THE KHAZAR FORTRESS OF SARKEL

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This page is Copyright © 1997-2003 by Kevin Brook, all rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction of this page is prohibited.

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Of all of the excavated Khazarian cities, the one which provided the richest material remains was Sarkel, which was flooded in 1952 upon the completion of the new Tsimlyansky Reservoir. Archaeological work at the Sarkel site was never fully completed, and it is not possible to conduct further studies. Nevertheless, the existing data recovered from Sarkel provides valuable clues to the Khazarian culture. We are indebted to the reports of Soviet archaeologists -- including Mikhail I. Artamonov, Svetlana A. Pletnyova, and Pavel A. Rappoport -- who explored the artifacts and architecture of Sarkel during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
The grand fortress of Sarkel, located near the Don River, was built in the 830s by a joint team of Greek and Khazar architects. Its Turkic name, sar-kel, means "White Fortress", and was named this because the fortress' bricks were made of white limestone. Some of the bricks from the Sarkel site were decorated with Turkic tamgas (tribe symbols) or images of horses and armored riders.

(Source: Sol Podolefsky, Di geshikhte fun di Kazarn un zeyer ideshe meluche in tsentrel Eyrope. New York: Rokhman, 1971. Page 148.)

Sarkel's fortress had 4 towers and 2 gates, and a citadel was located in its south-eastern section. Its garrison consisted of 300 Turkic guards. However, Sarkel also served another purpose, in addition to military defense: its strategic location led it to become a major center of trade. Sarkel linked to the famous overland trading route known as the "Silk Road". Caravans would often pass through the region, and in fact the remains of Sarkel caravanserais have been identified, each consisting of (1) rooms for visitors, (2) an area for holding cattle, and (3) a courtyard where the caravans were kept overnight.

Besides the commercial and military sections of Sarkel, there were also residential areas. The houses in Sarkel originally had an open hearth in the center, but by the 10th century many of the houses had more advanced stoves and they were located in a corner rather than in the center. It appears that Sarkel's population consisted of Shamanists, Jews, and Christians.
Many productive activities took place in the vicinity of Sarkel. The remains of forges and potter's workshops were identified by archaeologists. Thus, much of the kitchenware, jewelry (bracelets, rings, earrings), belt-buckles, and pottery used by the residents of Sarkel was produced locally. However, a substantial amount of non-local goods was imported into Sarkel, both from other Khazarian industrial centers (e.g., the Crimean and Taman peninsulas) and foreign countries (e.g., the Byzantine Empire).
Many graves were excavated at Sarkel and the nearby Tsimlyansky site across the Don. The human remains were mostly European types, but some Mongolian types also were found. Animal bones (for example, those of dogs and horses) were also found.
The Grand Prince of Kievan Rus, Svyatoslav Igorevich, took over Sarkel in the year 965. The Rus'ian Chronicle recorded the conquest of Sarkel as follows:

"Svyatoslav went to the Oka and the Volga [rivers], and on coming into contact with the Vyatichians [a Slavic tribe] he asked them to whom they paid tribute. They answered that they paid a silver piece per plowshare to the Khazars. When they [the Khazars] heard of his approach, they went out to meet him with their prince, the kagan, and the armies came to blows. When the battle thus took place, Svyatoslav defeated the Khazars and took their city of Byelaya Vyezha."

Byelaya Vyezha, the East Slavic translation of sar-kel, also means "White Fortress". After destroying Sarkel, the Rus'ians rebuilt the city and it once again served as a vibrant trading post.
In 1117, a group of "byelovyezhitsi" from Byelaya Vyezha settled near Chernihiv and established a new town called "Byelaya Vyezha" which was named after their old hometown along the Don River.

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KHAZARIA IMAGE GALLERY

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Map of the Khazar Empire in the early 10th century.

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Map of the Crimean peninsula during the Khazar era.

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This 6-letter Khazar runic word means "I have read [it]". It was written on the bottom of the Kievan Letter, a document written by the (possibly-Khazar) Jews of Kiev in the early 10th century. The signatures on the Kievan Letter are of mixed Hebrew (ex: Yitzhak, Sinai, Yehudah) and Turkic/Slavic (ex: Manas, Gostata) origins; some scholars suggest that this indicates that the conversion to Judaism in Khazaria extended beyond just the ruling elite, while others point out that Israelite Jews throughout the diaspora adopted local non-Jewish names.

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These Turkic tribe symbols (called "tamgas") were inscribed on Jewish stones unearthed at Tmutorokan (Phanagoria). These same stones also depict the 7-branched menorah. (Source: Abraham N. Poliak, Kazariyah: Toldot mamlaxa yehudit be'europa. Tel Aviv, 1943/1944.)

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Engravings resembling the Jewish Star of David were unearthed at two Khazar sites, one along the Donets River in eastern Ukraine and the other along the Don River in southern Russia. This one is a circular metal disc, interpreted by Professor Bozena Werbart of Umea University as Jewish but seen by others as shamanistic or pagan. The circular nature of the disc may represent the sun, and the 6 points may represent rays of the sun. Scholars lean towards assigning the disc to Tengri shamanism due to the fact that there are also known examples of Khazarian sun discs with 5 or 7 points, rather than consistently 6. Some of the Jewish-Turkic graves at Chelarevo in what used to be Hungary contain engravings of the Star of David and are believed by some to belong to Khazar Kabar migrants. However, the claim that the Star of David first became a symbol of Jewish nationalism in Khazaria is by no means certain.

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Amulets unearthed at cemeteries in the Khazar Empire.

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This is the uppermost part of a Khazarian scoop (dipper) manufactured from silver in the 8th or 9th century and discovered at the town of Kotsk in western Siberia. It depicts a Turkic wrestling motif. (Source: Stepi Evrazii v epokhu srednevekov'ia. Moscow: Nauka, 1981, page 163.) Natalia A. Fonyakova compared the scoop's hunting and wrestling scenes with written notes by the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Hsuan-Tsang and concluded that the scenes depict the Khazar kagan in a fight for power. (Source: Fonyakova, "Izovrazhenie odnogo zabitogo obichaya na xazarskom sosude iz Kotskogo gorodka" in Donskaya Arkheologiya, 2001, No. 3-4, pages 67-71.)

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These horn plates from near Shilovka portray traditional Khazarian themes such as war and hunting. Among the animals portrayed are horses, rabbits, dragons, and a bear. (Source: Svetlana A. Pletnyova, Ocherki Khazarskoy Arkheologii. Moscow: Gesharim, 1999, figure 119.)

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A horseback warrior depicted on a Khazarian bone reliquary from the Don river region. (Source: Vyacheslav P. Glebov and Aleksey A. Ivanov, "Kochevnicheskoye pogrebenie xazarskogo vremeni iz mogil'nika Taloviy II" inSrednevekovie drevnosti Dona: Sbornik statey, 2007, figure 8 on page 174.)

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Photographs of pieces of Khazar silver belts. (Source: A. A. Ivanov, V. P. Kopilov, and S. A. Naumenko, "Poyasnie narodi iz kurganov khazarskogo vremeni mezhdurech'ya Dona i Sala" in Donskaya Arkheologiya No. 1(6) (2000), plates between pages 56 and 57 with relation to the article on pages 81-90.)

The Jews of Khazaria

by Kevin Alan Brook

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The Jews of Khazaria recounts the eventful history of the Turkic kingdom of Khazaria, which was located in eastern Europe and flourished as an independent state from about 650 to 1016. As a major world power, Khazaria enjoyed diplomatic and trade relations with many peoples and nations (including the Byzantines, Alans, Magyars, and Slavs) and changed the course of medieval history in many ways. Did you know that if not for the Khazars, much of eastern Europe would have been overrun by the Arabs and become Islamic? In the same way as Charles Martel and his Franks stopped the advance of Muslims at the Battle of Poitiers in the West, the Khazars blunted the northward advance of the Arabs that was surging across the Caucasus in the 8th century.
The Khazar people belonged to a grouping of Turks who wrote in a runic script that originated in Mongolia. The royalty of the Khazar kingdom was descended from the Ashina Turkic dynasty. In the ninth century, the Khazarian royalty and nobility as well as a significant portion of the Khazarian Turkic population embraced the Jewish religion. After their conversion, the Khazars were ruled by a succession of Jewish kings and began to adopt the hallmarks of Jewish civilization, including the Torah and Talmud, the Hebrew script, and the observance of Jewish holidays. A portion of the empire's population adopted Christianity and Islam.
This volume traces the development of the Khazars from their early beginnings as a tribe to the decline and fall of their kingdom. It demonstrates that Khazaria had manufacturing industries, trade routes, an organized judicial system, and a diverse population. It also examines the many migrations of the Khazar people into Hungary, Ukraine, and other areas of Europe and their subsequent assimilation, providing the most comprehensive treatment of this complex issue to date. The final chapter enumerates the Jewish communities of eastern Europe which sprung up after the fall of Khazaria and proposes that the Jews from the former Russian Empire are descended from a mixture of Khazar Jews, German Jews, Greek Jews, and Slavs.
The Jews of Khazaria draws upon the latest archival, linguistic, genetic, and archaeological discoveries. The weaponry, agriculture, horticulture, fishing, burial practices, architecture, and religions of the peoples of Khazaria are among the many findings revealed here.
The book also includes a map of the Khazar kingdom; a map of Khazarian-ruled Crimea; tables illustrating royal genealogies, the Turkic language family, and Turkic Khazarian personal names; a glossary of Khazarian words and other important terms which may be unfamiliar to readers; and an extensive bibliography listing hundreds of books and articles.

Students and other people interested in history who desire a thorough yet easy-to-read account of the Khazar kingdom will gain in their understanding of this important but previously obscure topic.

Ashkenazic Jews who wish to explore their distant ancestry in eastern Europe will greatly benefit from reading this book, particularly Chapter 10, which traces Jewish migrations across Europe in medieval times.

Hungarians, Ukrainians, Turks, Arabs, and Ossetians will find a wealth of information concerning the historical interactions between their peoples and the Khazars.

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FIRST EDITION:English original published by Jason Aronson Publishers, Inc. of Northvale, New Jersey, U.S.A. (an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield Publishers since December 2003)
1st printing: April 1999, cloth/hardcover, 352 pages, ISBN 0-7657-6032-0, 1500 copies
2nd printing: October 1999, cloth/hardcover, 352 pages, ISBN 0-7657-6032-0, 1500 copies
3rd printing: September 2002, paperback/softcover, 354 pages, ISBN 0-7657-6212-9, 500 copies
4th printing: April 2004, paperback/softcover, 354 pages, ISBN 0-7657-6212-9, 525 copies
5th printing: beginning circa June 2004, hardcover, 354 pages, ISBN 0-7657-6032-0, 112 copies by print-on-demand 2004-2006
6th printing: beginning early 2005, paperback/softcover, 354 pages, ISBN 0-7657-6212-9, 773 copies by print-on-demand 2005-2006
Turkish edition Bir Türk İmparatorluğu: Hazar Yahudileri, translated by Ismail Tulçali, published by Nokta Kitap (Nokta Yayınları) of Istanbul, Turkey
1st printing: February 2005, softcover, 474 pages, ISBN 975-8823-73-6, 2000 copies
SECOND EDITION:English original published by Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. of Lanham, Maryland, U.S.A.
1st printing: beginning September 2006, hardcover, 317 pages, ISBN 0-7425-4981-X, 978-0-7425-4981-4, 1339+ copies by print-on-demand 2006-present
2nd printing: November 2009, paperback/softcover, 317 pages, ISBN 0-7425-4982-8, 978-0-7425-4982-1, 400 copies
3rd printing: circa March 2010, paperback/softcover, 317 pages, ISBN 0-7425-4982-8, 978-0-7425-4982-1, 400 copies
4th printing: August 2010, paperback/softcover, 317 pages, ISBN 0-7425-4982-8, 978-0-7425-4982-1, about 754 copies
Electronic edition: ISBN 978-1-4422-0302-0

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"This second, revised edition... integrates important new data culled from ongoing archaeological digs in southern Russia and the Crimea, genetic results of DNA processing, examination of formerly unknown or ignored coin hordes, and the continuing research of scholars around the world. It succeeds in elucidating controversial issues, while contextualizing the Khazar polity within the competitive 9th-11th-century world of Byzantium, the Arab Caliphate, and two regional upstarts: the Dnepr-based aggregate of Nordic, Slavic, and Turkic peoples known as Rus', and the Turkic-Islamic kaganate of Bulgar flourishing in the middle and upper Volga territory. As a full exploration in English of the history and culture of the Khazars, this volume is without equal..." - Edward J. Lazzerini, Visiting Professor of Central Eurasian History, Indiana University Bloomington
"King Joseph's reply appears along with a host of other fascinating documents in Kevin Alan Brooks' scholarly account. ...Brooks [is] ever sober and even-handed in his approach..." - Mark Glanville, in Jewish Quarterly No. 208 (Winter 2007 issue)
"...fans of Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road... might also enjoy... Kevin Alan Brook's The Jews of Khazaria, which lends some context to Chabon's history." - sidebar in Neal Wyatt's article "Take the RA Talk Online: In person and via web tools, readers' advisory is all about how well we talk to patrons" in Library Journal 133:3 (February 15, 2008 issue)
"Kevin Alan Brook, thirty years on, strives, with considerable success, to satisfy the appetite for information about the Khazars which Koestler generated. The Jews of Khazaria is, in essence, a compendium of information gathered from every available source... He has provided a useful reference work for all those intrigued by the most striking single case of successful Jewish proselytism, as well as for those interested in the affairs of one of the four great powers of western Eurasia in the early middle ages." - James Howard-Johnston, University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 27:2 (Winter 2009 issue)
"Kevin Alan Brook's The Jews of Khazaria is the first work since Douglas Dunlop's 1967 History of the Jewish Khazars to provide a comprehensive account of Khazar history. ... the work synthesizes a vast array of secondary literature into a concise and readable digest. ... Beyond providing a current and accessible introduction to this topic, the work is extremely valuable for its consolidation of this disparate material. ..." - Eve Krakowski, Lecturer on Jewish Studies, University of Chicago, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 70:2 (October 2011 issue)
Below are some reviews of the 1st edition:
"It makes skillful use of the vast literature, in many different languages, related to the Khazars. It will be a very helpful guide for the general reader who wishes to discover the truth about this legendary people." - John D. Klier, Professor of Modern Jewish History, University College, London
"Kevin Alan Brook has put together an absorbing account of their history based on this wide array of sources, supplemented by archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic data dealing with Khazar Jewry and their legacy. This is a most useful introduction to this at times enigmatic, but always fascinating people." - Peter B. Golden, Professor of History, Rutgers University
"...[a] very valuable publication..." - Timur Kocaoglu, Associate Professor of Central Asian Studies, Koç University, Istanbul
"...it is a magnificent piece of work and fills many gaps in my knowledge of the Khazars..." - Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, Director, Institute for Jewish Literacy at Chabad House, West Hartford, CT
"My general impression is very good: the volume of information collected from various sources is very important and this info is presented in a systematic manner. The book is also interesting to read... [T]his [is an] important erudite contribution to the domain in which any theory is questionable and as a result any attempt to shed more light is welcome." - Alexander Beider, author of A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire
"[I] am impressed with the scope of [the] research and the fascinating possibilities it presents regarding the nature and origins of the Ashkenazic Jewish community.... The Khazars are an important and a neglected area of research." - Hollace Weiner, author of Jewish Stars in Texas
"Brook has synthesized information from hundreds of sources to give us a picture of this lost medieval Jewish empire. Not only is Brook's book interesting for its information about Central Asian and European history, it also holds great importance for its facts and conjecture about the origins of Eastern European Jewry... Aside from its well-organized text, The Jews of Khazaria has an excellent chronology, glossary, and an extensive bibliography... Anyone who cares about world history or Jewish history would do well to read Brook's amazing book." - Lynda Ritterman, in Inside Your Town (Evesham-Medford-Mt. Laurel-Cherry Hill-Voorhees-Haddonfield-Moorestown, NJ, March 2001 issue)
"Kevin Alan Brook presents the findings of an impressive array of scholarship, referencing primary sources and secondary scholarship written in Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Russian, Hungarian, Swedish and other languages.... A highly useful, comprehensive chronology is given as an appendix.... Far from being [merely] a romantic interlude whose brief existence sparked the imagination of generations, Brook's volume shows that the Khazar experience is intrinsic to the narrative of Jewish history." - Seth Ward, Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies and History, University of Denver, in The Jewish Quarterly Review 91:3-4 (January-April 2001 issue)
"I very much enjoyed reading [this] book on the Khazars." - Ken Blady, author of Jewish Communities in Exotic Places
"...the true great step forward in the study of Khazaria... It is a very complete work, based on broad documentation from multiple sources (Hebraic, Arab, Russian)...." - Claude-Gérard Marcus, in L'Arche: le mensuel du judaïsme françaisNo. 535 (September 2002 issue)
"...a new recapitulatory work... which summarizes all the current research well and which might thus become the standard work for all those who are interested in the early history of East European Judaism." - Thomas Schmidinger, inContext XXI (Vienna, Austria, July 2002) No. 7
Additional reviews and more extensive comments from the above reviews

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TABLE OF CONTENTS for the 2nd EditionAcknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 -- THE ORIGINS OF THE KHAZARS:
The Turkic Heritage, Legends about the Beginnings of the Jewish Khazars, The Khazars and the Huns, The Western Turkish Empire, The Formation of an Independent Khazar Kingdom, The Effects of Khazar Expansion on the Bulgars
Chapter 2 -- THE CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE KHAZARS:
The Capital Cities of Khazaria, Atil and Khazaran, Balanjar, Chernigov, Cherson, Chufut-Kale, Doros, Feodosia, Kerch (Bospor), Kiev, Kordon-Oba, Mayaki, Samandar (Tamatarkha), Sarkel, Semikarakorskaya, Sudak, Tepsen (Phullai), Upper Saltov (Verkhneye Saltovo), Other Khazar Settlements and Fortresses, The Peoples of the Khazar Empire
Chapter 3 -- THE STRUCTURE OF THE KHAZAR GOVERNMENT:
The Kagan, The Bek (King) and His Army, The Kender and the Javshighar, The Tarkhan, The Court Panel, The Local Governors, Taxation, Tributary Peoples
Chapter 4 -- THE KHAZAR WAY OF LIFE:
Khazar Arts and Crafts, Khazar Agriculture and Food Gathering, The Structure of Khazar Homes, Khazar Costume and Hairstyle, Khazar Graves, Languages Spoken by the Khazars
Chapter 5 -- KHAZARIAN TRADE:
Khazaria as a Great Medieval Trading Center, The Jewish Radhanites, Rus' Traders in Khazaria, Arab Traders in Khazaria, Chinese Traders in Khazaria, Coinage
Chapter 6 -- THE KHAZARS' CONVERSION TO JUDAISM:
The First Jews of Eastern Europe, Khazaria as a Refuge for Persecuted Jews, Tengri Shamanism, the Indigenous Religion of the Khazars, King Bulan's Conversion to Judaism, The Schechter Letter, The Khazar Correspondence, Saint Cyril's Mission to the Khazars, The Kievan Letter, The Date and Depth of the Khazar Conversion to Judaism, Archaeological Evidence, Conclusions
Chapter 7 -- RELATIONS BETWEEN THE KHAZARS AND OTHER PEOPLES:
The Arab-Khazar Wars and Relations with Leaders of the South Caucasus, Relations with the Byzantine Empire, Relations with the Alans, Relations with Other Turkic Tribes, Relations with the Hungarians, Relations with the Rus'
Chapter 8 -- THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE KHAZAR EMPIRE:
The Beginning of the End, The Rus'ian Conquest of the Khazars, The Passing of the Khazar Empire, Reasons for Khazaria's Destruction
Chapter 9 -- THE DIASPORA OF THE KHAZARS:
Khazars in Hungary, Khazars in Transylvania (Romania), Khazars in Moldova, Khazars in Lithuania and Belarus, Khazars in Poland, Khazars in Kievan Rus' (Ukraine), Khazars in the Byzantine Empire, Khazars in Spain, Khazars in Azerbaijan, Khazars in the North Caucasus, Khazars in Russia, Khazars in Kazakhstan, Khazars in Other Parts of the World
Chapter 10 -- EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN JEWS AFTER THE TENTH CENTURY:
The East Slavic-Speaking Jews of Eastern Europe: Remnants of the Khazars?, The Migration of Czech Jews into Eastern Europe, The Migration of German Jews into Eastern Europe, How Yiddish Became the Mother Tongue of Eastern European Jews, Are There Khazarian Words in Yiddish?, The Migration of Sephardic Jews into Eastern Europe, The Migration of Mizrakhi ("Eastern") Jews and Romaniote ("Greek") Jews into Eastern Europe, Jews in Medieval Ukraine, Other Early Traces of Jews in Poland, Jews in Lithuania and Belarus, Jews in Hungary: A Special Case?, Jews in Historic Romania, What Genetic Data Demonstrates about Ashkenazic Origins, Do Ashkenazic Jews Descend from Khazars?, Do Krymchaks Descend from Khazars?, Do Crimean and Lithuanian Karaites Descend from Khazars?, Do Mountain Jews of the Caucasus Descend from Khazars?, Do Georgian Jews Descend from Khazars?, Conclusions
Appendix A: Timeline of Khazar History
Appendix B: Glossary
Appendix C: Native Khazarian Personal Names
Appendix D: Other Instances of Conversion to Judaism in History
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Scholar claims to find medieval Jewish capital Russian archaeologist says he has found the lost capital of Khazar empire

Dmitry Vasilyev  /  AP

An excavation of an 11th-12th century house made of hard-burnt bricks in Itil, a Silk Road city that served as the Khazar capital, near Astrakhan, south of Moscow. The Khazars established the first feudal state in eastern Europe.

MOSCOW — A Russian archaeologist says he has found the lost capital of the Khazars, a powerful nation that adopted Judaism as its official religion more than 1,000 years ago, only to disappear leaving little trace of its culture.

Dmitry Vasilyev, a professor at Astrakhan State University, said his nine-year excavation near the Caspian Sea has finally unearthed the foundations of a triangular fortress of flamed brick, along with modest yurt-shaped dwellings, and he believes these are part of what was once Itil, the Khazar capital.

By law Khazars could use flamed bricks only in the capital, Vasilyev said. The general location of the city on the Silk Road was confirmed in medieval chronicles by Arab, Jewish and European authors.

"The discovery of the capital of Eastern Europe's first feudal state is of great significance," he told The Associated Press. "We should view it as part of Russian history."

Kevin Brook, the American author of "The Jews of Khazaria," e-mailed Wednesday that he has followed the Itil dig over the years, and even though it has yielded no Jewish artifacts, "Now I'm as confident as the archaeological team is that they've truly found the long-lost city."

Ruling nomadic tribe The Khazars were a Turkic tribe that roamed the steppes from Northern China to the Black Sea. Between the 7th and 10th centuries they conquered huge swaths of what is now southern Russia and Ukraine, the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea.

Real Indiana Jones mysteriesItil, about 800 miles south of Moscow, had a population of up to 60,000 and occupied 0.8 square miles of marshy plains southwest of the Russian Caspian Sea port of Astrakhan, Vasilyev said.

The Khazar empire was once a regional superpower, and Vasilyev said his team has found "luxurious collections" of well-preserved ceramics that help identify cultural ties of the Khazar state with Europe, the Byzantine Empire and even Northern Africa. They also found armor, wooden kitchenware, glass lamps and cups, jewelry and vessels for transporting precious balms dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries, he said.It lay at a major junction of the Silk Road, the trade route between Europe and China, which "helped Khazars amass giant profits," he said.

'We know almost nothing'
But a scholar in Israel, while calling the excavations interesting, said the challenge was to find Khazar inscriptions.

"If they found a few buildings, or remains of buildings, that's interesting but does not make a big difference," said Dr. Simon Kraiz, an expert on Eastern European Jewry at Haifa University. "If they found Khazar writings, that would be very important."

Vasilyev says no Jewish artifacts have been found at the site, and in general, most of what is known about the Khazars comes from chroniclers from other, sometimes competing cultures and empires.

"We know a lot about them, and yet we know almost nothing: Jews wrote about them, and so did Russians, Georgians, and Armenians, to name a few," said Kraiz. "But from the Khazars themselves we have nearly nothing."

'Russia is a successor'
The Khazars' ruling dynasty and nobility converted to Judaism sometime in the 8th or 9th centuries. Vasilyev said the limited number of Jewish religious artifacts such as mezuzas and Stars of David found at other Khazar sites prove that ordinary Khazars preferred traditional beliefs such as shamanism, or newly introduced religions including Islam.

Yevgeny Satanovsky, director of the Middle Eastern Institute in Moscow, said he believes the Khazar elite chose Judaism out of political expediency — to remain independent of neighboring Muslim and Christian states. "They embraced Judaism because they wanted to remain neutral, like Switzerland these days," he said.

In particular, he said, the Khazars opposed the Arab advance into the Caucasus Mountains and were instrumental in containing a Muslim push toward eastern Europe. He compared their role in eastern Europe to that of the French knights who defeated Arab forces at the Battle of Tours in France in 732.

The Khazars succeeded in holding off the Arabs, but a young, expanding Russian state vanquished the Khazar empire in the late 10th century. Medieval Russian epic poems mention Russian warriors fighting the "Jewish Giant."

"In many ways, Russia is a successor of the Khazar state," Vasilyev said.

Traces of conquest
He said his dig revealed traces of a large fire that was probably caused by the Russian conquest. He said Itil was rebuilt following the fall of the Khazar empire, when ethnic Khazars were slowly assimilated by Turkic-speaking tribes, Tatars and Mongols, who inhabited the city until it was flooded by the rising Caspian Sea around the 14th century.

The study of the Khazar empire was discouraged in the Soviet Union. The dictator Josef Stalin, in particular, detested the idea that a Jewish empire had come before Russia's own. He ordered references to Khazar history removed from textbooks because they "disproved his theory of Russian statehood," Satanovsky said.

Only now are Russian scholars free to explore Khazar culture. The Itil excavations have been sponsored by the Russian-Jewish Congress, a nonprofit organization that supports cultural projects in Russia.

"Khazar studies are just beginning," Satanovsky said.

Russian archaeologists find long-lost Jewish capital

MOSCOW (AFP) — Russian archaeologists said Wednesday they had found the long-lost capital of the Khazar kingdom in southern Russia, a breakthrough for research on the ancient Jewish state.

"This is a hugely important discovery," expedition organiser Dmitry Vasilyev told AFP by telephone from Astrakhan State University after returning from excavations near the village of Samosdelka, just north of the Caspian Sea.

"We can now shed light on one of the most intriguing mysteries of that period -- how the Khazars actually lived. We know very little about the Khazars -- about their traditions, their funerary rites, their culture," he said.

The city was the capital of the Khazars, a semi-nomadic Turkic peoples who adopted Judaism as a state religion, from between the 8th and the 10th centuries, when it was captured and sacked by the rulers of ancient Russia.

At its height, the Khazar state and its tributaries controlled much of what is now southern Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan and large parts of Russia's North Caucasus region.

The capital is referred to as Itil in Arab chronicles but Vasilyev said the word may actually have been used to refer to the Volga River on which the city was founded or to the surrounding river delta region.

Itil was said to be a multi-ethnic place with houses of worship and judges for Christians, Jews, Muslims and pagans. Its remains have until now never been identified and were said to have been washed away by the Caspian Sea.

Archaeologists have been excavating in the area if Samosdelka for the past nine years but have only now collected enough material evidence to back their thesis, including the remains of an ancient brick fortress, he added.

"Within the fortress, we have found huts similar to yurts, which are characteristics of Khazar cities.... The fortress had a triangular shape and was made with bricks. It's another argument that this was no ordinary city."

Around 10 university archaeologists and some 50 students took part in excavations in the region this summer, which are partly financed by the Jewish University in Moscow and the Russian Jewish Congress.

Found: Ancient Capital of 'Jewish' Khazar Kingdom

The capital of the legendary "Jewish kingdom" has been found, says a team of Russian archeologists. If verified, the find is a major breakthrough.

By Ze'ev Ben-Yechiel

First Publish: 9/4/2008, 2:16 PM

"This is a hugely important discovery."
A team of archaeologists claims to have discovered remnants of the legendary Khazar kingdom in southern Russia, according to a recent report. If the excavation site proves to be indeed the long-lost capital of the ancient 'Jewish Kingdom', the discovery would represent a major breakthrough for archaeologists and historians.

Map of the Khazar kingdom and surrounding regions, including Israel

"This is a hugely important discovery," said the leader of the Russian expedition, Dmitry Vasilyev, in a report by the French agency AFP. Vasilyev, from Astrakhan State University, made the comments after returning from the excavation site, located near the Russian village of Samosdelka just north of the Caspian Sea. The location of the site corresponds roughly to the area in which historians believe the empire may have existed.
"We can now shed light on one of the most intriguing mysteries of that period - how the Khazars actually lived,” he added. “We know very little about the Khazars - about their traditions, their funerary rites, their culture.”
The Jewish University in Moscow and the Russian Jewish Congress helped finance the excavations, which took place during the summer in various locations throughout the region in which the discovery was made. The project, overseen by a number of university professors, included some 50 students who assisted in the digs.
The Khazars were known to be a semi-nomadic Turkic people who dominated the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus regions from the 7th-10th centuries CE. The origin of the Khazars and their apparent conversion to Judaism is the subject of major dispute among modern historians.
In the 7th century CE, the Khazars founded an independent khaganate, or kingdom, in the Northern Caucasus along the Caspian Sea. It is believed that during the 8th or 9th century, around the height of their kingdom, the state religion became Judaism at the order of the king. At this point, the Khazar khaganate and its tributaries controlled much of what is today southern Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the Caucasus (including Circassia, Dagestan, Chechnya, and parts of Georgia), and the Crimea.
The first Jewish Khazar king was named Bulan, which means "elk", though some sources give him the Hebrew name Sabriel. A later king, Obadiah, strengthened Judaism, inviting rabbis into the kingdom and building synagogues.
References to a Jewish kingdom of Khazars are numerous in rabbinic literature from the Middle Ages and later. Among them is the famous tale by Rabbi Yehuda HaLevy, related in his celebrated 12th-century work The Kuzari. The book recounts a lengthy conversation between a certain Khazar king and an unnamed Jewish "wise man", where the latter's brilliant exposition on the essence of Torah compels the king to join the Jewish people.
Among other Jewish sources supporting the Jewish identity of the Khazars is a letter written by the medieval Jewish writer Avraham ibn Daud, who reported meeting rabbinical students from Khazar in Toledo, Spain in the mid-12th century. The well-renowned Schechter Letter recounts a different version of the conversion of the Khazar king, and mentions Benjamin ben Menachem as a Khazar king. Saadia Gaon, considered by many to be the greatest rabbi of his generation in the 10th century, also spoke favorably of the Khazars in his writings.
References to a Jewish Khazar kingdom appears in non-Jewish literature as well.  Classical Muslim sources describing such a kingdom are often cited by modern Muslim scholars in their attempts to prove that the historical homeland of the Jews is not in present-day Israel.
The Khazar city that Prof. Vasileyev believes to have found was referred to as "Itil" in Arab chronicles. The archeologist said the name may actually be an Arabic reference to the Volga River, the great waterway on which the city was founded, to to the river's delta region.
Various sources describe Itil as a city of unusual ethnic and religious tolerance and diversity. Travelers to the city noted that there were separate houses of worship and judges for Christians, Jews, Muslims and pagans.
Until now, however, remains of the city had never been identified, and many believed that in the intervening millennium since the demise of the Khazar empire in the 10th century, all signs of the city were washed away into the Caspian Sea.
Although archaeologists have been excavating in the area of Samosdelka for the past nine years, only now has Vasileyev’s team been able to claim findings conclusive enough to identify the site of the capital.  Among the discoveries his team has unearthed are the remains of an ancient brick fortress.
"Within the fortress, we have found huts similar to yurts, which are characteristics of Khazar cities,” said the researcher.  “The fortress had a triangular shape and was made with bricks. It's another argument that this was no ordinary city."

Current Issues in Khazar Studies

Last Updated: April 27, 2012

With new discoveries and interpretations annually, the field of Khazar studies is a very dynamic one, full of controversy and intrigue. Here are some of the major issues that many scholars around the world are attempting to resolve at the present time.

1. What was the extent of Judaism in the Khazar Empire?According to professors Bozena Werbart and Jonathan Shepard, the Tengri "sun-amulets" disappeared after the 830s from Khazarian graves, as did other shamanistic possessions, indicating a dramatic shift in religion in the Khazar kaganate. There is also the opinion, most recently supported by Vladimir Petrukhin in his essay in Pletnyova's "Ocherki Khazarskoy Arkheologii" (1999), that the Chelarevo gravesite in present-day northern Serbia, with its broken bricks possessing images of the menorah, shofar, and Star of David, contains the bones of Judaized Khazarians. These discoveries may turn out to be just as important as the Kievan Letter in terms of proving beyond all reasonable doubt that the Khazars converted to Judaism in large numbers.

2. When did the Khazars convert to Judaism: 8th or 9th century?This is a highly controversial question, based upon contradictory information from various primary sources. The earliest possible date is Yehuda HaLevi's estimate of 740. Abd-al-Jabbar al-Hamdani and other Middle Eastern writers claim the conversion happened during the reign of the Abbasids. Al-Masudi would have us believe that the conversion took place sometime between 786 and 809. But according to Constantine Zuckerman of the Collège de France (Paris), the Khazars' conversion to Judaism probably took place in the 9th century rather than in the 8th century. This argument has also been taken up by Jonathan Shepard and Kevin Brook, who state that the first record of Khazarian Judaism dates only to about the year 864, and that the Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius upon their arrival in Khazaria in 860 approached and debated with a people whom had not yet adopted full Judaism. It used to be argued that the Khazars could not have sincerely adopted Judaism if they still had good relations with the Christian Byzantines even in the late 8th century. But historical analysis cancels this argument by showing that the decline in the Byzantine-Khazar relationship is tied directly to the time of the Khazar conversion to Judaism, and may be dated as occurring sometime during or after the 830s. A conversion date in the mid-to-late 830s is supported now also by the Moses coin (discussed below) which dates from 837-838, whereas just a few years earlier (around 834) the Khazars and Byzantines were cooperating on building Sarkel.

3. Did Khazarian coinage exist?According to Omeljan Pritsak of Harvard University, the Khazars minted their own silver coins, called yarmaqs in Turkic and dirhams in Arabic, and their currency was based on international medieval standards governing weights and measures. See his"The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and Monetary Systems: Two Studies in Western Eurasian Metrology and Numismatics in the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries" (1998), which has been reviewed by Thomas Noonan and Stephen Album. Another recent book is "Coins of the Khazar Empire" (2000) by Glen Shake. These authors support the notion that certain Arabic-lettered coins can be attributed to Khazar mints. Some numismatists, including Gert Rispling, and some historians, including Roman Kovalev, believe that the "Ard al-Khazar" (Land of the Khazars) coins, from the years 837-838, are authentic official Khazar coinage minted by the kaganate's Jewish kings. This contention is supported by the discovery of a related coin in the series (with a fictitious mintmark of "Madinat as-Salam 779-780", but actually dating from between about 830-839) which bears the inscription "Moses is the messenger of God", a Jewish version of the typical Islamic phrase "Muhammad is the messenger of God".

4. What was the nature of the Khazarian economy: nomadic or well-developed?According to Thomas Noonan of the University of Minnesota, in his article "The Khazar Economy" [Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9 (1995-1997): 253-318], the Khazar civilization is rich in material remains, and contributed to the medieval world economy. Excavators continue to find artwork, pottery, and other artifacts produced by the Khazars. This evidence appears to contradict the opinions of Ananiasz Zajaczkowski, Douglas Dunlop, Francis Dvornik, and others that the Khazars were merely middlemen and not producers of quality goods.

5. Where is the site of Atil, the capital of Khazaria?For many decades, archaeologists have been trying to find the Khazar capital, Atil, also known as Itil. Some archaeologists (Lev Gumilev, Hoichi Hirokawa, and others) proposed that Atil (including its walls) was underwater. On the other hand, Atil was actually found under land. The Russian archaeologist Emma Zilivinskaya, who works with Gennadii Afanasyev, has been exploring a site near the city of Samosdelka, 60 kilometers to the southwest of Astrakhan, in the Volga delta. The Samosdelka team's website, Samosdelka.ru, was operated by Denis Logunov, but closed by the end of 2006. The Russian archaeologist Yevgenia Schneidstein has also proposed that a hill in Samosdelka, where red brick has been found, is Atil. After several years of excavations, Dmitry Vasiliev came to the conclusion that Samosdelka is the site of two cities: Saqsin in the upper layers and Atil in the lower layers. The layers which are thought to be from Atil were uncovered in 2005 and date to the 9th and 10th centuries and have Khazarian characteristics. As reported by AFP, the site has a brick fortress in a triangular shape, as well as yurt-like huts. This is consistent with descriptions of Atil.

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Current English books about the Khazars		THE JEWS OF KHAZARIA by Kevin A. Brook	THE KUZARI by Yehuda HaLevi

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Recent articles about the Khazars			Um novo livro a respeito dos judeus khazares by Ariel Finguerman, in Hebraica (Brazil) Itil'-mechta (Na raskopkax drevnego tsentra Xazarskogo kaganata) by Dmitry Vasiliev, in Lekhaim (Israel) Pervaya mezhdunarodnaya konferentsiya po problemam izucheniya istorii xazar by Albert Kaganovitch, in Tsentral'naya Aziya i Kavkaz (Russia) Krupneyshey punkt (gorod) Khazarii by A. V. Kryganov, in Vostochnoevropeiskii arxeologicheskii zhurnal (Ukraine) Khazarii. Real'nost' i Mify (Khazars: Reality and Myth)by Aleksandr Komarov with Vladimir Petrukhin, in Yevreyskie novosti (Russia) Issledovaniya v Verkhnem Saltove v 1996 godu (Studies in Upper Saltov in 1996) by Vladimir V. Koloda, in Vostochnoevropeiskii arxeologicheskii zhurnal (Ukraine) Novye materialy k probleme izucheniya slavyano-khazarskix otnosheniy (po pamyatnikam Severskogo Dontsa) by Vladimir V. Koloda, in Vostochnoevropeiskii arxeologicheskii zhurnal (Ukraine) Obivatel'skaya blagodat' i grozy revolyutsii by Leonid Rokhlin, in Al'manax "Port-folio" (USA) The Forgotten Jewish Empire (Ha-imperiya ha-yehudit ha-nishkakhat: Kazariya hi akhat ha-khidot ha-gdolot shel ha-historiya) by Meir Uziel, in Ma'ariv (Israel) La Treizième tribu d'Israël? by Gaëlle Smet and K.V. Troth, in Regards: Revue du Centre communautaire laïc juif de Belgique (Belgium) Le royaume juif des Khazars by Méïr ben David, in Arouts-7 (Israel) Yevrey v Xazarskom Kaganate by Mark Shteynberg, in Yevreyskii Mir (USA) El Reino Perdido de Khazaria by Israel Tzvi Goldvaser, in La Luz: La Revista Judia Independiente (Argentina) Une pièce au puzzle kazhar by Olivier Truc, in Libération (France) Scholar claims to find medieval Jewish capital by Mansur Mirovalev, Associated Press

The Medieval Jewish Kingdom of the Khazars, 740-1259

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[Marcus Introduction] About the year 740, many of the Khazars, a powerful Turkish tribe occupying the steppes of southern Russia, became converts to Judaism. More than two centuries later, the report of the existence of this Jewish kingdom aroused the curiosity of Hasdai ibn Shaprut (about 915-970). Ibn Shaprut was not only the personal physician of the Spanish Califs Abd-al-Rahman III (912-961) and his son Hakam II (961-976) but was also inspector-general of customs and an adviser in foreign affairs. To satisfy his curiosity he wrote to the ruler of the Khazars about 960 and some time later received an answer from Joseph, the reigning king. The letters of Hasdai and Joseph, both originally written in Hebrew, are given below in extract.

Fragments of the Khazar kingdom persisted into the thirteenth century.

See the Web site - Khazaria Information Center 

1: THE LETTER OF RABBI HASDAI, SON OF ISAAC IBN SHAPRUT, TO THE KING OF THE KHAZARS,about 960

I, Hasdai, son of Isaac, son of Ezra, belonging to the exiled Jews of Jerusalem in Spain, a servant of my lord the King, bow to the earth before him and prostrate myself towards the abode of your Majesty from a distant land. I rejoice in your tranquillity and magnificence and stretch forth my hands to God in heaven that He may prolong your reign in Israel....

Praise be to the beneficent God for His mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [Abd-al-Rahman's] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favor by costly presents, such as the King of the Franks, the King of the Gebalim, who are Germans, the King of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. [Ibn Shaprut, who knew several languages, received these embassies.] Let my lips express praise to the God of heaven, who so far extends His lovingkindness towards me, without any merit of my own, but in the fullness of His mercies!

I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs who bring gifts about our brethren the Israelites, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have languished in bondage and have found no rest. [He was anxious to know if the "lost ten tribes" existed as an independent Jewish state anywhere.]

At length mercantile emissaries of Khorasan [a land southeast of the Caspian Sea] told me that there is a kingdom of Jews which is called Al-Chazar. But I did not believe these words for I thought that they told me such things to procure my goodwill and favor. I was therefore wondering, till the ambassadors of Constantinople came [between 944 and 949] with presents and a letter from their king to our king, and I interrogated them concerning this matter,

They answered me: "It is quite true, and the name of that kingdom is Al-Chazar. It is a fifteen days' journey by sea from Constantinople, but by land many nations intervene between us; the name of the king now reigning is Joseph; ships sometimes come from their country to ours bringing fish, skins, and wares of every kind [The Khazars, great traders, got their wares from the Russians to the north.] The men are our confederates and are honored by us; there is communication between us by embassies and mutual gifts; they are very powerful; they maintain numerous armies with which they occasionally engage in expeditions." When I heard this report I was encouraged, my hands were strengthened, and my hope was confirmed. Thereupon I bowed down and adored the God of heaven. [Hasdai was happy: Christians could no longer say the Jews were without a country as a punishment for their rejection of Jesus.]....

I pray for the health of my lord the King, of his family, and of his house, and that his throne may be established for ever. Let his days and his sons' days be prolonged in the midst of Israel! 

II. THE LETTER OF JOSEPH THE KING, SON OF AARON THE KING, THE TURK-MAY HIS CREATOR PRESERVE HIM TO THE HEAD OF THE ASSEMBLY, HASDAI, THE SON OF ISAAC, SON OF EZRA-about 960

....I wish to inform you that your beautifully phrased letter was given us by Isaac, son of Eliezer, a Jew of the land of Germany [Isaac carried it through Germany, Hungary, and Russia to Khazaria.] You made us happy and we are delighted with your understanding and wisdom.... Let us, therefore, renew the diplomatic relations that once obtained between our fathers, and let us transmit this heritage to our children. [Joseph believed the Khazars had once had diplomatic relations with the Spanish Arabs.]

You ask us also in your epistle: "Of what people, of what family, and of what tribe are you?" Know that we are descended from Japhet, through his son Togarmah. [In Jewish literature Togarmah is the father of all the Turks.] I have found in the genealogical books of my ancestors that Togarmah had ten sons. These are their names: the eldest was Ujur, the second Tauris, the third Avar, the fourth Uauz, the fifth Bizal, the sixth Tarna, the seventh Khazar, the eighth Janur, the ninth Bulgar, the tenth Sawir. [These are the mythical founders of tribes that once lived in the neighborhood of the Black and Caspian Seas.] I am a descendant of Khazar, the seventh son.

I have a record that although our fathers were few in number, the Holy One blessed be He, gave them strength, power, and might so that they were able to carry on war after war with many nations who were more powerful and numerous than they. By the help of God they drove them out and took possession of their country. Upon some of them they have imposed forced labor even to this very day. The land [along the Volga] in which I now live was formerly occupied by the Bulgarians. Our ancestors, the Khazars, came and fought with them, and, although these Bulgarians were as numerous as the sand on the shores of the sea, they could not withstand the Khazars. So they left their country and fled while the Khazars pursued them as far as the Danube River. Up to this very day the Bulgars camp along the Danube and are close to Constantinople. The Khazars have occupied their land up till now. [The Khazars, known since the second century, dominated southern Russia during the early Middle Ages. ]

After this, several generations passed until a certain King arose whose name was Bulan. He was a wise and God-fearing man, trusting in his Creator with all his heart. He expelled the wizards and idolaters from the land and took refuge in the shadow of his wings . . . After this his fame was spread broadcast. [Bulan probably ruled about 740. He was the first Jewish Khazar ruler. ] The king of the Byzantines and the Arabs who had heard of him sent their envoys and ambassadors with great riches and many great presents to the King as well as some of their wise men with the object of converting him to their own religion. [The Byzantines and Arabs hoped to stop the raids of the Khazars by converting them.]

But the King-may his soul be bound up in the bundle of life With the Lord his God-being wise, sent for a learned Israelite. the King searched, inquired, and investigated carefully and brought the sages together that they might argue about their respective religions. Each of them refuted, however, the arguments of his opponent so that they could not agree. When the King saw this he said to them: "Go home, but return to me on the third day…"

On the third day he called all the sages together and said to them. "Speak and argue with one another and make clear to me which is the best religion." They began to dispute with one another without arriving at any results until the King said to the Christian priest "What do you think? Of the religion of the Jews and the Muslims, which is to be preferred?" The priest answered: "The religion of the Israelites is better than that of the Muslims."

The King then asked the kadi [a Muslim judge and scholar]: "What do you say? Is the religion of the Israelites, or that of the Christians preferable?" The kadi answered: "The religion of the Israelites is preferable."

Upon this the King said: "If this is so, you both have admitted with your own mouths that the religion of the Israelites is better Wherefore, trusting in the mercies of God and the power of the Almighty, I choose the religion of Israel, that is, the religion of Abraham. If that God in whom I trust, and in the shadow of whose wings I find refuge, will aid me, He can give me without labor the money, the gold, and the silver which you have promised me. As for you all, go now in peace to your land." [This account of Bulan's conversion is apparently legendary. Another Hebrew source tells us that Judaism was adopted by the Khazars when a Jewish general was made king. Jewish fugitives from Constantinople also made many converts in Khazaria.]

From that time on the Almighty helped Bulan, fortified him, and strengthened him. He circumcised himself, his servants, attendants, and ail his people. [Arabic sources say the royal family and nobility became Jews, but only a part of the people.] Then Bulan sent for and brought from all places wise men of Israel who interpreted the Torah for him and arranged the precepts in order, and up to this very day we have been subject to this religion. May God's name be blessed and may His remembrance be exalted for ever!

Since that day [about 740], when my fathers entered into this religion, the God of Israel has humbled all of their enemies, subjecting every folk and tongue round about them, whether Christian, Muslim, or pagan. No one has been able to stand before them to this day [about 960]. All of them are tributary. [But only about ten years later Joseph was defeated by the Russians, 969.]

After the days of Bulan there arose one of his descendants, a king Obodiah by name, who reorganized the kingdom and established the Jewish religion properly and correctly. He built synagogues and schools, brought in Jewish scholars, and rewarded them with gold and silver. [:The Jewish scholars could have come from Bagdad and Constantinople.] They explained to him the Bible, Mishnah, Talmud and the order of divine services. The King was a man who revered and loved the Torah. He was one of the true servants of God. May the Divine Spirit give him rest!

He was succeeded by Hezekiah, his son; next to him was Manasseh, his son; next to him was Hanukkah, the brother of Obadiah; next Isaac, his son; afterwards, his son Zebulun; then his son Moses; then his son Nissi; then his son Aaron; then his son Menahem; then his son Benjamin; then his son Aaron II; and I, Joseph, the son of Aaron the King, am King, the son of a King, and the descendant of kings. [These kings probably had Turkish names besides their Hebrew ones.] No stranger can occupy the throne of my ancestors: the son succeeds the father. This has been our custom and the custom of our forefathers since they have come into existence. May it be the gracious will of Him who appoints all kings that the throne of my kingdom shall endure to all eternity.

You have also asked me about the affairs of my country and the extent of my empire. I wish to inform you that I dwell by the banks of the river known as the Itil [Volga]. At the mouth of the river lies the Caspian Sea. The headwaters of the river turn eastward, a journey of four months distance.

Alongside the river dwell many tribes in cities and towns, in open as well as fortified places.... Bear in mind that I dwell at the delta of the Itil and, by God's help, I guard the mouth of the river and do not permit the Russians who come in ships to enter into the Caspian so as to get at the Muslims. Nor do I allow any of their [the Muslims'] enemies who come by land to penetrate as far as Derbend [Derbend, an Arab city, was the gate through which the nomads in Russia hoped to rush through and raid the rich towns of Asia Minor.] I have to wage war with them, for if I would give them any chance at all they would lay waste the whole land of the Muslims as far as Baghdad. . .

You have also asked me about the place where I live. I wish to inform you that, by the grace of God, I dwell alongside this river On which there are situated three capital cities. The queen dwells in one of them; it is my birthplace. It is quite large, built round like a Circle, the diameter of which is fifty parasangs. [The King lived in an island in the Volga; there were also towns on both banks. ]

Jews, Christians, and Moslems live in the second city. Besides these there are many slaves of all nations in it. It is of medium size, eight square parasangs in length and breadth.

In the third I reside with my princes, officers, servants, cupbearers and those who are close to me. It is round in shape and its diameter is three parasangs. The river flows within its walls. This is my residence during the winter. From the month of Nisan [March-April] on we leave the city and each one goes forth to his vineyards, fields and to his work....

You mention in your letter that you yearn to see my face. I also would very much like to see your pleasant countenance and the rare beauty of your wisdom and greatness. Would that it were according to your word. If it were granted me to be associated with you and to behold your honored, charming, and pleasant countenance then you would be my father and I your son. According to your command would all my people be ruled, and according to your ord and discreet counsel would I conduct all my affairs. Farewell. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

REFERENCES TO TEXTBOOKS

Roth, pp. 158-159, 264-265.

READINGS FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS

Graetz, 111, pp. 138-141, 214-230; Graetz-Rhine, III, pp. 99 130; Margolis and Marx, pp. 308-312, 525-526

Dubnow, S. M., History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, 1, "The Kingdom of the Khazars," pp. 19-29.

Frazer, J. G., Garnered Sheaves, Part I, Chap. x, "The Killing of the Khazar Kings."

Mann, J., Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, 1, pp. 3ff:? "Hisdai ibn Shaprut and His Diplomatic Intervention on Behalf of the Jews in Christian Europe."

JE, "Chazars"; "Hasdai abn Yusuf ibn Shaprut." 

ADDITIONAL SOURCE MATERIALS IN ENGLISH

Halper, B., Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature, "The Four Captives," II, pp. 123-126. A legendary description of the arrival of Rabbi Moses b. Enoch, One of the first Jewish scholars to come to Arabic Spain. He was a contemporary of Hasdai ibn Shaprut. ;

Miscellany of Hebrew Literature, I, pp. g2ff.: "The Epistle of R. Chisdai, Son of Isaac (of Blessed Memory), to the King of the Cusars," and "the Answer of Joseph, King of the Togarmi, etc." Another translation of the king's answer has been made by H. Hirschfeld, Judah Hallevi's Kitab al al Khazari, 1931, pp, :72-279.
SOURCE: Jacob Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook, 315-1791, (New York: JPS, 1938), 227-232. Some slight spelling modifications have been made.

Later printings of this text (e.g. by Atheneum, 1969, 1972, 1978) do not indicate that the copyright was renewed)

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This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.

Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use.

Khazarian History Notes

by Richard Burd

Introduction: 850 C.E.	Pre-History: 350 - 627 C.E.
Rise of Khazaria: 600 - 850 C.E.	Fall of Khazaria: 850 - 965 C.E.

 

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Khazarian History Notes

• Pre-history

1 China

a) One of the earliest agrarian societies, has had a long history of problems with nomadic tribes of the Eurasian steppes. The Chinese were experienced in battle with the nomads and eventually drove them westward.

2 Invasion

b) Unlike the western agrarians, the Chinese likely knew Nomadic culture, their migration routes, and how to engage and defeat them in battle

1. Eventually the Chinese defeated the nomads, and forced them out of the region
2. The nomads relied on their mobility for protection. they were only part time specialists in fighting, and were no match for the recourses of agrarian China.

c) As these nomadic tribes, moved westward, they found agrarian societies who were no match for them.

* We see these classic (moving target v.s. still target) episodes which would dominate the conflicts of this era. Nomads could invade, loot, and destroy villages and then retreat back into the grasslands. For the agrarian societies to rebel, they had to go out and find these nomads who could be anywhere, making offensive military campaigns almost impossible. 2. only in later centuries do the western agrarians come to understand nomadic military tactics, and later defeat those not already in the process of becoming agruarianized.
 

3 Empire of the white Huns (350-550) a) In the year 350 the Huns (the first of the many nomadic tribes from the grasslands [steppes] of northwest China) arrive in the region of Transoxania.

1. Transoxania is a region located south of the Aral sea. It is named after the river that runs through it, the Oxus river (now called Amu Darya) Oxus is only a Historic name.

1.1 A Greek colony existed here in the times B.C. however was thought to be destroyed by Indians and had no influence on Hun culture
1.2 This is a research frontier, in the history of Transoxania.

b) As the Huns move toward the Caspian sea and farther South, they drive the Persians south, or may have absorbed them (into Hun culture).

The Persians and Huns get involved in many conflicts over the years, before forming any alliances.

1. In 392 A.D. the Huns aid the Persians in an attack on Roman Mesopotamia.

c) Over time many other tribes appear in what is now south Russia. They are believed to be offspring of the Huns and or other nomadic tribes from the east. These tribes include the Bulgars, Avars, Uguars, and Khazars*. see arrows on map ‘pre-history’

d) The greatest leader of the Hun Empire was Attila, His death in 550 A.D. causes the empire to fall.
 

4 Western Turkish [Tirkut] {AKA Turkut*} Kingdom (550-650) a) Attila’s death creates a power vacuum for eastern Europe. These various pastoral nomads are longer are forced to pay tribute to the Huns. This allows for less energy devoted to doing so. For pastoral societies to pay tribute, Trade for currency as well as giving up actual livestock must take place. If tribute isn't given the threat of a Hun army invasion, accompanied with fellow tribes under the same Hun tutelage is eminent.

1. The Avars and Uigurs move westward, the Avars then occupy the northern shores of the Danube River.
2. The Khazars are contempt with their occupied region, located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

2.1 With good reason; The Khazars frequently raid the region south of them, Georgia. They would raid cities and collect rich plunder, for the area wasn’t occupied by either Rome or Persia.
2.2 The Khazars do not move westward.

b) The various pastoral (Turkish) tribes soon realize the need to form an alliance, to defend themselves against the threats offered by Byzantium and other ‘civilized’ societies.

They form what became known as the Western Turkish Empire, aka Turkut Kingdom. The leader of this kingdom was called a *Kagan, the Khazars were to adopt this name and use it in reference to their rulers.

1. This (Turkish empire) was really nothing more than a mere continuation of the Hun empire. The map shows both empires side by side, however; please note that one preceded the other.

c) During this time (in 627 A.D.) the Roman [or east Roman AKA Byzantium] Empire began to campaign against Persia. Under the Emperor Heraclius. They invaded the Persian provinces of eastern Mesopotamia. The Khazars (still part of the Turkish Empire - not yet fully independent) sent 40,000 horsemen to the aid of the East Roman (Byzantium); see on map ‘pre-history’

1. The Kagan (Khazar Ruler) became impatient with the cautious(slow) pace of the Romans, and left to invade Tbilisi. The raid on Tables (now the capital of Georgia[the former soviet republic; not the southern U.S. state] was unsuccessful, and the Khazars returned home.

1.1 The Georgians had suffered Khazar invasions for several years, and got wise to the situation, they fortified their capital city> Tbilisi.

d) Rise of Islam (632-633) under the Arab conquests.

1. A year after Prophet Muhammad’s death [pabbuh] 632 A.D. ; ten years after the Hegira (the migration of the Muslim community from Mecca to Madinah ([then called Yathrib] 622 A.D.) and starting point of the Islamic [lunar] calendar; the Muslims conquered the Arabian peninsula, and parts of north Africa and Asia Minor, as well as Persia (now called Iran).

1.1. The region was now transformed by three new superpowers; The Byzantine Empire, The Umayyad Caliphate, and the emerging Khazarian Empire.
1.2. In 680 A.D. the Grandson of Prophet (Hussayen) is slaughtered at Karbala. The Party of Prophets son in law {Ali ibn Abi Talib} is born. The party (Shiat-Ali) or Shi’ias begin their struggle for independence from the Umayyad Caliphate. They play a key role in the political situation involving the Arab-Khazar wars. The Arabs may have ‘turned back’ in 737 [the Arabs defeated the Khazars and reached Darband, (Derbant) but decided not to take over, but rather to leave the area north of the Caucasus] because of internal problems with the Caliphate. These ‘problems’ likely involved Shi’ia uprisings in their city Kufa, now located in Iraq, also called An-Najaf

• Rise of Khazaria

1 - Hellenization / The Greek influence

a) It is often presumed the Khazars learned Agriculture from the Greeks living in the area around the Euxine (Black Sea). The Greeks developed several colonies in the area during the 700’s. Most of these colonies were located on the Crimean Peninsula.

1. These include; Theodosia, Kimmerikon, Nymphaion, Hermonassa, Phanagoria, Mirmekion, Tyritake, and Pantikapaion.

1.1 These colonies served as cornerstones for cities like Dores, Kirch, and Tamatarkha.

b) As agriculture developed the Khazars were able to develop settlements, Build Castles and establish a permanent foothold in the region.
 

2 - Caste

a) Over time the Khazars developed a stratified social system. Two economic classes emerge within the culture.

1. The higher class; the Ak-Khazars and the lower class; the Kara Khazars There are many different theories pertaining to this aspect of The Khazar Heritage. Some suggest this Caste was nothing more than a class system; not strictly divided by birth status.
2. The Ak-Khazars or ‘White Khazars’ were said to be fair skinned and beautiful like women, with long braided hair. The Kara-Khazars (according to Arab writers) were described as ugly and as dark as Indians

3 - Arab-Khazar wars a) The Soviet historians have given the Khazars their place in history as a people who fought Arab invasion and the Proselytization of Islam. For many years their conversion to Judaism was ignored by Russian historians.

b) The wars began in 651 and ended in 737 with Arab victory.

c) The Abbasid Caliphate began to suffer from internal conflicts, and in 737 A.D., their armies were called back, and a campaign against eastern Europe never got under way

d) In 730 the Khazars began their destructive campaign on the Chalphate. The Khazars attacked the city of Ardabil, and got as far as Mosul. (see map ‘Rise of Khazaria’)

e) The Khazar army was finally pushed back by a fresh Army while on their way to Dimasq (Damascus).

f) In 732 The future Emperor Constantine V married a Khazar princess. Their son Leo IV, known as Leo the Khazar ruled the throne.
 

4 - Expansion a) With the Arab wars of the early 700s behind them, the Khazars could now direct their attention to the north. They began several conquests in the Dnieper River valley. The Khazars extracted tribute from several nations stretching (at one time or another) to the Aral sea, the Urals and as far west as the Danube. Eventually they sacked Kiev in 840, extracting rich tribute from its Slavic population

5 - Conversion to Judaism b) Bulan The first Khazar Kagan [King] and his conversion story. The story first appears in the Kazari published in 1700s*?

c) many different story lines exist to tell the story.

1. Yehudah ha-Levi (c. 1080-1141).

1.1 an angel appears to Bulan and tells him "Your way of thinking is pleasing to God, but not your way of acting."
1.2 Bulan consults a philosopher, and informs him of his idea; that either the Christian or Muslim religion is the right way of ‘acting’
1.3 Bulan consults a christen sage and says "I do not see any logical conclusion here; indeed, logic rejects most of what you have said.... I cannot accept these things... My duty is to investigate further."
1.4 He then invited an Islamic mullah [to his court], questioning him regarding his doctrine and observance. After talking to the Mullah he said "Indeed, I see myself compelled to ask the Jews, because they are the relic of the Children of Israel. For I see that they constitute in themselves the evidence for the divine law on earth."
1.5 (after inviting the rabbi) The rabbi replied: "I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt with signs and miracles;
1.6 After this [conversation] the Khazar king traveled to the caucuses (mountains) and came upon a cave where Jews had observed the Sabbath. The King was circumcised. The King only revealed this to his special friends and when his community of Jews had increased (several more upper-class Khazars then converted) he made the affair public

d) Another story involves the Khazar king inviting three sages to his court. A Christian, Muslim and Jewish sage were summoned. The Jew was said to already be at his disposal [Koestler] and only the other 2 were summoned. The three of them argued and the story goes.......**

e) The other theory is based on a Jewish manuscript that said the Khazars converted when an Army general became king.
 

• Fall of Khazaria

I do not have a good set of notes ready at this time that I can show - dealing with the fall of the empire. To truly understand the downfall, and how and why the events took place, one would have to understand the complicated political intricacies that played a part, even before the Vikings showed up on the scene.

The map labeled 'the fall of Khazaria' (click image right) should be self explanatory. I used The Thirteenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler, and The Khazaria Info Center hosted by Kevin Brook to make that map. It will show step by step the campaign made by the Vikings as they conquered the scene.

The "Muslim Victory" shown on the map deals with the Khazar Muslims and their war with the Vikings(a revenge campaign against the Vikings for invading the Caspian Sea and pillaging Muslim communities within land accessible by the Caspian Sea). I wanted to make clear this battle [which took place in the Volga Delta] was not fought by the Abbasid Caliphate.