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Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium.

The episode 116, Beyond the Danube.

Today we look north to the peoples of the steplands who've played a peripheral but occasionally vital role in our narrative.

The Magyars, Petshinegs, Rus and Ksars.

These peoples don't have written histories that cover the 9th century.

So this won't be an episode filled with names and dates.

Instead it will be about putting these people on the map and in position for the roles they'll play throughout the next century.

But before we begin, I need to deal with an issue that several listeners have brought to my attention.

Pronunciation.

I've had two guiding principles when it comes to this issue.

One is that I would continue Mike Duncan's pronunciation of names and places.

This show is meant to provide a continuation of his.

And the second is that I've stuck to what I perceive to be the most obvious and well known,

Anglicization of Key Words.

Constantinople is a very famous place name, even though no character on this podcast would ever have used it.

And I've extended that principle to words which have caused more controversy, like the Bulgar Khan Krum and the future Hungarians, the Magyars.

Several listeners have pointed out that in the national tongues of both modern peoples, the Khan should be closer to Krum and the Hungarians modgias.

I'm more than happy to pass on these corrections to you all, but I will be sticking to their Anglicized versions.

My reasoning is that this podcast is designed with native English speakers in mind.

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