AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF KHAZARIA
by Kevin Alan Brook, Copyright ©
1996-2004
Latest revision: September 2004.

"Of all the astonishing experiences of the widely dispersed Jewish
people
none was more extraordinary than that concerning the Khazars."
-
Nathan Ausubel, in Pictorial History of the Jewish People (1953)

"The Khazar people were an unusual phenomenon for Medieval times. Surrounded
by savage and nomadic tribes, they had all the advantages of the developed
countries: structured government, vast and prosperous trading, and a permanent
army. At the time, when great fanatism and deep ignorance contested their
dominion over Western Europe, the Khazar state was famous for its justice and
tolerance. People persecuted for their faiths flocked into Khazaria from
everywhere. As a glistening star it shone brightly on the gloomy horizon of
Europe, and faded away without leaving any traces of existence."
- Vasilii V.
Grigoriev, in his essay "O dvoystvennosti verkhovnoy vlasti u khazarov" (1835),
reprinted in his 1876 compilation book Rossiya i Aziya on page 66

"Though the Jews were everywhere a subject people, and in much of the world
persecuted as well, Khazaria was the one place in the medieval world where the
Jews actually were their own masters.... To the oppressed Jews of the world, the
Khazars were a source of pride and hope, for their existence seemed to prove
that God had not completely abandoned His people."
- Raymond Scheindlin, in
The Chronicles of the Jewish People (1996)

The history of Khazaria presents us with a fascinating example of how Jewish
life flourished in the Middle Ages. In a time when Jews were persecuted thruout
Christian Europe, the kingdom of Khazaria was a beacon of hope. Jews were able
to flourish in Khazaria because of the tolerance of the Khazar rulers, who
invited Byzantine and Persian Jewish refugees to settle in their country. Due to
the influence of these refugees, the Khazars found the Jewish religion to be
appealing and adopted Judaism in large numbers.

Most of the available information about the Khazars comes from Arabic,
Hebrew, Armenian, Byzantine, and Slavic sources, most of which are reliable.
There is also a large quantity of archaeological evidence concerning the Khazars
that illuminates multiple aspects of the Khazarian economy (arts and crafts,
trade, agriculture, fishing, etc.) as well as burial practices.

Origins. The Khazars were a Turkic1 people who
originated in Central Asia. The early Turkic tribes were quite diverse, although
it is believed that reddish hair was predominant among them prior to the Mongol
conquests. In the beginning, the Khazars believed in Tengri shamanism, spoke a
Turkic language, and were nomadic. Later, the Khazars adopted Judaism, Islam,
and Christianity, learned Hebrew and Slavic, and became settled in cities and
towns thruout the north Caucasus and Ukraine. The Khazars had a great history of
ethnic independence extending approximately 800 years from the 5th to the 13th
century.

The earliest history of the Khazars in southern Russia, prior to the middle
of the 6th century, is hidden in obscurity. From about 550 to 630, the Khazars
were part of the Western Turkish Empire, ruled by the Celestial Blue Turks (Kök
Turks). When the Western Turkish Empire was broken up as a result of civil wars
in the middle of the 7th century, the Khazars successfully asserted their
independence. Yet, the Kök kaganate under which they had lived provided the
Khazars with their system of government. For example, the Khazars followed the
same guidelines as the Kök Turks regarding the succession of kings.

Political power. At its maximum extent, the independent country of
Khazaria included the geographic regions of southern Russia, northern Caucasus,
eastern Ukraine, Crimea, western Kazakhstan, and northwestern Uzbekistan. Other
Turkic groups such as the Sabirs and Bulgars came under Khazar jurisdiction
during the 7th century. The Khazars forced some of the Bulgars (led by Asparukh)
to move to modern-day Bulgaria, while other Bulgars fled to the upper Volga
River region where the independent state of Volga Bulgharia was founded. The
Khazars had their greatest power over other tribes in the 9th century,
controlling eastern Slavs, Magyars, Pechenegs, Burtas, North Caucasian Huns, and
other tribes and demanding tribute from them. Because of their jurisdiction over
the area, the Caspian Sea was named the "Khazar Sea", and even today the Azeri,
Turkish, Persian, and Arabic languages designate the Caspian by this term (in
Turkish, "Hazar Denizi"; in Arabic, "Bahr-ul-Khazar"; in Persian, "Daryaye
Khazar").

In addition to their role in indirectly bringing about the creation of the
modern Balkan nation of Bulgaria, the Khazars played an even more significant
role in European affairs. By acting as a buffer state between the Islamic world
and the Christian world, Khazaria prevented Islam from significantly spreading
north of the Caucasus Mountains. This was accomplished thru a series of wars
known as the Arab-Khazar Wars, which took place in the late 7th and early 8th
centuries. The wars established the Caucasus and the city of Derbent as the boundary
between the Khazars and the Arabs.

Cities. The first Khazar capital was Balanjar, which is identified with
the archaeological site Verkhneye Chir-Yurt. During the 720s, the Khazars
transferred their capital to Samandar, a coastal town in the north Caucasus
noted for its beautiful gardens and vineyards. In 750, the capital was moved to
the city of Itil (Atil) on the edge of the Volga River. In fact, the name "Itil"
also designated the Volga River in the medieval age. Itil would remain the
Khazar capital for at least another 200 years. Itil, the administrative center
of the Khazar kingdom, was located adjacent to Khazaran, a major trading center.
In the early 10th century, Khazaran-Itil's population was composed mostly of
Muslims and Jews, but a few Christians lived there also. The capital city had
many mosques. The king's palace was located on an island nearby, which was
surrounded by a brick wall. The Khazars stayed in their capital during the
winter, but they lived in the surrounding steppe in the spring and summer to
cultivate their crops.

The great capital city of modern Ukraine, Kiev, was founded by Khazars or
Hungarians. Kiev is a Turkic place name (Küi = riverbank + ev = settlement). A
community of Jewish Khazars lived in Kiev. Other towns of the Khazars, many of
which also had important Jewish communities, included Kerch (Bospor), Feodosia,
Tamatarkha (Tmutorokan), Chufut-Kale, Sudak, and Sarkel. The local governor of
Samandar was Jewish, and it may be assumed that many of the governors of these
other localities were also Jewish. A major brick fortress was built in 834 in
Sarkel, along the Don River. It was a cooperative Byzantine-Khazar venture, and
Petronas Kamateros, a Greek, served as chief engineer during the construction.

Civilization and trade. The staple foods for the Khazars were rice and
fish. Barley, wheat, melons, hemp, and cucumbers were also harvested in
Khazaria. There were many orchards and fertile regions around the Volga River,
which the Khazars depended upon due to the infrequency of rain. The Khazars
hunted foxes, rabbits, and beavers to supply the large demand for furs.

Khazaria was an important trade route connecting Asia and Europe. For
example, the "Silk Road" was an important link between China, Central Asia, and
Europe. Among the things traded along the Khazar trade routes were silks, furs,
candlewax, honey, jewelry, silverware, coins, and spices. Jewish Radhanite
traders of Persia passed thru Itil on their way to western Europe, China,
and other locations. The Iranian Sogdians also made use of the Silk Road trade,
and their language and runic letters became popular among the Turks. Khazars
traded with the people of Khwarizm (northwest Uzbekistan) and Volga Bulgharia
and also with port cities in Azerbaijan and Persia.

The Khazars' dual-monarchy was a Turkic system under which the kagan was the
supreme king and the bek was the civilian army leader. The kagans were part of
the Turkic Asena ruling family that had provided kagans for other Central Asian
nations in the early medieval period. The Khazar kagans had relations with the
rulers of the Byzantines, Abkhazians, Hungarians, and Armenians. To some extent,
the Khazarian kings influenced the religion of the Khazar people, but they
tolerated those who had different religions than their own, so that even when
these kings adopted Judaism they still let Greek Christians, pagan Slavs, and
Muslim Iranians live in their domains. In the capital city, the Khazars
established a supreme court composed of 7 members, and every religion was
represented on this judicial panel (according to one contemporary Arab
chronicle, the Khazars were judged according to the Torah, while the other
tribes were judged according to other laws).

Ancient communities of Jews existed in the Crimean Peninsula, a fact proven
by much archaeological evidence. It is significant that the Crimea came under
the control of the Khazars. The Crimean Jewish communities were later
supplemented by refugee Jews fleeing the Mazdaq rebellion in Persia, the
persecutions of Byzantine emperors Leo III and Romanus I Lecapenus, and for a
variety of other reasons. Jews came to Khazaria from modern-day Uzbekistan,
Armenia, Hungary, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and many other places, as documented by
al-Masudi, the Schechter Letter, Saadiah Gaon, and other accounts. The Arabic
writer Dimashqi wrote that these refugee Jews offered their religion to the
Khazar Turks and that the Khazars "found it better than their own and accepted
it". The Jewish Radhanite traders may have also influenced the conversion.
Adopting Judaism was perhaps also a symbol of political independence for
Khazaria, holding the balance of power between Muslim Caliphate and the
Christian Byzantine Empire.

Under the leadership of kings Bulan and Obadiah, the standard rabbinical form
of the Jewish religion spread among the Khazars. King Bulan adopted Judaism in
approximately the year 838, after supposedly holding a debate between
representatives of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. The Khazar nobility
and many of the common people also became Jews. King Obadiah later established
synagogues and Jewish schools in Khazaria. The books of the Mishnah, Talmud, and
Torah thus became important to many Khazars. Saint Cyril came
to Khazaria in 860 in a Byzantine attempt to convert the Khazars to
Christianity, but he was unsuccessful in converting them away from Judaism. He
did, however, convince many of the Slavs to adopt Christianity. By the 10th
century, the Khazars wrote using Hebrew letters. The major Khazar Jewish
documents from that period were written in the Hebrew language. The Ukrainian
professor Omeljan Pritsak estimated that there were as many as 30,000 Jews in
Khazaria by the 10th century. In 2002, the Swedish numismatist Gert Rispling
discovered a Khazar Jewish coin.

In general, the Khazars may be described as a productive and
tolerant people, in contact with much of the rest of the world and providing
goods and services at home and abroad. Many artifacts from the
Khazars, exhibiting their artistic and industrial talents, have survived to
the present day.

Decline and fall. During the 10th century, the East Slavs were united
under Scandinavian overlordship. A new nation, Kievan Rus, was formed by Prince
Oleg. Just as the Khazars had left their mark on other peoples, so too did they
influence the Rus. The Rus and the
Hungarians both adopted the dual-kingship system of the Khazars. The Rus princes
even borrowed the title kagan. Archaeologists recovered a variety of
Khazar or Khazar-style objects (including clothing and pottery) from Viking
gravesites in Chernigov, Gnezdovo, Kiev, and even Birka (Sweden). The residents
of Kievan Rus patterned their legal procedures after the Khazars. In addition,
some Khazar words became part of the old East Slavic language: for example,
bogatyr ("brave knight") apparently derives from the Khazar word
baghatur.

The Rus inherited most of the former Khazar lands in the late 10th century
and early 11th century. One of the most devastating defeats came in 965, when
Rus Prince
Svyatoslav conquered
the Khazar fortress of Sarkel. It is believed that he conquered Itil two years
later, after which he campaigned in the Balkans. Despite the loss of their
nation, the Khazar people did not disappear. Some of them migrated westward into
Hungary, Romania, and Poland, mixing with other Jewish
communities.2

Notes.
1.
Many medieval writers attested to the Khazars' Turkic origins including
Theophanes, al-Masudi, Rabbi Yehudah ben Barzillai, Martinus Oppaviensis, and
the anonymous authors of the Georgian Chronicle and Chinese chronicle
T'ang-shu. The Arabic writer al-Masudi in Kitab at-Tanbih wrote:
"...the Khazars... are a tribe of the Turks." (cited in Peter Golden, Khazar
Studies, pp. 57-58). T'ang-shu reads: "K'o-sa [Khazars]... belong to
the stock of the Turks." (cited in Peter Golden, Khazar Studies, p. 58).
In his Chronographia, Theophanes wrote: "During his [Byzantine emperor
Heraclius] stay there [in Lazica], he invited the eastern Turks, who are called
Chazars, to become his allies." (cited in Theophanes, The Chronicle of
Theophanes Confessor, translated by Cyril Mango and Roger Scott, 1997, p.
446). The claim that the Khazars were Scythians is completely without merit.

2. Timothy Miller
discovered that Jewish Khazars were members of the Jewish community of Pera in
the Byzantine Empire around the 11th century (see Timothy S. Miller, "The Legend
of Saint Zotikos According to Constantine Akropolites," Analecta
Bollandiana vol. 112, 1994, pp. 339-376).

Suggestions for further research. Here are some useful published
introductory materials on the Khazars. Some are available from retail
bookstores, while others are only available through libraries.

"The Jews of Khazaria" by Kevin Alan Brook (1999). 360
pages. 11 chapters, plus glossary, timeline, bibliography, maps, notes. Click here for table of contents,
reviews, and more information.

"Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century" by Norman
Golb and Omeljan
Pritsak (1982). Russian translation: "Khazarsko-yevreiskie dokumenty
X veka" by Golb and Pritsak, with new section by Vladimir Ia. Petrukhin
(1997).

"The History of the Jewish Khazars" by Douglas M. Dunlop (1954,
1967)

"Khazar Studies: An Historico-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the
Khazars" by Peter
B. Golden (1980)

Journal article "Khazaria and Judaism" by Peter
B. Golden, in Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, volume 3, 1983, pages 128
to 156.

"The Kuzari: In Defense of
the Despised Faith" by Yehudah HaLevi, translated by N. Daniel Korobkin
(1998)

"The Emergence of Rus 750-1200" by Jonathan Shepard and Simon
Franklin (1996)

"A History of
Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia - Volume 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to
the Mongol Empire" by David Christian

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