been able to learn nothing from the annals, beyond the name, as to whence they came or who they were; and the same likewise with the Waregi;[1] but as they gave the name of Waregan Sea to the Baltic, and to that sea which divides Prussia, Livonia, and part of their own territory from Sweden, I have concluded from the vicinity that their princes were either Swedes or Danes, or Prussians. But since Wagria seems to have been formerly a most famous seat and province of the Vandals, near to Lubeck and the Duchy of Holstein, it would appear that the sea which is now called the Baltic took its name from it; and as that sea, together with the gulph which divides Germany from Denmark, and separates also Prussia, Livonia, and the maritime portion of the Russian empire from Sweden, was at that time called by the Russians Waretzokoie Morie, i.e. the Waregan Sea; and as in addition to this the Vandals were at that time powerful, used the language, and practised the manners and religion of the Russians, it appears to me more probable that the Russians called their princes from the Wagrii, or Waregi, than
- ↑ After a long controversy amongst the Russians, it seems to be very generally allowed by the best antiquaries, that the Waregi were Scandinavians or Northmen. For a detailed account of them, see Karamzin, vol. i, fo. 52, et seq.
Akazirs, under which name they in the year 212 made an irruption into Armenia. They were conquered first by Attila, and afterwards by the Bulgarians. After the death of Attila, they became free; and in the sixth century they had continual wars with the Persians, who, under Cosroes, erected a wall against them, known as the Caucasian wall, the ruins of which still exist. They subsequently carried on hostilities with the Arabs, invaded Hungary likewise, and made several princes tributary, so that their dominion extended from the Volga and the Caspian Sea to the Moldavia and Wallachia of the present day. At length their kingdom fell under the frequent attacks of the Russians about 1016; the name of Chazars, however, prevailed for a century or more afterwards. They were known under the name of Kosa to the Chinese themselves. For a summary of the history of this people, see Stritter, Memoriæ Populorum Septentr., tom. iii, fo. 548; St. Petersburg, 1778, 4to.; Karamzin, tom. i, fo. 48; Paris, 1819, 8vo.; and De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i, part II, pp. 507-509.
