regent, that is, the non-khaganal ruler of the Khazars.
See Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:184–85; Golden, Introduction, 240; Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe, 233.
bakand (§§11, 26; Yāqūt §5.10) according to Ibn Faḍlān, he heard this Khwārazmian word for “bread” in Khwārazm and among the Ghuzziyyah.
Baranjār, al- (§66) the name of a clan whose conversion to Islam was supervised by Ibn Faḍlān. The name has been associated with the Khazar settlement in the Caucasus known as Balanjār.
See McKeithen, Risālah, 111, n. 334; Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:221–24 (“Bālānjār”); Zimonyi, Origins, 49 (“Baranjār/Balanjar”); Frye, Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 99; Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe, 224.
Bārs al-Ṣaqlābī (§§3, 13, 52) one of the ghulāms, presumably a slave-soldier who accompanied the embassy. In the context of the account, his affiliation, indicated by the name al-Ṣaqlābī, would not necessarily identify him as a Bulghār but possibly as a member of the subject population of the Bulghār king. It is uncertain whether he is the Bārs who led a rebellion of four thousand Turk cavalry in an attack on Baghdad in 296/908: McKeithen, Risālah, 28, n. 17. The name is usually transcribed as “Bāris,” and scholars disagree whether the origin of the name Bārs is Slavic (= Boris) or Turkic (meaning “leopard”): Canard, Voyage, 28, 96, n. 11; Lunde and Stone, Ibn Fadlān, 4, 223, n. 11.
Bāshghird (§§37–38; Yāqūt §2.1–2.2.) Bashkirs, the last tribe encountered before the embassy arrives at the confluence of the Volga and Kama. Not much is known about the Bashkirs in the fourth/tenth century, although they are mentioned in several Arabic-language geographical treatises as occupying territory in the Ural mountains.
Baykand (§5) a town between Āmul and Bukhara, some two farsakhs from the latter.
See Le Strange, Lands, 463; Barthold, Turkestan, 117–19; Kovalevskiĭ, Kniga, 168, n. 65.
Bāynāj (§38) the fourth river crossed by the caravan after its departure from Bāshghird territory.
The Mashhad scribe writes it as “yā*nāj” with an undotted consonant. It should be read “Bāynākh,” according to Togan (Reisebericht, 37, n. 4), and Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 194, n. 342) thinks it is the modern river Mayna. It is “Bâinakh,” according to Canard (Voyage, 51: see also 108, n. 145). It is “Bāynākh,” according to al-Dahhān (Risālah, 110, n. 4), McKeithen (Risālah, 81, n. 229), and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 24, 226, n. 49). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) gives it as the modern “Mania” (a misspelling of Maina/Mayna); on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Mayna.
Bghndī (§34) the first river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Ghuzziyyah territory.
The name is transcribed variously, with an initial yāʾ or bāʾ: “Yaghandî/Tchagan” by Canard (Voyage, 48, 106, n. 128); McKeithen (Risālah, 73, n. 192); “Yaghindī” by al-Dahhān (Risālah, 104, n. 5); so too Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 41) and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45). Togan (Reisebericht, 32, n. 3) suggests it may be the modern Zhayïndï, near the river Emba. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 191) believes it to be the river Chagan near Uralsk (Oral), in northwest Kazakhstan; on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it may be the Chagan. Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies it as the “Zhayindi.”
Bīr tankrī (§18) a Turkic phrase translated and explained by Ibn Faḍlān as meaning “By God, by the One.” Tengri was the Turkic sky-god.
See Canard, Voyage, 38, 103, n. 83; McKeithen, Risālah, 54–55, ns. 129–30.
Bnāsnh (§38) the sixth river crossed by the caravan after its departure from Bāshghird territory.
Togan (Reisebericht, 37 and 38, n. 6) has “Nbāsnh” but suggests that it is to be read as “Nyāsnah,” after Marquart, as does Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 194). It is “Niyasnah,” according to Canard (Voyage, 51: see 108, n. 145), “Niyāsanah,” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 82, n. 231), and “Nīyāsnah,” according to Lunde and Stone, who do not venture a modern identification (Ibn Fadlān, 25, 226, n. 49). It does not appear on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223).
&nbs
p; Bukhara (§§5–8; Yāqūt §§5.1–5.2) capital of the Samanid dynasty.
See Le Strange, Lands, 460–63; Barthold, Turkestan, 100–17; Barthold [Frye], “Bukhārā.”
Bulghār/Bulghārs (§§39–73; Yāqūt §§1.1, 1.3, 3.1–3.10, 4.2, 4.3) the destination of the embassy. The Turkic Volga Bulghārs established their state at the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers during the third/ninth century. By the beginning of the fourth/tenth century they had entered into a dynamic trading relationship with the Samanids in Central Asia, whereby their territory became one of the principal emporia of the period, rivaling and, ultimately, outlasting those of the Khazars. The Volga Bulghārs adopted Islam in the early fourth/tenth century and remained Muslims until the demise of their state in the wake of the attacks of the Mongols and their subsequent integration into the Golden Horde.
City of Peace (§§4, 5, 13; Yāqūt §3.2) the name used in the text for Baghdad, properly speaking the original Round City of Baghdad, founded by the caliph al-Manṣūr.
Commander of the Faithful (§§2, 5, 8, 9, 40, 43–47, 69, 73; Yāqūt §§2.1, 3.2, 3.5) a rendering of amīr al-muʾminīn, a title held by the caliphs.
dāʿī (§4) a reference in our text to the Zaydī al-Ḥāsan ibn al-Qāsim (d. 316/928). The title is used among several Muslim groups for their principal propagandists and missionaries. It became especially important in Shiʿi movements, where it was used as the title of the authorized spokesman of the spiritual leader, the Imam.
Al-Ḥāsan ibn al-Qāsim was known as al-Dāʿī li-l-Ḥaqq, “the Proselytizer for the Truth,” and al-Dāʿī al-Ṣaghīr, “the Lesser Proselytizer,” to distinguish him from al-Ḥasan ibn Zayd ibn Muḥammad (d. 270/884), al-Dāʿī al-Kabīr, “the Greater Proselytizer.” His predecessor as ruler was his father-in-law, the warlord al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Uṭrūsh (i.e., “the Deaf,”; d. 304/917). In 301/914 al-Uṭrūsh had wrested control of Ṭabaristān from the Samanids and captured its capital Āmul, thanks to an alliance with the local potentate Ibn Qārin mentioned in the text.
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