The minaret of Bolgar, built by a vanished people
Editorial contextHaxthausen climbed the surviving minaret at Bolgar, which he credits to the old Bulgarian state destroyed by the Mongols and Tatars. The ruins stand beside a Russian church, Kazan Tatars still make pilgrimages to the saints' tombs there, and Alexander von Humboldt had scratched his name on the minaret wall.
The powerful and civilized Bulgarian people who founded this important city have quite disappeared, and the Russians, Tatars, Tchuvash, etc. have taken their place ; all trace of their physiognomy, customs, and language is lost. … We ascended the lofty minaret, which commands an extensive view over boundless forests.
About Volga Bulgars; Kazan Tatar pilgrims
Keep in mind
His claim that the Bulgars left no trace is his own opinion; the Kazan Tatars themselves (see his p.323) were often described as partly descended from them.
Gravestones of a princess and a man from Samarkand
Editorial contextThe journal prints some fifty epitaphs from Bulgary's grave mounds, copied in 1722 on Peter the Great's orders and translated into Russian by an akhun, a local translator and an Armenian (for the Armenian stones). Each begins 'The Lord is the living and immortal God' and gives a name and a Muslim year: a man 'from the city of Samarkand', a patriarch from Shirvan, a woman 'from the kingdom of Bulgaria', and this princess Sara, daughter of Achmet, who died in the year 670 of the Hijra (1271 or 1272). A translator's footnote notes that the year 623 (1226) appears most often and guesses there was an epidemic that year.
The Lord is the living and immortal God. This is the resting place of the most godly, very merciful, very beautiful, high-born and spotless, venerable and most faithful princess Sara, daughter of Achmet. She died in the year of Mohammed 670.
Working translation
Original wording
Der Herr ist der lebendige und unsterbliche Gott. Dies ist die Grabstätte der überaus gottseligen, sehr barmherzigen, sehr schönen, hochgebornen und unbefleckten, verehrungswürdigen und vielgläubigen Fürstin Sara, Tochter Achmets. Sie starb im Jahr von Mahomed 670.
About Muslim inhabitants of medieval Bulgar (epitaphs in 'Tatar script')
Keep in mind
A translation of a translation (Arabic-script original, then Russian, then German); names may be distorted.
Who destroyed Bulgary? Two stories
Editorial contextThe ruins of Bulgary on the Volga below Kazan were visited and measured by a student of Lepekhin's party, whose description the journal prints. It calls Bulgary 'an old Tatar town', turned by war from a famous city into a wretched village inside an earth rampart a whole mile round. The account notes that Russian writers and Tatar historians disagree about who destroyed it: the Tatars blame 'the Tatar robber Aisak Timir' (probably Aksak Timur, 'Lame Timur', that is Tamerlane), the Russians a Russian prince Yuri Dmitrievich, and the writer declines to decide.
As for the disagreement between the accounts of our writers and of the Tatar historians about the destroyer of Bulgary (for the latter ascribe its downfall to the Tatar robber Aisak Timir, the former to the [Russian] prince Yuri Dmitrievich), I can decide nothing here, since I do not know which of them is most to be believed.
Working translation
Original wording
Was inzwischen die Verschiedenheit den Erzählungen unserer Schriftsteller und der tatarischen Geschichtschreiber, in Ansehung des Zerstörers von Bulgary, anlangt; (denn diese schreiben ihren Untergang dem tatarischen Räuber Aisak Timir, jene aber dem … Fürsten Jurjew Dmitrjewitsch' zu): so kann ich hier nichts entscheiden, indem ich nicht weiß, wem man von ihnen am meisten glauben soll.
About Volga Bulgars and Tatars (the old town Lepekhin calls Tatar)
Keep in mind
The student's name is garbled in the scan. The two destroyer stories are reported from written histories, not checked.
'You Arabs are a stupid people': why the Rus burn their dead
Editorial contextAt the end of the famous ship funeral, in which a slave girl was killed and burned with her master, a Rus man spoke to Ibn Fadlan through the interpreter. Arabs, he said, bury their dearest in the earth to be eaten by worms, while the Rus burn theirs in an instant so they go straight to paradise. Then he laughed and said God's love had sent the wind to speed the fire.
'You Arabs,' he said, 'are a stupid people: you take the one who is dearest and most honoured to you among men and throw him into the earth, where crawling creatures and worms eat him. We, on the other hand, burn him in a moment, so that he enters paradise at once and without delay.'
Working translation
Original wording
ihr Araber, sagte er, seyd doch ein dummes Volk: ihr nehmt den, der euch der geliebteste und geehrteste unter den Menschen ist, und werft ihn in die Erde, wo ihn die kriechenden Thiere und Würmer fressen. Wir dagegen verbrennen ihn in einem Nu, so daß er unverzüglich und sonder Aufenthalt in's Paradies eingeht.
About Rus
Keep in mind
Words reported through an interpreter.
A round mound raised over the burned ship
Editorial contextAfter the ship cremation, Ibn Fadlan watched the Rus raise something like a round hill over the spot, set a large post of beech wood in the middle, and write on it the dead man's name and the name of the Rus king. It is a rare eyewitness account of a burial mound (kurgan) being built on the Volga.
Then, over the place where the ship drawn out of the river had stood, they built something like a round hill, set up in its middle a large post of beech wood, and wrote on it the name of the dead man together with that of the king of the Rus.
Working translation
Original wording
Darauf führten sie über dem Orte, wo das aus dem Flusse gezogene Schiff gestanden, etwas einem runden Hügel ähnliches auf, errichteten in dessen Mitte ein großes buchen Holz und schrieben darauf den Namen des Verstorbenen, nebst dem des Königs der Russen.
About Rus
Keep in mind
'Büchen Holz' is read here as 'beechwood post'; other translators render the wood as birch (khadank).
Tombstones of Bolgars or Tatars at Bolgari
Editorial contextIn December 1768 Pallas visited the ruins of Bolgari on the Volga, which he calls the former capital of the Bolgars, with a rampart about six versts round, a stone minaret and vaulted buildings. The old gravestones there carry mostly Arabic and a few Armenian inscriptions, dated by the Muslim calendar from 619 to 742 (about 1222 to 1341). He reads them as the graves of Bolgars or Tatars of every rank, and notes that some of the dead came from Shemakha and Shirvan, a sign of long-distance trade.
At Bolgari a great number of old gravestones have been found, mostly with Arabic but also some with Armenian inscriptions… The inscriptions contain nothing but a Muslim motto, … the name of the deceased and his descent or rank. They are partly noble Bolgars or Tatars of both sexes, partly clergy, partly common people and perhaps merchants.
Working translation
Original wording
Man hat bey Bolgari eine Menge alter Grabsteine mehrentheils mit arabischen, jedoch auch einige mit armenischen Aufschriften gefunden… Die Innschriften enthalten nichts, als einen mahometanischen Denkspruch, … den Namen des Verstorbenen und dessen Abstammung oder Würde. Es sind theils vornehme Bolgaren oder Tataren beyderley Geschlechts, theils Geistliche, theils Gemeine und vielleicht Kaufleute.
About Volga Bulgars and Tatars of the Golden Horde period
Keep in mind
Pallas relies on translations of the inscriptions made earlier on Peter the Great's orders; the dates are his conversion of Hijri years.
Bulgar on the Volga: mosques and wooden houses
Editorial contextThe author notes that the Burtas live in wooden houses, and that Bulgar is a city with Muslims and mosques, with a second Muslim town nearby, about ten thousand people in all. This is the Bolgar whose later ruins Russian and German travellers credited to the Tatars or the Bulgars. He also remarks on the very short summer nights.
In the district of Bertas the houses are built of wood. … Bulgar is the name of a city, where there are Mussulmans and mosques ; and near Bulgar is another town called *, where there are also Mussulmans and mosques. In these two cities there are about ten thousand inhabitants.
About Volga Bulgars and Burtas
Keep in mind
The asterisk marks a town name the translator could not read in his manuscripts (probably Suvar).
Gravestones in Turkish, Arabic and Armenian
Editorial contextRose reports what was known of Bulghar's gravestones from copies made for Peter the Great in 1722, since most stones had been built into the church. There were 27 in Turkish, 20 in Arabic and 3 in Armenian, each with a Quran verse, the name and lineage of the dead and a date. The oldest group, of 1226, gives the year by a chronogram meaning 'the coming of oppression', which Klaproth linked to an early Mongol raid.
Among the inscriptions are 27 in Turkish, 20 in Arabic and 3 in Armenian. They all contain a saying from the Quran … Most and at the same time the oldest inscriptions are from the year 623 of the Hijra, or 1226 of our era, but in these the year of death is given only by a chronogram meaning 'the coming of oppression'
Working translation
Original wording
Unter den Inschriften befinden sich 27 in türkischer, 20 in arabischer und 3 in armenischer Sprache. Sie enthalten alle einen Spruch des Koran … Die meisten und zugleich ältesten Inschriften sind aus dem Jahre 623 der Hedschra, oder dem Jahre 1226 unserer Zeitrechnung, aber das Todesjahr ist bei diesen nur durch ein Chronogramm, welches die Ankunft der Unterdrückung bedeutet, angegeben
About Muslim inhabitants of Bulghar under the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Second-hand: based on copies of copies, and Rose notes the Armenian texts could not be deciphered.
Wooden idols with human faces
Editorial contextWhen their boats arrived, each Rus trader went to a tall wooden post carved with a human face and ringed by smaller figures, bowed to the ground and listed his slave girls and sable furs, asking for a rich buyer. If trade went well he slaughtered cattle and sheep, left the meat before the idols and hung the heads on the posts; when dogs ate it at night, he said his lord was pleased.
He goes up to the large wooden figure, throws himself on the ground before it and says: 'O my lord, I have come from a distant land, bringing so many girls with me, and so many sable skins.'
Working translation
Original wording
Er tritt zu der großen hölzernen Figur, wirft sich vor ihr zur Erde nieder und spricht: o mein Herr! ich bin aus fernem Lande gekommen, führe so und so viel Mädchen mit mir, und von Zobeln so und so viel Felle,
About Rus merchants
Continue in this sourceIbn Fadlan's mission to the Volga, as preserved by Yaqut921 to 922 · 9 passagesOld stone buildings of Bulgary, one turned into a church
Editorial contextThe survey lists 44 ruined structures inside and around Bulgary's rampart, most of them stone houses measured in fathoms, plus towers and two 'columns' (round buildings, one about 12 fathoms round and as high). Inside the Russian monastery that had grown up on the site, one old stone building had been consecrated as a church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, and four big round towers still stood. The survey credits the rampart to the town's 'former inhabitants' and treats all of it as the remains of an old Tatar town.
In the monastery the following old buildings are found: 29) A stone house which has been consecrated as a church in honour of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, … and three and a half fathoms high. Further, four large towers of the following measurements: 30) The first is seven and a half fathoms round and 2 fathoms high.
Working translation
Original wording
In dem Kloster finden sich an alten Gebäuden: 29) Ein steinernes Haus, so zu einer Kirche, zu Ehren des h. Nikol Wunderthäters, geweihet worden, … und drey und einen halben Faden hoch. Ferner vier große Thürme, von folgendem Maas: 30) Der erste hat 7 und einen halben Faden im Umkreis, 2 Faden in der Höhe.
About Volga Bulgars and Tatars (the 'former inhabitants' of the town)
Keep in mind
Parts of this page are unreadable in the scan; only the clear lines are quoted.
Rus traders build big wooden houses on the Volga
Editorial contextIbn Fadlan says the Rus came downriver with their goods, anchored on the Itil (Volga) and built large wooden houses on the bank, each holding ten or twenty people with a bench for every man. He goes on to describe, with disgust, their public sex with slave girls and a shared washing bowl passed from man to man.
They come from their own country, anchor their ships in the Itil, which is a great river, and build large houses of wood on its banks. Ten or twenty of them, more or fewer, live together in one such house.
Working translation
Original wording
Sie kommen aus ihrem Lande, legen ihre Schiffe im Itil, welches ein großer Fluß ist, vor Anker und bauen sich an dessen Ufern große Häuser von Holz. In so einem Hause leben ihrer zehn oder zwanzig, auch mehr oder weniger, zusammen.
About Rus merchants
Keep in mind
The Rus were Scandinavian traders, not Tatars; the place is the Bulghar trading ground where Kazan Tatar history later begins.
The Great City of the Volga Bulgars burned
Editorial contextA year before they reached Rus, the Tatars came 'from the eastern lands' and took the 'glorious Great City' of the Volga Bulgars, a Muslim trading state on the middle Volga. The chronicler says they killed everyone, took a great quantity of goods and burned the city. The Great City is usually identified by historians with Bilyar.
That same autumn the godless Tatars came from the eastern lands into the Bulgar land, and took the glorious Great City of the Bulgars, and slew them with weapons from old man to youth to the infant at the breast, and took a great quantity of goods, and burned their city with fire, and captured all their land.
Working translation
Original wording
Тое же осени придоша отъ всточныя страны въ Болгарьскую землю безбожніи Татари, и взяша славный Великый городъ Болгарьскый, и избиша оружьемъ отъ старца и до унаго и до сущаго младенца, и взяша товара множство, а городъ ихъ пожгоша огнемъ, и всю землю ихъ плѣниша.
About Tatars (Mongols under Batu); Volga Bulgars
Keep in mind
Reported from Suzdal at a distance; 'from old man to infant' is a stock phrase for a massacre.
The Bulgar towns dug up to their foundations
Editorial contextThe first Russian capture of Kazan: Prince Iurii, sent by his brother Vasilii I, took the Bulgar towns on the Volga (Kazan, Bolgar, Zhukotin, Kermenchuk), raided the Golden Horde and 'dug all those towns up to their foundations', killing the Kazan tsar. The author says Kazan then stood empty for forty years. The passage lists real Volga towns of the Golden Horde era.
He went and took the Bulgar towns standing along the Volga, Kazan, and Bolgar, Zhukotin, Kermenchuk, and ravaged the Golden Horde, on the advice of the Crimean tsar Azigerei, and dug all those towns up to their foundations
Working translation
Original wording
Тои шедъ взя грады Болгарскія, по Волзе стояща, Казань, и Болгары, Жюкотинъ, Керменчюкъ, и Златую Орду повоева, по совету Крымского царя Азигерея, и вся тѣ грады до основанія раскопа
About Prince Iurii Dmitrievich of Moscow; the Bulgar-Tatar towns of the middle Volga
Keep in mind
The alliance with the Crimean khan Hacı Giray is an anachronism (he ruled in the 1440s to 1460s).
Bulghar, summer seat of the Golden Horde khans
Editorial contextRose summarises the history of Bulghar on the Volga: it suffered from 'Mongol-Tatar' raids, was conquered by Batu Khan in 1236, and then served the Golden Horde khans as their summer residence, with Sarai on the lower Volga as their winter seat. The next page adds that Marco Polo's father and uncle stayed there in 1261.
…was completely subdued in 1236 by Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, and incorporated into the Kipchak empire. The descendants of Genghis Khan in this empire, whom the Russians called the khans of the Golden Horde, chose Bulghar as their summer residence and Sarai on the lower Volga as their winter residence.
Working translation
Original wording
…von Batü Chan, dem Enkel von Dschingis Chan, 1236 völlig unterworfen und dem Kaptschakischen Reiche einverleibt wurde. Die Nachkommen Dschingis Chans in diesem Reiche, die von den Russen die Chane der Goldnen Horde genannt wurden, erwählten Bulghar zu ihrer Sommer-Residenz, und Serai an der untern Wolga zu ihrer Winter-Residenz.
About Volga Bulghars; Mongols of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Background history compiled from Klaproth, Frähn and Erdmann, not observation.
