In medieval eastern sources, one of the three centers of the Rus is repeatedly mentioned, along with Kuyaba (Kiev) and Slavia (Novgorod), the state of the Rus - Arsa-Arta-Artania. Attempts to determine its location have been made several times. At the same time, the geography of the search was wide, including the whole of Eastern Europe and even reaching Denmark. Most often, Arsu-Artania is located in the lands of North-Eastern Russia.
Arsania on the map of Idrisi (in the extreme left circle). Black and Azov seas from above.
Arsa-Artania in Arabic sources
The Arab geographer Abu Iskhak al-Istakhri (X century) noted (A. P. Novoseltsev. Eastern sources about the Eastern Slavs and Russia VI-IX centuries. - In the book: Old Russian state and its international significance. M., 1965.):
The Baghdad geographer and traveler Ibn Hawqal (10th century) actually repeats what was said above: “As for Arsa, I have not heard anyone mentioning the achievement of it by foreigners, for they (its inhabitants) kill all foreigners who come to them … They themselves go down the water for trade and do not report anything about their affairs and their goods and do not allow anyone to follow them and enter their country."
A geographic treatise of 982 by an unknown Persian-speaking author, Khudud al-alam, notes:
The Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi (XII century) writes:
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Al-Idrisi also drew a map on which Arsa is also depicted.
Features of Arsa-Rus. From the Baltic to the Caucasus
There are several features of Arsa. Obviously, Arsa is "Rusa-Rus". This is the mystery of Arsa-Artania. She decisively fenced off from outside penetration. It is not surprising that some researchers began to look for Artania in the Baltic. The most important sacred center of Western Rus (rugov, ruyan) was located on the island of Ruyan. Temple of the West Russian (Venedian) god Svyatovit (Svetovita). Huge treasures have accumulated here over the centuries. In addition, the island was one of the most important trade centers of the Slavs-Rus. The temple was guarded by a special squad, which consisted of the best knights-heroes. And the Russians responded in the most harsh way to any attempts to penetrate the island.
At the same time, Arsa-Rus lay within the reach of merchants. The Russians themselves were exporting furs and weapons. However, these goods were delivered to the countries of the East and from other Russian lands, where access to foreign traders was open. That is, the export of these goods could not generate such severe restrictions. But the presence of an important sanctuary of the Slavs-Rus could. Either there were developments of either lead or tin (tin and lead are spelled the same in Arabic).
From the map of al-Idrisi, it is clear that the mysterious Arsa was located west of the Volga-Itil, which excludes the mines of the Urals. It is also obvious that Arsa-Artania was located east of Don-Rusia ("Russian River"). In the south are the regions of Alania, part of the Khazaria, the North Caucasus (Derbent). Also south of Arsy-Arta there is a mountain system that can be identified with the Main Caucasian ridge.
It is known that lead was mined in the Caucasus, the richest mines are the Sadon deposits (Alania - Ossetia). Deposits of the North Caucasus, in addition to lead, usually contain silver. The same Sadon owes his glory more to silver than to lead. Silver was also mined in Sadon in the Middle Ages. The news about the development of the Sadon silver ores raises the question of whether the Arsy Rus mined silver. Al-Masudi reports on the extraction of silver from the Rus:
Therefore, it was suggested (V. V. Gritskov. Cimmerian Center. Issue 3. Rus. Part II. Disappeared mainland. 1992.) that the Arsy Rus lived in the North Caucasus region and were related to the Alan tribes (Ases Alans). And the Rus-Ars and Alans were descendants of the Scythians, who are considered by a number of researchers to be the direct ancestors of the Slavs-Rus. They have lived in this region since the time of Great Scythia. Other facts also speak about the presence of the Russians in this region. So among the army of the Khazar Kagan there were pagan Rus. Later, the main role in the army of the Khazar Kaganate began to be played by some Muslim mercenaries-Arsii, whom Masudi leads from the vicinity of Khorezm. Eastern sources also report that there were Muslims among the Rus (How the Rus adopted Islam), who were professional soldiers and could serve the eastern rulers. Maybe,that the Muslim warriors of the Kagan were part of the militant highlanders of the Rus-Ars who converted to Islam, who were associated with Khorezm not by origin, but by religion.
Tmutarakan or Ryazan?
The question of the location of the third Russian genus has caused numerous and contradictory assumptions in Russian historiography. In many ways, this question about the three state centers of Rus was connected with another problem - about the origin of Rus and Rus (Russians) in general.
Thus, the authors of the 19th century (Fren and others) assumed that Artania was Erdzian (the Mordovian tribe of Erzya), the name that survived in the name of Arzamas. Shcheglov adhered to the same point of view, who considered the inhabitants of Artania to be a Finnish tribe, but sought Artu not in Arzamas, but in Ryazan: “Ryazan is the Slavic form of this name (Arzania). Rearrangement of letters, consonant in front, vowel back is a common thing among the Slavs in such cases. " The same point of view was supported by the great researcher of Russian chronicles Shakhmatov (A. A. Shakhmatov. The most ancient destinies of the Russian tribe). Mention of the Persian historian and geographer Gardizi of the XI century. that "in the land of the Slavs there is a city of Vantit" gave Shakhmatov a reason to bring Vantit closer to the Vyatichi and declare Artania as Ryazan, the most important city of the Slavic tribe of Vyatichi. In addition, the opinion was expressedthat Artania is Perm.
L. Niederle suggested that in the word "Artania" "r" stands erroneously instead of "n", and connected Artania with the name of "Antes". The Antes lived in the 4th - 7th centuries. in the Northern Black Sea region, between the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. The Ants formed the population of the Kiev region, Chernigov region and Polesye. BA Rybakov adhered to the same point of view. He connected Artania and Parkhomenko with the name of the ants, but he went further and suggested that Artania was Tmutarakan. Earlier the same idea was expressed by Ilovaisky (D. Ilovaisky. Investigations about the beginning of Russia). This theory received significant support, as it proved the existence of the southern center of statehood of the Rus and the prescription of the settlement of the Slavs in the Podonsko-Azov region. So this idea was supported by the researchers S. V. Yushkov, A. I. Sobolevsky and others.
Some data allow us to call the Ryazan region at least one of the centers of Arsy-Artania. Archaeological data show that Old Ryazan in the IX-X centuries. already existed as a city and, therefore, could be one of the centers of Russia. Arab authors recognized the Vyatichi as one of the main Slavic tribes. On the territory of the Vyatichi tribal union, there are many finds of dirhams (Arabic silver coins). And these finds are concentrated along the main river of the Vyatichi - the Oka. Black foxes and tin were exported from Artania - hunting for "black foxes" was carried out in Ryazan in the 15th century, and near Staraya Ryazan, in the area of the village. Bestuzhev, outcrops of tin ore were found, which were mined in antiquity. Tin products are known from the Maklakovsky burial mounds of this region of the 12th century.
Thus, Arsa-Artania, like Kuyavia and Slavia, was a Slavno Russian state, created in the 4th century. n. e. Apparently, Artania originally consisted of several principalities and occupied a large territory from the Kuban, part of the North Caucasus in the south to the Upper Volga region (Ryazan region, the land of the Vyatichi), from the Dnieper in the west and the Volga in the east. In the VIII century, Artania disintegrated under the pressure of the Khazars. Part of the Slavs-Rus became part of the population of Khazaria (Secret of Russian Khazaria). It is obvious that some of the state formations (principalities) of Artania survived. One of them, according to Eastern authors, was located between Khazaria and Volga Bulgaria. Later, when Rurikovich united Novgorod (Slavia) and Kiev, part of Artania (including the Tmutarakan principality and the lands of the Vyatichi) was also included in the new Russian state.
Author: Samsonov Alexander