Arthania ( ''’Arṯāniya'', , , ) was one of the three states of the
Rus
Rus or RUS may refer to:
People
* East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia
** Rus' people, the people of Rus'
** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus
* Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...
or
Saqaliba
Saqaliba (, singular ) is a term used in medieval Arabic sources to refer to Slavs, and other peoples of Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe. The term originates from the Middle Greek '' slavos/sklavenos'' (Slav), which in Hispano-Ara ...
(
early East Slavs
The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects
who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...
) with the center in Artha described in a lost book by
Abu Zayd al-Balkhi
Abu Zayd Ahmed ibn Sahl Balkhi () was a Persian Muslim polymath: a geographer, mathematician, physician, psychologist and scientist. Born in 850 CE in Shamistiyan, in the province of Balkh, Greater Khorasan, he was a disciple of al-Kindi. He a ...
(dating from ca. 920) and mentioned in works by some of his followers (
Ibn Hawqal
Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Al-Jazira (caliphal province), Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronic ...
,
Al-Istakhri
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri () (also ''Estakhri'', , i.e. from the Iranian city of Istakhr, b. – d. 346 AH/AD 957) was a 10th-century travel author and Islamic geographer who wrote valuable accounts in Arabic of ...
,
Hudud ul-'alam
The ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' (, "Boundaries of the World," "Limits of the World," or in also in English "The Regions of the World") is a 10th-century geography book written in Persian by an anonymous author from Guzgan (present day northern Afg ...
).Oriental Sources on Old East Slavs, by An. Novoseltsev /ref> The two other centers were
Slawiya
Slawiya, as-Slawiya ( ''Ṣ(a)lāwiya'') was one of the three parts of the Rus' with the center in Holmgard (identified with the land of Ilmen Slavs) described in a lost book by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (dating from c. 920) and mentioned in works by som ...
( ''Ṣ(a)lāwiya''; tentatively identified with the land of
Ilmen Slavs
The Novgorod Slavs, Ilmen Slavs (, ''Il'menskiye slovene''), or Slovenes (not to be confused with the South Slavic Slovenes) were the northernmost tribe of the Early Slavs, and inhabited the shores of Lake Ilmen, and the river basins of the ...
, see
Rus Khaganate
Rus' Khaganate (, ''Russkiy kaganat'', , ''Ruśkyj kahanat''), or Kaganate of Rus is a name applied by some modern historians to a hypothetical polity suggested to have existed during a poorly documented period in the history of Eastern Europe b ...
) and
Kuyaba
Kuyaba ( ''Kūyāba'') was one of the three centers of the Rus or Saqaliba (early East Slavs) described in a lost book by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (dating from ca. 920) and mentioned in works by some of his followers (Ibn Hawqal, Al-Istakhri, Hudud ...
( ''Kūyāba''; usually identified with
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
).
Ibn Hawqal
Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Al-Jazira (caliphal province), Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronic ...
claims that nobody has ever visited Artha because the locals kill every foreigner attempting to penetrate their land. They are involved in trade with
Kuyaba
Kuyaba ( ''Kūyāba'') was one of the three centers of the Rus or Saqaliba (early East Slavs) described in a lost book by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (dating from ca. 920) and mentioned in works by some of his followers (Ibn Hawqal, Al-Istakhri, Hudud ...
, selling sable furs, lead, and a modicum of slaves.
Modern historians have been unable to pinpoint the location of Arthania. A linguistic line of argument leads some historians to such far-away places as
Cape Arkona
Cape Arkona (), also spelled Arcona, is a 45-metre (150-foot) high Cape (geography), cape on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It forms the tip of the Wittow peninsula, just a few kilometres north of the Jasmund National P ...
on the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
Mordva
Mordvins (also Mordvinians, Mordovians; ; no equivalents in Moksha and Erzya) is an official term used in Russia and the Soviet Union to refer both to Erzyas and Mokshas since 1928.
Names
While Robert G. Latham had identified ''Mordva'' as ...
nation; see ''
Gelons and Mordvins
Vladimir Nikolayevich Semenkovich (, 1861 – 1932) was a Russian ethnologist and archaeologist, best known for his work in historical geography of Upper Don and Oka ''Gelonians and Mordvins'' where he had identified some of the Herodotus's trib ...
'') and the
Plisnesk
Plisnesk archaeological complex is a group of archaeological sites located near the khutir of Plisnesk (now part of Pidhirtsi, Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast), at the source of the Buzhok river.'' Филипчук М. А''Plisnesk Пліснеськ ...
George Vernadsky
George Vernadsky (; August 20, 1887 – June 12, 1973) was a Russian-born American historian and an author of numerous books on Russian history.
European years
Born in Saint Petersburg on August 20, 1887, Vernadsky stemmed from a respectable ...
Tmutarakan
Tmutarakan (, ; ) was a medieval principality of Kievan Rus' and trading town that controlled the Cimmerian Bosporus, the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, between the late 10th and 11th centuries. Its site was the ancient Greek col ...
), while
Vladimir Minorsky
Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (; – 25 March 1966) was a White Russian academic, historian, and scholar of Oriental studies, best known for his contributions to the study of history of Iran and the Iranian peoples such as Persians, Lurs, and ...
connected "Arsa" with
Ryazan
Ryazan (, ; also Riazan) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 C ...
. No archaeological confirmation of these linguistic speculations has ever been produced.
Modern Russian historiography tends to identify Arthania with the land of the Merya serving the
Volga trade route
In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea and the Sasanian Empire, via the Volga River. The Rus' (people), Rus used this route to trade with Muslim history#The Umayyad Calipha ...
.Отечественная история: история России с древнейших времен до 1917 года. Том 1. Стр. 157. Большая Российская энциклопедия, 1994.
Anatoli Novoseltsev
Anatoly Petrovich Novoseltsev (Анатолий Петрович Новосельцев; 26 July 1933, Irkutsk, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – 12 September 1995 Moscow, Russia) was a Russian orientalist who brought to light and transla ...
. Образование Древнерусского государства и первый его правитель. // Вопросы истории. 1991. № 2-3. С. 9. Мачинский А.А. О времени и обстоятельствах первого появления славян на северо-западе Восточной Европы по данным письменных источников. // Северная Русь и ее соседи в эпоху раннего средневековья. Л., 1982. С. 22. Archaeological evidence points to
Sarskoe Gorodishche
Sarskoye Gorodishche or Sarsky fort (, literally "Citadel on the Sara") was a medieval fortified settlement in present-day Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. It was situated on the bank of the Sara River, a short distance from Lake Nero, to the south of ...
and
Timerevo
Timerevo (, ) is an archaeological site near the village of Bolshoe Timeryovo, seven kilometers southwest of Yaroslavl, Russia, which yielded the largest deposits of early medieval Arabic coins in Northern Europe.
Description and history
The s ...
as its main centers. The native name of either town remains unknown.