The geography of the Pontic Steppe in the 9–10th century

Péter Juhász

The geography of the Pontic Steppe in the 9–10th century

This study intends to present the geographic perceptions of the early medieval sources describing the Eastern European steppe. The main goal is to outline the dwelling places of the Hungarians in the 9th century and the Pechenegs in the 10th century on the Pontic steppe. The sources, I examine here, embody very different points of view and come from different cultural circles. The so-called Armenian Geography from the 7th century, the Byzantine De administrando imperio with information from the late 9th and mid-10th centuries, and the Persian Ḥudūd al-ʿālam (Regions of the World) from the late 10th century. As an important addition, some important pieces of the Muslim Jayhānī tradition from the very beginning of the 10th century. The first three sources give a detailed description of Eastern Europe, presenting the peoples, countries and borders living in the vast area east of the Carpathians and north of the Black Sea. Harmonizing their mental map is a rather difficult task in several cases due to the dynamic changes in steppe conditions. Armenian Geography is important in understanding the hydrography and determining where the Bulgars lived. I outlined the area controlled by the Hungarians and then the Pechenegs near the Black Sea primarily on the basis of the DAI. The Ḥudūd provides additional important pieces of information for this, but it caused serious difficulties in several cases, such as the localization of different Bulghār countries or the Mirvāt. These two sources complement each other well for the two groups of Pechenegs, east and west of the Volga. The examined sources add up to a very dynamic map of the Eastern European steppe from the 7th to the 10th century, showing the political processes in their progress.

9th-10th centuries, geographic perceptions, Eastern European steppe, Armenian, Byzantine and Muslim sources, Hungarians, Bulgarians