Abstract
Linguists have identified 37 Iranian hydronyms from the 1st millennium AD in the Middle Dnieper region, to which the author adds another 7–8 of his own of Sogdian and Khotan-Saka origin. In total, there are about 45, of which approximately one-third are Eastern Iranian, which serves as a solid basis for the Sogdian and Khotan-Saka etymologies of the names of the cities and their localities there – Kyev, Sambatas, Khorevitsa, Chernigov, Kanev. Archaeological verification of these toponymic data about Sogdians in the Middle Dnieper region is provided by artifacts of Central Asian-Iranian origin found in its burial grounds and hoards from the 6th–10th centuries. Next, the data from Arabic sources on Eastern and Rus’-Varangian trade in Crimea in the 9th–10th centuries are examined. Given the value of goods coming from Rus’ – male and female captives, precious furs, which brought enormous profit – after Crimea, the Sogdians logically proceeded to develop an important trade artery of Eastern Europe – the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, which ran from Byzantium to Scandinavia and back along the Dnieper. According to toponymics and literary sources, the author reconstructs an extensive trade route from Sogdiana to the Middle Dnieper region in the 7th–10th centuries. From Sogdiana, it went to Northern Iran, then to Dagestan, where in the 8th century there was the region of Σουγδία “Sogdian”. From there, the route led to Taman/Tmutarakan, then to Crimea, where there were three Sogdian factories (Kerch, Sanabatis, Sudak – their names, including Tmutarakan and Taman, are Sogdian). Further, the route led to the mouth of the Dnieper estuary, as indicated by the Sogdian etymology of the name of the Dnieper estuary Kočo (= Sogd. kū̆ čā “estuary”) in the 7thcentury Armenian geography “Ashkharatsuyts”. From here, the Sogdians sailed up the Dnieper to Kanev, Kyev, and Chernihigov. In conclusion, the author emphasizes Crimea, where the first trade contacts between Sogdians and Scandinavian Rus’ most likely took place. The Sogdian name of the city of Sugdea (Sudak) in the “Ravenna Cosmography”, compiled around AD 700, indicates the presence of Sogdians in Crimea as early as the 7th century. On the other hand, the first known conquest campaign of the Rus’ in Crimea, led by the Novgorod prince Bravlin, was at the end of the 8th – beginning of the 9th century. However, the 7th-century Sogdian name of the Dnieper-Bug estuary Kočo/Kū̆ čā indicates that Sogdian merchants reached the Dnieper route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” at this time, i.e., they had contact with Russian merchants. Thus, during the peak of their trading activities in the 7th–8th centuries, the Sogdians established their permanent factories in Taman, Eastern Crimea, and possibly temporary ones in the Middle Dnieper region. But as Kyev, Chernihigov, and Kanev developed into major cities in the 9th century, their Sogdian names reveal that the trading posts were no longer temporary but permanent, and held considerable importance for the city dwellers.
Keywords
Iranian hydronymy in the Middle Dnieper basin, Sogdian commercial outposts of the 8th–10th centuries, tracing the trade route from Sogdiana via Northern Iran, the North Caucasus, Taman, and Crimea, along the Dnieper “route from the Varangians to the Greeks”.