XXXII Международный конгресс ИИСАА. 26–28 апреля 2023 г.

Россия и Восток. К 300-летию СПбГУ. Материалы конгресса 77 Источниковедение и историография арабских стран. Чтения памяти академика и. Ю. Крачковского... Matveyev A. S. (SPbU, Saint-Petersburg) International Long-distance Trade in Europe and Beyond in the Ninth Century: Ibn Khurdadhbeh’s account on the Trade Routes of the Jewish merchants al-Radhaniyya and the East European traders al-Rus The famous accounts from ‘ Kitab al-masalik wa-l-mamalik ’ (‘The book of routes and kingdoms’) by the Arab Geographer Ibn Khurdadhbeh (ca. 820 — after 892) on the trade routes of the Jewish merchants al-Radhaniyya (conveniently named in the scholarly literature as the ‘Radhanites’) and the East European traders al-Rus (sometimes incorrectly rendered as the ‘Russians’) have long attracted scholarly attention. Nevertheless, the questions raised by Ibn Khurdadhbeh’s account are by no means solved, starting from the name of al-Radhaniyya , with proposed etymology ranged from ‘those from the Rhona’ (Lat. Rhodanus ) to the ‘knowers of the way’ (from the Persian rah «way, path» and dān «one who knows»). This account became a keystone (in fact, the only stone, since no other source mentions the Radhanites) for a wide picture of the Jewish Medieval trade empire across Europe andAsia, though some scholars (notably Cl.Cahen) doubted the very existence of al-Radhaniyya ‘corporation’. The Rus account raises no fewer questions, being inter alia used to ‘prove’ that al-Rus were the Slavs — by misinterpreting Ibn Khurdadhbeh’s sentence: “ wa hum djins min al-saqaliba ” (‘they [ al-Rus ] are a kind of the Slavs’). Ibn Khurdadhbeh’s account importance is primarily due to a snapshot of the 9th century Middle Eastern long-distance trade it provides, depicting main internal trade roads inside the Caliphate as well as external commercial routes connecting the Middle East with both the North (Western and Eastern Europe) and the (Far) East (India, South-WestAsia, China): (1a) The routes of the Jewish merchants al-Rādhāniyya who speak Arabic, Persian, Roman [=Greek], Frankish, Andalusian, and Slavic languages. They journey from al-Maghrib [West] to al-Mashriq [East], from al-Mashriq to al-Maghrib by land and by sea, and transport from al-Maghrib (male) slaves/eunuchs [ al-khadam ], female slaves [ al-djawāri ], ghulam s [youth slaves], brocade, skins of castor, other furs, /and sable 1 /, and swords. They embark from the land of Franks [ Firanja ] on the Western [ al-gharbi ] sea and disembark in Farama [Pelusium in Egypt]. They transport their goods on pack animals to al-Qulzum [near Suez], while (the distance) between them twenty-five farsakh s. Then they embark on the Eastern sea from al-Qulzum to al-Jar and al-Jeddah. Afterwards they go to Sind, Hind, and China, and transport from China musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon, and other (products), which are being brought from those areas, until they return to al-Qulzum. Then they transport (their goods) to Farama. Afterwards they embark on the Western sea. Sometimes they turn to Constantinople and sell (their goods) to the Romans [ al-Rum ]; sometimes they go to the king of the land of Franks [ Firanja ] and sell (their goods) there. 1 Omitted in Ms. B.