Tmutarakan', an Outlying Land

by Sergei V. Rjabchikov
Tumany moi temnye, nichegohon'ko bylo,
Da skvoz' eti tumany nichegohon'ko ne vidno.
Oy da tol'ko viden bylo da odin syr dubochek,
Pod kotorym bylo da ya, krasnaya devushka,
Da ves' den' ya s milym prostoyala;
Ya pro vse to, pro vse da s milym druzhkom govorila,
Odno taynoe slovechko skazat' emu pozabyla!
O my dark mists, it was not bad,
And one could see nothing through these mists.
And one small damp oak was seen only,
I, a beautiful girl, stood under it
With my beloved for a whole day;
I spoke about everything with my sweet heart,
But I forgot to tell him one secret word!

A NEW BOOK ON TMUTARAKAN'
Contents: Introduction. Rune Dagaz. Sign 'Eye'. Sign 'Cross'. Sign 'Triangle'. Sign of Princes, Descendants of Ryurik. Different Tmutarakan' Signs. Testimonies about the Monastery of Saint Nikon. Registration of Astronomical Observations. Testimonies about Russian Rulers. Autograph of Prophetic Boyan. Inhabitants of Tmutarakan' in Novgorod. Money and Metrology of the Old Russia. Notes. References. Illustrations.
In this book new materials on the decipherment of the graffiti of the ancient town Tmutarakan' (Tmutorokan') are included; on this basis the author offers the interpretation of different aspects of the history and culture of the Old Russia.
The nomad Scythians (cf. Greek skythes 'Scythian' connected with the Slavonic root skit: skitat'sya 'to wander', cf. also Russian skit 'small and secluded monastery') - the ancestors of the Slavs - named the area of the Sea of Azov Temarundam matrem maris (Vasmer 1987: 17). This expression means 'The Darkness howls; the mother of the sea/death' in Proto-Slavonic. This ancient formula was preserved in the Russian fairy-tales about Mar'ya-Morevna 'Mar'ya (Mary) of the sea'. After many years this place name was transformed into Tamatarha. For a long time the Russians lived in the town (fortress) Tamatarha on an island washed by the Black Sea, Kerch Strait and the two branches of the river Kuban. Sometimes this fortress was called Samkrz (Vasmer 1987: 66) consisting of Russian zamok 'fortress ' and Ros 'Russians'. The Russian Principality Arsa existed in the 9th century according to the Arabic sources (Sakharov and Novosel'tsev 1997: 62) was in my opinion connected with this town. Now here is stanitsa Taman' (the Taman' Peninsula, Krasnodar Territory, Russia). The name of the river Kuban is mentioned as Oukrouh (Ukruh) in the book "De Administrando Imperio" by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (1989: 175, 404). But it is Old Church Slavonic ukruh 'round of bread'. It is no wonder: the Greeks exported the cereals from this area. In the same work Kerch Strait was called Bourlik (Burlik), and an islet located in the middle of the strait was called Ateh. I believe that in the first case the term compares with Russian burlit' 'to seethe' associated with the word burya 'storm' (Vasmer 1986: 246). The second term may correspond to Old Russian at' 'let' and Sanscrit ati 'across, over, through; to that side'. So these names describe the climatic conditions of the place and its role as a control point. It is of interest that ostrov Buyan 'the island of storms' is presented in the Russian folklore.
According to the Life of Saint Stephan of Surozh, the Russian Prince Bravlin brought his army to the Crimea from the town Novgorod (literally from the New Town or Tmutarakan') in the end of the 8th century (Klyuchevsky 1987: 145; Bogoslovsky 1998: 23-4). On the other hand, the name of the Russian Prince Bravlin is written on a coin from the ancient Russian town Tomi (Tamatarha). So the first authentic dating of this town (later Tmutarakan') is the end of the 8th century.
The signs inscribed on the fragment of a Tmutarakan' (Tamatarha) vessel are a Scandinavian trace in the history of this town. In this light G. Vernadsky's hypothesis (1948) is justified: "Halgu, the king of Russia" mentioned in The Letter of the Khazarian Jew of 10th century is a Prince (kaghan) of the Tmutarakan' Russians and a son of the Kievan Prince Igor. In 941 the Kievan and Tmutarakan' armies waged war with the Byzantine Empire. In 943-944 the army of Prince Halgu took the town Bardaa in Azerbaijan, and he perished. In conformity with the afore-mentioned letter, the Khazars wiped out many Christians. The letter tells that after the death of Halgu, Russia (RWS) was subordinate to the Khazars.
From this letter it transpires that as Halgu (HLGW) was the ruler of Rus or Russia (RWSY), the Tmutarakan' Principality was used in reference to the term Rus. The Nominative case is RWS (RUS), i.e. 'Rus, Russia', the Genitive case is RWSY (RUSI), i.e. Russian Rusi 'of Rus, of Russia'. What this means is the Khazarian document registered the Russian speech. Moreover, when Vernadsky (1948) considers the Byzantine-Russian treaty of 945, he supposes that the title "the Russian Prince" corresponded to the sovereign of Tmutarakan'. O.V. Bogoslovsky (1988) connects the initial Russia with the ancient settlement Golubitskaya situated on one of islands which are the components of the Taman' Peninsula now. I cannot agree with this hypothesis, and I insist that the initial Russia was Tmutarakan'. The words of A.V. Kartashev, the historian of the Russian Church - "Maybe, it will seem strange at first sight if we say that here, in Christian Tamatarha, even in the 8th century, i.e. prior to the conditional "beginning" of the state, we have already discovered Russia".- resemble my conclusion. I should like to mention the words which are cited by Bogoslovsky, with an amendment that actually they describe the Tmutarakan' island (the ancient settlement Germonassa-Tmutarakan'). Kartashev describes the initial Russia in the following manner: "This mobile mass of peoples which consisted of Slavs, Scandinavians, and, maybe, partially Scythian-Iranians or even Turkis made this Russia from the end of the 8th century till the beginning of the 9th century; this mass roamed and was dissipated along all northern shores of the Black Sea which had already been christianized by the Byzantine". According to "The Collection of the Histories" of 1126, "Rus and Khazar were siblings. When Rus had grown, he had no place which he liked; he wrote a letter to Khazar and asked his brother to give him a part of his country to settle there. Rus searched and found a place for himself. This island was neither large, nor small, with swampy soil and rotten air; he settled there". This feature fits the meaning of the place name Sibensis near Tamatarha, based on Sindian *sibi- 'swamp' (Trubachev 1977: 22). Now it is possible to correct the conclusions made by hegumen Nikon (Lysenko) and Bogoslovsky. I believe that "Photios" baptism - the first baptism of Russia! - took place in the ancient town Tmutarakan', but not in the ancient town Golubitskaya. I agree with the opinion of these scientists that this baptism could be performed by Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Kirill (Cyril) and Mephodiy (Methodius) in 861.
Since 988 the Russian chronicles had reported the following names of this town: Tmutarakan', Tmutorokan', Tmutorokon', T'mutorokan', Tmutorotan', Torokan', and even Turokan'. The remnants of the houses, of an Orthodox church and of fortress walls of the town are preserved.
The coat of arms of Tmutarakan' is depicted in fig. 2. Its components are a spear, a wall of the fortress and the Orthodox cross. Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, a son of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich Krasnoe Solnyshko (the Beautiful Sun) who baptized Rus, reigned here from 988 till 1034. The Russian Princes sought shelter here from intestine strifes. It is common knowledge that according to one of legends, Prince Oleg (? - 912) who had governed prior to Prince Igor (? - 945) the Kievan Russia, went oversea, where he died from a snake's bite. One should be very careful to speculate that Prince Oleg visited Tamatarha (Tmutarakan'), where he died from a snake's bite or, on the contrary, he was poisoned. The chronicles reported briefly about Princes who ruled the country: they were Yaroslav Vladimirovich Mudry (the Wise) (ruled from 1034 till 1054), Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (from 1054), Gleb Svyatoslavich (till 1064; in 1065; after 1066), Rostislav Vladimirovich (from 1064 till 1065; from 1065 till 1066), Roman Svyatoslavich (from 1077 till 1079), Oleg Svyatoslavich (from 1078 till 1079; from 1083 till at least 1094), Boris Vyacheslavich (in 1078), Vsevolod Yaroslavich and his posadnik (governor of the state appointed by the Prince) Ratibor (from 1079 till 1081), Davyd Igorevich (from 1081 till 1083), Volodar' Rostislavich (from 1081 till 1083). According to the record on a seal, Prince Oleg was an archon (ruler) of Matraha (Tmutarakan'), Zihia and all the Khazars (Yanin 1970: 26; Bogoslovsky 1993: 52). In Slovo o polku Igoreve (The Song of Igor's Host), a masterpiece of the earliest Russian literature, the Prince was called kaghan (the ruler of the Khazars). The Russian town Belaya Vezha (former Sarkel) on the river Don and a part of the Crimean Peninsula belonged to Tmutarakan' Rus as well.
The area of the Kasogs (Circassians) had become a part of Tmutarakan' Principality since 1024 or even since 965. It should be pointed out that there are the reflexes of the ancient Russian influence in the Circassian language: they are, for example, Circassian sheudzhen 'the Christian priest' from Russian zakon 'law (of God)', Circassian same, sam - 'heap, pile, masses' from Russian zamok 'castle; lock' (cf. Samkerts, more specifically SMKRC 'The Castle/Lock of Ros', i.e. 'Tmutarakan''), Circassian habze 'custom, tradition, habit, law' from the Russian word preserved in the Ukrainian language in the form of kobzar 'singer who sings about social and historical facts'. All above-mentioned Circassian words do not have clear etymology (Shagirov 1977). Besides, Circassian temen 'reed-covered flats (on lower reaches of rivers)' comes from the name of Taman' (Shagirov 1977: 70).
The results of my own research of the culture of this principality are published in the works (Rjabchikov 1998a, 1998b, 1998c, 1998d, 1998e, 1999, my articles at this home page, and my articles in the journal THE SLAVONIC ANTIQUITY). The most ancient Russian Cyrillic inscription reports about a trip from Tmutarakan' to the mountains of the ancient Circassians (see my article "The First Russian Cyrillic Inscription"). The Russian text on a wall of the Middle Zelenchuk church in Karachaevo-Cherkessia performed by the mixed set of so called "cherty i rezy" (pre-Cyrillic) alphabet and Cyrillic one might be inscribed by the Christian missionaries from ancient Tmutarakan' (Rjabchikov 1998c: 27).
The inscription (1068) engraved on the Tmutarakan' stone (fig. 3) reads: V leto 6576 in[d]i[kta] 6 Gleb knyaz' meril mo[re] po ledu ot Tmutorokanya do Krcheva 10000 [+] 800 [+] 40 syazhe[n]. - 'In 6576 (1068), indict 6 Prince Gleb measured the sea (across) over the ice from Tmutarakan' to Kerch: 10,840 sazhens (= 23,128 metres)'. This text begins with the Orthodox cross and the four short vertical lines surrounding one short horizontal line (notice the number 5). The six short vertical lines (notice the number 6; see also the upper photo in Mongait 1969: 91) are inscribed in the word v 'in' (between the letters v and ''). Actually, the short lines were used for the count in the Tmutarakan' records (Rjabchikov 1998e). As a year began in September in the Byzantine Empire, and sometimes such a system of chronology was used in Rus, the number 5 meant January, and the number 6 - the date of 6th January. I conclude that the real text reads 'On January 6, 6576 (1068), [and so on]'. One can found dates as the sequence of a month and a day in different Old Russian chronicles. For example, Piskarev's Chronicle (PSRL 1978: 70) contains the following words about Tmutarakan': mayya v 18 den' 'on the 18th May'. The Tmutarakan' stone informs about an Orthodox feast, the Day of the Baptism of Christ (Epiphany, January 6). The Orthodox Christian priests sanctify the water of rivers this day. Therefore one can suppose that on January 6, 1068 Prince Gleb together with the other believers participated in a religious procession with cross and banners, and an Orthodox priest blessed the water on either side of Kerch Strait. And the sea was measured! I disagree with the previous interpretation of the three letters as '10000 i 4000', i.e. 14,000 sazhens, and I read them '10000 [+] 800 [+] 40' = 10,840 sazhens = 23,128 metres (or '10000 [+] 800 [+] 4' = 10,804 sazhens = 23,051 metres). Interestingly, Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (1989: 175) assessed the same distance at 18 miles. Hence here one mile is equal to about 1,285 (or 1,281) metres. Then the distance between Tamatarha and the river Kuban is 18 or 20 miles, i.e. from about 23 kilometres to about 25.7 kilometres. The country Zihia was beyond the river, and its length was 300 miles (Constantine Porphyrogenitus 1989: 175) = 385 (384) kilometres.

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE NAME TMUTARAKAN'
I decided to study a history of Tmutarakan' Principality with the help of ... a computer. The RedShift 2 CD computer program (produced by Maris Multimedia, San Rafael, California, USA, 1993 - 1995) is a complete planetarium. Having set the co-ordinates of a place on the map of Taman', I observed solar eclipses between 900 and 1000. The result proved to be incredible, that's why I checked it with the help of more unwieldy computer programs. No, it was not a mistake, during one hundred years 35 total and partial solar eclipses occurred at this place. It exceeds the average indices. Interestingly, the solar eclipses occurred during five years in succession between 913 and 917, there were eight solar eclipses between 961 and 970 (2)! Then a new sequence of the solar eclipses occurred between 976 and 979. Such series of solar eclipses can occur, but mainly they are separated by the intervals of hundreds of years, so we are dealing with a rare phenomenon. Though the scientists try to explain the name of the town on the strength of Turkic words, I think that the conclusion should be different: the Russian settlers converted the name of Tamatarha into Tmutarakan' not by chance, but in relation to many solar eclipses; compare Russian t'ma 'darkness, gloom' and tarashchit' (glaza) 'to goggle' (Russian tarakan 'cockroach' originated from it because of a black colour of these insects). (Another interpretation of this place name is possible as well; both interpretations are connected with the term 'darkness' [Proto-Slavonic *tema, Old Russian t'ma, tma].) The Russian proverbs T'ma svetu ne lyubit; Gde marevo shaet, tam glaz ne vstaet; Temno, kak v dubine, kak v zemle. Zgi ne vidat'; Khot' glaz vytkni (vykoli). Tem', chto pod zemley; Sverchok [= solntse 'the sun', cf. Russian sverkat' 'to flash'] tmutarakan pobedil 'The sun defeated the darkness (a solar eclipse)' follow the same pattern. The word temnozrachny 'dark' is registered in Old Church Slavonic (cf. Russian temny 'dark' and zryachy 'sighted'). Subsequently, the name of Tmutarakan' was transformed into Motarha, Metraha, Matriga, Matrika. It is possible that these names go back to Greek mater 'mother'. Hence this town was named for the Most Holy Mother of God in the wake of one of two churches of Tmutarakan' Principality. On the other hand, these names may correspond to the ancient name of Tmutarakan' known as Temarundam MATREM maris. In the 13th century the name of the town, Matrika, was registered as Maritandis. I believe that the latter may be divided into the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Greek tanaos 'tall', and signifies 'The Great Mary'.
I recollected a fairy-tale about Mar'ya Morevna who was carried off by Koshchei Bessmertny to his mountains and caves. Then she was freed by Ivan-Tsarevich. Morevna, the sea epithet of Mar'ya (cf. Russian more 'sea'), the mountains and the caves are the hints of the outlying lands of Rus. The beauties of the foot-hills of the Caucasus which made an impression on the ancient Russian travellers became the prototypes of the Russian fairy-tale.
So the computer has allowed to have a look at the past of the Kuban region.
I HAVE FOUND AN AUTOGRAPH OF SAINT NIKON
As has been shown earlier (Rjabchikov 1998c, 1998e), the Old Russian texts on the vessels from Tmutarakan' and Belaya Vezha (Sarkel) sometimes omitted the vowels, in particular, the letter a. I think that such a manner of the writing corresponds to omission of the vowels in some words of the church books when the tildes are used to indicate abbreviation of words. Therefore each inscription may contain the gaps. An amphora from the site of ancient settlement Tmutarakan' is housed in the Taman' Archaeological Museum, Taman', Krasnodar Territory, Russia. This sample has been dated to the 10th - 11th centuries A.D., as reported at the exhibition. I decided to read several Cyrillic letters which are inscribed on this vessel.
First, the letters L, A, D, A are inscribed on the handle of the vessel (fig. 4) (3). I believe that they may be read as lada, i.e. ladan 'frankincense'. The Orthodox cross is inscribed on the handle below this record (fig. 5). There are reasons to assume that this amphora was a church item. Below the cross there is the letter N, and below the latter one can see the letter I. In my previous research (Rjabchikov 1998c: 26) I read the letters N and I engraved on the fragment of an amphora as Saint Nikon's name. I suppose that in this case the same name is presented. Really, I distinguished the letters K and N written after the letter I. So we have got the name NIKN, i.e. Nikon.
+
N
Z I K N
The letter Z which precedes the letter I may be read as az meaning 'I'. Thus the autograph of Saint Nikon is preserved. He wrote: (A)z Nik(o)n 'I am Nikon'.
I tried to find the cave monastery of Saint Nikon when I visited Taman' in 1998 and 1999. I learned that near M.Y. Lermontov's Museum (Taman', Krasnodar Territory, Russia) there was a cave. Many years ago it was destroyed. Perhaps the ancient Orthodox monastery was situated there.

THE MYSTERY OF SAINT NIKON
The historian M.D. Priselkov (1911) proposed a hypothesis that Metropolitan Ilarion and Saint Nikon were one person. Let us examine their biographies.
First of all, Ilarion, a priest of a church of the village Berestovo near Kiev, was known as a good man, scribe and faster (PSRL 1978: 64-5). He dug a small cave at a hill and said his prayers there; and later Saint Antoniy (Antony) of Pechersk founded the Kievo-Pechersk (Kievan caves) monastery at that place. The Russian bishops upon the recommendation of Grand Prince Yaroslav Mudry put Ilarion in a new Metropolitan in Kiev in 1051. Earlier only the Greeks were Metropolitans in Rus, but a Russian - Ilarion - became the first hierarch for the first time. Later his name was not mentioned in the Russian chronicles. A new Metropolitan, a Greek, was put in Kiev in 1055. Metropolitan Ilarion was the author of four works, Vseletnik (The All Years-Book), Slovo o Zakone i Blagodati (The Sermon on Law and Grace), Molitva (The Prayer), and Ispovedanie very (The Confession of Faith). I have studied his famous work, the Sermon on Law and Grace (Ilarion 1994: 28-101). Future Metropolitan Ilarion (1994: 28, 72, 76, 100) used the title of kaghan, the ruler of the Khazars, for the designation of the Russian rulers, the Grand Princes Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Yaroslav (Georgy) Vladimirovich Mudry. I anticipate that Ilarion came to Kiev from Tmutarakan', as its rulers had the title of kaghan. The main idea of the Sermon is the demonstration of advantage of God's Grace (the New Testament) in contradistinction to the Law (the Old Testament). Ilarion (1994: 60) wrote: I Zakon'noe ozero peres''she, Euagel'skyi zhe istoch'nik navod'nivsya 'The lake of the Law dried up, and the Gospel spring overflowed'. His recollections could be the basis of this sentence: in the Kuban region several lakes dried up at regular intervals (Shcherbina 1910: 42). Ilarion (1994: 70) cited the words from the Bible (the Book of Isaiah 51: 5), Mene ostrovi zhidut' (Mene ostrovi ozhidati in the modern edition in Church Slavonic) 'Islands wait for Me to come'; this segment might be a hint of the island of Tmutarakan'. Let us read Ilarion's (1994: 98) words: Slepi bekhom ot besov'skye l'sti, i toboyu prostrokhomsya s'rd'ch'nyima ochima. Oslepleni nevideniem', i toboyu prozrekhom na svet tris''ln'ch'nago Bozh'stva 'We were blind because of the diabolical flattery, and it is by you (Saint Grand Prince Vladimir) that we have been begun to see clearly by hearty eyes. We were blinded by absence of the vision, and it is by you (Saint Grand Prince Vladimir) that we have been recovered sight for the light of thrice sun God (Trinity)'. These words become the name of Tmutarakan'.
Great Nikon was a priest and a wise monk of the Kievo-Pechersk monastery. The general sources of his life are the Life of Saint Feodosiy (Theodosius) written by Saint Nestor the Chronicler, and the Paterik of the Kievo-Pechersk monastery (PLDR 1978: 304-91; PLDR 1980: 424-8). Monk Nikon admitted several men, for example Saint Feodosiy of Pechersk, to monastic vows. The three Saints - Antoniy, Feodosiy and Nikon - were called the three luminaries in the cave. Great Nikon admitted the son of a nobleman of Grand Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich and the Prince's manager to monastic vows. Monk Nikon was brought to the Prince, but he declined to convince of both monks to home. As the Prince's wife stood up for him, the Prince set him free. Then many men were admitted to monastic vows in the same cave.
A short time later Saint Nikon went to the island of Tmutarakan' (ostrov T'mutorokan'skyy). Near the town he built the church by name of the Holy Mother of God and founded a glorious monastery like the Kievo-Pechersk one. Numerous inhabitants of the Principality called on a new monastery. Once Prince of Tmutarakan', Rostislav, had been poisoned, Saint Nikon visited Grand Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, and the latter sent his son, Prince Gleb, to rule the state of Tmutarakan'. Then Great Nikon came to the Kievo-Pechersk monastery and met with Saint Feodosiy. Monk Nikon accompanied Prince Gleb to Tmutarakan' and then the came back. When Saint Feodosiy left the monastery, Saint Nikon was leading all the brethren. Great Nikon himself read the books for them. Sometimes he wrote the books, and Saint Feodosiy spun the threads for the binding. In 1073 an intestine strifes between the sons of Grand Prince Yaroslav Mudry took place (PSRL 1978: 68). Great Nikon together with two monks went to the monastery of Tmutarakan'. He returned to the Kievo-Pechersk monastery after the death of Great Feodosiy in 1074. He was the fourth hegumen of the monastery. It is well known that the icon-painters arrived from Constantinople to Saint Nikon, and they decorated the church. He was, by hypothesis (Shakhmatov 1908), the author of a chronicle included in the Primary Chronicle. Interestingly, the fragment from the Sermon on Law and Grace (Ilarion 1994: 56), ponezhe dela ikh t'm'na ['dark'] byaakhu, ne vzlyubisha sveta, is comparable with the words of Piskarev's Chronicle, I byvshi noshchi, i byst' tma ['the darkness'] i molniya i dozhd'. I reche Mstislav svoim: "Poidem na nikh, to ny est' koryst'" (PSRL 1978: 62). Perhaps, Saint Nikon and Metropolitan Ilarion were one and the same person. The Saint died on March 23, 1088, and his holy imperishable relics are in the Caves of Saint Antoniy in the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra.

TMUTARAKAN' AND CUMANS
In 1078 Princes of Tmutarakan', Oleg and Boris, together with the Cumans waged war with Rus in accordance with the Russian chronicles (PSRL 1978: 69). In 1094 Prince Oleg with the Cumans came to the town Chernigov. And there are no mention of the name of Tmutarakan' in the chronicles since this year. I managed to find the two indirect evidence in same sources that the Russian town Tmutarakan' existed later, but the Cumans controlled it (Rjabchikov 1998c: 15-6, 21). In 1178 Grand Prince Vsevolod Yur'evich Bol'shoe Gnezdo (the Great Nest) came "from oversea, from Siun'" (PSRL 1978: 79). I believe that Siun' is a variant of the name of Tmutarakan' associated with the darkness (see the chapter "The Interpretation of the Name Tmutarakan'"), cf. Old Church Slavonic sen' 'shade, darkness' and Bulgarian syanka 'shade', too. Prince Vsevolod's nephew, Prince Yury Andeevich Bogolyubsky, was the ruler of Novgorod in 1174, and then he was dethroned.
Later this Prince lived in the mysterious Polovtsian town Sudzh (Sakharov and Novosel'tsev 1997: 89). I think that the latter is Tmutarakan', as the word sudzh correlates with the archaic Russian sudyonki 'twilight; evening'. It can be said with confidence that Prince Vsevolod visited Prince Yury in Tmutarakan'. Several years had passed, and in 1185 Prince Igor Svyatoslavich of Novgorod Seversky, a grandson of Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, attempted to join Tmutarakan' to his principality, otherwise poiskati grada T'mutorokanya 'to search for the town Tmutarakan''. The Song of Igor's Host reports the details of the campaign (PLDR 1980: 372-87). The words O Russkaya zemle! Uzhe za shelomyanem esi! 'O, Russian land, you are already beyond the hill!' describe the land of Tmutarakan'. The variants of the town's name, T'mutorokan' and Tmutorokan', are registered in the Song. T'mutorokan'skyy bl''van (an idol of Tmutarakan') was a symbol of this Polovtsian territory. Such statues are housed in particular in the Krasnodar Historical-Archaeological Museum and Taman' Archaeological Museum. A Polovtsian statue is covered with several signs; the pair of signs was decoded by the author as a designation of Tmutarakan' (see fig. 8). The first sign denotes a dwelling or a town, and the second one - the eclipsed sun (the sun divided in two). Old Russian polovtsy, polovtsi, kumani, kumane, and Greek Komanoi mean 'Cumans'. It is well to bear in mind that alike word komon' 'horse' is presented in Old Russian.

TMUTARAKAN' IN THE RUSSIAN CHARMS AND FAIRY-TALES updated.
As evident from my article (Rjabchikov 1998e) and the chapter "The Chronology of Tmutarakan' History", the fantastic ostrov Buyan 'the island of storms' is the Tmutarakan' island indeed. It is a valid interpretation, because according to the ancient Greek and Roman historians, the climate of this locality was frigid (Shcherbina 1910: 256-7). Numerous Russian charms begin with the words: Na more na Okiane, na ostrove na Buyane... 'At the sea Okian, on the Buyan island...'. Let us adjust the location of this sea. A charm informs as follows: ...na vostochnoy storone Okiyana morya, na uglu stoit khram svyatogo Klimenta, papy rimskogo '... the church of Saint Kliment, Pope of Rome, is located in the eastern side of the sea Okian, at a corner'. It is well known that Saint Kliment, Pope of Rome, was killed at the Crimea. Saint Grand Prince Vladimir removed Saint Kliment's holy imperishable relics from the town Chersonesus (Korsun') located near modern city Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula to the town Kiev (PSRL 1978: 55). If someone is standing eastward near the estuary of the river Dnieper (he has arrived from Kiev), he is looking at the Crimean Peninsula; the latter's shape can be described as a "corner". On the other hand, Greek Pontos Axeinos (cf. Russian Okian/Okiyan) signifies 'Black Sea'.
The two similar charms (Letit voron cherez sinee more, neset v zubakh iglu, v igle shelkova nitka... and Letit voron cherez Chernoe more, neset nitku shelkovinku ...) point at the Black Sea.
A charm reports that dub taratynskiy 'an oak of Taratyn' is standing on the Buyan island. The term Taratynskiy correlates with Tmutorotan', a form of the town's name Tmutarakan'.
A charm informs that the stone Latyr' [Alatyr'] is at the Kiyan [Okiyan] sea, and the altar of the Most Holy Mother of God is situated near this stone. This feature fits the description of Tmutarakan', as the monastery and church named for the Holy Mother of God were near the town Tmutarakan' as well as the church for the Holy Mother of God built by Prince Mstislav after 1022 (PSRL 1978: 62) was in the town.
In the charm entitled Molitva na prognanie ot vsyakogo zla (The Prayer for the Epulsion of Any Evil) the names of the "angels" Egor, Salevanil, Gromozhanil are mentioned. The first and second names correspond to Greek egeiro 'to kick up a racket', saleyo 'to be agitated; to shake' indeed. The third name, Gromozhanil, is the distorted form of the expression Grom Zenos 'The thunder of the pagan deity Zeus'. So the "names" are another designation of the ostrov Buyan 'the island of storms' (the Tmutarakan' island). Then the names of the "angels" Anutarasiy, Vosilutar, Espfedar, Naaket pervenets are presented. It is the distorted Greek-Russian text signifying 'O, King of the island of storms, King of Tmutarakan' (lit. '(The place of) storms, the evening, fight', or even Greek Tartaros, Old Russian tartar 'hell; the underworld') (situated near) the river Antikeites 'Kuban' (4)!' After these words the fortress Polamrar is mentioned. In my opinion, it is a version of the name of Tmutarakan, as the name Polamrar may be read (Po)polam Rar(og) 'the pagan deity Rarog of the sun divided in two', cf. the inscription on a Polovtsian statue (see the chapter "Tmutarakan' and Cumans"). Moreover, this charm contains the names of the Matvey, Varfolomey and Vselsamor. Only the third name is unusual. I read it as Vesely za morem 'The merry person is oversea'. Since the name Ilarion means 'merry; glad' in Greek, there are good grounds for believing that Saint Nikon (Metropolitan Ilarion) is mentioned here. Matvey and Varfolomey could be the monks who came with him from the Kievo-Pechersk monastery to the Tmutarakan' monastery.
A charm informs: Yaost est' ostrov, Yaost polon lyudey ... i khvalitsya Arhan na Rus' pobyvat' i Rus' voevat'... 'Yaost is an island, many people are at Yaost... The arhon (ruler) intends to go to Rus and to wage war with Rus...' The name of an island, Yaost, may be compared with Russian osetr, Ukrainian osetr, yasetr 'sturgeon', so this name corresponds to Antikeites 'the river Kuban'.
According to a charm, the three rives - Varvareya, Nastaseya and Praskoveya - are near to each other. I think they are the branches of Kuban. Really, the name Varvareya is connected with Greek barbaros 'foreign', the name Nastaseya may fit Antikeites 'Kuban', and the name Praskoveya compares with Greek paraskeye 'arming' (perhaps, it denotes the border of Tmutarakan').
In a charm the expression Tsar' Aldey krepok 'the King Aldey is strong' is included. The name Aldey is related to Greek aldesko 'to grow', aldeino 'to grow; to increase', therefore it might replace the name of Tmutarakan' Prince Rostislav (cf. Russian rost 'growth', rasti 'to grow'). It is common knowledge that this Prince laid under tribute the Kasogs (the ancestors of modern Circassians) and other lands; and he was poisoned by a Greek official (PSRL 1978: 66). The surprising thing is that the name of his wife, Tsaritsa Elena 'the Queen Elena', is mentioned in another charm against the bites of snakes. As the Prince died, but the Princess survived, such a formula was composed. Certainly this Queen lived at the sea Okiyan, on the Buyan island, on the white burning stone Alatyr' (bel goryuch kamen' Alatyr').
Another charm tells of the two brothers (eagles) who live at the sea Okiyan, on the stone Alatyr'. They "fight with sharp sabres". These heroes are Princes of Tmutarakan', brothers Oleg and Roman. The epithet eagle is comparable with the analogous epithet falcon meaning 'Prince' in the Song of Igor's Host.
In 965 Grand Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich destroyed the Khazar state and smashed the troops of the Alani (Yases) and Circassians (Kasogs) (PSRL 1978: 43). In my opinion, the Khazars were reflected in the Russian fairy-tales as the character chudo-yudo, and the Kasogs - as the character Koshchei Bessmertny. The early Russian-Greek contacts might be reflected in the Russian patter: Ehal Greka cherez reku, vidit Greka: v reke rak. Sunul palets Greka v reku, rak za palets Greku tsap 'A Greek was driving over a river; the Greek was seeing a crawfish in the river. The Greek was shoving a finger in the river, and the crawfish was seizing the Greek by the finger'. Perhaps the words Greka 'Greek' (its standard form is Grek) and rak 'crawfish' might replace the initial pair of the words, Grek 'Greek' and raka 'coffin; tomb'. But the latter term is a hint of the river Kuban (Rjabchikov 1999). Interestingly, one charm tells of the stone Alatyr' together with the fiery river (it is the river Smorodina [*S moro] 'Near the sea; near the death' (Kuban) of the Russian fairy-tales) and the scorching bridge [kalynovyy most].
What does the word Alatyr' mean? It is comparable with Greek alaotys 'blinding' and corresponds to Scythian Temarundam matrem maris and Russian Tmutarakan'. So the expression bel goryuch kamen' Alatyr' corresponds to the Russian proverb Sverchok tmutarakan pobedil 'The sun defeated the darkness (a solar eclipse)'.
I believe that the charms devoted to Tmutarakan' were composed in ancient Kiev. A negative epithet Lyuty (Fierce) of Tmutarakan' Prince Mstislav was even included in a Christian source, like the Paterik of the Kievo-Pechersk monastery (PLDR 1980: 423). A treasure (from the end of the 12th century till the beginning of the 13th century) containing the golden and silver things was discovered at the aristocratic part of Kiev. The text potvorin pryasl'n' 'a spindle for witchcraft, charms' is written down on the spindle from the same treasure (Rybakov 1987: 298-9, fig. 62).

THE INHABITANTS OF TMUTARAKAN' REGISTERED IMPORTANT EVENTS ON AMPHORAE
Let us study the records and figures inscribed on four fragments of the Tmutarakan' amphorae housed in the Taman' Archaeological Museum, Taman', Krasnodar Territory, Russia. These samples have been dated to the 10th - 11th centuries A.D., as reported at the exhibition.
The text written on the first fragment (figure 10) reads r-i-s-i, otherwise [Bo]ris i [Gleb]. I suppose that an inhabitant of Tmutarakan' learned about transfer of the holy imperishable relics of the Saint martyrs, Princes Boris and Gleb, from the grave into the church of the town Vyshgorod on July 24, 1072 (PSRL 1997: 181-2; Zhitiya 1916). Apparently the town-dweller wrote down the text about this event on his amphora.
It is, possibly, a designation of Halley's Comet of 1066. In fact, the Russian Primary Chronicle (the Lavrentii Chronicle) reports: V leto 6572 bezha Rostislav Tmutorokanyu, syn Volodimer, vnuk Yaroslavl'. Rostislav zhe otstupi krome iz gra[da] ne uboyavsya ego, no ne hotya protivu stroevi svoemu oruzh'ya vzyati. Svyatoslav zhe prished Tmutorokanyu posadi syna svoego paky Gleba [i] vzvratisya opyat'. Rostislav zhe prished paky vygna Gleba i pride Gleb k ottsyu svoemu. Rostislav zhe sede Tmutorokani. V se zhe leto Vseslav rat' pochal. V si zhe vremena byst' znamen'e na zapade: zvezda prevelika luche imushchi aky krovavy, vshodyashchi s vechera po zahode solnechnem' i prebyst' za 7 dnii. Se zhe proyavlyashe ne na dobro, posem' bo bysha usobitse mnogo i nashestvie poganyh na Rus'skuyu zemlyu, si bo zvezda be aky krovava, proyavlyayushchi krovi prolit'e (PSRL 1997: 163). The date of the 6572nd year is either 1063 or 1064, or 1065 in accordance with I.A. Klimishin's (1990: 381, table 43) methodology. Here Tmutarakan' Princes Gleb and Rostislav are mentioned. Then there is the information about a very big star with bloody rays appearing in the west after sunsets within seven nights. It is a description of Halley's Comet of 1066 (Belyaev and Churyumov 1985: 28). In accordance with the model on the basis of the RedShift 2 computer program, one can suppose that this comet was visible on the sky from April 23 till April 29, 1066 (6). Interestingly, the same report about Princes Gleb and Rostislav was dated to the 6573rd year (i.e. either 1064 or 1065, or 1066) in the Chronicle of St. Ipatii Monastery, another variant of the Russian Primary Chronicle (PSRL 1998: 152-3). I conclude that the events with the Princes took place in the end of 1065 or in the beginning of 1066. Since the data about Tmutarakan' published in the Russian Primary Chronicle were collected by Saint Nikon (Priselkov 1996: 67-70), he might observe and later describe Halley's Comet of 1066 in the chronicle.
SAINT NIKON OBSERVED AND DESCRIBED HALLEY'S COMET OF 1066: AN ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE updated.
Let us study the origin of the Svyatoslav Izbornik of 1073 (Izbornik 1983) written during several years and completed in 1073. "The Izbornik of 1073 has a rich collection of the fundamental notions of Christianity. The Christian dogmas are given not in isolation from the secular ideas but
together with them. In this regard the Izbornik could have been a very valuable aid in the struggle against paganism"; "Probably, the Izbornik of 1073 had been prepared for the Prince by the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk (Cave) Monastery ..." (Levochkin 1983: 20). One of the two scribes of this book was Ioann (John), but the second scribe remained unknown. On the other hand, Saint Nikon of this monastery supported a struggle against paganism and collected such messages included later in the Russian Primary Chronicle in the paragraph of 1071 (Priselkov 1996: 69-70). Sometimes he wrote the books. So there can be little doubt that Saint Nikon was the second scribe and compiler of the Izbornik. Be it as it may, the second scribe wrote the book from sheet 86 to sheet 264 with the exception of a postscript on sheet 263verso (Kostyukhina and Shul'gina 1983: 61). On sheet 250verso there is an extract from the work of Saint John of Damascus about signs of the Zodiac (Levochkin 1983: 19). These signs are represented in the margins of sheets 250verso - 251 of the book (Likhacheva 1983: 73). Such a sign is presented in figure 14. Notice that this sign is a goat associated with the sign of a star and with the inscription Koz'l'rog 'the Capricornus constellation'. But figure 14 contains other sign as well. Actually, the sign of an animal with bird's tail and claws is depicted under Capricornus. It is known that Halley's Comet was visible not only in the evenings from April 23 till April 29, 1066 according to my research, but also in the mornings from April 2 till April 13, 1066 (Belyaev and Churyumov 1985: 29) (7). I started up the RedShift 2 again. For instance, data of April 5, A.D. 1066 are as follows: the appearing of Halley's Comet is before the sunrise, this comet is located on the sky under Capricornus. Thus the strange animal on the picture is the first representation of Halley's Comet in Russia. The tail of the animal is the tail of this comet indeed. Since Saint Nikon described Halley's Comet in his notes included later in the Russian Primary Chronicle, he himself depicted signs of the Zodiac and Halley's Comet in the Svyatoslav Izbornik of 1073. He is one of two compilers (translators, editors, scribes) of this book, therefore his handwriting is registered on the marked pages.

AN INDIRECT TESTIMONY CONCERNING SAINT NIKON
As I have shown in the previous chapter, there are strong grounds for believing that Saint Nikon wrote most of the Svyatoslav Izbornik of 1073. It is notable that this part of the text stands out because of crosses depicted instead of letters "psi" (Kostyukhina and Shul'gina 1983: 61). I reason that Saint Nikon lived in Tmutarakan' for a long time and knew the language of the Kasogs (Circassians) in some sense. Therefore he changed the letters "psi" to crosses with an eye to the Christian symbols, cf. Circassian pse 'spirit, soul', pseu 'alive'.

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE SOME TOPICS OF THE PAINTINGS ON GLASS BRACELETS OF TMUTARAKAN'
Perhaps an eagle/falcon with meaning 'Prince' and 'Russian' is depicted in figure 18. Besides, it is conceivable that this picture is a hint of the Russian fairy-tale Finist - yasny sokol (Finist, the bright falcon).

THE CRITICISM OF "THE NEW CHRONOLOGY" BY G.V. NOSOVSKI AND A.T. FOMENKO IN THE LIGHT OF THE TMUTARAKAN' HISTORY
In my opinion, "the new chronology" of the Russian history by G.V. Nosovski and A.T. Fomenko (1996, 1997), in terms of archaeoastronomy, is erroneous (see also Efremov and Zavenyagin, 1998; Bell 1998). In this chapter I examine several propositions from the books written by Nosovski and Fomenko.
"It should be noted that according to the sources of 16th century (see [3, vol. 2, p. 28]) Astrakhan was called Tmutarakan'. Some historians go on searching the famous Tmutarakan', but they fail" (Nosovski and Fomenko 1996: 77; 1997: 41). My objection is as follows: in different times (and sometimes coincidentally) different localities were called identically. I shall give two examples. These are Pre-Mongolian Ryazan (so called the Old Ryazan) and new Ryazan. The second example is as following. The Russian Prince Bravlin brought his army to the Crimea from the town Novgorod in the end of the 8th century (Klyuchevsky 1987: 145; Bogoslovsky 1998: 23-4), but it was not at all the Great Novgorod, and the towns Novgorod-Seversky and Nizhny Novgorod existed, too! I think that Astrakhan was identified with Tmutarakan' by mistake in old times (8).
Let us turn to the calculations. "Morozov demonstrated that the dates mentioned in the chronicles and attributed to the "Russian eclipses" before A.D. 1064 ARE NOT CONFIRMED ACCORDING TO ASTRONOMY. The first eclipse confirmed according to astronomy is presented on the sheets of the chronicles in 1064 only. This eclipse was seen only in Egypt and partly in Europe, but not on the area of Russia" (Nosovski and Fomenko 1996: 407). Let us to start up the RedShift 2 again. And I have found a mistake of "the new chronology". On April 19, 1064 the partial solar eclipse was seen not only in Egypt (it was very weak there!) and in Europe, but also in Tmutarakan' (on the Taman' Peninsula) and in Kiev! In the area of Lake Ladoga the solar eclipse was almost total.
I think that Russian monks might use glasses blackened with smoke to observe partial solar eclipses. The Lavrentii Chronicle reports: Togo zhe mesyatsa v 7 dn' byst' znamen'e v solntsi. Ogorodilosya byashe solntse v tri dugy i bysha drugyya dug hrebty k sobe i siya vidyashche znamen'ya blagovernii chern'tsi so v''zdyhan'em molyahusya v Bogu i so slezami, daby Bog obratil znamen'ya si na dobro. Znamen'ya bo byvayut' ova na zlo, ova li na dobro na pridushchee leto (PSRL 1997: 275). It follows that when the rounds of the sun and the moon intersected, they formed the above-mentioned arcs and "spines" which changed themselves with the passage of time.
Nosovski and Fomenko (1996: 420-1) are in doubt as far as the identification of several comets mentioned in the Russian chronicles with Halley's Comet is concerned. For instance, the comet dated 6572 year since the creation of the world due to the Old Russian tradition in the Lavrentii Chronicle was referred by them to 1064, but not to 1066, as it should be. Is it so? As I have shown earlier, according to the ultra-March style and the Chronicle of St. Ipatii Monastery as well, this date quite correlates with A.D. 1066. Interestingly, the features of Halley's Comet of 1066 - the repeated appearance on the sky after the short stretch of time of invisibility, the big size, the red colour - are also registered in the descriptions of this comet in place names and in a hieroglyphical record of Easter Island, in the Pacific Ocean.
And the last remark is as follows. Though one can disagree with "the new chronology" in general, it is clear that some certain results of the research of Nosovski and Fomenko can hold true. And I should stress that only some which do not influence on the whole concept of their study. I believe that in ancient times the contemporaries could make erroneous interpretations of some data as it is done nowadays; thus, a single document should be always treated critically if it is taken separately from other data. An informant can make mistakes! The ancient evidence is not always indisputable! We all understand that modern TV news are doubtful (momentary, incomprehensive) as well.
Let us consider a letter of the Hungarian missionary Julian about the Mongolian war being analysed by the scholars in detail (Nosovski and Fomenko 1996: 178ff). It is true, and I agree with them, and they have priority that the term kumani 'Cumans' is a derivative from Old Russian komon' 'horse'. It is supposed that "the land of Cumans" signifies literally "the land of cavalrymen, horsemen". But it does not mean that it is another name of the Mongolian-Tatarian Horde. Unfortunately, the venerable researchers give no evidence to the main logical transitions from one argument to another, they pay great attention to minor details.
And what do we have? Nosovski and Fomenko conclude that the Tatarian invasion was begun by the sovereign Gurguta from the state Gotta (Gothia, Gota). I agree with their treatment that GEORGY from Gothia is presented in this text. Then they announce that he was indeed Georgy, otherwise Yaroslav Mudry (the Wise). And their famous scandalous theory is available, it claims that the Mongolian-Tatarian Horde was the primordial Russian event, the Mongolian-Tatarian yoke did not take place, and so on. Is there an alternative to this hypothesis? The reply is yes. Gurguta (Georgy, Gyurgi) or Yury (a variant of the name Georgy in old times) was in my opinion Prince Yury Andeevich Bogolyubsky, the ruler of Tmutarakan' when this town was under the control of the Cumans. According to the Old Russian masterpiece The Song of Igor's Host, Gothic girls lived near Tmutarakan'. The Gothic eparchy was near. Maybe, the term Germany is originated from the name of the Greek colony Germonassa, on which place Tamatarha-Tmutarakan' was located later. It is only a hypothesis. It is known from the letter of the Hungarian missionary Julian that Gurguta (in my opinion, Prince Yury Andeevich Bogolyubsky) from Gothia (Tmutarakan') captured Sastsiya, Fulgariya, he attacked Vedin, Meroviya, Poydoviya, the kingdom of Mordans. Nosovski and Fomenko interpret the name of the land Fulgariya as Bulgaria. It is also true, but the Turkis-Bulgarians lived at the Kuban area in ancient times. The name of Sastsiya is, possibly, a hint of the descendants of the Sakas (Scythians). The terms Vedin, Meroviya, Poydoviya may belong to the Caucasian peoples. It is conceivable that the name of the kingdom of Mordans corresponds to the word mordan 'Slavs' (Vernadsky 1948). The letter informs that the chief Gurguta died, and the name of his son is not mentioned at all, only his title khan (i.e. Tmutarakan' title kaghan) is written down. Therefore it is safe to assume that in the letter the missionary told of the obsolete data from the history of Tmutarakan' which were accepted by him as a story about recent events. As it is known the Cumans reinforced the Mongolian-Tatarian Horde later, therefore, perhaps the informant considered the Tmutarakan'-Cumanian events to be Mongolian-Tatarian ones purely. Now everything is clear. So Prince Yury Andeevich Bogolyubsky ruled in Tmutarakan', my proposal has been confirmed. Besides, according to the letter, he controlled the vast areas, including a part of the Crimea, the Cumanian Steppe and a part of the Caucasus. Therefore he was a good match for the Georgian queen Tamara. Is not it an interesting alternative to the theory of Nosovski and Fomenko? Nevertheless, it is a weak link of my thinking which can be criticized. My conclusion is of prior importance: I have proved with the help of the computer models that Nosovski and Fomenko invented the wrong theory.

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PLACE NAME TMUTARAKAN': NEW ARGUMENTS
As I have shown earlier, the place name Tmutarakan' consists of the Russian t'ma 'darkness, gloom' and tarashchit' (glaza) 'to goggle'. This idea is preserved in the Russian proverb Sverchok [= solntse 'the sun', cf. Russian sverkat' 'to flash'] tmutarakan pobedil 'The sun defeated the darkness/light (a solar eclipse)'. The data of the previous chapter help to understand this report by N.M. Karamzin: "The following curious event, although not very reliable, belongs to this time. Georgy, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky, was not mentioned in our chronicles after 1175, but he is a prominent person in the history of Georgia. "In 1171 the young Tamar', the daughter of the king Georgy III, inherited her father's throne. The clergymen and the noblemen tried to find a bridegroom for her. Georgy, the son of the Grand Prince Andrei, was exiled by his uncle Vsevolod and incarcerated in Savalta and escaped from this place to Svinch to a Cumanian khan. This youth was famous for his family, his wit and bravery. A dignitary of Tiflis, Abulasan, suggested to the meeting that Georgy deserved to be a husband to their queen. The suggestion of Abulasan was approved. The Prince was sent for, and Tamar' married him. At first, he brought happiness to his wife and glory to the state, then his attitude and behaviour were changed. Tamar' had to execute the wish of the council and to expel him, but she gave him many gifts. The Prince went to the Black Sea region, to Greece; his life resembled the life of a wanderer, it was dull. He returned to Georgia again, he attracted many inhabitants to him and wanted to conquer Tiflis. Tamar' won a victory. Due to her permission he left to an unknown place safely and with honour"" (Karamzin 1991: 430-1). Really, Georgy (Gurguta, Yury) was Prince Yury Andeevich Bogolyubsky, the son of the Russian Grand Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky. Yury/Georgy was the ruler of Tmutarakan' when this town was under the control of the Cumans. Then he became a king of Georgia and the first husband of the queen Tamara. Notice that by this information from the original Georgian source, Yury/Georgy returned once to the Black Sea region. He lived as a wanderer there, otherwise he might observe customs of the Cumans. Interestingly, this Prince arrived at Georgia from the mysterious Cumanian town Svinch. But the place name Svinch may be split into the words svi and nch. The first word, svi, correlates with Russian svet 'light', svetit' 'to light'; the second word, nch, is comparable with Russian noch' 'night'. So this place name signifies 'The light/the night', '(The transformation) of the day into the night', or Tmutarakan'. To put it differently, the meaning of the name Svinch corresponds to the meaning of another name of Tmutarakan', Sudzh, from the archaic Russian sudyonki 'twilight; evening'.
Here the rune Dagaz is a symbol of the town Tmutarakan'. The records reads n-o-i-n. I think that it means 'new', cf. Gothic niujan 'to make new', niujis 'new', German neu 'new', Sindian nau 'new' (Trubachev 1977: 21). So this text informs about 'The New Town' (Tmutarakan'). Such a name was mentioned in the Life of Saint Stephan of Surozh; from this town the Russian Prince Bravlin brought his army to the Crimea in the end of the 8th century.

SOME REMARKS CONCERNING THE RECORD ON THE TMUTARAKAN' STONE
First and foremost I should like to quote the opinion of B.A. Rybakov (1964: 17) that the date of the Tmutarakan' stone, 6576, corresponds to the December of 1067, January of 1068. In this connection, the dating, January 6, 1068 (the Baptism of Christ or Epiphany) offered by me earlier is quite appropriate. A.A Medyntseva (1979: 44) thinks that one should observe the method of N.A. Olenin to interpret the distance from Tmutarakan' to Kerch mentioned in this inscription. To put it otherwise, she reads the letters I and D as 14,000 sazhens. Taking into account that "the simple (straight) sazhen" = 152.7 centimetres, and "the measured sazhen" = 176.4 centimetres, during the calculation she (Medyntseva 1979: 45) got 21,379 metres and 24,696 metres respectively as the distance from Tmutarakan' to Kerch. According to her data, the real distance between these build-up areas is 23,636 metres.
I have read the the letters I, I (the Russian letter izhe) and D '10000 [+] 800 [+] 40' = 10,840 sazhens = 23,128 metres (or '10000 [+] 800 [+] 4' = 10,804 sazhens = 23,051 metres) earlier. I believe that the Russian letter izhe (I, its form is H) is a number and is not a conjunction. In this calculation I have used the modern Russian sazhen (2.1336 metres). Now I should like to correct my calculation. One of the ancient Russian sazhens (Rybakov 1975: 208) is "the sloping sazhen" (2.16 metres); it is 1% above the modern sazhen. Therefore the distance from Tmutarakan' to Kerch may be either 23,414 metres, or 23,337 metres. Thus, I have got the optimal result (the error of my calculation is 222 metres).
Furthermore, let us carry out the calculation. Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (1989: 175) assessed the distance at 18 miles. Hence here one mile is equal to about 1,301 (or 1,297) metres. Then the distance between Tamatarha and the river Kuban is 18 or 20 miles, i.e. from about 23 kilometres to about 26 kilometres. The country Zihia was beyond the river, and its length was 300 miles (Constantine Porphyrogenitus 1989: 175) = 390 (389) kilometres.

ON THE TMUTARAKAN' TERMS ARTANIA, LUDAGAN AND ATAMAN
1. According to Arabic sources, Artania was one of the ancient Russian states in the 9th - 12th centuries; V.A. Parkhomenko believes that Artania is Tmutorokan' (Tmutarakan') (Kozlovsky 1928). Actually, the place name Artania consists of the Scythian (Slavonic) words ar 'Aryan' (cf. also Russian yary, yarostny 'furious') and tan 'water' (cf. also Russian dno 'bottom (of river, etc.)'). So this place name signifies 'the river Aryans'. Maybe, the term Artania correlates with the name of the tribe Dandari 'the river Aryans' who lived near the Kuban river and the sea of Azov in the end of 6th - the beginning of 5th century B.C. (Trekhbratov 1997: 134). I conclude that the Slavs lived in the Kuban land from time immemorial.
2. The Taman' Russian attacked the coastal towns of the Caspian Sea several times in the beginning of the 10th century (Bogoslovsky 1998: 28). On the other hand, the Arabian historian and geographer Masudi wrote down the name al-Ludagana of the Russian army. I read the name Ludagana as luda gana 'the people of the khan (the ruler of Tamatarha-Tmutarakan)' (lydi khana in modern Russian).
3. Russian ataman 'ataman (Cossack chieftain)' have several unclear etymologies (Vasmer 1986: 95; Skrylov, Gubarev 1966: 45). Interestingly, several Russian Princes sought shelter in Tmutarakan' from intestine strifes; such Princes became the first atamans (Kozlovsky 1928). Taking into account that the term ataman has the form vataman in Old Russian (Vasmer 1986: 95), I translate the latter word as va Taman 'at Taman'' or 'to Taman''. This epithet of the Tmutarakan' Princes was preserved as the title of the Cossack leaders later. Thus, the word ataman meant 'at Taman'' or 'to Taman'' initially.

THE ANCIENT TMUTARAKAN' MAP: THE LOCATION OF THE CAVE MONASTERY OF SAINT NIKON IS DISCOVERED
The key to this picture is the sign of a big star on the top resembling the petroglyphs of stars in the Rapanui (Easter Island) rock art. Saint Nikon described Halley's Comet of 1066 as a big star in his notes included in the Russian Primary Chronicle, and he himself depicted, in particular, the Capricornus constellation and Halley's Comet in the Svyatoslav Izbornik of 1073.
But in figure 21 this big star (Halley's Comet of 1066) is depicted under a horn which is in my opinion a symbol of the Capricornus constellation. So this figure corresponds to the figure of the the Capricornus constellation and Halley's Comet in the Svyatoslav Izbornik of 1073. Perhaps the author of the drawing on the vessel was Saint Nikon.
It is known that the feature of Halley's Comet of 1066 was the repeated appearance on the sky after the short stretch of time of invisibility (Belyaev and Churyumov 1985: 27-9). First, this comet was visible in the west after sunsets from April 23 till April 29, 1066. Second, the comet was also visible in the mornings from April 2 till April 13, 1066 (Belyaev and Churyumov 1985: 29). Let us to start up the RedShift 2 again. It is apparent that the comet was visible in the east in the beginning of April. Then the arc together with a segment of the swastika (solar symbol) denote the rising sun.
Now one can decode other symbols of the picture. The sail denotes the ships, seaport and even town Tmutarakan'. Interestingly, the Russian words parus 'sail' and Rus 'Russia' are similar. I think that Russian/Scandinavian Prince Ryurik arrived in Kiev from Tmutarakan' (9); it is well known that Ryurik was an descendant of Prus, i.e. he arrived from the site of the sails (Russian parus means 'sail'). The big Orthodox cross is represented above a mountain. I believe that it symbolizes Saint Nikon's church by name of the Holy Mother of God and his cave monastery. The small Orthodox cross may show an monastery's entrance. The letter M is inscribed on a slope of the mountain. I read this letter as Greek Mater 'Mother' or 'the Holy Mother of God'. It is another symbol of the church and monastery. The trident is a known sign of the Russian Princes, it correlares with the coat of arms of Tmutarakan'. The mountain is quite definite: it is so called Lysaya gora (the Lysaya mountain) near Taman' (Tmutarakan'). Besides, Saint Nikon's monastery was like the Kievo-Pechersk one. But the latter cave monastery is located near the town Kiev on a mountain also called Lysaya gora (the Lysaya mountain) according to Ukrainian fairy-tales and one Christian legend (Ukrainskie skazki 1993: 253). There is little likelihood (though it is possible as well) that the mountain presented on the picture is situated near the coast of the Taman' firth or next the Lysaya mountain. The map depicted on the vessel is comparable with a view of the Lysaya mountain near Taman' (it is at the left of the photo, also notice that you see to the west provisionally).

THE SEARCH FOR THE LOCATION OF THE CAVE MONASTERY OF SAINT NIKON: A PRELIMINARY REPORT
I visited Taman' again on July 11 - 13, 2000. I decided to find the location of the cave monastery of Saint Nikon. On July 12 I went from a place near the Rybsovkhoz to the Lysaya mountain across several mounts. The mount (one of the Karakardama mountains) situated after a narrow forest belt is covered by many fragments of the small stones, some of them contain the Old Russian letters. I have discovered a big stone there. It is very damaged. I have distinguished two crosses before (or above) mountains; the sun in form of a flower is next the line (maybe the ecliptic). Another stone contains a picture of two mountains; the Scandinavian rune d (Dagaz 'day') (a specific sign or even an emblem of Tmutarakan') is presented; besides, a tree (?) is depicted here. I suppose that a branch (Russian skit) of the cave monastery of Saint Nikon was located on this hill covered with the stones.
On July 13 I went to the Lysaya mountain. I believe that the cave monastery of Saint Nikon was there. Notice that the locals call both neighbouring mountains which are visible from the site of ancient settlement Tmutarakan' Lysaya gora (Lysaya mountain). I have found a small fragment of an amphora on the slope of the left mountain. Interestingly, the remnants of a dug-out of the Great Patriotic War is preserved on its top, so it is probably that the cave monastery of Saint Nikon was there (in this hole). A big white stone (the size: 32 cm*20 cm*18 cm) lies on the southern slope of the Lysaya (left) mountain. Perhaps the letters N-H-K-N (NIKON) are inscribed on it. There is another stone (a fragment) lower; perhaps a cross and a trident are presented there. On the southern slope of the hill that borders this mountain there is another big white stone (the size: 33 cm*23 cm*19.5 cm), too. I think that the three stones belonged once to Saint Nikon's church named for the Most Holy Mother of God. At last, I visited the Taman' Archaeological Museum (Taman' Museum Complex) this day. The amphora with the autograph of Saint Nikon contains the following small picture near the big Orthodox cross on the handle. The two mounts are presented together, the left one has a large Orthodox cross. Moreover, the three mounts are represented behind the second (right) hill of the first row. But I have seen such a figure. Lysaya mountain is indeed visible from afar as two mountains. Really, the left mountain is seen near by as one big and several small ones; but the right mountain is seen as three hills having almost equal level. I have got same figure in my notebook! Now I am sure that the cave monastery of Saint Nikon was in/on the Lysaya mountain.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I should like to thank Elvira R. Ustaeva (Taman' Museum Complex) for kindly affording an opportunity to read the literature on Tmutarakan'.

The Old Russian city was located during the Middle Ages on the site of the modern Krasnodar Territory. An interesting and unusual name of the city even became a household name. In conversation, he is mentioned when it comes to something very distant, inaccessible. Being in Tmutarakan means no one knows where, in some wilderness. Be that as it may, the city has a rich and fascinating history. It is likely that questions about Tmutarakan are also found in USE tests on history. You can prepare for the exam or simply pump knowledge on history at specialized courses and schools preparing for exams (including the exam). Among these companies, many do franchise business. This niche is well suited for franchising. You can find some of the best offers in the field of education and choose a franchise on the BEBOSS website.