Yerevan: VMV-Print Publ., 2014, 528 p.

A monographic study of the orientalist, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University Samvel Asaturovich Markaryan is devoted to the history of a Viking campaign to the East led by Ingvar the Traveler. The author's previous monograph was written on the topic "Seljuks in Iran in the XI century" (Markaryan, 1991). What could have prompted an Oriental historian to undertake a study of such an unusual subject for Oriental science as the Viking campaigns in the Caucasus

The reasons for the appearance of this research should be sought in the process of globalization and informatization, when "the formation of new value orientations in society not only affects the initial assumptions of the historian and the formulation of scientific problems, but also largely determines the potential results of his cognitive and creative activities" [Repina, 2011, p. 11]. In these conditions, research on migration issues "or the mobilising role of ethnic identity" takes the first place in terms of relevance [Repina, 2011, p. 10].

It is probably the" globalization of history "that editor G. Asatryan means when he says in the preface to S. A. Markaryan's monograph that" there is a need to unite the efforts of Scandinavian historians and linguists-Orientalists, primarily Caucasian and Armenian scholars, for a more thorough study of the texts of the Armenian chronicles of Stepanos Orbelian, Movses Kalankatuatsi and the Georgian Kartlis Tskhoverba"(p. 3).

The monograph consists of two chapters. The first chapter is called "Historical review of the military and political situation in the regions of Ancient Russia, Byzantium, Armenia and Georgia in the first half of the XI century" and consists of twelve paragraphs, each of which is essentially a separate scientific work. Most of these works were published in various periodicals, including the magazine Vostok, for the period from 1983 to 2013. Unfortunately, the monograph lacks the traditional sections for any historical research: an introduction written by the author, a review of sources and literature, and a conclusion, which largely makes it difficult for the reader to get acquainted with the results of the author's work.

In the first paragraph, A. S. Markaryan examines the main routes of the Great Silk Road that passed through Armenia, where there was a developed infrastructure: roads, caravanserais, hotels (p. 17). In the first half of the XI century, the "silver crisis" broke out in Western Europe, and this, according to A. S. Markaryan, was the reason for Ingvar's campaign to the East (p. 19 et seq.). At the end of the paragraph, the author provides information from the Georgian chronicle "Kartlis Tskhoverba" and the Armenian chronicle of the 13th century. Stepanos Orbelian, which attest to the presence of some Varangians in Georgia in the 40s of the XI century. Based on the data of the Icelandic "Saga of Ingvar", A. S. Markaryan identifies these Varangians as participants of Ingvar's campaign and offers his own version of the route of Ingvar's campaign from the Black Sea to the coast of the Caspian Sea (pp. 22, 24-29). As a practical test of the results of the reconstruction of the Ingvar hike route, A. S. Markaryan refers to the 2004 expedition led by the Swedish scientist Mats Larsson (p.32).

It is obvious that the concept of the "silver crisis" in Europe presented by the researcher needs a deeper justification, if this crisis was the reason for Ingvar's campaign and "was one of the main reasons for the crusades to the east" (p. 19, 25). The author speaks about the "plot of the Viking chivalrous exoticism" and the "chivalrous-Viking paraphernalia of the narration" of the "Ingvar Saga" (p. 31). The use of the term" chivalrous " in relation to Vikings needs further explanation. The author confuses " knights "and" Vikings", without separating the expansion of the Vikings themselves and their descendants, the Normans, who came from the Duchy of Normandy. This difference is best illustrated in the works of G. Jones [Jones, 2004, p. 231 et seq., p. 419 et seq.] and V. G. Vasilyevsky [Vasilevsky, 1908, p. 319]. Before putting Eric the Red and Robert Guiscard in the same row (p. 32), it is necessary to take into account the fact that the former was not a knight, and the latter was and if he acted in the tradition of the Vikings, he was not one. Such confusion of concepts could be avoided if there is a thorough internal historical criticism of the source.

In the tenth paragraph, A. S. Markaryan examines the evidence of the "Ingvar Saga" and simultaneously conducts a discussion about the reliability of the information presented in the saga. In his opinion, sagas can be used as a historical source, if we discard the "mythological and legendary attributes of sagas", namely dragons, tempting women, cyclops and giants (p. 199). " The "Saga of Ingvar" becomes a historical source only if it is compared with others-Russian, Georgian, Greek (Byzantine), Armenian, etc. - chronicles and chronicles of the period" (p. 202). But in this case, don't researchers acquire a new source sewn together from pieces of dissimilar materials-a chimera that reflects primarily the views of the researcher who created it? Thus, when comparing information from different groups of sources, it is necessary to identify the priorities and attitudes of the creators of the historical narrative.

Elements of the internal criticism of the "Ingvar Saga" are found in the sixth paragraph, in which A. S. Markaryan analyzes the saga's information about the Viking Soti's visit to a certain palace in the "land of Siggeum", where he meets with a "demon" who hands him the banner of King Harald. In this fact of "handing over the sacred banner", the author sees a certain symbol introduced by the monk Odd Snorasson, designed to demonstrate the continuity of the campaigns of Ingvar and Harald the Severe, "as if to inspire us with the idea that they should be perceived in one row of warriors-heroes, true Vikings and knights who gave their strength and life to campaigns and battles." adventure and the conquest of miracles, that is, the image presented in the saga to some extent corresponds to the type of an exemplary crusader knight " (p. 135).

A. S. Markaryan is certainly aware of the paramount need for a general characterization of sources. In the fifth paragraph, he presents a portrait of Eristav Liparit Bagvashi, created by Stepanos Orbelian and other Armenian historians. In paragraph 11 of the first chapter, he examines the life and career of Stepanos Orbelian and the fate of his work

"History of Syunik province". At the same time, the monograph does not contain a general description of "Matiane Kartlis", which is an integral part of the annals of "Kartlis Tskhoverba" and is one of the main sources for writing the monograph.

In the second paragraph of the first chapter, A. S. Markaryan focuses on the consideration of the possible participation of Ingvar's squad in the Rus ' campaign against Constantinople in 1043 (pp. 38-43). According to the author, after the unsuccessful war with the Byzantines, the Varangians of Ingvar, as part of the squad of Yaroslav the Wise's son Vladimir, were in Tmutarakan from 1043 to 1047. In December 1047. they again set out on a campaign against Constantinople, and again unsuccessfully. Based on the analysis of Georgian and Armenian sources, the author comes to the conclusion that the Varangians of Ingvar in 1048 went to the "eastern country of Serkland", the way to which lay through the eastern shore of the Black Sea (the Georgian Kingdom) and arrived in the then capital of Bagrations-Kutaisi (p. 48). In 1048-1049. Ingvar supported the Georgian king Bagrat IV in the fight against Liparit Bagvashi and was defeated by him in the Battle of Sasiret. Then the Varangians of Ingvar entered the service of Liparit and participated in the battle with the Seljuk Turks led by Ibrahim Yinal at the Kaputru fortress, as a result of which Liparit was captured, and most of the Varangians died (p. 48 et seq.).

In the next paragraph, A. S. Markaryan, comparing the data of the Georgian chronicle "Matiane Kartlis", "The Saga of Ingvar" and runic inscriptions on stones, reconstructs his version of the events of 1048-1049 in the Caucasus with the participation of the Varangians of Ingvar (p. 56-65); localizes the term "Serklad" within "historical Georgia" (p. 65-67); specifies the number of participants in Ingvar's campaign, of which he identifies 2,300 Slavs and Varangians (p. 68 et seq.); considers possible options for the route of the Varangian advance along the mountain rivers of the Caucasus (p. 69-73).

A. S. Markaryan is suspicious of the "difficult-to-explain passage" in the" Saga of Ingvar", which tells about the death of the Varangian leader and many of his men from an unknown disease, which was brought to the camp by some women (p.77). The fourth paragraph of the first chapter is devoted to the search for the causes of the death of the Varangians of Ingvar, judging by its title (p. 83). However, in this paragraph, A. S. Markaryan could not explain why "the skalds who retold the saga to each other did not know the true reason for the death of most of Ingvar's squad together with their leader" (p.95).

The researcher emphasizes that his " interpretation of the Georgian and Armenian chronicles in terms of reports about the Vikings-Vikings is based on an analysis of the international and military-political situation in the region of Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. The correspondence of the "Ingvar Saga" and the Georgian and Armenian chronicles may not be indisputable. It seems that new discoveries in this direction should be expected from the analysis of the originals of the ancient Georgian and Armenian chronicles " (p. 130).

In the ninth paragraph, the scientist returns to the question of the causes of the death of the Varangians of Ingvar and finds it possible to compare the data of the saga with the report of an Armenian historian of the X century. Movses Kalankatuatsi on the Rus 'raid on Berdaa in 943/945 (for some unknown reason, the author dates the Rus' campaign on Berdaa to 913-914). "Then the women of the city planned to poison the Ruz, giving them to drink from the cup of death, but those who learned about this betrayal began to mercilessly exterminate both women and their children" (p. 184). The author suggested that the creators of the saga knew about this story, but connected it with the campaign of Ingvar, and not the campaign to Berdaa. After all, the Vikings of Ingvar, according to the researcher, died in the battle with the Seljuk Turks at the Kaputru fortress, "but the defeat was hardly a suitable plot for the saga that celebrates the exploits of the Vikings, and therefore the plot with women did not appear very clear in the logic of events" ( p.184).

The plot of the death of a Viking detachment from illness is repeatedly recorded in both Western and Eastern sources: the destruction of Ragnar Lodbrok's detachment by Saxon Grammaticus; the death of the Rus from an unknown disease described in the life of Basil the New; the loss of the Rus from dysentery at Berdaa caused by excessive eating of fruit, given by Ibn Miskaveykh and a somewhat different version of this event al-Muqaddasi [Glazyrina, 2002, p. 115-120]. G. V. Glazyrina came to the conclusion that this story found its place in the "Saga of Ingvar the Traveler" due to the combination of two oral traditions, one of which tells about khevdings Ingvar, and the other about the leader of the Rus under Berda Prince Igor of Kiev [Glazyrina, 2002,p. 115-120]. 2002, pp. 122-124]. The role of women in this plot is explained by the "clerical or monastic environment" during the creation of the written text of the saga [Glazyrina, 2002, p. 128].

The absence of a section on historiography in the monograph does not mean that the author has completely abandoned the historiography of the problem of the route and dating of the campaign

Ingvar. At the same time, the reviews presented in this paper can be considered selective and incomplete. The list of references does not include the works of a number of scientists who have made a significant contribution to the study of the problem: I. Brensten, S. Lindqvist, D. Hoffman, etc. [Glazyrina, 2002, pp. 152-168]. The author considers O. Pritsak's version, according to which Ingvar's squad was sent to Khorezm in 1035 by Yaroslav the Wise to help the Oghuz people [Pritsak, 1997, p. 479], "hypothetical, since it is not confirmed by narrative (written) sources" (p. 84), and his conclusions are "unsubstantiated", " a prioriand "purely speculative" (p.31). However, this is not entirely true, since O. Pritsak's version is based on information from a Persian author of the XI century. Abu Bakr al Bayhaqi [Prshchak, 1997, p. 478], runology data [Pritsak, 1997, p. 473 et seq.], as well as on the analysis of the military-political situation in the Khorezm region [Pritsak, 1997, p.475-477].

The version of A. S. Markaryan and M. Larsson, who "came to similar conclusions, but in slightly different ways "(p. 23), according to the author, develops along the path indicated by J. R. R. Tolkien. Shepard (pp. 208, 254). At the same time, J. Shepard doubted whether the mention of the Varangians in Kartlis Tskhoverba was connected with Ingvar's campaign to the east (p. 204).

In the eighth paragraph of the first chapter, an Oriental scholar should pay special attention to the circumstances of the invasion of the Seljuk Turkic tribes and the battle of Kaputru fortress. The author considers a natural disaster to be a possible reason for the movement of Polovtsians and Oguzs from the Kazakh steppes (p. 149). In Iran, the Seljuks, who did not think about creating their own state until 1035, very quickly reached the heights of power and already in 1048-1049 the Turkic hordes led by Ibrahim Yinal and Kutulmysh invaded the borders of Byzantium, where in 1049 the Seljuks fought against the combined forces of the Byzantines, Georgians, Armenians and Vikings of Ingvar at the walls of Kaputru (p. 150). A. S. Markaryan offers an original assessment of this event, according to which it was the Seljuk victory in the battle of Kaputru fortress, and not the defeat of Roman IV Diogenes at Manzikert in 1071, that opened the way for the Turkic conquerors to Asia Minor (p.160).

In the second chapter, which consists of four paragraphs, A. S. Markaryan published the Swedish and English texts of the "Ingvar Saga", as well as the Russian translation and commentary to it from the English edition of the saga text, undertaken by X. Paulsson and P. Edwards. The author considers this version of the translation to be the most complete, but at the same time criticizes it for a certain "modernization" made when translating the source from Old Norse into English (p.196, 240). Although A. S. Markaryan compared the English translation text with the Icelandic and Swedish versions, we have to admit that such a practice of working with the source undermines confidence in the scientific conclusions of the scientist.

The Russian translation of "The Saga of Ingvar the Traveller", made by G. V. Glazyrina from Ancient Greek in 2002, is rejected by A. S. Markaryan on the grounds that there are "discrepancies" with the English translation, which "gives us grounds for comparisons and comparisons with the Georgian and Armenian sources known to us. The authors of the Saga of Ingvar the Traveler (2002) completely ignore the very possibility of the appearance of a Viking squad in the Caucasus and end his campaign in the region of the Crimea or the southern part of Eastern Europe, or even on the banks of the southern Dnieper" (p. 244 et seq.). It seems that the translation of A. S. Markaryan is intended to demonstrate not so much the opinions and attitudes of the creators of the "Ingvar Saga" and its subsequent translators, but rather the point of view of the researcher himself, repeatedly stated in the first chapter.

In the appendix to the monograph, the author offers excerpts from the Kartlis Tskhoverba chronicle on the Varangians in ancient Georgian and various versions of the Russian translation; photocopies from the manuscript of Stepanos Orbelian from the Yerevan Matenadaran; excerpts from the work of the Armenian chronicler in various editions and translations into Russian; illustrations with images of runic stones informing about Ingvar's campaign to the Caucasus. East.

It should be recognized that A. S. Markaryan's monograph "Varangians-Vikings in the Caucasus" fully meets the task of introducing the Russian reader to the "Caucasian version" of the Varangian campaign led by Ingvar Traveller. This concept is of particular interest to historians who study the penetration of the "Varangians-Vikings", as well as their descendants, the Normans, in various regions of the East. Finally, in Western Europe, the Normans succeeded in fulfilling a long-held Viking dream of conquering England. The Normans, pursuing the same goals as Ingvar the Traveler, tried to settle in Asia Minor, fighting on the side of the Byzantine emperors and Armenian rulers, and often against their employers. Finally, thanks to the First Crusade, they managed to establish a Norman state in Antioch.

list of literature

Glazyrina G. V. The Saga of Ingvar the Traveler / Text, translated and commented by G. V. Glazyrina, Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura, 2002.

Jones G. Vikings. Descendants of Odin and Thor / Translated from English by Z. Y. Metlitskaya, Moscow: ZAO Tsentrpoligraf, 2004.

Vasil'evsky V. G. Varyago-russkaya i varyago-angliyskaya druzhina v Konstantinopol ' XI-XII vv. [Varyago-Russian and Varyago-English squad in Constantinople of the XI-XII centuries].

Markaryan S. A. Varangians as part of the troops of Liparit Bagvashi in the battle of 1049 with the Seljuks // Messages (Moambe) of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia, vol. III. No. 2, Tbilisi, 1983.

Markaryan S. A. Seljuks in Iran in the XI century. Saratov, 1991.

Markaryan S. A. K voprosu ob identifikatsii Varyagov "Matiane Kartlis" i informatsii "Sagi ob Ingvar" [On the identification of the Varangians "Matiane Kartlis" and information from the "Saga of Ingvar"]. Rostov-on-Don, 1997. N 1.

Markaryan S. A. Once again about the death of the Varangians in the battle of 1049 with the Seljuks. Rostov-on-Don, 1998. N 1.

Markaryan S. A. On the localization of the toponym "Serkland"in Scandinavian runic inscriptions and sagas. 1999. N 2.

Markaryan S. A. Vikings of Ingvar near the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea / / Yaden dust (in memory of Professor A. Khromov). Yerevan, 1999.

Markaryan S. A. About the personality of the leader of the Viking squad in the Caucasus in the XI century. Yerevan, 2000. N 1.

Markaryan S. A. "Varangi" of "Matiane Kartlis" in the historical work of the Armenian author of the XIII century. Stepanos Orbelyan / / Proceedings of TSU. Annual. N 338. Tbilisi, 2001.

Markaryan S. A. The Armenian historian Stepanos Orbelian on the Vikings of Ingvar. 2004. N 6.

Markaryan S. A. "The Saga of Ingvar" on the Viking expedition through the Caucasus / / 37th ICANAS World Congress. Theses, Vol. 2, Moscow, 2004.

Pritsak, O. The Adventures of Russia. Стародавнi скандинавськi джерела (крiм iсландських саг). Т. 1. Киев: Обереги, 1997.

Repina L. P. Istoricheskaya nauka na rubezhe XX-XXI vv [Historical science at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries]. social theories and historiographic practice, Moscow: Krug Publ., 2011.

Brønsted J. The Vikings / Tr. by K. Skov. London, 1965.

Hofmann D. Die Yngvars saga víðfǫrla und Oddr munkr inn fróði // Speculum norroenum. Norse Studies in Memory of Gabriel Turville-Petre. Odense, 1981.

Larsson M. Vart for Ingvar den vittfarne? // Fornvännen. 1983. Årg. 78.

Larsson M. Ingvarstågets arkeologiska bakgrund // Fornvännen. 1986. Årg. 81.

Larsson M. Yngvarr's Expedition and the Georgian Chronicle // Saga-Book. 1986-1989. Vol. XXII. Pt. 2. 1987.

Larsson M. Ett ödesdigert vikingståg. Ingvar den Vittfarnes resa 1036-1041. Bokförlaget Atlantis, 1990.

Larsson M. Runstenar och utlandsfärder. Aspekter på det senvikingatida samhället med utgångspunkt i de fasta fornlämningarna. Lund, 1990 (Acta archaeologica Ludensia. Scries in 8^o. Nr 18).

Lindqvist S. Emund slema och Ingvar vittfaren // Saga och sed. 1968.

Pálsson P., Edwards P. Vikings in Russia. Yngvar's saga and Eymund's saga. Edinburgh, 1989.

Shepard J. Yngvarr's Expedition to the East and a Russian Inscribed Cross // Saga-Book. 1982-1985. Vol. XXI. Pt. 3-4. 1984-1985.

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