ABSTRACT
Two collective names of key importance have always been of special importance: Rs/Rsiyya and aqliba, which have often been identified specifically with the Swedish vikings and the Slavs respectively. If the author considers their supposed Christianity, the individuals likely were, or included, Moravians. This confusion led the Bashkir historian Ahmed Zeki Validi Togan, who in 1923 discovered the oldest eleventh-century manuscript of Ibn Faln's report, to suggest that the name aqliba had been ambiguous in the caliphate and had not necessarily referred to Slavs in Arabic texts. This short review shows that geographic knowledge about the seats of Slavs was generally correct in Arabic-speaking lands, despite a lack of ethno-geographic details. The author may infer that his instructions put special stress on the Rsiyyah and aqliba, both of whom were described in a highly detailed way. The author lived in Syria, which makes the meaning of his aqliba unambiguous.
