Paphlagonian expedition of the Rus'

The Paphlagonian expedition of the Rus is documented in the Life of St. George of Amastris, attributed to Ignatios the Deacon (ca. 775 - ca. 848). The Life describes the Rus as "the people known to everyone for their barbarity, ferocity, and cruelty". According to the text, they attacked Propontis (probably aiming for Constantinople) before turning east and raiding Paphlagonia some time after the death of St. George (ca. 806). When they fell upon the city of Amastris, the intercession of St. George helped the inhabitants to survive the raid.

Vasily Vasilievsky, who was the first to publish the text in 1893, demonstrated that the attack had happened during the period of Iconoclasm (before 842). Constantine Zuckerman dates the invasion to the 830s and interpretes the 839 embassy of the Rus to Constantinople (as recorded in the Annals of St. Bertin) as their attempt to negotiate a peace treaty. Other scholars believe the raid took place as early as 818 or 819. [Treadgold W. "Three Byzantine Provinces and the First Byzantine Contacts with the Rus' " // Proceedings of the International Congress Commemorating the Millennium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine (Harvard Ukrainian Studies 12/13, 1988/1989) / Eds. O. Pritsak, I. Sevcenko. Cambridge Mass., 1990, 132-144.] Occasional sceptics postulate that the description of the invasion was inserted into the Life considerably later, probably in the 10th century, and reflects the situation of that period. [Markopoulos A. "La Vie de Saint Georges d'Amastris et Photius." // Jahrbuch Österreichischer Byzantinistik, 1979, 28, pp. 75-82.]

The Rus' were mentioned in some Byzantine sources even before the Paphlagonian expedition. The late medieval Life of St. Stephen of Sugdaea records the invasion led by a certain Bravlin of the Rus, who supposedly devastated Crimea in the 790s. Theophanes the Confessor, while describing Constantine V's expedition against the Bulgars in 773, mentions that he embarked upon the Russian ships (ρουσιάχελάνδιά). This reading has been disputed by some historians, who prefer to follow the medieval Latin translation of Theophanes' work. In this version of the text, "Rosia" ("Rus") is replaced with "rubea" ("red").

References

;General
*Vasily Vasilievsky. Русско-византийские исследования. St. Petersburg, 1893.
*George Vernadsky. "The Problem of the Early Russian Campaigns in the Black Sea Area". // American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Feb., 1949), pp. 1-9.
*Andrey Sakharov. Дипломатия древней Руси: IX - первая половина X в. Moscow, 1980.
*Efthymiadis St. "On the Hagiographical Work of Ignatius the Deacon". // Jahrbuch Österreichischer Byzantinistik, 1991, 41, pp. 73-83.

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