The ancient and medieval history of mankind keeps many mysteries. Even with the current level of technology, there are still gaps in the study of most issues.
Who were the Khazars? This is one of those problems with no exact answer. We know little about them, but even if we collect all the existing references to this people, even more questions arise.
Let's get to know this interesting people better.
Who are the Khazars
This tribe - the Khazars - is first mentioned in Chinese sources as part of the population of the great empire of the Huns. Researchers give several hypotheses regarding the origin of the ethnonym and the ancestral home of the Khazars.
Let's deal with the title first. The root "goats" in many languages of Central Asia means a number of words associated with nomadism. This version seems to be the most plausible, because the rest look like this. In Farsi, “Khazar” means “thousand”, the Romans called the emperor Caesar, and the Turks understand this word as oppression.
The ancestral home is being identified by the earliest records that mention the Khazars. Where did their ancestors live, who were the closest neighbors? There are still no clear answers.
There are three equivalent theories. The first considers them to be the ancestors of the Uyghurs, the second - the Hun tribe Akatsir, and the third is inclined to the version that the Khazars are the descendants of the tribal union of Oghurs and Savirs.
Whether it is or not, it is difficult to answer. Only one thing is clear. The origin of the Khazars and the beginning of their expansion to the west is connected with the land they called Barsilia.
Mentioned in written sources
If you analyze the information from the notes of contemporaries, you also get confusion.
On the one hand, existing sources say that the Khazar Khaganate was a powerful empire. On the other hand, the fragmentary information contained in the notes of travelers cannot illustrate anything at all.
The most complete source, which reflects the state of affairs in the country, is the correspondence of the kagan with the Spanish dignitary Hasdai ibn Shaprut. They communicated in writing on the subject of Judaism. The Spaniard was a diplomat who became interested in the Jewish empire, which, according to the merchants, existed near the Caspian Sea.
Three letters contain a legend about where the ancient Khazars came from - brief information about the cities, the political, social and economic state of affairs.
Other sources, such as Russian chronicles, Arabic, Persian and other references, basically describe only the causes, course and results of local military conflicts on the borders.
Geography of Khazaria
Kagan Joseph in his letter tells where the Khazars came from, where these tribes lived, what they did. Let's take a closer look at his description.
So, the empire spread during its heyday from the Southern Bug to the Aral Sea and from the Caucasus Mountains to the Volga near the latitude of the city of Murom.
Numerous tribes lived on this territory. In the forest and forest-steppe regions, the sedentary way of farming was widespread, in the steppe - nomadic. In addition, there were a lot of vineyards near the Caspian Sea.
The largest cities mentioned by the kagan in his letter were as follows. The capital, Itil, was located in the lower reaches of the Volga. Sarkel (Russians called it Belaya Vezha) was located on the Don, and Semender and Belenjer were on the coast of the Caspian Sea.
The rise of the Khaganate begins after the death of the Turkic Empire, in the middle of the seventh century AD. By this time, the ancestors of the Khazars lived in the region of modern Derbent, in the flat Dagestan. From here comes the expansion to the north, west and south.
After the capture of the Crimea, the Khazars settled in this territory. She was identified with this ethnonym for a very long time. Even in the sixteenth century, the Genoese referred to the peninsula as "Gazaria".
Thus, the Khazars are an association of Turkic tribes who were able to create the most durable state of nomads in history.
Beliefs in the Khaganate
Due to the fact that the empire was at the crossroads of trade routes, cultures and religions, it became a kind of medieval Babylon.
Since the main population of the kaganate was the Turkic peoples,the majority worshiped Tengri Khan. This belief is still preserved in Central Asia.
Know the Khaganate adopted Judaism, so it is still believed that the Khazars are Jews. However, this is not entirely true, because only a very small stratum of the population professed this religion.
Christians and Muslims were also represented in the state. As a result of unsuccessful campaigns against the Arab Caliphs in the last decades of the existence of the Khaganate, Islam gains greater freedom in the empire.
But why stubbornly believe that the Khazars are Jews? The most likely reason is the legend described by Joseph in a letter. He tells Hasdai that when choosing the state religion, an Orthodox and a Catholic priest and a rabbi were invited. The latter managed to outguess everyone and convince the kagan and his retinue that he was right.
Wars with neighbors
The campaigns against the Khazars are most fully described in Russian annals and Arab military records. The caliphate fought for influence in the Caucasus, and the Slavs, on the one hand, opposed the southern slave traders who plundered the villages, on the other hand, they strengthened their eastern borders.
The first prince who fought with the Khazar Khaganate was Prophetic Oleg. He was able to recapture some lands and forced them to pay tribute to themselves, not the Khazars.
More interesting information about the campaigns of Svyatoslav, son of Olga and Igor. He, being a skilled warrior and a wise commander, took advantage of the weakness of the empire and de alt it a crushing blow.
The troops gathered by him descendedVolga and took Itil. Further, Sarkel on the Don and Semender on the Caspian coast were captured. This sudden and powerful expansion destroyed the once mighty empire.
After that, Svyatoslav began to gain a foothold in this territory. The Belaya Vezha fortress was built on the site of Sarkel, the Vyatichi were imposed tribute - a tribe that bordered on one side with Russia, on the other - with Khazaria.
An interesting fact is that with all the apparent strife and wars in Kyiv for a long time there was a detachment of Khazar mercenaries. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions the Kozary tract in the capital of Russia. It was located near the confluence of the Pochaina into the Dnieper River.
Where did the whole people go
Conquests, of course, affect the population, but it is noteworthy that after the defeat of the main cities of the kaganate by the Slavs, information about this people disappears. They are no longer mentioned in a single word, in any annals.
The researchers consider the following to be the most plausible solution to this issue. Being a Turkic-speaking ethnic group, the Khazars were able to assimilate with their neighbors in the territory of the Caspian Sea.
Today, scientists believe that the bulk dissolved in this region, part remained in the Crimea, and most of the noble Khazars moved to Central Europe. There they were able to unite with the Jewish communities living on the territory of modern Poland, Hungary, Western Ukraine.
Thus, some families with Jewish roots and ancestors in these lands may to some extent call themselves “descendants of the Khazars.”
Traces in archeology
Archaeologists unequivocally say that the Khazars are the S altov-Mayak culture. It was singled out by Gauthier in 1927. Since that time, active excavations and research have been carried out.
The culture got its name as a result of the similarity of finds at two sites.
The first is a settlement in Verkhniy S altov, Kharkiv region, and the second is Mayatskoe settlement in the Voronezh region.
In principle, the finds are correlated with the Alans ethnic group, who lived in this territory from the eighth to the tenth centuries. However, the roots of this people are in the North Caucasus, so it is associated directly with the Khazar Khaganate.
Researchers divide the finds into two types of burials. The forest version is Alanian, and the steppe version is Bulgar, which also includes the Khazars.
Possible descendants
The descendants of the Khazars are another white spot in the study of the people. The difficulty lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to trace the continuity.
The S altovo-Mayak culture as such accurately reflects the life of the Alans and Bulgars. The Khazars are listed there conditionally, since there are very few of their monuments. In fact, they are random. Written sources "fall silent" after the campaign of Svyatoslav. Therefore, one has to rely on the joint hypotheses of archaeologists, linguists and ethnographers.
Today, the most likely descendants of the Khazars are the Kumyks. They are the Turkic-speaking people of the North Caucasus. This also includes partially Karaites, Krymchaks and Judaized mountain tribes of the Caucasus.
Dry residue
Thus, in this article wetold about the fate of such an interesting people as the Khazars. This is not just another ethnic group, but, in fact, a mysterious white spot in the medieval history of the Caspian lands.
They are mentioned in many sources of Russians, Armenians, Arabs, Byzantines. The Kagan is in correspondence with the Caliphate of Cordoba. Everyone understands the power and strength of this empire…
And suddenly - the lightning campaign of Prince Svyatoslav and the death of this state.
It turns out that an entire empire can not only disappear within a short period, but sink into oblivion, leaving only guesses for posterity.
