Ingvar the Far-Travelled

Ingvar the Far-Travelled (Old Norse: Yngvarr víðförli, Swedish: Ingvar Vittfarne) led an unsuccessful large Viking attack against Persia in 1036–1042.

The Rus' undertook several Caspian expeditions in the course of the 10th century. The Yngvars saga víðförla describes the last Viking campaign in the Caspian in 1041, adding much legend to the historical facts. Ingvar the Far-Travelled launched this expedition from Sweden, travelling down the Volga River into the land of the Saracens (Serkland). While there, the Vikings apparently took part in the Georgian-Byzantine Battle of Sasireti in Georgia (1042).

No less than twenty-six Ingvar runestones - twenty-four of them in the Lake Mälaren region of Uppland in Sweden - refer to Swedish warriors who went out with Ingvar on his expedition to the Saracen lands, an expedition which probably aimed to reopen old trade-routes after the Volga Bulgars and the Khazars no longer proved obstacles. A stone to Ingvar’s brother indicates that he went east for gold but died in Saracen land.

Beside the Ingvar runestones, there are no extant Swedish sources that mention Ingvar, but there is Yngvars saga víðförla and three Icelandic annals that mention his death under the year 1041: Annales regii, the Lögmanns annáll and the Flateyarbók annals. These three annals are probably based on Sturla Þórðarson's compilation.

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