Mission to the Volga

by Ahmad Ibn Fadlan

  See Canard, Voyage, 97, n. 21; McKeithen, Risālah, 31, n. 32; Strothmann, “al-Ḥasan al-Uṭrūsh.”

  Dāmghān, al- (§4) the capital of the province of Qumis, on Ibn Faḍlān’s route between Simnān and Nishapur; at the time of the mission it was under Zaydī control.

  See Le Strange, Lands, 364–65.

  dānaq (Yāqūt §5.4) a weight measure, one sixth of the dīnār mithqāl, the dinar used as a unit of weight; also here one-sixth of a dirham.

  See Togan, Reisebericht, 112; Hinz, Islamische Masse, 11 (Persian, dāng).

  Dār al-Bābūnj (Yāqūt §4.5) the unidentified location of a synagogue.

  Togan (Reisebericht, 102–3, n. 4) speculates that it may have to do with the name Alphons or Adalphuns, thus “the house/dwelling of Alphons or Adalphuns.” Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 273, n. 959) suggests it may be a woman’s name.

  See McKeithen, Risālah, 159, n. 559.

  Daskarah, al- (§4) a town on Ibn Faḍlān’s route between Nahrawān and Ḥulwān. It probably originated as a caravan post that, at the time of the mission, had developed into an important town on the Khurasan road.

  See Le Strange, Lands, 62; Duri, “Daskarah.”

  dinar (§§14, 31, 45, 77; Yāqūt §§5.9, 6.4) an Islamic gold coin.

  See Miles, “Dīnār.”

  dirham (§§7, 9, 11, 23, 39, 41, 45, 75, 77; Yāqūt §§3.4, 5.4, 5.8, 6.2, 6.4) a silver coin weighing usually about three grams and produced in enormous numbers. They circulated within the Islamic caliphate and were exported as payment for goods in long-distance trade. About half a million whole or fragmentary dirhams have been found across the vast trading networks of eastern and northern Europe. It is estimated that, during the first half of the fourth/tenth century alone, about 120 million dirhams were transported along the route taken by Ibn Faḍlān from the territory of the Samanids to the Volga Bulghārs.

  See Miles, “Dirham.”

  Faḍl ibn Mūsā al-Naṣrānī, al- (§§5–6) an otherwise unknown person. The account notes that he was the fiscal agent of the estate in Arthakhushmīthan owned by the ousted vizier Ibn al-Furāt, which was to provide the envoys with the money required by the king of the Bulghārs to build his fort.

  Falūs (§14) the name of the guide hired by the embassy in al-Jurjāniyyah and possibly representing qılavuz, a Turkic word for guide. Canard (Voyage, 102, n. 71) thinks it may be a “proto-Bulgharian honorific.”

  See Togan, Reisebericht, 17, n. 5; Lunde and Stone, Ibn Fadlān, 225, n. 34.

  farsakh (§§8, 39, 50, 53, 67; Yāqūt §§3.4, 3.7–3.8, 4.2-4.3, 5.2) a measure of distance, usually just short of six kilometers.

  See Hinz, “Farsakh”; Hinz, Islamische Masse, 62 (Persian farsaḫ).

  Gate of the Turks (§§5, 15) the name of a garrison outpost maintained at Zamjān by the Samanid emirate, on the edge of Turkic territories.

  See Canard, Voyage, 102, ns. 72–73.

  ghiṭrīfī dirham (§7) a low-value dirham that became the common currency in the region from the third/ninth century on. In theory, six ghiṭrīfī dirhams equaled one silver dirham, but there was considerable fluctuation in value. It was named after al-Ghiṭrīf ibn ʿAṭāʾ al-Jurashī who from 175 to 177 (ca. AD 791–93) was governor of Khurasan. According to legend, his brother al-Musayyab also minted coins known as musayyabī dirhams, but they were, in fact, named after an earlier governor of Khurasan, al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Ḍabbī: see §14, 31. The ghiṭrīfī dirham became the common currency in the region from the third/ninth century onwards.

  See Togan, Reisebericht, 111–13; Kovalevskiĭ, Kniga, 171, n. 85; Barthold, Turkestan, 204–7; Frye, Notes on the Early Coinage, 29–31; Bosworth, “al-Ghiṭrīf b. ʿAṭāʾ”; Frye, Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 88–90.

  Ghuzziyyah (§§18–34) the Oghuz, also known in Arabic as the Ghuzz, the first Turkic tribe encountered by the embassy after crossing the Ustyurt. They were an important tribe, whose earliest recorded home was northeast of the Caspian Sea. In the fourth/tenth century they began moving west into the Khazar khaqanate and ultimately played a role in its downfall.

  Gog and Magog (§68; Yāqūt §1.2) a ferocious people, trapped, according to the Qurʾan, by Dhū l-Qarnayn (Alexander the Great) behind a great wall (Q 18, Sūrat al-Kahf). The collapse of the wall signaled the onset of the End Time, when Gog and Magog would wreak destruction on the earth.

  Hamadhān (§4) modern Hamadhan in Iran, a major town, the capital of the province known as the Jibāl, on Ibn Faḍlān’s route between Qirmīsīn and Sāwah.

  See Le Strange, Lands, 194–96, 227–29; Frye, “Hamadhān.”

  Ḥāmid ibn al-ʿAbbās (§41; Yāqūt §3.4) a financier (223–311/837–923) who became especially prominent as vizier (306–11/918–23) during the reign of al-Muqtadir. He became al-Muqtadir’s vizier in Jumada 306/November 918 and was in post at the time of the embassy. In Rabiʿ al-Thani 311/August 923 he was replaced by Ibn al-Furāt.

  See Massignon, “Ḥāmid b. al-ʿAbbās”; van Berkel, Accountants and Men of Letters, 161–63.

  Ḥammawayh Kūsā (§4) Ḥammawayh ibn ʿAlī, Samanid general and military commander of Khurasan. “Kūsā” is a nickname meaning “beardless.” His formal title, ṣāḥib jaysh Khurāsān (field marshal of Khurasan), was the Arabic equivalent of the Persian title sipahsālār.

  See Barthold, Turkestan, 240–41; Togan, Reisebericht, 5–6, n. 8; Canard, Voyage, 97, n. 22; McKeithen, Risālah, 32, n. 35.

  Ḥasan, Son of Yilṭawār, al- (§2; Yāqūt §3.2) the name of the Bulghār king of the Ṣaqālibah, in the context of his letter to al-Muqtadir’s court. Almish, son of Shilkī, is the name by which Atrak, son of al-Qaṭaghān, refers to him in a Turkic context in §33, when the Ghuzziyyah leaders are debating the fate of the embassy. Atrak also refers to the king as his “son-in-law.” The quotation of §2, given by Yāqūt (§3.2), refers to the king in a third variant: Almis, son of Shilkī Bilṭawār (blṭwār is either a misreading of Yilṭawār by the scribe of the Mashhad manuscript or an Arabic attempt to represent a Bulghār pronunciation of the Turkic title elteber). The king acquires a fourth name in our text, Jaʿfar, son of ʿAbdallāh, and two new titles, “king of the Bulghārs” and “emir of the Bulghārs” (§44; Yāqūt §3.5). This is when Ibn Faḍlān sanctions the king’s conversion to Islam by approving his Muslim name and gubernatorial title for the Friday oration. Ibn Rustah, Kitāb al-Aʿlāq, 141.9 refers to him as almsh and identifies him as a Muslim.

  Most editors and translators of this passage (§2) provide a hybrid combination of the version of the name given in §33 and the version given by Yāqūt: so, for instance, Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 25) renders it as “Almish ibn Shilki the Yiltawar (Elteber).” See the explanation given for the reconstruction of the name by Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 222, n. 3).

  I can see no reason that the king should not be known by a variety of names in various regnal or tribal contexts. The version of his name given in §2, al-Ḥasan, son of the Elteber, declares his Muslim identity and expresses that he, unlike his father, is not a Khazar subordinate. It also aligns Ibn Faḍlān’s information from 309/921 with the information provided about a decade earlier by Ibn Rustah about the Bulghār king’s adoption of Islam. The version of his name given in §33 is entirely in keeping with the Turkic context in which it is used—it is used by a Ghuzziyyah chief who has not yet, as Ibn Faḍlān tells us, embraced Islam. The name the king acquires in §47 (Yāqūt §3.5) is emblematic of his integration into the Abbasid polity as the loyal subject of his patron al-Muqtadir.

  See Zimonyi, Origins, 125–29; Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe, 225–26.

  Ḥulwān (§4) a town on Ibn Faḍlān’s route between al-Daskarah and Qirmīsīn.

  See Le Strange, Lands, 191–92; Lockhart, “Ḥulwān.”

  Ibn Faḍlān see Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān.

  Ibn al-Furāt (§§3, 5, 6) Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn al-Furāt (241–312/855–924), an important financier and politician in the ea
rly fourth/tenth century who had been deprived of the office of vizier at the time of the embassy and imprisoned. This is the reason that one of his mulcted estates could be used to provide the funding designated for building the Bulghār fort. He held the vizierate three times: from Rabiʿ al-Awwal 296/December 908 to Dhu l-Hijjah 299/July 912, from Dhu l-Hijjah 304/June 917 to Jumada 306/November 918, and from Rabiʿ al-Thani 311/August 923 to Rabiʿ al-Awwal 312/June 924.

  Ibn Qārin (§4) Sharwīn ibn Rustam ibn Qārin, the ispahbad (local governor) of Firrīm, encountered by the embassy in al-Dāmghān; a descendant of the Qarinid dynasty of Ṭabaristān and ally of the Zaydī ruler al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Uṭrūsh, in territories around the Caspian. He would have been no friend of the mission.

  See Rekaya, “Ḳārinids”; Togan, Reisebericht, 5–6, n. 8; Canard, Voyage, 97, n. 21; Madelung, “The Minor Dynasties,” 205.

  Itil (§§50, 67, 68, 74; Yāqūt §§1.1–1.3, 4.2, 6.2, 6.3) the usual Arabic name for the river Volga and for the capital city of the Khazars on the banks of the Volga delta. It is used in the text also for the Bulghār trading emporium on the bank of the Volga.

  See Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:224–29.

  Jaʿfar (§44; Yāqūt §3.5) the given name of the caliph al-Muqtadir (Abū l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad al-Muʿtaḍid), conferred on the king of the Volga Bulghārs by Ibn Faḍlān to mark his membership in the Islamic polity.

  Jākhā (§36) the second river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Bajanāk territory.

  Togan (Reisebericht, 34, n. 2) and Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192, n. 313) identify it as the river Chagan, a tributary of the Ural. It is “Jakhâ/Tchagan,” according to Canard (Voyage, 49: and see 107, n. 138), and “Jākhā,” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 78, n. 211) and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 23, 226, n. 46). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies it as the modern “Chagan”; on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223) it may be the Chagan. However, Togan and Kovalevskiĭ, followed by Canard, also identify the Bghndī as the Chagan. Perhaps the mission crossed the same river or tributaries of the same river twice.

  Jākhsh (§34) the third river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Ghuzziyyah territory.

  Togan (Reisebericht, 32, n. 5) and Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 191, n. 303) identify it as the Saġïz in Kazakhstan. It is “Jakhch/Saghiz,” according to Canard (Voyage, 48, 107, n. 134); and “Jākhsh,” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 76, n. 198) and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies it as the “Saghir”; on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Sagiz.

  Jām (§34) The second river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Ghuzziyyah territory.

  Togan (Reisebericht, 32, n. 4) and Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 191, n. 302) identify it as the Emba. It is “Jam,” according to Canard (Voyage, 48, 107, n. 134) or “Jām,” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 76, n. 197) and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 22, 226, n. 45). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies it as the modern “Emba”; on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223), it is the Emba.

  Jāwashīghar (Yāqūt §4.4) the title given to the deputy of the kundur khāqān among the Khazar. According to Klyashtorny the word is an abbreviation of an honorific that he explains as “head of the royal falcon hunting.”

  Transcribed as “Ǧāwšiġr” and “Ǧawšïġïr” by Togan (Reisebericht, 99 and 260–63), “Jâwchîghr” by Canard (Voyage, 85, 127, n. 343), “Jāwshīghr” by McKeithen (Risālah, 154–55, n. 546), “Jaushighir” by Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 75), and “Jawshīghīr” by Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 55, 229, n. 88).

  See Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:191–92; Klyashtorny, “About One Khazar Title.”

  Jāwshīn (§38) the seventh river crossed by the caravan, after its departure from Bāshghird territory.

  Togan (Reisebericht, 38, n. 1) suggests that it may be the Aqtay. Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 194, n. 345) notes that it may also be read “Jawshīz.” It is “Djawchîz,” according to Canard (Voyage, 51: see also 108, n. 145), “Jāwshīz,” according to al-Dahhān (Risālah, 110, n. 6) and McKeithen (Risālah, 82, n. 232), “Jaushir (or Jaushiz),” according to Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 43), and “Jāwshīr/Aqtay or Gausherma,” according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 25, 226, n. 49). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) gives it as “Jawshir” and identifies it as the “Aqtay or Gausherma.” Most scholars locate this river in Bulghār territory and note that Ibn Faḍlān here purports to have crossed a river before he could have reached it.

  Jāwshīr (§69) a river in Bulghār territory, presumed to be the river referred to earlier in the Mashhad manuscript as Jāwshīn.

  It is transcribed as “Jawchîz” by Canard (Voyage, 116, n. 237), as “Jāwshīz” by McKeithen (Risālah, 117–18, n. 367), and as “Jāwshīr/Aqtay” by Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 42, 228, n. 75).

  Jayhānī, al- (§5) several viziers of Bukhara had this affiliation. Ibn Faḍlān may be referring to the Jayhānī credited with a famous geographical work entitled The Book of the Routes and the Realms (Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-mamālik), which has not survived.

  See Pellat, “Al-Djayhānī”; Göckenjan and Zimonyi, Orientalische Berichte.

  Jayḥūn (§§4, 10, 13; Yāqūt §5.4) the Oxus, an important river in Turkestan, known today as the Amu Darya.

  See Spuler, “Āmū Darya.”

  Jaykh (§36) the first river crossed by the caravan, on portable, collapsible camel-skin rafts, after its departure from Bajanāk territory.

  The word is written as ḥ*j by the Mashhad scribe. Togan (Reisebericht, 34, ns. 1 and 2) and Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 192, n. 311) identify it as the modern Ural. It is “Jaikh,” according to Canard (Voyage, 49, 107, n. 137), “Jaykh,” according to al-Dahhān (Risālah, 107, n. 1, and McKeithen, Risālah, 76, n. 210), and even “Jāyikh,” according to Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 23, 226, n. 46). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies it as the modern “Ural,” which, in several local languages and dialects, was called “Jaykh,” and in Kazakh-Kyrgyz, Zhayiq and in Bashkir, Yayiq (see Togan, Reisebericht, 34, n. 1); on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223) it is the Ural.

  Jīt (§15) a way station known to some Arabic geographers, after the entry into the Ustyurt, via the Gate of the Turks, at Zamjān.

  See Canard, Voyage, 102, ns. 72–73; McKeithen, Risālah, 51, ns. 116–17.

  Jrmsān (§38) the first river crossed by the caravan after its departure from Bāshghird territory.

  Togan (Reisebericht, 37, n. 1) and Kovalevskiĭ (Kniga, 194, n. 339) identify it as the Cheremshan (or Chirimshan), in Tatarstan. It is “Djaramsan,” according to Canard (Voyage, 51), “Jaramshān,” according to McKeithen (Risālah, 81, n. 226), and “Jirimshān” according to al-Dahhān (Risālah, 110, n. 1) and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 24, 226, n. 49). Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 97) identifies it as the “Chirimshan”; on Róna-Tas’s map (Hungarians and Europe, 223) it is the Cheremshan.

  Jurjāniyyah, al- (§§8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 23, 39; Yāqūt §§3.4, 5.2) Gurganj, Khwārazm’s second city (commercially more vibrant than Kāth), probably corresponding, to some extent, to modern Konya-Urgench. Canard (Voyage, 99, n. 47) thinks that the distance of fifty farsakhs given by Ibn Faḍlān may be an exaggeration or a miscalculation.

  See Le Strange, Lands, 445; Spuler, “Gurgandj.”

  Kardaliyyah, al- see Ardkwā.

  Khadhank (§§34, 60, 69, 82, 88; Yāqūt §6.8) a type of tree thought by many to be the birch.

  Róna-Tas (Hungarians and Europe, 226) argues that it is an Arabicized form of the Bulghār word for “birch,” hazing.

  See Canard, Voyage, 106–7, n. 131, 115, n. 210, 117, n. 243.

  Khalanj (Yāqūt §6.7) a type of tree thought by some to be the maple, by others the birch, often confused with khadhank.

  See Canard, Voyage
, 106–7, n. 131.

  khāqān (§90; Yāqūt §4.4) in Ibn Faḍlān’s account, the title of the ruler of the Khazars. It is a well-known Turkic title of obscure origin. Among the Khazars the khāqān became increasingly sacral and taboo. The office had ceremonial aspects, and the khāqān could even be sacrificed in difficult times, according to al-Masʿūdī (Murūj al-dhahab, 1.215.3–7; and see §453, 1.214.14–215.9 generally).

  See Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:192–96; Golden, “The Question of the Rus’ Qaǧanate”; Golden, Introduction, 240.

  Khāqān Bih (§90; Yāqūt §4.4) the title of the deputy of the Khazar khāqān. Bih is clearly cognate with beg, the old Turkic title for a tribal chieftain.

  Canard (Voyage, 84, 126–27, n. 340) renders it “Khâqân Beg,” McKeithen (Risālah, 154, n. 543) “Khāqān Beh,” Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 75) “Khaqan Bih,” and Lunde and Stone (Ibn Fadlān, 55) “khāqān beg.”

  See Golden, Khazar Studies, 1:162–65; Golden, Introduction, 240.

  Khaz (Yāqūt §4.5) the title given to the Muslim ghulām of the Khazar khāqān, who had executive and judicial authority over the Muslims resident in the Khazar capital. Frye (Ibn Fadlān’s Journey, 77) suggests “Khaz (Khan?).”

  See Canard, Voyage, 87; McKeithen, Risālah, 159, n. 556; Lunde and Stone, Ibn Fadlān, 57, 229, n. 90.

  Khazar/Khazars (§§1, 33, 67, 72; Yāqūt §§4.1–4.5) the most powerful Turkic group on the Eurasian steppe at the time of the mission, ruled by the khāqān. The Khazar khaqanate emerged in the early first/seventh century and remained for centuries the most important political entity on the Eurasian steppe. It occasionally entered into alliances with Byzantium and fought off Muslim incursions via the Caucasus in the first/seventh and second/eighth centuries, after which it established a more peaceful relationship with the caliphate, mainly through trade. The Arabic sources note that the Khazars converted at some point to Judaism, or at least the elite surrounding the khaqanal house did.

  The description of the Khazar polity and regnal customs that exists only in the form of a quotation by Yāqūt seems to have been appended by Ibn Faḍlān (or, according to some, by a later redactor) as an addendum to his notice on the King of the Rūs. The embassy did not visit the Khazar khaqanate.