Ch. 13. (64-5) On the peoples that are neighbours to the Tourkoi
These peoples (?unh) are adjacent to the
Tourkoi: on their western side Frankia; on their northern side the Pechenegs;
and on the south side (pr?q t? meshmbrin?n)
great [or former (1.)] Moravia (meg?lh
Morab?a), the land of Sphendoplokos, which has now been totally
devastated by these Tourkoi, and occupied by them. On the side of the mountains,
the Croats are adjacent to the Tourkoi.
Ch. 38 (172-3) The Tourkoi, in flight and seeking a place in which to
dwell, came and in their turn expelled the inhabitants of great [or former]
Moravia (meg?lhn Morab?an), and settled in their
land, in which the Tourkoi now live to this day.
Ch. 40 (177) In this place a various landmarks of the olden days: first,
there is a bridge of the emperor Trajan, next to the princedom of the Tourkoi
(kat? t?n t?q Toyrk?aq ?rx?n); then a three
days journey from this same bridge, thereis Belgrade, in which is the tower
of the holy and great Constantine, the emperor; then again, at the running
back of the river [i.e. upstream] is the renowned Sirmium by name, a journey
of two days from Belgrade; and beyond lies great [or former] Moravia (meg?lh
Morab?a), the unbaptized, which the Tourkoi have blotted out, over
which in former times Spendopolokos ruled.
Ch. 41 (180-1) The prince (?rxvn) of Moravia, Sphendoplokos, was valiant and terrible to neighbouring peoples (?unh). This same Sphendoplokos had three sons, and when he was dying he divided his land into three parts and left a share to each of his three sons, leaving the eldest to be the great prince (?rxonta m?gan), and the other two to be under the command of the eldest son ... [metaphor of the three sticks] ...
After the death of this same Sphendoplokos they remained at peace for
a year, and then strife and rebellion fell upon them, and they fought a
civil war against each other, and the Tourkoi came and utterly ruined them
and possessed their land, in which even now they [the Tourkoi] live. And
those of the people (to? lao?) who were left
were scattered and fled for refuge to the adjacent peoples (parake?mena
?unh), to the Bulgarians, the Tourkoi and Croatians and the other
peoples.
Ch. 42 (182-3) From Thessalonica to the river Danube where stands the
city called Belgrade, is a journey of eight days, if one is not travelling
in haste but by easy stages. The Tourkoi live beyond the river Danube,
in the land of Moravia (e?q t?n t?q Morab?aq g?n),
but also this side of it (?nuen), between the
Danube and river Sava (2.). From the lower reaches of
the river Danube, opposite Dristra, stretches Patzinakia, and its inhabitants
control the territory as far as Sarkel, the city of the Khazars, in which
garrisons of 300 men are posted annually relieved.