Great Rus’ raid on the Caspian
About 913 a Rus’ fleet of some 500 ships, let through Khazaria for half of the booty, plundered the southern and western shores of the Caspian; on the way back it was destroyed in the Volga delta by the Muslim guard of the Khazar ruler, and the survivors were killed by the Burtas and the Volga Bulgars.
- Date
- between 913 and 914exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Abaskun and the southern Caspian coastapproximate locationtoday: Golestan and Mazandaran, Iran · Middle East and Egypt
- Route
- Strait of Kerch → Sarkel (Belaya Vezha) → Atil (Itil) → Abaskun → Shirvan and Baku → Atil (Itil)
- Participants
- Varangians, Khazar Khaganate, Volga Bulgaria
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Caspian raid of 913; Rus' raid on Abaskun; Поход русов на Каспий 913 года
The raid is known from al-Masudi, who places it shortly “after the year 300” of the Hijra (912–913); most historians date it to 913 or 913–914. The Rus’ entered the Sea of Azov through the Strait of Kerch, went up the Don past Sarkel, portaged to the Volga and descended into the Caspian, where they plundered Abaskun, Gilan, Daylam, Tabaristan and the coasts of Arran and Shirvan, including the Baku district.
On their return the Muslim guardsmen of the Khazar ruler obtained permission to avenge their co-religionists, and, according to al-Masudi, some 30,000 Rus’ were killed. The raid came two years after the treaty of 911 and shows both the reach of the Rus’ along the Volga route and the growing tension with Khazaria.
Connections
Related events
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatoliathe great Caspian raids came right after the peace treaties with Byzantium
- Sviatoslav’s campaign against the Khazars964 – between 968 and 969 · Eastern Europethe hostility between the Rus’ and the Khazars that ended with Sviatoslav’s campaign
Same participants
- Construction of Sarkelbetween 833 and 841 · Eastern Europevia Khazar Khaganate
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Varangians
- Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922 · Eastern Europevia Varangians
Adjacent events in the thread
- The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 5 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte911
- Founding of Cluny Abbeybetween 909 and 910
Eastern Europe
Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911
- Golden Age of Bulgaria under Simeon I893 – 27 May 927
- Battle of Achelous20 August 917
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Caspian expeditions of the Rus'
- Wikipedia (Russian): Каспийские походы русов
- Minorsky V. A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th–11th Centuries. — Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1958.
- Golden P. B. An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. — Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992.