al-Masudi (c. 896–956), was a historian, geographer, and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the ‘Herodotus of the Arabs’. A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geography, natural science, and philosophy, his celebrated magnum opus The Meadows of Gold (Murūj al-Dhahab) combines universal history with scientific geography, social commentary, and biography. Al-Mas’udi’s travels actually occupied most of his life from at least 903/915 A.D. to very near the end of his life. His journeys took him to most of the Persian provinces, Armenia, Georgia, and other regions of the Caspian Sea; as well as to Arabia, Syria, and Egypt. Below are some quotes from that book available on the Archive.com.
Important note. Al-Masudi used the term the Rus in his book and it was the book editors’ blunder to substitute it with ‘Russians’. It is a mistake equal to translating the term Roman as Romanian. Russia has nothing to do with the Rus apart from being their tributary starting with the time of Sviatoslav the Brave of Kyiv. (For details why it is so, check the “Gardariki, Ukraine” e-book)
“From the upper course of the river of the Khazar (Wolga), an arm branches off (the Don), that falls into a narrow gulf of the sea, Pontus, which is the sea of the Rus; for no nation, excepting the Rus, navigates this sea. They are a great nation, living on one of the coasts of this sea. They neither have a king nor do they acknowledge a positive law (revelation). Many of them are merchants, and trade with the kingdom of the Targhiz. The Rus are in possession of great silver mines, which maybe compared with those in the mountain of Lahjir in Khorasan.”
The testimonies like this are a strong argument against the whole ‘Rurik story’ and the origin of the term Rus in Scandinavia because there is absolutely no way that the Scandinavians received the same description as a great nation living on the shores of the Black Sea at such an early date. As a reminder, according to the ‘official’ version, Oleg came from Novgorod to Kyiv only around 880.
“Kyiv Rus in Heimskringla Sagas and Byzantine Texts” takes much closer look at the whole story about Novgorod and the Rus.
