ABSTRACT
Although the Magyars may have been the dominant power of the steppes between the Don and the Dniester during the reign of Theophilos, there were other peoples or nations in the area who played some role in the confrontation of the major powers. First of all there were the Rus, the Scandinavian warriors who came from the Baltic and established in what is today northern Russia. They had made an alliance with the local Slavs and other tribes in the north and were forcing their way through fluvial routes into the international markets of the south, bordering the Black Sea. As we shall see, recent archaeological research seems to establish that they followed a route through the Volga and the Don and were accordingly on good terms with the Khazars, for Arabic silver travelled via these rivers to their territory. But the emergence of the Magyars probably put an end to this understanding between the two powers.
