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KHAZAR
Khaganate
"Let him rise up to the sky; this is our honest Leader."
Calling to the Forefathers in the Sky to take up the spirit body of the Prince.
"OZ", "Ok", "Og", "Uk", "At" describe the Fire Cult of the Proto-Turks
Sumerian/Sabir-Ki/Subartu origin of Xiongnu/Asian Huns.
Also, research Hunnish origin of Sabir people and Sabir origin of Khazars.
The Mongolian noble Korguz belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup Q-M242. He was the prince of a Turkic tribe, the Onguts.
Over the past decade, Chinese archaeologists have published several reviews regarding the results of excavations in Xinjiang. They imply the Xiongnu's supreme ruling class. Particularly interesting are in the cemetery Heigouliang, Xinjiang (Black Gouliang cemetery, also known as the summer palace of Xiongnu king), east of Barkol basin, near the city of Hami.
By typing results of DNA samples during the excavation of one of the tombs it was determined that of the 12 men there were: Q1a*(xQ-M120, xQ-M25, xQ-M3) - 6, Q1b (M378) - 4, Q*(xQ1a, xQ1b)-2 (unable to determine subclade). All Y-haplogroup Q1b-M378 represent hosts of the tombs, while half of Y-DNA Q1a* represents hosts and half sacrificial victims.
They date from the time of early (Western) Han (2nd-1st Century BC). In another study, 3 in this place were identified as Q-M3. Summarizing the data from available evidences, it is concluded that the tomb belongs to the representatives of the Xiongnu/Hunnu nobility/conquerors.[122][123][124]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiongnu#Genetics
The ancient Khazar Empire was a major but almost forgotten power in Eastern Europe. In the Dark ages it converted to Judaism. Khazaria was finally wiped out by the forces of Ghengis Khan, but evidence indicates that the Khazars themselves migrated to Poland and formed the cradle of Western Jewry. The standard story of the origin of the Ashkenazis, or East-European Jews, holds that they descended from refugees of Crusade- and Black-Death-time persecutions of Jews from western Germany who sought a new life in Poland. In 1976 Arthur Koestler revived the theory the bulk of the Ashkenazis were the descendants of a turkik tribe (the medieval Khazars). The Khazar Caucasian Jews -- Koestler's "The Thirteenth Tribe" - were later converts which arose in Slavic Lands -- they weren't from the Mid-East. The geographic contours of the jewish Pale of Settelments under Russian imperial rule overlap significantly the contours of the reduced khazarian province after the Mongols (Gazaria). Khazars (known also as Chozars, as Khazírs in Armenian and Khwalissas in Russian chronicles), an ancient people who occupied a prominent place among the secondary powers of the Byzantine state-system. In the epic of Firdousi Khazar is the representative name for all the northern foes of Persia, and legendary invasions long before the Christian era are vaguely attributed to them. But the Khazars are an historic figure upon the borderland of Europe and Asia for at least 900 years (AD 190-1100). The epoch of their greatness is from AD 600 to 950. Their home was in the spurs of the Caucasus and along the shores of the Caspian — called by medieval Moslem geographers Bahr-al-Khazar (" sea of the Khazars ").
They were the Venetians of the Caspian and the Euxine, the organizers of the transit between the two basins, the universal carriers between East and West; and the meeting-place of the commerce of Persia, Byzantium, Armenia, Russia and ihc Bulgarians of the middle Volga. The tide of their dominion ebbed and flowed repeatedly, but the normal Khazari may be taken as the territory between the Caucasus, the Volga and the Don, with the outlying province of the Crimea, or Little Khazarh. The southern boundary never greatly altered; it did at times reach the Kur and the Aras, but on that side the Khazars were confronted by Byzantium and Persia, and were for the most part restrained within the passes of the Caucasus. Among the nomadic Ugrians and agricultural Slavs of the north their frontier fluctuated widely, and in its zenith Khazaria extended from the Dnieper to Bolgari upon the Volga, and along the eastern shore of the Caspian to Astarabad.
There were Khazars and Black Khazars. The Khazars were fair-skinned, black-haired of a remarkable beauty and stature; their women indeed were sought as wives equally at Byzantium and Bagdad; while the Kara (black) were ugly, short, and were reported by the Arabs almost as dark as Indians. The latter were indubitably the Ugrian nomads of the steppe, akin to the Tatar invaders of Europe, who convoyed the caravans of the ruling caste. But the Khazars proper were a civic commercial people, the founders of cities, remarkable for somewhat elaborate political institutions, persistence and for good faith — all qualities foreign to the Hun's character.
They appear in European history as White Huns (Ephthalites) or White Bulgarians. Owing to climatic causes thi tract they occupied was slowly drying up. They were the outpost> of civilization towards the encroaching desert, and the Tatar nomadism that advanced with it. They held in precarious subjegation the hordes whom the conditions of the climate made it impossible to supplant. They bore the brunt of the great waves of Tatar conquests, and were eventually overwhelmed.
Amidst this white race of the steppe the Khazars can be first historically distinguished at the end of the 2nd century AD They burst into Armenia in AD 198. They were repulsed and attacked in turn. The pressure of the nomads of the steppe, the quest of plunder or revenge, these seem the only motives of these early expeditions; but in the long struggle between the Roman and Persi?? empires, of which Armenia was often the battlefield, and eventually the prize, the attitude of the Khazars assumed political importance. Armenia inclined to the civilization and ere long to the Christianity of Rome, whilst her Arsacid princes maintained an inveterate feud with the Sassanids of Persia. It became therefore the policy of the Persian kings to call in the Khazars in every collision with the empire (200-350).
During the 4th century however, the growing power of Persia culminated in the annexation of eastern Armenia. The Khazars, endangered by so powerful a neighbour, passed from under Persian influence into that remote alliance with Byzantium which thenceforth characterized their policy, and they aided Julian in his invasion of Persia (363). Simultaneously with the approach of Persia to the Caucasus the terrible empire of the Huns sprang upon the northern steppes. The Khazars, straitened on every side, remained passive till the danger culminated in the accession of Attila (434). Khazaria became the apanage of his eldest son, and the centre of government amongst the eastern subjects of the Hun (448). Even the iron rule of Attila was preferable to the time of anarchy that succeeded it.
Upon his death (454) the wild immigration which he had arrested revived. The Khazars and the Sarogours {i.e. White Ogors, possibly the Barsileans of the Volga delta) were swept along in a flood of mixed Tatar peoples which the conquests of the Avars had set in motion. The Khazars and their companions broke through the Persian defences of the Caucasus. They appropriated the territory up to the Kur and the Aras, and roamed at large through Iberia, Georgia and Armenia.
Throughout the 6th century Khazaria was the mere highway for the wild hordes to whom the Huns had opened the passage into Europe, and the Khazars took refuge (like the Venetians from Attila) amongst the seventy mouths of the Volga. The pressure of the Turks in Asia precipitated the Avars upon the West, The conquering Turks followed in their footsteps (560-580). They beat down all opposition, wrested even Bosporus in the Crimea from the empire, and by the annihilation of the Ephthalites completed the ruin of the White Race of the plains from the Oxus to the Don. The empires of Turks and Avars, however, ran swiftly their barbaric course, and the Khazars arose out of the chaos to more than their ancient renown. They issued from the land of Barsilia and extended their rule over the Bulgarian hordes left masterless by the Turks, compelling the more stubborn to migrate to the Danube (641).
The agricultural Slavs of the Dnieper and the Oka were reduced to tribute, and before the end of the 7th century the Khazars had annexed the Crimea, had won complete command of the Sea of Azov, and, seizing opon the narrow neck which separates the Volga from the Don, had organized the portage which has continued since an important link in the traffic between Asia and Europe. The alliance with Byzantium was revived. Simultaneously, and no doubt in concert, with the Byzantine campaign against Persia (589), the Khazars had reappeared in Armenia, though it was not till 625 that they appear as Khazars in the Byzantine annals. They are then described as " Turks from the East," a powerful nation which held the coasts of the Caspian and the Euxine, and took tribute of the Viatitsh, the Severians and the Polyane. The khakan, enticed by the promise of an imperial princess, furnished Heradius with 40.000 men for his Persian war, who shared in the victory over Chosroes at Nineveh.
Meanwhile the Moslem empire had arisen. The Persian empire was struck down (637) and the Moslems poured into Armenia, the khakan, who had defied the summons sent him by the invaders, now aided the Byzantine patrician in the defence of Armenia. The allies were defeated, and the Moslems undertook the subjugation of Khazaria (651). Eighty years of warfare followed, but in the end the Moslems prevailed. The khakan and his chieftains were captured and compelled to embrace Islam (737) and till the decay of the Mahommeaan empire Khazaria with all the other countries of the Caucasus paid an annual tribute of children and of corn (737-861). Nevertheless, though overpowered in the end, the Khazars had protected the plains of Europe from the Mahommcdans, and made the Caucasus the limit of their conquests.
While yet in their pagan state, the Khazars were exposed at one and the same time to the influences of three religions: Mohammedanism, which pursued its triumphant march from the Arabic Caliphate; Christianity, which was spreading in Byzantium, and Judaism, which, headed by the Exilarchs and Gaons of Babylonia, was centered in the Caliphate, while its ramifications spread all over the Empire of Byzantium and its colonies on the Black Sea. The Arabs and the Byzantines succeeded in converting several groups of the Khazar population to Islam and Christianity, but the lion's share fell to Judaism, for it managed to get hold of the royal dynasty and the ruling classes. The conversion of the Khazars to Judaism, which took place about 740, is described circumstantially in the traditions preserved among the Jews and in the accounts of the medieval Arabic travelers. The King, or Khagan, of the Khazars, by the name of Bulan, arranged a disputation between the advocates of the three religions, to be held in his presence. Both the Mohammedan and the Christian acknowledge the superiority of Judaism to the religion of their antagonist, so Bulan adopted the Jewish religion, and many of the Khazar nobles followed his example.
In the ninth and tenth centuries, the kingdom of the Khazars, governed by rulers professing the Jewish faith, attained to outward power and inner prosperity. The accounts of the Arabic writers of that period throw an interesting light on the inner life of the Khazars, which was marked by religious tolerance. The king of the Khazars and the governing classes professed the Jewish religion. Among the lower classes the three monotheistic religions were all represented, and in addition a considerable number of pagans still survived. In spite of the fact that royalty and nobility professed Judaism, the principle of religious equality was never violated.
In the interval between the decline of the Mahommedan rmpîre and the rise of Russia the Khazars reached the zenith of their power. The merchants of Byzantium, Armenia and Bagdad met in the markets of Itil (whither since the raids of the Mahommcdans the capital had been transferred from Scmendcr), and traded for the wax, furs, leather and honey that came down the Volga. So important was this traffic held at Constantinople that, when the portage to the Don was endangered by the irruption of a fresh horde of Turks (the Petchenegs), the emperor Theophilus himself despatched the materials and the workmen to build for the Khazars a fortress impregnable to their forays (834). Famous as the one stone structure ¡s in that stoneless region, the post became known far and wide amongst the hordes of the steppe as Sar-kel or the White Abode. Merchants from every nation found protection and good faith in the Khazar cities. The Jews, expelled from Constantinople, sought a home amongst them, developed the Khazar trade, and contended with Mahommcdans and Christians for t he theological allegiance of the Pagan people. The dynasty accepted Judaism (c. 740), but there was equal tolerance for all. and each man was held amenable to the authorized code and to the official judges of his own faith.
At the Byzantine court the khakan was held in high honor. The emperor Justinian Rhinotmetus took refuge with him during his exile and married his daughter (702). Justinian's rival Vardanes in turn sought an asylum in Khazaria, and in Leo IV. Í775) the grandson of a Khazar sovereign ascended the Byzantine throne. Khazar troops were amongst the bodyguard of the imperial court; they fought for Leo VI. against Simeon of Bulgaria ; and the khakan was honoured in diplomatic intercourse with the seal of three solidi, which marked him as a potentate of the first rank, above even the pope and the Carolingian monarch.
It was, however, from a power that Constantine did not consider that the overthrow of the Khazars came. The arrival of the Varangians amidst the scattered Slavs (862) had united them into a nation. The advance of the Petchenege from the East gave the Russians their opportunity. Before the onset of those fierce invaders the precarious suzerainty of the khakan broke up. By calling in the Uzes, the Khazars did indeed dislodge the Petchcnegs from the position they had seized yi the heart ofthe kingdom between the Volga and the Don, but only to drive them inwards to the Dnieper. The Hungarians, severed from theirkindredand theirruters. migrated to the Carpathians, whilst Oleg. the Russ prince of Kiev, passed through the Slav tribes of the Dnieper basin with the cry "Pay nothing to the Khazars" (884).
The kingdom dwindled rapidly to its ancient limits between the Caucasus, the Volga and the Don, while the Russian traders of Novgorod and Kiev supplanted the Khazars as the carriers between Constantinople and the North. When Ibn Fadian visited Khazaria forty years later, Itil was even yet a great city, with baths and market-places and thirty mosques, but there was no domestic product nor manufacture; the kingdom depended solely upon the now precarious transit dues, and administration was in the hands of a major domus also called khakan.
Slavonian tribes, who had been united under the leadership of Bussian princes, not only threw off the yoke of the Khazars, whose vassals they were, but also succeeded in invading and finally destroying their center at the mouth of the Volga. At the assault of Swiatoslav of Kiev the rotten fabric crumbled into dust. His troops were equally at home on land and water. Sarkel, Itil and Scmender surrendered to him (965-969). He pushed his conquests to the Caucasus, established Russian colonies upon the Sea of Azov, devastated the Khazar territories on the Ityl, and, penetrating to the heart of the country, dislodged the Khazars from the Caspian region.
The Khazars withdrew to their possessions on the Black Sea, and established themselves in particular on the Crimean Peninsula, which for a long time retained the name of Khazaria. The principality of Tmutarakan, founded by his grandson Mstislav (988), replaced the kingdom of Khazaria, the last trace of which was extinguished by a joint expedition of Russians and Byzantines (1016). A remnant of the nation took refuge in an island of the Caspian (Siahcouye); others retired to the Caucasus; part emigrated to the district of Kasakhi in Georgia, and appear for the first time joining with Georgia in her successful effort to throw off the yoke of the Seljuk Turks (1089).
The greatly reduced Khazar kingdom in Tauris, the survival of a mighty empire, was able to hold its own for nearly half a century, until in the eleventh century it fell a prey to the Russians and Byzantines (1016). The last of the khakans, George, Tzula, was taken prisoner. But the name is thought to survive in Kadzaria, the Georgian title for Mingrclia, and in Kadzaro, the Turkish word for the Lazis. Till the 13th century the Crimea was known to European travellers as Gazaria; the "ramparts of the Khazars" are still distinguished in the Ukraine; and the record of their dominion survives in the names of Kazarck, Kazaritshi, Kazarinovod, Kozar-owka, Kuzari, and perhaps in Kazan.
The relatives of the last khagan fled, according to tradition, to their coreligionists in Spain. The Khazar nation was scattered, and was subsequently lost among the other nations. By one account the remnants of the Khazars in the Crimea who professed Judaism were merged with the native Jews, consisting partly of Eabbanites and partly of Karaites. In this way the ancient Jewish settlements on the Crimean Peninsula suddenly received a large increase. At the same time the influx of Jewish immigrants, who, together with the Greeks, moved from Byzantium towards the northern shores of the Black Sea, continued as theretofore, the greater part of these immigrants consisting of Karaites, who were found in large numbers in the Byzantine Empire.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/khazar.htm
Calling to the Forefathers in the Sky to take up the spirit body of the Prince.
"OZ", "Ok", "Og", "Uk", "At" describe the Fire Cult of the Proto-Turks
Sumerian/Sabir-Ki/Subartu origin of Xiongnu/Asian Huns.
Also, research Hunnish origin of Sabir people and Sabir origin of Khazars.
The Mongolian noble Korguz belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup Q-M242. He was the prince of a Turkic tribe, the Onguts.
Over the past decade, Chinese archaeologists have published several reviews regarding the results of excavations in Xinjiang. They imply the Xiongnu's supreme ruling class. Particularly interesting are in the cemetery Heigouliang, Xinjiang (Black Gouliang cemetery, also known as the summer palace of Xiongnu king), east of Barkol basin, near the city of Hami.
By typing results of DNA samples during the excavation of one of the tombs it was determined that of the 12 men there were: Q1a*(xQ-M120, xQ-M25, xQ-M3) - 6, Q1b (M378) - 4, Q*(xQ1a, xQ1b)-2 (unable to determine subclade). All Y-haplogroup Q1b-M378 represent hosts of the tombs, while half of Y-DNA Q1a* represents hosts and half sacrificial victims.
They date from the time of early (Western) Han (2nd-1st Century BC). In another study, 3 in this place were identified as Q-M3. Summarizing the data from available evidences, it is concluded that the tomb belongs to the representatives of the Xiongnu/Hunnu nobility/conquerors.[122][123][124]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiongnu#Genetics
The ancient Khazar Empire was a major but almost forgotten power in Eastern Europe. In the Dark ages it converted to Judaism. Khazaria was finally wiped out by the forces of Ghengis Khan, but evidence indicates that the Khazars themselves migrated to Poland and formed the cradle of Western Jewry. The standard story of the origin of the Ashkenazis, or East-European Jews, holds that they descended from refugees of Crusade- and Black-Death-time persecutions of Jews from western Germany who sought a new life in Poland. In 1976 Arthur Koestler revived the theory the bulk of the Ashkenazis were the descendants of a turkik tribe (the medieval Khazars). The Khazar Caucasian Jews -- Koestler's "The Thirteenth Tribe" - were later converts which arose in Slavic Lands -- they weren't from the Mid-East. The geographic contours of the jewish Pale of Settelments under Russian imperial rule overlap significantly the contours of the reduced khazarian province after the Mongols (Gazaria). Khazars (known also as Chozars, as Khazírs in Armenian and Khwalissas in Russian chronicles), an ancient people who occupied a prominent place among the secondary powers of the Byzantine state-system. In the epic of Firdousi Khazar is the representative name for all the northern foes of Persia, and legendary invasions long before the Christian era are vaguely attributed to them. But the Khazars are an historic figure upon the borderland of Europe and Asia for at least 900 years (AD 190-1100). The epoch of their greatness is from AD 600 to 950. Their home was in the spurs of the Caucasus and along the shores of the Caspian — called by medieval Moslem geographers Bahr-al-Khazar (" sea of the Khazars ").
They were the Venetians of the Caspian and the Euxine, the organizers of the transit between the two basins, the universal carriers between East and West; and the meeting-place of the commerce of Persia, Byzantium, Armenia, Russia and ihc Bulgarians of the middle Volga. The tide of their dominion ebbed and flowed repeatedly, but the normal Khazari may be taken as the territory between the Caucasus, the Volga and the Don, with the outlying province of the Crimea, or Little Khazarh. The southern boundary never greatly altered; it did at times reach the Kur and the Aras, but on that side the Khazars were confronted by Byzantium and Persia, and were for the most part restrained within the passes of the Caucasus. Among the nomadic Ugrians and agricultural Slavs of the north their frontier fluctuated widely, and in its zenith Khazaria extended from the Dnieper to Bolgari upon the Volga, and along the eastern shore of the Caspian to Astarabad.
There were Khazars and Black Khazars. The Khazars were fair-skinned, black-haired of a remarkable beauty and stature; their women indeed were sought as wives equally at Byzantium and Bagdad; while the Kara (black) were ugly, short, and were reported by the Arabs almost as dark as Indians. The latter were indubitably the Ugrian nomads of the steppe, akin to the Tatar invaders of Europe, who convoyed the caravans of the ruling caste. But the Khazars proper were a civic commercial people, the founders of cities, remarkable for somewhat elaborate political institutions, persistence and for good faith — all qualities foreign to the Hun's character.
They appear in European history as White Huns (Ephthalites) or White Bulgarians. Owing to climatic causes thi tract they occupied was slowly drying up. They were the outpost> of civilization towards the encroaching desert, and the Tatar nomadism that advanced with it. They held in precarious subjegation the hordes whom the conditions of the climate made it impossible to supplant. They bore the brunt of the great waves of Tatar conquests, and were eventually overwhelmed.
Amidst this white race of the steppe the Khazars can be first historically distinguished at the end of the 2nd century AD They burst into Armenia in AD 198. They were repulsed and attacked in turn. The pressure of the nomads of the steppe, the quest of plunder or revenge, these seem the only motives of these early expeditions; but in the long struggle between the Roman and Persi?? empires, of which Armenia was often the battlefield, and eventually the prize, the attitude of the Khazars assumed political importance. Armenia inclined to the civilization and ere long to the Christianity of Rome, whilst her Arsacid princes maintained an inveterate feud with the Sassanids of Persia. It became therefore the policy of the Persian kings to call in the Khazars in every collision with the empire (200-350).
During the 4th century however, the growing power of Persia culminated in the annexation of eastern Armenia. The Khazars, endangered by so powerful a neighbour, passed from under Persian influence into that remote alliance with Byzantium which thenceforth characterized their policy, and they aided Julian in his invasion of Persia (363). Simultaneously with the approach of Persia to the Caucasus the terrible empire of the Huns sprang upon the northern steppes. The Khazars, straitened on every side, remained passive till the danger culminated in the accession of Attila (434). Khazaria became the apanage of his eldest son, and the centre of government amongst the eastern subjects of the Hun (448). Even the iron rule of Attila was preferable to the time of anarchy that succeeded it.
Upon his death (454) the wild immigration which he had arrested revived. The Khazars and the Sarogours {i.e. White Ogors, possibly the Barsileans of the Volga delta) were swept along in a flood of mixed Tatar peoples which the conquests of the Avars had set in motion. The Khazars and their companions broke through the Persian defences of the Caucasus. They appropriated the territory up to the Kur and the Aras, and roamed at large through Iberia, Georgia and Armenia.
Throughout the 6th century Khazaria was the mere highway for the wild hordes to whom the Huns had opened the passage into Europe, and the Khazars took refuge (like the Venetians from Attila) amongst the seventy mouths of the Volga. The pressure of the Turks in Asia precipitated the Avars upon the West, The conquering Turks followed in their footsteps (560-580). They beat down all opposition, wrested even Bosporus in the Crimea from the empire, and by the annihilation of the Ephthalites completed the ruin of the White Race of the plains from the Oxus to the Don. The empires of Turks and Avars, however, ran swiftly their barbaric course, and the Khazars arose out of the chaos to more than their ancient renown. They issued from the land of Barsilia and extended their rule over the Bulgarian hordes left masterless by the Turks, compelling the more stubborn to migrate to the Danube (641).
The agricultural Slavs of the Dnieper and the Oka were reduced to tribute, and before the end of the 7th century the Khazars had annexed the Crimea, had won complete command of the Sea of Azov, and, seizing opon the narrow neck which separates the Volga from the Don, had organized the portage which has continued since an important link in the traffic between Asia and Europe. The alliance with Byzantium was revived. Simultaneously, and no doubt in concert, with the Byzantine campaign against Persia (589), the Khazars had reappeared in Armenia, though it was not till 625 that they appear as Khazars in the Byzantine annals. They are then described as " Turks from the East," a powerful nation which held the coasts of the Caspian and the Euxine, and took tribute of the Viatitsh, the Severians and the Polyane. The khakan, enticed by the promise of an imperial princess, furnished Heradius with 40.000 men for his Persian war, who shared in the victory over Chosroes at Nineveh.
Meanwhile the Moslem empire had arisen. The Persian empire was struck down (637) and the Moslems poured into Armenia, the khakan, who had defied the summons sent him by the invaders, now aided the Byzantine patrician in the defence of Armenia. The allies were defeated, and the Moslems undertook the subjugation of Khazaria (651). Eighty years of warfare followed, but in the end the Moslems prevailed. The khakan and his chieftains were captured and compelled to embrace Islam (737) and till the decay of the Mahommeaan empire Khazaria with all the other countries of the Caucasus paid an annual tribute of children and of corn (737-861). Nevertheless, though overpowered in the end, the Khazars had protected the plains of Europe from the Mahommcdans, and made the Caucasus the limit of their conquests.
While yet in their pagan state, the Khazars were exposed at one and the same time to the influences of three religions: Mohammedanism, which pursued its triumphant march from the Arabic Caliphate; Christianity, which was spreading in Byzantium, and Judaism, which, headed by the Exilarchs and Gaons of Babylonia, was centered in the Caliphate, while its ramifications spread all over the Empire of Byzantium and its colonies on the Black Sea. The Arabs and the Byzantines succeeded in converting several groups of the Khazar population to Islam and Christianity, but the lion's share fell to Judaism, for it managed to get hold of the royal dynasty and the ruling classes. The conversion of the Khazars to Judaism, which took place about 740, is described circumstantially in the traditions preserved among the Jews and in the accounts of the medieval Arabic travelers. The King, or Khagan, of the Khazars, by the name of Bulan, arranged a disputation between the advocates of the three religions, to be held in his presence. Both the Mohammedan and the Christian acknowledge the superiority of Judaism to the religion of their antagonist, so Bulan adopted the Jewish religion, and many of the Khazar nobles followed his example.
In the ninth and tenth centuries, the kingdom of the Khazars, governed by rulers professing the Jewish faith, attained to outward power and inner prosperity. The accounts of the Arabic writers of that period throw an interesting light on the inner life of the Khazars, which was marked by religious tolerance. The king of the Khazars and the governing classes professed the Jewish religion. Among the lower classes the three monotheistic religions were all represented, and in addition a considerable number of pagans still survived. In spite of the fact that royalty and nobility professed Judaism, the principle of religious equality was never violated.
In the interval between the decline of the Mahommedan rmpîre and the rise of Russia the Khazars reached the zenith of their power. The merchants of Byzantium, Armenia and Bagdad met in the markets of Itil (whither since the raids of the Mahommcdans the capital had been transferred from Scmendcr), and traded for the wax, furs, leather and honey that came down the Volga. So important was this traffic held at Constantinople that, when the portage to the Don was endangered by the irruption of a fresh horde of Turks (the Petchenegs), the emperor Theophilus himself despatched the materials and the workmen to build for the Khazars a fortress impregnable to their forays (834). Famous as the one stone structure ¡s in that stoneless region, the post became known far and wide amongst the hordes of the steppe as Sar-kel or the White Abode. Merchants from every nation found protection and good faith in the Khazar cities. The Jews, expelled from Constantinople, sought a home amongst them, developed the Khazar trade, and contended with Mahommcdans and Christians for t he theological allegiance of the Pagan people. The dynasty accepted Judaism (c. 740), but there was equal tolerance for all. and each man was held amenable to the authorized code and to the official judges of his own faith.
At the Byzantine court the khakan was held in high honor. The emperor Justinian Rhinotmetus took refuge with him during his exile and married his daughter (702). Justinian's rival Vardanes in turn sought an asylum in Khazaria, and in Leo IV. Í775) the grandson of a Khazar sovereign ascended the Byzantine throne. Khazar troops were amongst the bodyguard of the imperial court; they fought for Leo VI. against Simeon of Bulgaria ; and the khakan was honoured in diplomatic intercourse with the seal of three solidi, which marked him as a potentate of the first rank, above even the pope and the Carolingian monarch.
It was, however, from a power that Constantine did not consider that the overthrow of the Khazars came. The arrival of the Varangians amidst the scattered Slavs (862) had united them into a nation. The advance of the Petchenege from the East gave the Russians their opportunity. Before the onset of those fierce invaders the precarious suzerainty of the khakan broke up. By calling in the Uzes, the Khazars did indeed dislodge the Petchcnegs from the position they had seized yi the heart ofthe kingdom between the Volga and the Don, but only to drive them inwards to the Dnieper. The Hungarians, severed from theirkindredand theirruters. migrated to the Carpathians, whilst Oleg. the Russ prince of Kiev, passed through the Slav tribes of the Dnieper basin with the cry "Pay nothing to the Khazars" (884).
The kingdom dwindled rapidly to its ancient limits between the Caucasus, the Volga and the Don, while the Russian traders of Novgorod and Kiev supplanted the Khazars as the carriers between Constantinople and the North. When Ibn Fadian visited Khazaria forty years later, Itil was even yet a great city, with baths and market-places and thirty mosques, but there was no domestic product nor manufacture; the kingdom depended solely upon the now precarious transit dues, and administration was in the hands of a major domus also called khakan.
Slavonian tribes, who had been united under the leadership of Bussian princes, not only threw off the yoke of the Khazars, whose vassals they were, but also succeeded in invading and finally destroying their center at the mouth of the Volga. At the assault of Swiatoslav of Kiev the rotten fabric crumbled into dust. His troops were equally at home on land and water. Sarkel, Itil and Scmender surrendered to him (965-969). He pushed his conquests to the Caucasus, established Russian colonies upon the Sea of Azov, devastated the Khazar territories on the Ityl, and, penetrating to the heart of the country, dislodged the Khazars from the Caspian region.
The Khazars withdrew to their possessions on the Black Sea, and established themselves in particular on the Crimean Peninsula, which for a long time retained the name of Khazaria. The principality of Tmutarakan, founded by his grandson Mstislav (988), replaced the kingdom of Khazaria, the last trace of which was extinguished by a joint expedition of Russians and Byzantines (1016). A remnant of the nation took refuge in an island of the Caspian (Siahcouye); others retired to the Caucasus; part emigrated to the district of Kasakhi in Georgia, and appear for the first time joining with Georgia in her successful effort to throw off the yoke of the Seljuk Turks (1089).
The greatly reduced Khazar kingdom in Tauris, the survival of a mighty empire, was able to hold its own for nearly half a century, until in the eleventh century it fell a prey to the Russians and Byzantines (1016). The last of the khakans, George, Tzula, was taken prisoner. But the name is thought to survive in Kadzaria, the Georgian title for Mingrclia, and in Kadzaro, the Turkish word for the Lazis. Till the 13th century the Crimea was known to European travellers as Gazaria; the "ramparts of the Khazars" are still distinguished in the Ukraine; and the record of their dominion survives in the names of Kazarck, Kazaritshi, Kazarinovod, Kozar-owka, Kuzari, and perhaps in Kazan.
The relatives of the last khagan fled, according to tradition, to their coreligionists in Spain. The Khazar nation was scattered, and was subsequently lost among the other nations. By one account the remnants of the Khazars in the Crimea who professed Judaism were merged with the native Jews, consisting partly of Eabbanites and partly of Karaites. In this way the ancient Jewish settlements on the Crimean Peninsula suddenly received a large increase. At the same time the influx of Jewish immigrants, who, together with the Greeks, moved from Byzantium towards the northern shores of the Black Sea, continued as theretofore, the greater part of these immigrants consisting of Karaites, who were found in large numbers in the Byzantine Empire.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/khazar.htm
From Rootsweb-compiled by David Hughes;
This genealogy of the Turkish Assena Dynasty is based primarily on two sources, which are (a) Formhals' chart "Royal Race of Deuman", and (b) a chart by Mommaerts posted on the net. The genealogies reconstructed by Formhals and Mommaerts differ. Here I have hopefully successfully harmonized their conflicting genealogical data. For example Mommaerts identifies Iski Khan [Irksi Khan] with Buman's son Kara Kola Khan, but this throws the chronology out of whack; thus, I follow Formhals identification of Iski Khan [Irksi Khan] with Buman's brother Istami, which works out chronologically. Though I follow Formhals rather than Mommaerts on that particular identification; on another identification I follow Mommaerts rather than Formhals, which is where Formhals makes Kushu Mukan Kagan to be a brother of Bumen, but this cannot be correct, and, therefore, here I follow Mommaerts in making Kushu Mukan Kagan to be Buman's son. This is more sound chronologically. Too, Formhals only gives Bumen one son, whereas in nearly every source I have seen Bumen's offspring is referred to as "sons" [plural, i.e., more than one son].
The ancestry of the Ottomans from the Assena Dynasty is based on the identification of Torak Han in the traditional Ottomon pedigree with Turug in Formhals' chart, which works out chronologically. However, if Torak Han and Turug were different persons then they would have to be contemporaries, nevertheless, when one considers that the traditional Ottomon pedigree includes names found in the Assena Dynasty genealogy [e.g. Baz Kagan], one may assume that whoever drew-up the traditional Ottomon pedigree was influenced by the Assena Dynasty genealogy. Too, it is known that the Ottomans wanted to distant themselves from the Assena Dynasty and wanted a unique pedigree. This is evident where the traditional Ottomon pedigree diverges at a certain point from where it is proceeds to trace descent from Adam and Eve.
This genealogy of the Turkish Assena Dynasty is based primarily on two sources, which are (a) Formhals' chart "Royal Race of Deuman", and (b) a chart by Mommaerts posted on the net. The genealogies reconstructed by Formhals and Mommaerts differ. Here I have hopefully successfully harmonized their conflicting genealogical data. For example Mommaerts identifies Iski Khan [Irksi Khan] with Buman's son Kara Kola Khan, but this throws the chronology out of whack; thus, I follow Formhals identification of Iski Khan [Irksi Khan] with Buman's brother Istami, which works out chronologically. Though I follow Formhals rather than Mommaerts on that particular identification; on another identification I follow Mommaerts rather than Formhals, which is where Formhals makes Kushu Mukan Kagan to be a brother of Bumen, but this cannot be correct, and, therefore, here I follow Mommaerts in making Kushu Mukan Kagan to be Buman's son. This is more sound chronologically. Too, Formhals only gives Bumen one son, whereas in nearly every source I have seen Bumen's offspring is referred to as "sons" [plural, i.e., more than one son].
The ancestry of the Ottomans from the Assena Dynasty is based on the identification of Torak Han in the traditional Ottomon pedigree with Turug in Formhals' chart, which works out chronologically. However, if Torak Han and Turug were different persons then they would have to be contemporaries, nevertheless, when one considers that the traditional Ottomon pedigree includes names found in the Assena Dynasty genealogy [e.g. Baz Kagan], one may assume that whoever drew-up the traditional Ottomon pedigree was influenced by the Assena Dynasty genealogy. Too, it is known that the Ottomans wanted to distant themselves from the Assena Dynasty and wanted a unique pedigree. This is evident where the traditional Ottomon pedigree diverges at a certain point from where it is proceeds to trace descent from Adam and Eve.
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 fanaticism 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.'
Khazars were a small tribe, at the most Khazars numbered 5% of the Kaganate population, covered under an umbrella supraethnic, or politonym, appellative “Khazars”. The major Khazar constituents were Bulgars, Suvars, Saklans, and Horezmians, the last term covers various Türkic tribes in the north-east corner of the Caspian Sea. During the life of the Khazar Kaganate (ca 660 - 1300), powerful changes occurred on all its borders and within its territory, eventually engendering its demise. It was begotten as a result of demarcation between the Avar and First Türkic Kaganates ca 560, when the Hunnic state was divided between two new superpowers, and facilitated when Bulgaria reunited in ca 630. Its precursor was the Western Türkic Kaganate, which used Khazars to re-conquer the lost eastern provinces. A western splinter of the Western Türkic Kaganate became known as a Khazar Kaganate. A demise of the Western Türkic Kaganate enabled a creation of the Kangar Union (659-750) on its west, and the demise of the Second Türkic Kaganate enabled a creation there of the Oguz Yabgu State (750-1055). The Khazar Kaganate outlived both of them. But the intractable tribes of the Kangar Union and Oguz Yabgu State flooded the domains of the Khazars, reducing its territory and power manifold. Bulgars re-asserted their independence, the eastern provinces were captured by the intractable Rus raiders, and by the 1000s the Kaganate shrunk to its N. Caucasian domains, sandwiched between the Kichak states in the north and Arab Caliphate in the south. During 450 years of its functional existence (ca 660 - 1100s, 18 generations), the Kaganate has not consolidated into ethnically or linguistically unified state, it lived as a patchwork of ethnicities and principalities, and was probably a world champion in the number of the constituent languages. The gradual dismemberment of the Kaganate only increased the variety, with various and numerous migrant populations settling within its borders. As far as we know, there never was a Khazar lingua franca. The term “Khazar language” is an umbrella term to cover some of the Türkic languages that were used in Khazaria during her time.
Khazaria AD ca 650-850 Kangar Union ca AD 700 Kangar-Besenyo ca 900 AD Oguz Yagbu state ca AD 900 Somehow researchers tend not to define the term “Khazars”, allowing readers and other researchers to conclude what they please. The loose terminology makes the very subject or event indistinct. When monuments or artifacts are attributed, the attribution is conditioned on the dominant notions that can't be relied upon.
The Hungarian term rovas or rovash (Anglicized phonetical transcription) “rune” possibly is a reflex of the Türkic (Turkish) rizan- (v.) “draw, scratch”, which produced the predominant in the Germanic languages semantics “write, scratch, draw”, including the English write, German reißen, Anglo-Saxon writan, Frisian writa, Swdish writan, and Norse rita. The notion of “mystery” is certainly a later invention to obfuscate the condemned script.
Page numbers are shown at the end of the page in blue. Posting notes and explanations, added to the text of the author and not noted specially, are shown in (blue) in parentheses and in blue boxes, or highlighted by blue headers. Diacritics may need verification against the original. http://s155239215.onlinehome.us/turkic/14Khazars/GaborHKhazarRuneWritingsEn.htm
THE WIND OF THE KHAZARS - Sofer’s curiosity leads him to Oxford and Cambridge, where he examines rare manuscripts on the Khazars, including correspondence between a rabbi of Cordoba, Spain, and a king of the Khazars. Trying to imagine the lives of this remote people, Sofer accepts the red-headed woman’s challenge. He will travel to the land of the Khazars to fully explore their existence. When he lands at the Baku airport in Azerbaijan, Sofer simultaneously finds himself in a place of forgotten peoples, shadowy Russian Mafia, volatile disputes over oil rights, and explosive ethnic politics.
- Vasilii V. Grigoriev, in his essay "O dvoystvennosti verkhovnoy vlasti u khazarov" (1835), reprinted in his 1876 compilation book 'Rossiya i Aziya.'
Khazars were a small tribe, at the most Khazars numbered 5% of the Kaganate population, covered under an umbrella supraethnic, or politonym, appellative “Khazars”. The major Khazar constituents were Bulgars, Suvars, Saklans, and Horezmians, the last term covers various Türkic tribes in the north-east corner of the Caspian Sea. During the life of the Khazar Kaganate (ca 660 - 1300), powerful changes occurred on all its borders and within its territory, eventually engendering its demise. It was begotten as a result of demarcation between the Avar and First Türkic Kaganates ca 560, when the Hunnic state was divided between two new superpowers, and facilitated when Bulgaria reunited in ca 630. Its precursor was the Western Türkic Kaganate, which used Khazars to re-conquer the lost eastern provinces. A western splinter of the Western Türkic Kaganate became known as a Khazar Kaganate. A demise of the Western Türkic Kaganate enabled a creation of the Kangar Union (659-750) on its west, and the demise of the Second Türkic Kaganate enabled a creation there of the Oguz Yabgu State (750-1055). The Khazar Kaganate outlived both of them. But the intractable tribes of the Kangar Union and Oguz Yabgu State flooded the domains of the Khazars, reducing its territory and power manifold. Bulgars re-asserted their independence, the eastern provinces were captured by the intractable Rus raiders, and by the 1000s the Kaganate shrunk to its N. Caucasian domains, sandwiched between the Kichak states in the north and Arab Caliphate in the south. During 450 years of its functional existence (ca 660 - 1100s, 18 generations), the Kaganate has not consolidated into ethnically or linguistically unified state, it lived as a patchwork of ethnicities and principalities, and was probably a world champion in the number of the constituent languages. The gradual dismemberment of the Kaganate only increased the variety, with various and numerous migrant populations settling within its borders. As far as we know, there never was a Khazar lingua franca. The term “Khazar language” is an umbrella term to cover some of the Türkic languages that were used in Khazaria during her time.
Khazaria AD ca 650-850 Kangar Union ca AD 700 Kangar-Besenyo ca 900 AD Oguz Yagbu state ca AD 900 Somehow researchers tend not to define the term “Khazars”, allowing readers and other researchers to conclude what they please. The loose terminology makes the very subject or event indistinct. When monuments or artifacts are attributed, the attribution is conditioned on the dominant notions that can't be relied upon.
The Hungarian term rovas or rovash (Anglicized phonetical transcription) “rune” possibly is a reflex of the Türkic (Turkish) rizan- (v.) “draw, scratch”, which produced the predominant in the Germanic languages semantics “write, scratch, draw”, including the English write, German reißen, Anglo-Saxon writan, Frisian writa, Swdish writan, and Norse rita. The notion of “mystery” is certainly a later invention to obfuscate the condemned script.
Page numbers are shown at the end of the page in blue. Posting notes and explanations, added to the text of the author and not noted specially, are shown in (blue) in parentheses and in blue boxes, or highlighted by blue headers. Diacritics may need verification against the original. http://s155239215.onlinehome.us/turkic/14Khazars/GaborHKhazarRuneWritingsEn.htm
THE WIND OF THE KHAZARS - Sofer’s curiosity leads him to Oxford and Cambridge, where he examines rare manuscripts on the Khazars, including correspondence between a rabbi of Cordoba, Spain, and a king of the Khazars. Trying to imagine the lives of this remote people, Sofer accepts the red-headed woman’s challenge. He will travel to the land of the Khazars to fully explore their existence. When he lands at the Baku airport in Azerbaijan, Sofer simultaneously finds himself in a place of forgotten peoples, shadowy Russian Mafia, volatile disputes over oil rights, and explosive ethnic politics.
The Khazar Heritage
© 1996 The Kaz-Khan and the Khazar organisation.
This is a comprehensive and serious account of a persistent and substantial oral tradition, which by us is considered to be the historical balance and a final historical declaration from the Khazars. This regrettably overthrows many of the current scientific and pseudo-scientific contexts, and questions the present traditional state of esp. historical and archaeological science regarding Khazar history.
There has been a lot of routine, predjudice, ethno-centrism and even propagandistic racism falsifying or more or less consciously misinterpreting the Khazar history from esp. the sides of nazism, zionism and stalinism. Our chosen silence for more than half a millennium has of course given room for both romantic and hostile speculation, but also for major faults within serious historical science.
This and the presence of political thaw esp. in the former Soviet Union and a growing global general consensus of democracy have both forced us and made it more opportune to speak out and reveal the historical truth of the Khazars. We have now decided to do that.
However we will not relate or argue with traditional science of history or false propaganda. The main features of Khazaria, we regard, is well documented by Dunlop and Koestler (see below!). We will concentrate on those parts of the oral tradition, which has not yet been validated by science or where views differ. Hence we have developed a strategy and a goal for this historical task, which reads:
"Interpreting oral Khazar tradition in relation to and considering contemporary scientific theories and conclusions in producing a working and workable hypothesis and model for the interpretation of the history of Khazars."
The Jewish Kingdom of Khazaria
At it´s crest of military and political power the Khazar state seems to have exercised excellent talents mainly comprising social and cultural features like:
- A Hellenistic open governmental approach to ethnical, lingual and religious variety. A Khazar official could be of ethnical Greek, Turkish, Jewish and probably Slav and Rûs origin, as well as a confessional Christian, Jew, Muslim or maybe just pagan and probably multi-lingual as well. The Khazar community comprised all this variety, thus seemingly being a part of the Hellenistic sphere.
- A military power consisting of a mounted force and fortified garrisons with an organisation, tactics and strategy comprising and merging elements from ancient Macedonia, Persia, Byzans and "turkish tribes". Thus constituting the sole definite bastion against Arab-Islamic, Byzantine-Christian and Rûs expansion through this area of cultural cross-roads.
- Well developed diplomatic and merchantry relations, thus constituting a "neutral" and independent intermediary arbitrator to most of the parties around, most of the time.
- The clan of royalty and nobels is documented as consisting of mostly confessional Jews.
The birth of Khazaria
It has not been proven common among dispersed and "anarchistic" Turkish-Mongol tribes, or even more consensed and condensed conglomerates, to exercise this kind of governmental skills, nor cultural tolerance. What we usually see is more of a talent and a remarkable and certain predilection for terror and bestiality (the post-Genghis era maybe in some respects excluded). Why would Khazars relatively sudden become able to exercise such excellent talents in politics, trade and warfare? Already from the very beginning of the Khazar kingdom this is at hand. Could this be an example of the acts of God or "learning by doing"? Hardly so!
This could, at that time, only be the heritage of Hellenism! How could possibly then a nomadic and pagan Turkish tribe, so easily and completely, adopt "hellenistic" and "jewish" manners? They didn’t! The main part of the Khazar people ("the black legged ones" - kara-süjek/Kara-Khazars) was, of course, at all times turkish, tribal, illiterate, pagan and nomadic horsemen (an excellent source of soldiery to a mounted army). The ruling class ("the white legged ones" - aq-süjek/Aq-Khazars) of nobels (taidsi), however, the very nucleus of the rising and formed Khazar state, were the bearers and mediators of the Hellenistic culture. They were literate, had strong relations to the Hellenistic world and were well organized. Because they were Jews (in the meaning "israelite" offspring with "jewish" traditions, knowledge and relations)!
The nucleus of the fully developed Khazar empire is documented as consisting of mostly confessional Jews. The political mythology, however, tells us about a conversion and there is a story about the Khazar king (Khagan/Kaz-Khan) and his retinue, after a principal debate between representatives of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, suddenly decide to get circumcised. This is a good example of clever Khazar politics and conscious diplomatical propaganda! With growing international impact they knew their personal faith and family traditions would have been exposed and politically exploited by their eventual competitors. They decided to spread a story of well considered and politically motivated conversion, with the understatement that others also very well could (and should?) follow. Possibly they even got circumcised, hence practically, merely as a symbol and confirmation of their Jewish origin and faith.
So where did those Jews come from? Well, according to their familiarity to Hellenistic and Jewish manners, tradition and culture they plausibly came from the south. At that time the Hellenistic sphere was evaporating to the benefit of local kings and chiefs, who very often seem to have been of a general Hellenistic (Macedonian, Persian, Armenian etc. noble and military) rather than of local origin. The same seems to have happened to this outskirt of the former Hellenistic Empire. A clan of conative and vindictive "jewish" former officials and mercenary officers of the Hellenistic Empire managed to develop and maintain a leading role among the Turkish tribes. These "Jews" alone had a ready, refined and winning concept for the governmental and military management as well as the motive of founding a relatively enlightened "Hellenistic-Jewish" kingdom.
These "jewish" soldiers and mercenaries may well be a remainder of the descendants to the defenders of the 2nd last Jewish Kingdom and the last Holy Temple of Jerusalem. Thus extremely well motivated of restoring a Jewish Kingdom!
Whoever they were, they evidently succeeded, forming the latest jewish kingdom, the Jewish Kingdom of Khazaria!
The rise and consolidation of Khazaria
In charge of an excellent mounted force, equipped with an excellent political capacity and with extraordinary relations to Jewish and Greek interests in the Hellenistic sphere the Jewish Aq-Khazars continued in expanding and consolidating the Khazar Kingdom. They proved to be the best employer around for Turk horsemen from the steppes, hungry for warrior esteem and wealth, which made way for a large scale of more or less voluntary subordination of all Turk tribes around, including Kara-Khazars, Oghuzz, Pecheneggs, Bulgars and others.
The geographical expansion did not decrease until the Khazar empire covered an area from Hungary-Austria in the west to the Aral sea in the east, Kiev-Upper Volga in the north and the Black and Caspian seas and Caucasus in the south. They installed counts (the so called "Jewish princes") in Hungary-Austria, they taxated Goths in Crimea and Greek-Byzantine towns and landlords at the northern shores of the Black sea, they taxated Rûs merchants and raiders and all other trading through their territory. They established a net of trading posts on their own behalf along the Volga, Don, Donets and Dnepr river systems, as well as along the caravan-roads, with immigrated refugee Jews as a favoured merchantry and trusted administrators and small garrisons of Turks for protection, and they fortified their heartland.
The mounted forces, with a soldiery of mainly Turk and pagan origin, could at times and when accounted for, show a disastrous fiercefulness and cruelty to the enemies of Khazaria. On the other hand the same forces, subordinated to the Aq-Khazar generals and officers, were probably the most disciplined, as well as tactically and strategically the most potent martial power at that time and in that region. On the other hand Khazar officials were often consulted as diplomatic emissars and mediators by all the political powers surrounding Khazaria. Khazaria and Khazars were at that time both highly respected and feared, with good reason.
Along with warfare, diplomacy, taxation and trade there was of course a great lingual and cultural as well as religious and ideological exchange. The Jewish Khazar Kingdom comprised a manyfold variety in combination with "hellenistic" openness in all aspects of human cultural life. A Khazar official could be of Turk, Slav, Greek, Rûs, Arab, Goth, Roman and Magyar ethnical origin. They then just had to be multilingual and capable of communicating with all these "nationalities". General Turkish, "lingua cumana", was surely used among the Turk tribes, as Roman-Greek in the Black sea region and Hebrew among Jewish scholars and rabbis. Every subgroup surely maintained their native tongue, but the demand for a general and common language gradually increased.
In charge of trade, at these crossroads of mercantile exchange, were the Jews, wether they were related to the Aq-Khazar nobility or refugees from Byzans or the Caliphates in the south. They were the civil servents of the Khazar empire, administrating governmental tasks such as regulating settlement, trade, taxation, passage and migration. They also maintained great advantages and benefits as the most favoured merchantry. All this made the Jewish merchantry to the most critical and important part in all trade within Khazaria, as well as in trade exchange with external parties. Thus there were of course a lot of reasons not to speak Hebrew with their various counterparts. The need for a common trading and administrative language was accute.
Trading and administrative Jews and Jewish Khazars, and possibly other officials as well, in cooperation and interchange with Frankic, Hungarian-Austrian, Slavic, Rûs, Gothic and Greek merchantry, had already begun to develope a common "lingua comerca" consisting of mainly early "pre-German" influences from Gothic, Austrian, Rûs and "lingua franca", spoken by Franks and Radhanite merchant Jews. A major influx of Hebrew, Slavic and some "lingua cumana", of course, was also merged into this "synthetic" and, in many respects, neutral language.
This language also had a major impact on the construction, by Benedictine monks, of the high-german "synthetic" language to be used in the German Roman empire. It was later, by the definite evaporation of Khazaria, to be maintained and further refined by the Jewish merchantry, refugees from Khazaria, as a profane speech and fully developed and re-influenced by high-german in the middle ages to "Jiddisch (eng. Yiddish)", that is "Jewish".
Khazaria, at the point of breaking
Khazaria had most of the time alliances with all the surrounding parts. Those sometimes were broken by competition, hostility, betrayel and war. There was a long period of harmony with Byzans resulting in a Khazar contribution to the royalty with at least two emperors and two empresses, of Khazar ethnical and/or cultural origin. There was also a forthgoing interaction with Rûs resulting in mutual and joint trading posts along the river systems between the poles Kiev in Khazar-Rûsia in the south and Birka in the northly Sweden (Svithjodh) and a Khazar contribution to the blood and culture of the first Khagans/Tsars of Russia, obviously since the queen of Rûsia, the christian Khazar noble lady, Helga (Sancta) and, by her adopted son, the Khazar prince Svjatoslav (Svithjodho-Slav). There was also a great intermingling with the arab caliphates.
However, there regrettably were a forthgoing polarization within the Khazar society due to vast priviliges granted to the Jewish merchantry and the general islamisation of the common tribes esp. the Kara-Khazars. The Khazar-Rûs defectors also grew in competitive rivalry and discontent to their expected submission to Aq-Khazars and priviliged Jewry. This four-polar tension gradually grew and went acute making the Khazar state unable to defend itself, to any major extent, when the Khazar-Rûs Khagan Svjatoslav exploitingly challenged it. Jew merchants, Aq-Khazar nobels and muslim Kara-Kazars ceased to feel as a united body and were unable to keep the forces together and consensus disappeared with the winds of the steppes.
The very openess and liberal governmental attitude within the Khazar state proved disastrous for the empire, when misused by the crystallized interest groups of Merchant Jewry, Muslim Kara-Khazars and emigrant competitors. However neither all Khazars, nor the core Khazar Kingdom were conquered for hundreds of years.
All the western and northern parts of the larger empire were incorporated with the emerging Russian state and most of the inhabitants, whether pagan or muslim, were to be christened by force in due time, but most of the Jews stubbornly remained jewish. Left without their Khazar leadership, the former Khazar subjects were slavicised or judaised and deprived of any Khazar identity. In an attempt to escape Russia and keep their sovereignty, small detachments of Khazars with their families, esp. from the splinted and disrupted army, fled westward to Crimea, Romania and Hungary. A northern group, penetrating Russia, went out of reach to Prussia/Lithuania.
Left as a vanishing Jewish Khazar Kingdom was the surviving royal clan and nobility of the Khazars, accompanied by only a minor part of the former enormous mounted force, taking a stand just north of and within the Caucasus, but seemingly without any substantial political and economical power and with a planned liquidation as the only realistic option. They then decided to liquidate the project of a Jewish empire or state, but with reason and careful planning.
Capital and trusted families were sent out to Byzans and the old trading routes along the Dnepr/Dvina river system. This was very convenient because of the possibilities of trading and the eventual protection and aid from resident Jews and Jewish Khazars, their relatives. The main part of the army and nobility were gradually moved to Crimea, thus taking charge of and merging with residents and forming the so called "Tartars of Crimea".
A Khazar diaspora
The noble Aq-Khazars were now Jewish traders and Tartars, consolidating their capital and network of traders. Great obstacles to their striving were of course the plague, the mongol invasion and the "byzantification" of Russia, ending with Ivan "The Terrible". They survived to some extent by cooperating with the Golden Horde Khaganate and the Osmans of Turkey. Their last great martial effort was burning Moscow, with the Tartars of Crimea, as a revenge, in 1571.
There still was a core of noble Khazar families who among them secretly maintained a virtual Khazar kingdom and identity. They decided to definitely move north, along the old trading route and collect their capital and vitalize the trading. They ended up in Preussia/Lithuania and spread their interests and residence, fairly quickly, to all over the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, through Poland, Pommern and Mecklenburg-Schwerin, merging with Jewry, christian nobility and merchantry. They eventually got related to the noble and royal families of both Germany and Russia.
Besides traditional trading and manoring they funded esp. Swedish warfare against Russia and Catholic Germany for hundreds of years. The jewish families got privileges as "favoured jews", as funders and suppliers to the Swedish armies. The christians cultivated their manors and contributed with supply and officers. Esp. the Jewish Khazars also acted as mediators and interpreters like e. g. between King Carl XII and Turkey. Several Swedish Kings thus became more and more in debt to some Khazar families.
The Swedish Kings then granted the Jewish Khazars vast priviliges in economics, trading and residency. They took many Khazar nobles, some even Jewish, in their service as high ranking officers for battle and logistics. By the mid 18th century some of the christian noble Khazar families lived in Sweden and by the end of the century several of the Jewish did as well. They were still main funders and suppliers, mainly to the Navy, they represented Turkey in maintaining the consulate and then they mostly contributed to the general economical and industrial development, and banking and finance in special, of the 19th century Sweden.
Now we have decided to step forward and claim respect and recognition for the Khazars, the virtual Khaganate and the ancient kingdom Khazaria.
“Paul Kriwaczek tells us in his book ‘In Search of Zarathustra: Across Iran and Central Asia To Find the World’s First Prophet’ that the Hebrew word Ashkenazi originally meant a Scythian.
*
Ashkenazim (pl.) "central and northern European Jews" (as opposed to Sephardim, Jews of Spain and Portugal), 1839, from Heb. Ashkenazzim, pl. of Ashkenaz, eldest son of Gomer (Gen. x.3), also the name of a people mentioned in Jer. li.27 (perhaps akin to Gk. skythoi "Scythians," cf. Akkad. ishkuzai); identified historically with various people; in Middle Ages, with the Germans.
*
The Scythians were called by the Assyrians Ashkuza or Ishkuza (A/Iڑ-k/gu-za-ai); as with the Gimmiri, this word also appears to have found its way into the Old Testament; one of Gomer's (Gimmiri) three sons, in Genesis I.x.12, is called Ashkenaz, which has given us the modern Hebrew word, Ashkenazi.
The Scythians were known by the Achaemenians, as SAKA and SKUDRA, by the Greeks, SKغTHIA (سê?èéل), by the Romans, SCYTHIAE (pron. SKITYAI), which has given us the English word SCYTHIAN; they lived in a wide area stretching from the south and west of the River Danube to the eastern and northeastern edges of the Taklamakan Desert in China; this vast territory includes now parts of Central Europe, the eastern half of the Balkans, the Ukraine, northern Caucasus, southern Russia, southern Siberia, Central Asia and western China. (By: Dr Oric Basirov, The Origin of the Pre-Imperial Iranian Peoples)
Xiongnu Empire or Asia Hun Empire of Siberia and Central Asia actually evolved from Saka/Scythia Empire, consequently Khazar Empire also arose on Saka legacy ; http://www.duru-creatives.com/almanci/turkworld/empires/empires.html
Chinese "wiki" site about Ashina Clan
It has been said that Mugan Khan had a very wide face and he looked weird with eyes very far apart from one another that were red in colour. This is because the Asna family clan in the Turkic Kingdom was carried classic North Asian features, mixed in with some Altaic genes and genes from the Caucasus. Persian scholar Hudud Ul Alam records that the people of the Hazar Kingdom were a branch of the Asna and hence might've carried Haplogroup Q1b.
According to records, some of the people from the Asna family clan converted their surname into the Chinese character 史 (Shi) during the Tang Dynasty and they stayed in China.
根据“木杆可汗……状貌奇异，面广尺余，其色赤甚，眼若琉璃”，因此阿史那氏是典型的 北亚人种，通过 阿尔泰其他民族混有高加索人的基因。波斯地理学著作Hudud Ul Alam记载哈扎尔汗国的汗族为Asna一系，读音上非常近似突厥汗国的阿史那氏，那么阿史那部族的Y染色体或许是Q1b。据《通志·氏族略》所载，唐代 有突厥族阿史那氏，改姓史。
http://www.baike.com/…/%E9%98%BF%E5%8F%B2%E9%82%A3&prd=butt…
http://www.nature.com/…/jo…/v513/n7518/full/nature13673.html
Most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunter-gatherer related ancestry.
Except ancient DNA Q1b(1)-M378 founded in Barkol cemetery dated to the Early Han Dynasty (2nd-1st century BC), there is another paleo DNA Q1b in Xinjiang 1800 years old.
"In addition, its sub-haplogroups Q1a and Q1b have been found in 1,800-year-old samples from the Xinjiang province of China (Li, 2012), a critical region of population admixture between western and eastern Eurasia".
Ref:
Ancient DNA evidence reveals that the Y chromosome haplogroup Q1a1 admixed into the Han Chinese 3,000 years ago , Yong-Bin Zhao, Ye Zhang, Hong-Jie Li, Ying-Qiu Cui, Hong Zhu andHui Zhou
http://www.eastbound88.com/archive/i...p/t-31814.html
Despite the fact that Mongolia is still one of the most isolated and one of the most sparsely populated countries in world, Y-DNA Q1b (haplogroup very rare in human populations for itself) has been detected by researchers from Department of Legal Medicine and Bioethics, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Japan in all five regional populations (Ulaangom, Dalandzadgad, Ulaanbaatar,Undurkhaan,Choibalsan) in Mongolia and even in Japanese population (日本人 Nihonjin, Nipponjin).
Therefore this finding is of etreme importance due to the reason that near Mongolian southern border is location of cemetery Heigouliang, Xinjiang (Black Gouliang cemetery), east of Barkol basin, near the city of Hami. By typing results of DNA samples during the excavation of one of the tombs it was determined that of the 12 men there were: Q1a - 6, Q1b (M378) - 4, Q-2 (unable to determine subclade). Hosts of the tombs were representatives of Y-haplogroup Q1b-M378 exclusively (while Y-DNA Q1a represents sacrificial victims). They date from the time of early (Western) Han (2-1 century BC). In the very same location today Turkic Uygurs shows Q1b haplotypes very close if not the same as Ashkenazi Jewish Q1b(1a).
Source of attached table: http://www.fsigeneticssup.com/…/S1875-1768%2813%2…/fulltext…
PASHTUN "KHAN" IS A KHAZAR LEGACY: There are a lot of unrecorded but extremely significant population movements of the Early and Proto-Turks in the Central Asian region, beginning in about 400 AD -- that have had a lasting impact on history and ethnicities....
One such occurrence is the fact that the early Turks provided the third and last (finishing) stage of Pashtun (Afghan) ethnogenesis...and among them, the last and most profound influence of these was from the Khazars. This report contains more:
http://www.nature.com/.../v20/n10/full/ejhg201259a.html
Turkic influence on the formation of the Pashtun ethnicity is an extremely long process of several stages over 500 years. It can be traced from AD 450, with the arrival of the White Huns in Bactria. Thereafter, the Kabul Shahi Turkic Hindu rule began, from about AD 500 to 1000.
But the most profound stage -- which made the Afghan race into how we know it today -- occurred somewhere between 740 and 980 AD....like most, it is unrecorded, but it paved the way for turning Pashtuns into the way we have been seeing them, for the last 1000 years.
ASHINA TRIBE WAS XIONGNU/HUNNU/HUNS
"The ancestors of the ancient Turks, under a name Ashina, were a
separate branch of the House of Hunnu (Huns)."
-- the Zhou (551–583) Dynastic history
JEWISH SOURCES ABOUT HUN ORIGIN OF KHAZARS JEWISH VIRTUAL LIBRARY:
The Origin of the Khazars
The Khazars, of Turkic stock, originally nomadic, reached the Volga-Caucasus region from farther east at some time not easily determinable. They may have belonged to the empire of the Huns (fifth century C.E.) as the Akatzirs, mentioned by Priscus. This name is said to be equivalent to Aq-Khazar, i.e., White Khazars, as opposed to the Qara-Khazar or Black Khazars mentioned by al-Iṣṭakhrī (see below). The Khazars probably belonged to the West Turkish Empire (from 552 C.E.), and they may have marched with Sinjibū (Istämi), the first khāqān of the West Turks, against the Sassanid (Persian) fortress of Ṣul or Darband In the time of Procopius (sixth century) the region immediately north of the Caucasus was held by the Sabirs, who are referred to by Jordanes as one of the two great branches of the Huns (Getica, ed. Mommsen, 63). Masʿūdī (tenth century C.E.) says that the Khazars are called in Turkish, Sabīr (Tanbīh, ed. Cairo, 1938, 72).
In 627 (Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. De Boor, 1 (1883), 315) "the Turks from the East whom they call Khazars" under their chief, Ziebel, passed the Caspian Gates (Darband) and joined Heraclius at the siege of Tiflis. In view of what is known of a dual kingship among the Khazars (see below), it would be natural to assume that Ziebel, described by Theophanes as "second in rank to the khāqān," was the subordinate Khazar king or beg. However, there are grounds for thinking that Ziebel stands for yabgu, a Turkish title – in the parallel Armenian account (Moses of Kalankatuk, trans. Dowsett, 87) he is called Jebu Khāqān – and that he is T'ung-ye-hu, Ye-hu Khagan of the Chinese sources, i.e., T'ung Yabgu, Yabgu Khāqān, the paramount ruler of the West Turks, who is represented as second in rank to "the King of the North, the lord of the whole world," i.e., the supreme khāqān of the Turks. In the narratives of Theophanes and Moses of Kalankatuk respectively, the Khazars are also called Turks and Huns. From 681 C.E., we hear much in the latter author of the Huns of Varach ʿ an (Warathān), north of Darband, who evidently formed part of a Khazar confederation or empire. Their prince Alp Ilutver was often in attendance on the Khazar khāqān and was converted to Christianity by an Albanian bishop. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...m/khazars.html
It has been said that Mugan Khan had a very wide face and he looked weird with eyes very far apart from one another that were red in colour. This is because the Asna family clan in the Turkic Kingdom was carried classic North Asian features, mixed in with some Altaic genes and genes from the Caucasus. Persian scholar Hudud Ul Alam records that the people of the Hazar Kingdom were a branch of the Asna and hence might've carried Haplogroup Q1b.
According to records, some of the people from the Asna family clan converted their surname into the Chinese character 史 (Shi) during the Tang Dynasty and they stayed in China.
根据“木杆可汗……状貌奇异，面广尺余，其色赤甚，眼若琉璃”，因此阿史那氏是典型的 北亚人种，通过 阿尔泰其他民族混有高加索人的基因。波斯地理学著作Hudud Ul Alam记载哈扎尔汗国的汗族为Asna一系，读音上非常近似突厥汗国的阿史那氏，那么阿史那部族的Y染色体或许是Q1b。据《通志·氏族略》所载，唐代 有突厥族阿史那氏，改姓史。
http://www.baike.com/…/%E9%98%BF%E5%8F%B2%E9%82%A3&prd=butt…
http://www.nature.com/…/jo…/v513/n7518/full/nature13673.html
Most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunter-gatherer related ancestry.
Except ancient DNA Q1b(1)-M378 founded in Barkol cemetery dated to the Early Han Dynasty (2nd-1st century BC), there is another paleo DNA Q1b in Xinjiang 1800 years old.
"In addition, its sub-haplogroups Q1a and Q1b have been found in 1,800-year-old samples from the Xinjiang province of China (Li, 2012), a critical region of population admixture between western and eastern Eurasia".
Ref:
Ancient DNA evidence reveals that the Y chromosome haplogroup Q1a1 admixed into the Han Chinese 3,000 years ago , Yong-Bin Zhao, Ye Zhang, Hong-Jie Li, Ying-Qiu Cui, Hong Zhu andHui Zhou
http://www.eastbound88.com/archive/i...p/t-31814.html
Despite the fact that Mongolia is still one of the most isolated and one of the most sparsely populated countries in world, Y-DNA Q1b (haplogroup very rare in human populations for itself) has been detected by researchers from Department of Legal Medicine and Bioethics, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Japan in all five regional populations (Ulaangom, Dalandzadgad, Ulaanbaatar,Undurkhaan,Choibalsan) in Mongolia and even in Japanese population (日本人 Nihonjin, Nipponjin).
Therefore this finding is of etreme importance due to the reason that near Mongolian southern border is location of cemetery Heigouliang, Xinjiang (Black Gouliang cemetery), east of Barkol basin, near the city of Hami. By typing results of DNA samples during the excavation of one of the tombs it was determined that of the 12 men there were: Q1a - 6, Q1b (M378) - 4, Q-2 (unable to determine subclade). Hosts of the tombs were representatives of Y-haplogroup Q1b-M378 exclusively (while Y-DNA Q1a represents sacrificial victims). They date from the time of early (Western) Han (2-1 century BC). In the very same location today Turkic Uygurs shows Q1b haplotypes very close if not the same as Ashkenazi Jewish Q1b(1a).
Source of attached table: http://www.fsigeneticssup.com/…/S1875-1768%2813%2…/fulltext…
PASHTUN "KHAN" IS A KHAZAR LEGACY: There are a lot of unrecorded but extremely significant population movements of the Early and Proto-Turks in the Central Asian region, beginning in about 400 AD -- that have had a lasting impact on history and ethnicities....
One such occurrence is the fact that the early Turks provided the third and last (finishing) stage of Pashtun (Afghan) ethnogenesis...and among them, the last and most profound influence of these was from the Khazars. This report contains more:
http://www.nature.com/.../v20/n10/full/ejhg201259a.html
Turkic influence on the formation of the Pashtun ethnicity is an extremely long process of several stages over 500 years. It can be traced from AD 450, with the arrival of the White Huns in Bactria. Thereafter, the Kabul Shahi Turkic Hindu rule began, from about AD 500 to 1000.
But the most profound stage -- which made the Afghan race into how we know it today -- occurred somewhere between 740 and 980 AD....like most, it is unrecorded, but it paved the way for turning Pashtuns into the way we have been seeing them, for the last 1000 years.
ASHINA TRIBE WAS XIONGNU/HUNNU/HUNS
"The ancestors of the ancient Turks, under a name Ashina, were a
separate branch of the House of Hunnu (Huns)."
-- the Zhou (551–583) Dynastic history
JEWISH SOURCES ABOUT HUN ORIGIN OF KHAZARS JEWISH VIRTUAL LIBRARY:
The Origin of the Khazars
The Khazars, of Turkic stock, originally nomadic, reached the Volga-Caucasus region from farther east at some time not easily determinable. They may have belonged to the empire of the Huns (fifth century C.E.) as the Akatzirs, mentioned by Priscus. This name is said to be equivalent to Aq-Khazar, i.e., White Khazars, as opposed to the Qara-Khazar or Black Khazars mentioned by al-Iṣṭakhrī (see below). The Khazars probably belonged to the West Turkish Empire (from 552 C.E.), and they may have marched with Sinjibū (Istämi), the first khāqān of the West Turks, against the Sassanid (Persian) fortress of Ṣul or Darband In the time of Procopius (sixth century) the region immediately north of the Caucasus was held by the Sabirs, who are referred to by Jordanes as one of the two great branches of the Huns (Getica, ed. Mommsen, 63). Masʿūdī (tenth century C.E.) says that the Khazars are called in Turkish, Sabīr (Tanbīh, ed. Cairo, 1938, 72).
In 627 (Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. De Boor, 1 (1883), 315) "the Turks from the East whom they call Khazars" under their chief, Ziebel, passed the Caspian Gates (Darband) and joined Heraclius at the siege of Tiflis. In view of what is known of a dual kingship among the Khazars (see below), it would be natural to assume that Ziebel, described by Theophanes as "second in rank to the khāqān," was the subordinate Khazar king or beg. However, there are grounds for thinking that Ziebel stands for yabgu, a Turkish title – in the parallel Armenian account (Moses of Kalankatuk, trans. Dowsett, 87) he is called Jebu Khāqān – and that he is T'ung-ye-hu, Ye-hu Khagan of the Chinese sources, i.e., T'ung Yabgu, Yabgu Khāqān, the paramount ruler of the West Turks, who is represented as second in rank to "the King of the North, the lord of the whole world," i.e., the supreme khāqān of the Turks. In the narratives of Theophanes and Moses of Kalankatuk respectively, the Khazars are also called Turks and Huns. From 681 C.E., we hear much in the latter author of the Huns of Varach ʿ an (Warathān), north of Darband, who evidently formed part of a Khazar confederation or empire. Their prince Alp Ilutver was often in attendance on the Khazar khāqān and was converted to Christianity by an Albanian bishop. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...m/khazars.html
- HUNS IN MESOPOTAMIA, ANATOLIA AND LEVANT IN 395/396-398 AC
I think that Encyclopedia Iranica provides interesting insight when it comes to the description of the "European Huns" activity in Near East:
.....
A direct confrontation between the Huns and the Persian empire first occurred twenty years after the beginning of the great migration. In the summer of 395, hordes of Huns crossed the Don near its estuary, turned southeast, and made their way through the Caucasus into Persia and the Roman provinces. While the plundering of the Roman areas is variously attested (for sources, see Maenchen-Helfen, pp. 38-42), only Priscus (frag. 11) and the Liber Calipharum (Chronicon miscellaneum 3.4; tr., pp. 106-7) report the invasion of the Persian empire. Under the leadership of Basikh and Koursikh, a detachment of Huns rode down the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris to Ctesiphon. Upon the news that a Persian army was marching towards them, the Huns turned back; but they were eventually caught. The Persians then managed to kill some of the Huns, to take almost their entire booty from them, and allegedly to free 18,000 prisoners. The rest of the Huns troops made their way back into the steppe over the Darband pass. This inroad into Persia was remembered by the Romans and the Huns more than fifty years later: when Priscus was staying at Attila’s court in 449 C.E., he heard from the Western Roman envoy Romulus that the king was planning a campaign against Persia, which was to be carried out on the route previously taken by Basikh and Koursikh (Priscus, frag. 11). Attila’s death in 453 C.E. saved the Sasanians from an armed encounter with the Huns while they were at the height of their military power.
.....
A tribe which soon after 500 C.E. invaded northern Iran and was simply called “Huns” (Ounnoi) by Procopius (Bella 1.8) might be identified with the Sabires themselves, who from then on participated in the Persian-Byzantine wars for several decades, siding alternately with the Persians and the Eastern Romans. In the conflicts of the mid-6th century, both warring parties were supported by Sabire detachments. After having fought on the Persian side in 573 C.E., the Sabires subjected themselves a year later to the Eastern Roman emperor and were settled in the Byzantine part of Armenia (Moravcsik, I, p. 68).
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/huns
The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia expands previous information with the fact that Hun Army in 395-396 (THE GREAT HUN RAID) under leadership of BASIKH and KOURSIKH (arkhontes-high ranking military commanders) also Armenia, Syria, Palestine (!) and Northern Mesopotamia.
http://librarum.org/book/38133/192HUNS – Encyclopaedia Iranicacollective term for horsemen of various origins leading a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle.iranicaonline.org|By electricpulp.com
Timeline: http://s155239215.onlinehome.us/turkic/70_Dateline/KhazardatelineRu.htm
Through 1200 years of severe endogamy (intermarriages) of ancient Hebrew offspring and sacred (K)Hazar-Ashina Royals, two types of divine seeds has met and amalgamated to create very powerful race, the one (Ashkenazi) that is mayor part of 0.2% of worlds population (statistic number of Jews today living in world).
In text "Who was St.Germain" we find; "Among the legends of his origins is that he was a "wandering Jew" or an exiled Transylvanian Prince. His "dragon book" implies that his lineage is secretly identified with the Dragon.
All those threads weave together once we realize that Royal Ashina Khazars, a dynasty of converted Jews ruled Khazaria (ancient Scythia) from about 650 to 1016. Two royal clans merged: in Hebrew Ha-Shechina, and Turkic Ashina.
They were preceded by proto-Scythian kings who initiated a custodial tradition of seership and wisdom that migrated with them from Transylvania and Central Asia throughout Europe. Thus, the Scythian dynasties permeated European royalty as individual Dragon lineages fused."
http://trianglebook.iwarp.com/
In term of ancient shamanic kingship right,customs and tradition Jews inherited within their blood the following;
"Of the greatest importance was the biological association of the charismatic ruling clan with the tribal totem. The ruling clan's charisma was heavenly ordained and as such would override election.
The belief in the celestial origin of authority linked up with an ideal of world domination that acquired a prominant and historical form among the sixth-century Turks but existed before as part of shamanic creed.
The related idea that domination was an exclusive right of Turks was later passed on to the Uyghurs and Mongols, and it seemed to received confirmation by Islam. Much of this cultural and political apparatus the Turks inherited from their predecessors in Mongolia rather than from China. In fact, Chinese cult may have Altaic origins, rather than reverse.
But the cult of heavenly ordained rule was not peculiar to Altaic world; even less were the principle of legitimation by descent and of charisma residing in blood royal which allowed individual members of the clan to be elevated to the Qaghanate.
-extracted from "Ritual, State, and History in South Asia": Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman (Memoirs of the Kern Institute, No 5) , Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN-13: 978-9004094673, pg.757.,758.
"Accounts of the Gokturk and Khazar khaganates suggest that the Ashina clan was accorded SACRED, perhaps QUASI-DIVINE STATUS in the shamanic religion practiced by the steppe nomads of the first millennium CE /The pagan Turks believed that their Ashina Qaghans ruled by virtue of heavenly mandated charisma (QUT).
Since their blood could not be shed, dethroned Qaghans were strangled with a silk cord. The investiture ceremonies of the Ashina Turks and Khazar Qaghans included ritual near-strangulation.
As THIS CHARISMA (QUT) RESIDED IN THE ENTIRE ROYAL CLAN, the latter exercised a collective sovereignty over their realms resulting in frequent succession struggles."
http://au.encarta.msn.com
Can we find in above quotations (and regnal charisma inherited and hardwired) explanation (at least partial) for the following information (from Wikipedia)?;
Psychometrics research has found that Ashkenazi Jews have the highest mean score of any ethnic group on standardized tests of general intelligence, at roughly one half to one standard deviation higher than the mean of the general white population.[5] These studies also indicate that this advantage is primarily in verbal and mathematical performance; spatial performance is about 90, if whites are taken as the mean. Estimates vary from 107 to 117. [6][7][8][9]
Ashkenazi Jews have made disproportionately large contributions to presumably intellectual pursuits. Though they are about a quarter of a percent of the world's population, they comprise 28 percent of Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics, and have accounted for more than half of world chess champions.[10] In the United States, Ashkenazi Jews represent less than 2 percent of the population, but have won 40 percent of the Nobel Prizes in science awarded to U.S. citizens, and 25 percent of all Turing Awards. A significant decline in the number of Nobel Prizes awarded to Europeans and a corresponding increase in the number of prizes awarded to U.S. citizens occurred at the same time as Nazi persecutions of Jews drove them from Europe during the 1930s and the Holocaust reduced their number in Europe during the 1940s.
Whether these differences may be attributed entirely to environmental factors or partially to genetic factors is not quite settled, reflecting the larger academic debate on group differences in intelligence.
*****************************************************************
Raymond Scheindlin, in The Chronicles of the Jewish People (1996) tells us that:
"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."
Robert C Quillan, in his article "The Jewish Kings of Russia" in the Jewish magazine Shabbat Shalom, elaborated upon the Khazar Gentile-Jews:
"King Menachem, King Benjamin, King Joseph, King Obadiah, King Isaac, King Hanukkah, King Zebulun, King Moses, King Nessi. Bible students won't find these names in the Scriptures; instead, these [non-genetic] Jewish kings ruled what is now part of the southern Soviet Union. Long before the modern [twentieth century] State of Israel, a Jewish kingdom located between the Caspian and Black seas arose amid a world overtly hostile to the Jews. This new Israel was called Khazaria. The King converted to Judaism. His Khazar nobles followed, as did much of the population. [King] Bulan and 4,000 Khazars were soon circumcised.
Thus began a line of Gentile-Jewish [non-Israelite] kings that ruled into the tenth century. Though not of Semitic origin, Joseph [one of the Khazar kings] regarded his people as a part of Israel, and considered himself a Jew by faith rather than by genetics.
He was a spiritual son of Abraham rather than a biological one. He apparently considered Semitic and non-Semitic Jews ... to be brothers in a common faith and a common Messiah … the Jews of Poland and eastern Europe are of largely Khazar-Jewish, rather than Semitic-Jewish origin."
**************************
Some can say that this is some sort of contribution to the Jewish Supremacy theory, but it is not the IRDC motivation, which has no religious motivation. Only hard facts and new perspective.
In text "Who was St.Germain" we find; "Among the legends of his origins is that he was a "wandering Jew" or an exiled Transylvanian Prince. His "dragon book" implies that his lineage is secretly identified with the Dragon.
All those threads weave together once we realize that Royal Ashina Khazars, a dynasty of converted Jews ruled Khazaria (ancient Scythia) from about 650 to 1016. Two royal clans merged: in Hebrew Ha-Shechina, and Turkic Ashina.
They were preceded by proto-Scythian kings who initiated a custodial tradition of seership and wisdom that migrated with them from Transylvania and Central Asia throughout Europe. Thus, the Scythian dynasties permeated European royalty as individual Dragon lineages fused."
http://trianglebook.iwarp.com/
In term of ancient shamanic kingship right,customs and tradition Jews inherited within their blood the following;
"Of the greatest importance was the biological association of the charismatic ruling clan with the tribal totem. The ruling clan's charisma was heavenly ordained and as such would override election.
The belief in the celestial origin of authority linked up with an ideal of world domination that acquired a prominant and historical form among the sixth-century Turks but existed before as part of shamanic creed.
The related idea that domination was an exclusive right of Turks was later passed on to the Uyghurs and Mongols, and it seemed to received confirmation by Islam. Much of this cultural and political apparatus the Turks inherited from their predecessors in Mongolia rather than from China. In fact, Chinese cult may have Altaic origins, rather than reverse.
But the cult of heavenly ordained rule was not peculiar to Altaic world; even less were the principle of legitimation by descent and of charisma residing in blood royal which allowed individual members of the clan to be elevated to the Qaghanate.
-extracted from "Ritual, State, and History in South Asia": Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman (Memoirs of the Kern Institute, No 5) , Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN-13: 978-9004094673, pg.757.,758.
"Accounts of the Gokturk and Khazar khaganates suggest that the Ashina clan was accorded SACRED, perhaps QUASI-DIVINE STATUS in the shamanic religion practiced by the steppe nomads of the first millennium CE /The pagan Turks believed that their Ashina Qaghans ruled by virtue of heavenly mandated charisma (QUT).
Since their blood could not be shed, dethroned Qaghans were strangled with a silk cord. The investiture ceremonies of the Ashina Turks and Khazar Qaghans included ritual near-strangulation.
As THIS CHARISMA (QUT) RESIDED IN THE ENTIRE ROYAL CLAN, the latter exercised a collective sovereignty over their realms resulting in frequent succession struggles."
http://au.encarta.msn.com
Can we find in above quotations (and regnal charisma inherited and hardwired) explanation (at least partial) for the following information (from Wikipedia)?;
Psychometrics research has found that Ashkenazi Jews have the highest mean score of any ethnic group on standardized tests of general intelligence, at roughly one half to one standard deviation higher than the mean of the general white population.[5] These studies also indicate that this advantage is primarily in verbal and mathematical performance; spatial performance is about 90, if whites are taken as the mean. Estimates vary from 107 to 117. [6][7][8][9]
Ashkenazi Jews have made disproportionately large contributions to presumably intellectual pursuits. Though they are about a quarter of a percent of the world's population, they comprise 28 percent of Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics, and have accounted for more than half of world chess champions.[10] In the United States, Ashkenazi Jews represent less than 2 percent of the population, but have won 40 percent of the Nobel Prizes in science awarded to U.S. citizens, and 25 percent of all Turing Awards. A significant decline in the number of Nobel Prizes awarded to Europeans and a corresponding increase in the number of prizes awarded to U.S. citizens occurred at the same time as Nazi persecutions of Jews drove them from Europe during the 1930s and the Holocaust reduced their number in Europe during the 1940s.
Whether these differences may be attributed entirely to environmental factors or partially to genetic factors is not quite settled, reflecting the larger academic debate on group differences in intelligence.
*****************************************************************
Raymond Scheindlin, in The Chronicles of the Jewish People (1996) tells us that:
"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."
Robert C Quillan, in his article "The Jewish Kings of Russia" in the Jewish magazine Shabbat Shalom, elaborated upon the Khazar Gentile-Jews:
"King Menachem, King Benjamin, King Joseph, King Obadiah, King Isaac, King Hanukkah, King Zebulun, King Moses, King Nessi. Bible students won't find these names in the Scriptures; instead, these [non-genetic] Jewish kings ruled what is now part of the southern Soviet Union. Long before the modern [twentieth century] State of Israel, a Jewish kingdom located between the Caspian and Black seas arose amid a world overtly hostile to the Jews. This new Israel was called Khazaria. The King converted to Judaism. His Khazar nobles followed, as did much of the population. [King] Bulan and 4,000 Khazars were soon circumcised.
Thus began a line of Gentile-Jewish [non-Israelite] kings that ruled into the tenth century. Though not of Semitic origin, Joseph [one of the Khazar kings] regarded his people as a part of Israel, and considered himself a Jew by faith rather than by genetics.
He was a spiritual son of Abraham rather than a biological one. He apparently considered Semitic and non-Semitic Jews ... to be brothers in a common faith and a common Messiah … the Jews of Poland and eastern Europe are of largely Khazar-Jewish, rather than Semitic-Jewish origin."
**************************
Some can say that this is some sort of contribution to the Jewish Supremacy theory, but it is not the IRDC motivation, which has no religious motivation. Only hard facts and new perspective.
http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts-cohen-levite.html
There is a race of people known as the "akatziri", or "agatziri" that flourished in the 5th century BC in the area known as Scythia (Southern Russia). They were decribed as having long noses, blue or green wide set eyes set in narrow faces, and tall bodies. They are decscribed as having stained their skin with a blue pigment, called woad( Isatis tinctoria, a plant which is indigenous to southeastern Europe). Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, descibes the Agathyrsi among the steppe tribes and alludes to their "blue hair."
Ammianus Marcellinus ( circa 380) in Res Gestae Ch. 22, 8 writes that beyond the palus Maeotis (Black Sea)live the Agathyrsi, among whom there is an abundance of adamantine stones. Further, he writes that the Agathyrsi tattoo their bodies and dye their hair blue, the common people with a few small, but the nobles with many large marks.
Herodotus wrote that the Agathyrsians or Scythians were the
"brothers and sons of Hercules and a serpent woman".
Like the Picts, the Akatziri "tattooed their bodies, degrees of rank being indicated by the manner in which this was done, and colored their hair dark blue." This is interesting for finding the reason behind the blue color of the Cohens, for the Akatziri are thought to be the Khazars
These people eventually migrated to Alscace France, Ireland, Switzerland and Normandy
There is a strong connection between Georgians, Iberians, Basques.
The language and the high percentage of rhesus negatives confirms it.
Here is more on the Khazars:
Introduction: 7
Opinions are divided as to who the Khazars were. The Khazars emerged from the Scythians and Agathyrsi. The Scythians had first appeared on the fringes of the Assyrian Empire in Armenia-Azerbaijan in areas to which Israelites had been exiled. The Agathyrsi were also known as Akatziri and definitely gave rise to a leading element amongst the Khazars. The Khazars first appeared as allies of Byzantium [Eastern Romans] against the Persians. In the beginning the Khazars controlled areas north and south of the Caucasus. They were allied with the Byzantines against the Arabs. The Arabs drove them northwards.
Chapter 1. Beginnings 20
One of the major centers of the Khazars was at the mouth of the Volga. This had formerly been a center of the Orenburg Culture that reflected Assyrian and Persian origins and used the Aramaic language. Orenburg Culture foreshadowed the Goths who preceded the Khazars. The Khazars were also influenced by the Scythians who had been in the Don River region and from whom they in part derived. The Khazars may be divided into four main groupings: 1. Those that originated South of the Caucasus such as from the Armenian-Azerbaijan area. 2. North of the Caucasus and associated with the Huns. 3. By the Don River and linked to the Agathyrsi and Scythians. 4. By the Volga River and extending to Chorasmia to the east.
Chapter 2. Armenia and Azerbaijan 43
The areas of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, etc, all had traditions that the Lost Ten Tribes had settled within their boundaries. The Khazars ruled over these regions before the Muslim Era. Armenia was linked with a northern entity of Edom, Seir, and the Land of Uz. These identifications are important for the understanding of Jewish traditions that trace part of Manasseh and Simeon to them. Exiles from the Land of Naphtali were also recalled from that region. Persians identified the Khazars as Scythians. Iyrcae are also known as White Ugrians, Turcae, and Khazars. They eventually moved to Scandinavia.
Chapter 3. The Tribes of Simeon and Manasseh in the Land of Khazaria 59
The Israelite Tribe of Simeon according to the Bible in the light of Oral Tradition had gone to the Land of Seir and settled there. They were lead by Princes from the Tribe of Manasseh. The intention is to the northern polity of Edom in the area of Armenia. Jewish and Khazar traditions along with evidence from the Geography of Ptolemy confirms the presence of elements from Manasseh and Simeon amongst the Khazars.
Chapter 4. The Khazars Convert to Judaism 77
Jews were persecuted by Christians and Muslims and fled to Khazaria. The Khazars converted to Judaism in stages. Date of the conversion is uncertain but around 730 CE seems to be generally accepted. The Bible protects the rights of converts. ‘Moses is the messenger of God’ inscribed on Khazar coin found in Sweden. Rabbinical Judaism was accepted. Conversion of the Khazars was preceded by Judaizing tendencies in the general region: In Thrace amongst the Getae; in Adiabene amongst the Scythian-Sacae; in Tanais on the Don River amongst the Royal Scythians; in Chorasmia.
Chapter 5. Chorasmia-Afghanistan 96
Jews and Israelites were reported of in the east. One section of the Khazars had originated in Hara. The Afghans and others claim to be descended from the Ten Tribes. On the whole these claims are incorrect. Israelites and Jews may have been in the said areas but had left. Present-day Afghans are not on the whole of Israelite origin.
Chapter 6. Chorasmia-Kwarezm 115
Choresmia (Kwarezm, Hiva, Havila) is to the east of the northern end of the Caspian Sea. It extended to the south and encompassed Hara. The Naphtalites were in this region as were the Kwalisses also known as Khabars who later moved to Hungary. Many Jews had settled here and there were also local Judaizing movements amongst the natives.
Chapter 7. Chorasmia Before the Khazars 123
In the past Chorasmia had been the center of a great civilization. The Scythian Ansi (Arsacids) rulers of the Parthians came from Chorasmia; links to the Goths and Scythians and to the Sicambri of Western Europe. Scythian culture derived from the Middle East. Scythian enamel techniques from Ancient Israel and Phoenicia were passed onto the British Celts and to the Anglo-Saxons.
Chapter 8. Rabbi Iben Shaprut of Spain and the Khazars 130
Moslem Spain (“al-Andalus”) became a bastion for the Ummayads who were rivals of the Abbasids in the east. Hasdai Ibn Shaprut in Spain sought to communicate with the Khazars. We still have part of this correspondence. The letters are analyzed. The reply of King Joseph of Khazaria is shown to have originally referred to their Israelite origins.
Chapter 9. A Record from Khazaria 137
The Schechter Text is a letter from a subject of Khazaria. It relates their tradition of being descended from the Tribe of Simeon and how their conversion came about.
Chapter 10. Hsiung-nu Huns and Company 144
Khazars in the east are identified with the Kosa of Chinese records. The Kosa confederated with Hsiung-Nu allegedly forerunners of the Huns and Turks. Nephtalites move to Norway. Part of the Huns, Turks, and Alans were in the west long before the Hun Invasions. Khazars also originated in the west, i.e. by the Don River-Caucasus area. Gog and Magog may have encompassed Gok Turks and Goguryeo Empire of Korea. Western Gok Turks honored by being named Onogur meaning the “Ten Tribes”. Dingling of Dan and Hesan (Hushim son of Dan) associated with Kosa-Khazars in the east. Manas (Manasseh) made a legendary hero in the area. The name of Machir of Manasseh also appropriated by the “Magyars” who were subjects of the Khazars and rebelled. The Khazars were influenced by Turkic culture. The Khazars helped Jewish refugees.
Chapter 11. The Red Jews 167
Lost Ten Tribes equated with the “Red Jews” and with “Gog and Magog”. Red hair considered a characteristic of Jews and of the “Red Jews”. German tradition considered Ten Tribes a potential menace but the English viewed them favorably. “Red Jews” identified with the Khazars. Many Ancient Israelites had had red hair as do many Jews today as well as a significant proportion of Scots and Irish and many others in the west.
Chapter 12. Tribes Associated with the Khazars 176
The Sabirs were part of the Khazars. They were also known as “Manse” i.e. Manasseh. Sabirs conquered the Akatziri (Agathyrsi) who re-emerged as the Khazars in partnership with the Sabirs. Other groups may have included the Bashkirs, Hephtalites-Naphtalites, Ugrian-Turcae. Some Bolgars (known as Tartars) associated with Khazars which led to a confusion between the two. Basils may have been remnants of the Royal Scythians. The Alans were prominent in the Khazar federation as well as making a name for themselves in Western Europe including Scotland.
Chapter 13. The Khazars and Europe 189
The Khazars pursued the Chabars and Magyars to Hungary. Khazars in Hungary, Austria, and Poland. Magyars also known as Maceri after Machir of Manasseh. They took the name in honor of their Khazar overlords who came from Manasseh. Szekely Hungarians in Rumania had a script derived from a Phoenician (Ancient Hebrew) prototype that they received from the Khazars.
Chapter 14. Ascribing Ancestries to the Khazars: Non-Israelite 194
Some Jewish sources said the Khazars descend from Gomer. The Karaite Firkovitch had an agenda to prove they were of non-Israelite Gentile origin. The Book of Jasher and Josippon are unreliable inventions. Claimed descent from Gomer or the Sons of Gomer does not contradict an Israelite heritage as explained in the Book of Hosea chapters one and two. Different Gentile sources traced the Khazars to Japhet, Tirash, Thubal, Gog and Magog, or Keturah and Abraham. The Khazars were also associated with Huns and Goths and with Moabites. Modern scholars identify Khazars with Scythians or Slavs or Turkic peoples. The Tats (Mountain Jews) and Scottish connections.
Chapter 15. Ascribing Ancestries to the Khazars: Israelite 205
Eldad HaDani, himself a Khazar, said they came from Simeon and Manasseh. The Schecter Text, also by a Khazar, mentions an origin from Simeon. The Midrash Ten Exiles says they came from Simeon; so does the Midrash Akton de Mar Yaakov. So too, the medieval Chronicles of Jerahmeel mention Khazar origins from Judah and Simeon; from Issachar, Ephraim, Manasseh and Zebulon. The Cochin Scroll gives the Khazar origin as from Simeon and Manasseh. Historical details from the Cochin Scroll tie in with the Geography of Ptolemy that lists tribes with names of Israelite clans from Simeon and Manasseh in areas where the Scroll says they should be. Arab sources (Ibn Fadlan, Maquadasisi, Ibn Hawkal, Masudi) identify the Khazars as Jews. The Russian Chronicle and Russian folklore also identify the Khazars as Jews. The Khazars were identified in Germany with the Red Jews meaning the Lost Ten Tribes. The Khazars were located in areas where the Lost Ten Tribes had been exiled to. The Ruling House of the Khazars in Arabic was named the House of Jesse i.e. of David son of Jesse. It was the same dynasty that ruled over the Parthians and Goths.
Chapter 16. The Khazars in Scandinavia 219
Early Danes fought against Khazars. Archaeological finds of Khazars in Sweden. Anglo-Saxons and company of similar origin to the Khazars. Runic Futhark Script transmitted by the Khazars. The Azerbaijan connection with Scandinavia. Asgard was linked with the Khazars.
Chapter 17. Scandinavia, Scythia, and the Huns 229
Scandinavia invaded ca. 500 CE. Iyrcae identified with both Scandinavians and Khazars. Nephtalites and “Little Goths”. Mass migrations to Norway and Denmark. Links to the Lost Ten Tribes. The Hun occupation of Scandinavia proven through archaeological finds and place-names. Khazars associated with Huns. The Heruli return to Sweden.
Chapter 18. The As-Aesir and the Huns 246
Angles, Saxons, and Frisians from Lost Ten Tribes and from Khazar areas. The link to Odin and the Aseir who came from Scythia to Scandinavia. Khazar link to rulers of Scandinavia. Agathyrsi, Dacians, and Denmark. Scandinavian links to Scythia and Mongolia.
Chapter 19. Alans, and As 257
Alans, As, and Yasses were all one. Named Alban which was also a name for Britain. Alans equated with the Khazars. Alans in Britain.
Chapter 20. The Khazar Peoples 261
One description of Khazars says they were of two types: One black-haired and white skinned; the other very dark. Another account says they were red-haired, large bodied, and blue-eyed. “White Ugrian” Khazars were red-haired, pale-skinned, and green-eyed. “Cusa” (meaning Khazar) is a term still applied to red-haired men by Tartars. Alans were blond. Khazars looked like Slavs. Mongoloid-eyes suggested. Mainly of European type. Had two rulers. High standards of behavior and fairness. Not all peoples referred to as Khazars really were Khazars. Name Khazars derived from two sources; “Jeezer” (“Ay-ga-zar”) and “Caesar”. Place-names of Khazars named after Samaria in Israel.
Chapter 21. Khazars, Varangians, and the End 272
Kinfolk of Khazars were the first to build a settlement (called Sambat) on the site of Kiev. Khazaria attacked and destroyed by enemies. Judaizing tendencies amongst descendants of Khazars. Khazar remnants amongst European Jewry. Place-names; Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, Hungary, Crimea, Kurdistan. General Disappearance. Their only permanent characteristic was their Judaism.
Chapter 22. The Picts of Scotland and Khazaria 281
The Agathyrsi were Khazars. A portion of the Agathyrsi moved to Scotland and merged with the Picts who were of diverse origins. Different types of Picts. Tradition said that the Agathyrsi had moved from Scythia to Scandinavia and from there to Ireland and then to Scotland. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recalls the Picts origin from Scythia. Similar customs between Agathyrsi and Picts. Agathyrsi recalled alongside Gothic groups in German record. Scottish physical types consistent with a sojourn in Scythia. Archaeological evidence links Picts to Khazar area of Scythia. Scots and Picts considered as descended from the Son of Isaac. Picts linked with Saxons. Pict Brochs traced to Israelite “watch-towers”. Aed of the Picts and of British Mythology identified with “Ad” of Arab Mythology who represented the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel and who according to these same sources went to the Isles in the West.
Conclusion 301
How “The Khazars. Tribe 13″ has proven that the Khazars were of Israelite Descent and the implications. Why both the Khazars and the USA may be considered Tribe 13. The USA as Manasseh and parallels with Khazaria.
Source: http://www.britam.org/KhazarChapters.html
There is a race of people known as the "akatziri", or "agatziri" that flourished in the 5th century BC in the area known as Scythia (Southern Russia). They were decribed as having long noses, blue or green wide set eyes set in narrow faces, and tall bodies. They are decscribed as having stained their skin with a blue pigment, called woad( Isatis tinctoria, a plant which is indigenous to southeastern Europe). Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, descibes the Agathyrsi among the steppe tribes and alludes to their "blue hair."
Ammianus Marcellinus ( circa 380) in Res Gestae Ch. 22, 8 writes that beyond the palus Maeotis (Black Sea)live the Agathyrsi, among whom there is an abundance of adamantine stones. Further, he writes that the Agathyrsi tattoo their bodies and dye their hair blue, the common people with a few small, but the nobles with many large marks.
Herodotus wrote that the Agathyrsians or Scythians were the
"brothers and sons of Hercules and a serpent woman".
Like the Picts, the Akatziri "tattooed their bodies, degrees of rank being indicated by the manner in which this was done, and colored their hair dark blue." This is interesting for finding the reason behind the blue color of the Cohens, for the Akatziri are thought to be the Khazars
These people eventually migrated to Alscace France, Ireland, Switzerland and Normandy
There is a strong connection between Georgians, Iberians, Basques.
The language and the high percentage of rhesus negatives confirms it.
Here is more on the Khazars:
Introduction: 7
Opinions are divided as to who the Khazars were. The Khazars emerged from the Scythians and Agathyrsi. The Scythians had first appeared on the fringes of the Assyrian Empire in Armenia-Azerbaijan in areas to which Israelites had been exiled. The Agathyrsi were also known as Akatziri and definitely gave rise to a leading element amongst the Khazars. The Khazars first appeared as allies of Byzantium [Eastern Romans] against the Persians. In the beginning the Khazars controlled areas north and south of the Caucasus. They were allied with the Byzantines against the Arabs. The Arabs drove them northwards.
Chapter 1. Beginnings 20
One of the major centers of the Khazars was at the mouth of the Volga. This had formerly been a center of the Orenburg Culture that reflected Assyrian and Persian origins and used the Aramaic language. Orenburg Culture foreshadowed the Goths who preceded the Khazars. The Khazars were also influenced by the Scythians who had been in the Don River region and from whom they in part derived. The Khazars may be divided into four main groupings: 1. Those that originated South of the Caucasus such as from the Armenian-Azerbaijan area. 2. North of the Caucasus and associated with the Huns. 3. By the Don River and linked to the Agathyrsi and Scythians. 4. By the Volga River and extending to Chorasmia to the east.
Chapter 2. Armenia and Azerbaijan 43
The areas of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, etc, all had traditions that the Lost Ten Tribes had settled within their boundaries. The Khazars ruled over these regions before the Muslim Era. Armenia was linked with a northern entity of Edom, Seir, and the Land of Uz. These identifications are important for the understanding of Jewish traditions that trace part of Manasseh and Simeon to them. Exiles from the Land of Naphtali were also recalled from that region. Persians identified the Khazars as Scythians. Iyrcae are also known as White Ugrians, Turcae, and Khazars. They eventually moved to Scandinavia.
Chapter 3. The Tribes of Simeon and Manasseh in the Land of Khazaria 59
The Israelite Tribe of Simeon according to the Bible in the light of Oral Tradition had gone to the Land of Seir and settled there. They were lead by Princes from the Tribe of Manasseh. The intention is to the northern polity of Edom in the area of Armenia. Jewish and Khazar traditions along with evidence from the Geography of Ptolemy confirms the presence of elements from Manasseh and Simeon amongst the Khazars.
Chapter 4. The Khazars Convert to Judaism 77
Jews were persecuted by Christians and Muslims and fled to Khazaria. The Khazars converted to Judaism in stages. Date of the conversion is uncertain but around 730 CE seems to be generally accepted. The Bible protects the rights of converts. ‘Moses is the messenger of God’ inscribed on Khazar coin found in Sweden. Rabbinical Judaism was accepted. Conversion of the Khazars was preceded by Judaizing tendencies in the general region: In Thrace amongst the Getae; in Adiabene amongst the Scythian-Sacae; in Tanais on the Don River amongst the Royal Scythians; in Chorasmia.
Chapter 5. Chorasmia-Afghanistan 96
Jews and Israelites were reported of in the east. One section of the Khazars had originated in Hara. The Afghans and others claim to be descended from the Ten Tribes. On the whole these claims are incorrect. Israelites and Jews may have been in the said areas but had left. Present-day Afghans are not on the whole of Israelite origin.
Chapter 6. Chorasmia-Kwarezm 115
Choresmia (Kwarezm, Hiva, Havila) is to the east of the northern end of the Caspian Sea. It extended to the south and encompassed Hara. The Naphtalites were in this region as were the Kwalisses also known as Khabars who later moved to Hungary. Many Jews had settled here and there were also local Judaizing movements amongst the natives.
Chapter 7. Chorasmia Before the Khazars 123
In the past Chorasmia had been the center of a great civilization. The Scythian Ansi (Arsacids) rulers of the Parthians came from Chorasmia; links to the Goths and Scythians and to the Sicambri of Western Europe. Scythian culture derived from the Middle East. Scythian enamel techniques from Ancient Israel and Phoenicia were passed onto the British Celts and to the Anglo-Saxons.
Chapter 8. Rabbi Iben Shaprut of Spain and the Khazars 130
Moslem Spain (“al-Andalus”) became a bastion for the Ummayads who were rivals of the Abbasids in the east. Hasdai Ibn Shaprut in Spain sought to communicate with the Khazars. We still have part of this correspondence. The letters are analyzed. The reply of King Joseph of Khazaria is shown to have originally referred to their Israelite origins.
Chapter 9. A Record from Khazaria 137
The Schechter Text is a letter from a subject of Khazaria. It relates their tradition of being descended from the Tribe of Simeon and how their conversion came about.
Chapter 10. Hsiung-nu Huns and Company 144
Khazars in the east are identified with the Kosa of Chinese records. The Kosa confederated with Hsiung-Nu allegedly forerunners of the Huns and Turks. Nephtalites move to Norway. Part of the Huns, Turks, and Alans were in the west long before the Hun Invasions. Khazars also originated in the west, i.e. by the Don River-Caucasus area. Gog and Magog may have encompassed Gok Turks and Goguryeo Empire of Korea. Western Gok Turks honored by being named Onogur meaning the “Ten Tribes”. Dingling of Dan and Hesan (Hushim son of Dan) associated with Kosa-Khazars in the east. Manas (Manasseh) made a legendary hero in the area. The name of Machir of Manasseh also appropriated by the “Magyars” who were subjects of the Khazars and rebelled. The Khazars were influenced by Turkic culture. The Khazars helped Jewish refugees.
Chapter 11. The Red Jews 167
Lost Ten Tribes equated with the “Red Jews” and with “Gog and Magog”. Red hair considered a characteristic of Jews and of the “Red Jews”. German tradition considered Ten Tribes a potential menace but the English viewed them favorably. “Red Jews” identified with the Khazars. Many Ancient Israelites had had red hair as do many Jews today as well as a significant proportion of Scots and Irish and many others in the west.
Chapter 12. Tribes Associated with the Khazars 176
The Sabirs were part of the Khazars. They were also known as “Manse” i.e. Manasseh. Sabirs conquered the Akatziri (Agathyrsi) who re-emerged as the Khazars in partnership with the Sabirs. Other groups may have included the Bashkirs, Hephtalites-Naphtalites, Ugrian-Turcae. Some Bolgars (known as Tartars) associated with Khazars which led to a confusion between the two. Basils may have been remnants of the Royal Scythians. The Alans were prominent in the Khazar federation as well as making a name for themselves in Western Europe including Scotland.
Chapter 13. The Khazars and Europe 189
The Khazars pursued the Chabars and Magyars to Hungary. Khazars in Hungary, Austria, and Poland. Magyars also known as Maceri after Machir of Manasseh. They took the name in honor of their Khazar overlords who came from Manasseh. Szekely Hungarians in Rumania had a script derived from a Phoenician (Ancient Hebrew) prototype that they received from the Khazars.
Chapter 14. Ascribing Ancestries to the Khazars: Non-Israelite 194
Some Jewish sources said the Khazars descend from Gomer. The Karaite Firkovitch had an agenda to prove they were of non-Israelite Gentile origin. The Book of Jasher and Josippon are unreliable inventions. Claimed descent from Gomer or the Sons of Gomer does not contradict an Israelite heritage as explained in the Book of Hosea chapters one and two. Different Gentile sources traced the Khazars to Japhet, Tirash, Thubal, Gog and Magog, or Keturah and Abraham. The Khazars were also associated with Huns and Goths and with Moabites. Modern scholars identify Khazars with Scythians or Slavs or Turkic peoples. The Tats (Mountain Jews) and Scottish connections.
Chapter 15. Ascribing Ancestries to the Khazars: Israelite 205
Eldad HaDani, himself a Khazar, said they came from Simeon and Manasseh. The Schecter Text, also by a Khazar, mentions an origin from Simeon. The Midrash Ten Exiles says they came from Simeon; so does the Midrash Akton de Mar Yaakov. So too, the medieval Chronicles of Jerahmeel mention Khazar origins from Judah and Simeon; from Issachar, Ephraim, Manasseh and Zebulon. The Cochin Scroll gives the Khazar origin as from Simeon and Manasseh. Historical details from the Cochin Scroll tie in with the Geography of Ptolemy that lists tribes with names of Israelite clans from Simeon and Manasseh in areas where the Scroll says they should be. Arab sources (Ibn Fadlan, Maquadasisi, Ibn Hawkal, Masudi) identify the Khazars as Jews. The Russian Chronicle and Russian folklore also identify the Khazars as Jews. The Khazars were identified in Germany with the Red Jews meaning the Lost Ten Tribes. The Khazars were located in areas where the Lost Ten Tribes had been exiled to. The Ruling House of the Khazars in Arabic was named the House of Jesse i.e. of David son of Jesse. It was the same dynasty that ruled over the Parthians and Goths.
Chapter 16. The Khazars in Scandinavia 219
Early Danes fought against Khazars. Archaeological finds of Khazars in Sweden. Anglo-Saxons and company of similar origin to the Khazars. Runic Futhark Script transmitted by the Khazars. The Azerbaijan connection with Scandinavia. Asgard was linked with the Khazars.
Chapter 17. Scandinavia, Scythia, and the Huns 229
Scandinavia invaded ca. 500 CE. Iyrcae identified with both Scandinavians and Khazars. Nephtalites and “Little Goths”. Mass migrations to Norway and Denmark. Links to the Lost Ten Tribes. The Hun occupation of Scandinavia proven through archaeological finds and place-names. Khazars associated with Huns. The Heruli return to Sweden.
Chapter 18. The As-Aesir and the Huns 246
Angles, Saxons, and Frisians from Lost Ten Tribes and from Khazar areas. The link to Odin and the Aseir who came from Scythia to Scandinavia. Khazar link to rulers of Scandinavia. Agathyrsi, Dacians, and Denmark. Scandinavian links to Scythia and Mongolia.
Chapter 19. Alans, and As 257
Alans, As, and Yasses were all one. Named Alban which was also a name for Britain. Alans equated with the Khazars. Alans in Britain.
Chapter 20. The Khazar Peoples 261
One description of Khazars says they were of two types: One black-haired and white skinned; the other very dark. Another account says they were red-haired, large bodied, and blue-eyed. “White Ugrian” Khazars were red-haired, pale-skinned, and green-eyed. “Cusa” (meaning Khazar) is a term still applied to red-haired men by Tartars. Alans were blond. Khazars looked like Slavs. Mongoloid-eyes suggested. Mainly of European type. Had two rulers. High standards of behavior and fairness. Not all peoples referred to as Khazars really were Khazars. Name Khazars derived from two sources; “Jeezer” (“Ay-ga-zar”) and “Caesar”. Place-names of Khazars named after Samaria in Israel.
Chapter 21. Khazars, Varangians, and the End 272
Kinfolk of Khazars were the first to build a settlement (called Sambat) on the site of Kiev. Khazaria attacked and destroyed by enemies. Judaizing tendencies amongst descendants of Khazars. Khazar remnants amongst European Jewry. Place-names; Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, Hungary, Crimea, Kurdistan. General Disappearance. Their only permanent characteristic was their Judaism.
Chapter 22. The Picts of Scotland and Khazaria 281
The Agathyrsi were Khazars. A portion of the Agathyrsi moved to Scotland and merged with the Picts who were of diverse origins. Different types of Picts. Tradition said that the Agathyrsi had moved from Scythia to Scandinavia and from there to Ireland and then to Scotland. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recalls the Picts origin from Scythia. Similar customs between Agathyrsi and Picts. Agathyrsi recalled alongside Gothic groups in German record. Scottish physical types consistent with a sojourn in Scythia. Archaeological evidence links Picts to Khazar area of Scythia. Scots and Picts considered as descended from the Son of Isaac. Picts linked with Saxons. Pict Brochs traced to Israelite “watch-towers”. Aed of the Picts and of British Mythology identified with “Ad” of Arab Mythology who represented the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel and who according to these same sources went to the Isles in the West.
Conclusion 301
How “The Khazars. Tribe 13″ has proven that the Khazars were of Israelite Descent and the implications. Why both the Khazars and the USA may be considered Tribe 13. The USA as Manasseh and parallels with Khazaria.
Source: http://www.britam.org/KhazarChapters.html
Timeline: http://s155239215.onlinehome.us/turkic/70_Dateline/KhazardatelineEn.htm
900AD
They vigorously pursued breeding their horses for equine perfection,
and essentially purebred themselves the same way.
and essentially purebred themselves the same way.
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The World of the Khazars
The world of the Khazars: new perspectives
http://books.google.hr/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+world+of+the+Khazars:+new+perspectives&hl=hr&ei=WU-8TeKYKIK4sQOJudnHBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
The Western Turkic Khaganate was formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593 – 603 AD) after the Göktürk Khaganate (founded in the 6th century in Northern Mongolia by the Ashina clan) had splintered into two polities – Eastern and Western.
The Western Turks (also known as the Onoq, or "ten arrows") sought friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire in order to expand their territory at the expense of their mutual enemy, the Sassanid Empire.[1]
For the origin of the Onoq two contradicting accounts are given:[2][3]
In the beginning [after 552], Shidianmi [Istämi] followed the Shanyu [Qaghan] and commanded the ten great chiefs. Together with their 100,000 soldiers, he marched to the Western Regions and subdued the barbarian statelets. There he declared himself as qaghan, under the title of ten tribes, and ruled them [the western barbarians] for generations. —Tongdian, 193 and Jiu Tangshu, 194 Soon [after 635], Dielishi Qaghan [of the Western Göktürks] divided his state into ten parts, and each was headed by one man, together they made up the ten she [shad]. Every she is given an arrow by him, thus they were known as the ten arrows. He also divided the ten arrows into two factions, each consisted of five arrows. The left [east] faction consisted of five Duoliu [Duolu] tribes, headed by five chuo [qur] separately. The right [west] faction consisted of five Nushibi (Ch. 弩失畢) tribes, headed by five sijin [irkin] separately. Each took command on one arrow and called themselves as the ten arrows. Thereafter, each arrow was also known as one tribe, and the great arrow head as the great chief. The five Duoliu tribes inhabited to east of Suiye [water] (Chu River), and the five Nushibi tribes to the west of it. Since then, they called themselves as the ten tribes. —Tongdian, 193 and Jiu Tangshu, 194 The first statement dates their origin back to the beginning of the First Turkic Qaghanate with Istämi, younger brother of Tumen, who had brought with him the ten tribes probably from the Eastern Qaghanate at Mongolia and left to the west to expand the Qaghanate. The exact date for the event was not recorded, and the shanyu here referred to might be Muhan Khan.
The second statement contributes it to Dielishi, who took over the throne in 635 and began to strengthen the state by further affirming the initial ten tribes and two tribal wings, in contrast with the rotation of rule between the Tumen (through Apa) and Istämi (through Tardu) lineages in the Western Qaghanate. Thereafter, the name "ten tribes" (十姓) became as a shortened address for the Western Turks in Chinese records. However it should be noted that those divisions did not include the five[4][5][6]
The earlier tribes consisted of eight primary tribes ruled by ten chiefs-in-command, afterwards called the on (ten) oq (arrows) (十箭). They were the five[7] Duolu (咄陆) tribes, and the three[8] Nushipi (弩失毕) tribes. The relationships between the ten tribes and the ruling elites were divided into two groups. The more aristocratic Duolu tribes, whom held the title qur, and the lower-rated Nushipi in west, who were probably initially made up of Tiele conscripts.[9][10] During the reformation the more powerful Nushipi tribes such as A-Xijie and Geshu were sub-divided into two tribal groups with a greater and lesser title under a fixed tribal name.
In 619 the Western Turks invaded Bactria but were repulsed in the course of the Second Perso-Turkic War. During the Third Perso-Turkic War Khagan Tung YabghuBöri Shad joined their forces with Emperor Heraclius and successfully invaded Transcaucasia.
The khaganate's capitals were Navekat (the summer capital) and Suyab (the principal capital), both situated in the Chui River valley of Kyrgyzstan, to the east from Bishkek. The khaganate was overrun by Tang Chinese forces under Su Dingfang in 658-659. major tribes, who were active further east of the ten tribes. and his nephew
- THE KHAZAR CAPITAL CITY OF ATIL Atil was the third capital city of Khazaria until it was conquered in 969. Archaeologists have located the remains of Atil. Atil, the capital city of the Khazar Empire from about 750 to 969, has been found! Dmitri Vasiliev and his team have located the remnants of the lost city in the newly-found 9th and 10th century layers at Samosdelka, including a triangular-shaped brick fortress and yurt-like huts.
- The Khazar Capital City of Atil
- The Khazar Fortress of Sarkel
THE KHAZAR FORTRESS OF SARKEL Sarkel's fortress was one of Khazaria's most important, serving both as a defensive structure and a trading caravan stopover. Includes images of the layout of the fortress, a bronze warrior figurine, pottery, jewelry, bricks, and other objects.
The country of the Khazars was strategically
located at the gateway between the Black Sea and the Caspian, acting as a
buffer protecting Byzantium against invasions by the barbarian Bulgars,
Magyars, Pechenegs, and later the Vikings and Russians. More important
than this was the fact that the Khazars also blocked the Arabs from
Eastern Europe.
Within a few years of the death of Muhammad (AD 632) the armies of the Caliphate, sweeping northward through the wreckage of two empires and carrying all before them, reached the great mountain barrier of the Caucasus. This barrier once passed, the road lay open to the lands of eastern Europe. As it was, on the line of the Caucasus the Arabs met the forces of an organized military power which effectively prevented them from extending their conquests in this direction. The wars of the Arabs and the Khazars, which lasted more than a hundred years, though little known, have thus considerable historical importance. [Professor Dunlop of Columbia University, authority on the Khazars, quoted by Koestler, p. 14]
Most people know that the Frankish army of Charles Martel turned back the Arabs on the field of Tours. Few people know that, at the same time, the Muslims were met and held by the forces of the Khazar kingdom.
In 732, the future emperor, Constantine V, married a Khazar princess and their son became Emperor Leo IV, known as Leo the Khazar.
A few years later, probably in AD 740, the King of the Khazars, his court and the military ruling class embraced the Jewish faith and Judaism became the state religion of the Khazars. This came about as a reaction against the political pressure of the other two Superpowers of the day - Byzantium and the Muslims - both of which had the advantage of a monotheistic State Religion which allowed them greater control over their subjects. Not wanting to be subject either to the Pope or the Byzantine Emperor, but seeing the political benefits of religious controls, Judaism was chosen.
The Khazar kingdom held its power and position for most of four centuries during which time they were transformed from a tribe of nomadic warriors into a nation of farmers, cattle-breeders, fishermen, viticulturists, traders and craftsmen. Soviet archaeologists have found evidence of advanced civilization with houses built in a circular shape at the lower levels, later being replaced by rectangular buildings. This is explained as evidence of the transition from from portable, dome shaped tents, to settled lifestyles.
At the peak of their power, the Khazars controlled and/or received tribute from thirty or so different nations and tribes spread across the territories between the Caucasus, the Aral Sea, the Ural Mountains, the town of Kiev, and the Ukrainian steppes. These peoples included the Bulgars, Burtas, Ghuzz, Magyars, the Gothic and Greek colonies of the Crimea, and the Slavonic tribes to the Northwest.
Until the ninth century, the Khazars had no rivals to their supremacy in the regions north of the Black Sea and the adjoining steppe and the forest regions of the Dnieper. The Khazars were the supreme masters of the southern half of Eastern Europe for a century and a half. [...] During this whole period, they held back the onslaught of the nomadic tribes from the East. [Soviet archaeologist M. I. Artamonov]
In the timeline of history, the Khazar empire existed between the Huns and the Mongols. The Arab chroniclers wrote that the Khazars were "white, their eyes blue, their hair flowing and predominantly reddish, their bodies large, and their natures cold. Their general aspect is wild."
The Georgians and Armenians, having been repeatedly devastated by the Khazars, identified them as Gog and Magog. An Armenian writer described them as having "insolent, broad, lashless faces and long falling hair, like women."
They sound like the long-haired Franks, don't they?
One of the earliest factual references to the Khazars occurs in a Syriac chronicle dating from the middle of the sixth century. It mentions the Khazars in a list of people who inhabit the region of the Caucasus. Koestler recounts that other sources indicate that the Khazars were intimately connected with the Huns.
In AD 448, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II sent an embassy to Attila which included a famed rhetorician by name of Priscus. He kept a minute account not only of the diplomatic negotiations, but also of the court intrigues and goings-on in Attila's sumptuous banqueting hall - he was in fact the perfect gossip columnist, and is still one of the main sources of information about Hun customs and habits. But Priscus also has anecdotes to tell about a people subject to the Huns whom he calls Akatzirs - that is, very likely, the Ak-Khazars, or "White" Khazars.
The Byzantine Emperor, Priscus tells us, tried to win this warrior race over to his side, but the greedy Khazar chieftain named Karidach, considered the bribe offered to him inadequate, and sided with the Huns. Attila defeated Karidach's rival chieftains, installed him as the sole ruler of the Akatzirs, and invited him to visit his court. Karidach thanked him profusely for the invitation and went on to say that "it would be too hard on a mortal man to look into the face of a god. For, as one cannot stare into the sun's disc, even less could one look into the face of the greatest god without suffering injury." Attila must have been pleased, for he confirmed Karidach in his rule.
After the collapse of the Hun Empire, the Khazars raided and absorbed numerous tribes of nomadic hordes coming from the East. At this point, the West Turkish kingdom arose, a confederation of tribes ruled by a Kagan, or Khagan. The Khazars later adopted this title for their rulers as well. This "Turkish state" fell apart after a century, but it is important to note that it was only after this period that the word Turkish was used in reference to a specific nation, as opposed to its earlier use which simply meant a tribe speaking a Turkic language such as the Khazars and Bulgars.
And so, at the time of the cometary disasters that brought on the Dark Ages, the Khazars rose to power. By the first decades of the seventh century, there were three "Superpowers," two of whom had been fighting each other for a century and were seemingly on the verge of collapse. Persia was about to face its doom in the armies of the Khazars, but through its friendship with Khazaria, Byzantium survived.
In 627, the Roman Emperor Heraclius made an alliance with the Khazars so as to defeat his nemesis: Persia. The Khazars provided Heraclius with 40,000 horsemen under a commander named Ziebel and Heraclius promised him his daughter.
The Persians were defeated, which was followed by a revolution and after ten years of anarchy and chaos, the first Arab armies delivered the coup de grace. And so, a new Superpower arose: the Islamic Caliphate.
In short order, the Muslims conquered Persia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and surrounded the Byzantine empire in a half-circle from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus. Between 642 and 652, the Muslims repeatedly penetrated into Khazaria in an attempt to gain a foothold on the way to Eastern Europe. After a defeat in 652, the Muslims backed off for thirty or forty years and concentrated on Byzantium, laying siege to Constantinople on several occasions. Had they been able to get to the other side, to surround Byzantium from the Khazarian side, it would have been fatal for the Roman Empire.
Meanwhile, the Khazars consolidated their own power, expanding into Ukraine and the Crimea, incorporating the conquered people into their empire ruled by the Kagan. By the time of the 8th century, the Khazar empire was stable enough to actually go on the offensive against the Muslims rather than just holding their position and driving them away repeatedly.
From a distance of more than a thousand years, the period of intermittent warfare that followed looks like a series of tedious episodes on a local scale, following the same, repetitive pattern: the Khazar cavalry in their heavy armour breaking through the pass of Dariel or the Gate of Darband into the Caliph's domains to the south; followed by Arab counter-thrusts through the same pass or the defile, towards the Volga and back again. [...] One is reminded of the old jingle about the noble Duke of York who had ten thousand men; "he marched them up to the top of the hill. And he marched them down again." In fact, the Arab sources speak of armies of 100,000, even of 300,000 men engaged on either side - probably outnumbering the armies which decided the fate of the Western world at the battle of Tours about the same time.
The death-defying fanaticism which characterized these wars is illustrated by episodes such as the suicide by fire of a whole Khazar town as an alternative to surrender; the poisoning of the water supply of Bab al Abwab by an Arab general; or by the traditional exhortation which would halt the rout of a defeated Arab army and make it fight to the last man: "To the Garden Muslims, not the Fire" - the joys of Paradise being assured to every Muslim soldier killed in the Holy War.[Koestler, p. 28]
The giant Islamic pincer movement across the Pyrenees in the west and across the Caucasus into Eastern Europe was halted at both ends about the same time. As Charles Martel's Franks saved Gaul and Western Europe, so the Khazars saved the Eastern Roman Empire.
At the end of all this was the marriage of the Khazar princess to the heir of the Byzantine Empire in gratitude for defeat of the Muslims. Following this event, of course, was the politically expedient conversion of the Khazars to Judaism.
Overnight an entire group of people, the warlike, fanatical Khazars, suddenly proclaimed themselves Jews. The Khazar kingdom began to be described as the "Kingdom of the Jews" by historians of the day. Succeeding Khazar rulers took Jewish names, sent for Jewish scholars from Spain to come and instruct them, settle with them. During the late 9th Century the Khazar kingdom became a haven for Jews of other lands. But it seems that this process was almost exclusively a question of male Jews - including Kohanim - coming to Khazaria and marrying Khazar women. What does not seem to have happened, is the intermarriage of Khazars with Separdic Jewish women from other European communities of Jews.
Koestler quotes at length from ancient accounts of the Khazars and I highly recommend this book to the reader not only because it is well researched, but also because it can be quite entertaining reading!
At the height of the Khazar empire, the main source of royal income was foreign trade. There were enormous caravans that transported textiles, dried fruit, honey, wax, and spices following the Silk road to and from the East. Arts and crafts and haute couture flourished. Slaves and furs were traded by Rus merchants, Vikings coming down the Volga on a north/south trade axis. On all these goods, the Khazars levied a tax of ten per cent. This was added to the tribute paid by the Bulgars, Magyars, and others. Khazaria was cosmopolitan, open to all sorts of cultural and religious influences while, at the same time, using its State Religion to defend itself against the other two ecclesiastical powers in the world.
In short, Khazaria was an extremely prosperous country and this prosperity depended on its military power. Khazaria had a standing army by which means it was able to maintain brutal domination over its subject tribes and peoples. Human sacrifice was also practiced by the earlier Khazars- including the ritual killing of the king at the end of his reign.
At the beginning of the ninth century, the Khazars had more or less a tacit "nonaggression pact" with the Caliphate, and relations with Byzantium were friendly. After all, they were family! But, a new cloud was on the horizon: the Vikings began to stir.
Two centuries earlier, it had been the Arabs and their "Holy War." Now it was the Vikings and their "unholy war" of piracy and plunder.
In neither case have historians been able to provide convincing explanations of the economical, ecological or ideological reasons which transformed these apparently quiescent regions of Arabia and Scandinavia quasi overnight into volcanoes of exuberant vitality and reckless enterprise. Both eruptions spent their force within a couple of centuries but left a permanent mark on the world. Both evolved in this time-span from savagery and destructiveness to splendid cultural achievement. [Koestler, p. 86]
Within a few decades, the Vikings had penetrated all the major waterways of Europe, conquered half of Ireland, colonized Iceland, conquered Normandy, sacked Paris, raided Germany, the Rhone delta, the gulf of Genoa, circumnavigated the Iberian peninsula and attacked Constantinople through the Mediterranean and the Dardanelles, coordinated with an attack down the Dnieper and across the Black Sea. A special prayer was formulated in Christendom: Lord deliver us from the fury of the Normans.
Again, Byzantium depended on Khazaria to block the advance of the Vikings.
This branch of norsemen who were called Rhos or Varangians, originated from eastern Sweden and were cousins to the Norwegians and Danes who raided Western Europe.
These Varangian-Rus seem to have been a unique blend - unique even among their brother Vikings - combining the traits of pirates, robbers and meretricious merchants, who traded on their own terms, imposed by sword and battle-axe. They bartered furs, swords and amber in exchange for gold, but their principal merchandise were slaves. [Koestler, p. 89]
For a century and a half, trade and diplomacy between the Byzantines and the Khazars and the Rus alternated with war. Slowly but surely, the Vikings built permanent settlements, becoming Slavonized by intermingling with their subjects and vassals - the Slavs along the Dnieper who were agricultural and more timid than the "Turks." This mixing of genes and cultures tamed the Rus and turned them into Russians.
At first, the Rus were friendlier with the Khazars than with the Byzantines. The Rus even adopted the title "Kagan" for their ruler. However, all the while they were having "cultural exchanges" with the Khazars, the Rus were bringing the Slavs into their own fold. Considering the genetic data, this may be as much due to intermarriage between the Slavonic tribes, as much as to conquest. Within a couple of decades, the Rus were receiving tribute from almost half of the former subjects of the Khazars!
When the town of Kiev, on the Dnieper river, passed into Rus hands, apparently without an armed struggle, it was the beginning of the end for Khazaria. There were still large communities of Khazar Jews in Kiev, and later, after the final destruction of Khazaria, they were joined by Khazar refugees.
oyed since time immemorial by every Turkish nation - Huns, Avars, Turks, Pechenegs, Kumans - and by no other ... light cavalry using the old devices of simulated flight, of shooting while fleeing, of sudden charges with fearful, wolf-like howling." [Koestler, p. 103]
Within a few years of the death of Muhammad (AD 632) the armies of the Caliphate, sweeping northward through the wreckage of two empires and carrying all before them, reached the great mountain barrier of the Caucasus. This barrier once passed, the road lay open to the lands of eastern Europe. As it was, on the line of the Caucasus the Arabs met the forces of an organized military power which effectively prevented them from extending their conquests in this direction. The wars of the Arabs and the Khazars, which lasted more than a hundred years, though little known, have thus considerable historical importance. [Professor Dunlop of Columbia University, authority on the Khazars, quoted by Koestler, p. 14]
Most people know that the Frankish army of Charles Martel turned back the Arabs on the field of Tours. Few people know that, at the same time, the Muslims were met and held by the forces of the Khazar kingdom.
In 732, the future emperor, Constantine V, married a Khazar princess and their son became Emperor Leo IV, known as Leo the Khazar.
A few years later, probably in AD 740, the King of the Khazars, his court and the military ruling class embraced the Jewish faith and Judaism became the state religion of the Khazars. This came about as a reaction against the political pressure of the other two Superpowers of the day - Byzantium and the Muslims - both of which had the advantage of a monotheistic State Religion which allowed them greater control over their subjects. Not wanting to be subject either to the Pope or the Byzantine Emperor, but seeing the political benefits of religious controls, Judaism was chosen.
The Khazar kingdom held its power and position for most of four centuries during which time they were transformed from a tribe of nomadic warriors into a nation of farmers, cattle-breeders, fishermen, viticulturists, traders and craftsmen. Soviet archaeologists have found evidence of advanced civilization with houses built in a circular shape at the lower levels, later being replaced by rectangular buildings. This is explained as evidence of the transition from from portable, dome shaped tents, to settled lifestyles.
At the peak of their power, the Khazars controlled and/or received tribute from thirty or so different nations and tribes spread across the territories between the Caucasus, the Aral Sea, the Ural Mountains, the town of Kiev, and the Ukrainian steppes. These peoples included the Bulgars, Burtas, Ghuzz, Magyars, the Gothic and Greek colonies of the Crimea, and the Slavonic tribes to the Northwest.
Until the ninth century, the Khazars had no rivals to their supremacy in the regions north of the Black Sea and the adjoining steppe and the forest regions of the Dnieper. The Khazars were the supreme masters of the southern half of Eastern Europe for a century and a half. [...] During this whole period, they held back the onslaught of the nomadic tribes from the East. [Soviet archaeologist M. I. Artamonov]
In the timeline of history, the Khazar empire existed between the Huns and the Mongols. The Arab chroniclers wrote that the Khazars were "white, their eyes blue, their hair flowing and predominantly reddish, their bodies large, and their natures cold. Their general aspect is wild."
The Georgians and Armenians, having been repeatedly devastated by the Khazars, identified them as Gog and Magog. An Armenian writer described them as having "insolent, broad, lashless faces and long falling hair, like women."
They sound like the long-haired Franks, don't they?
One of the earliest factual references to the Khazars occurs in a Syriac chronicle dating from the middle of the sixth century. It mentions the Khazars in a list of people who inhabit the region of the Caucasus. Koestler recounts that other sources indicate that the Khazars were intimately connected with the Huns.
In AD 448, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II sent an embassy to Attila which included a famed rhetorician by name of Priscus. He kept a minute account not only of the diplomatic negotiations, but also of the court intrigues and goings-on in Attila's sumptuous banqueting hall - he was in fact the perfect gossip columnist, and is still one of the main sources of information about Hun customs and habits. But Priscus also has anecdotes to tell about a people subject to the Huns whom he calls Akatzirs - that is, very likely, the Ak-Khazars, or "White" Khazars.
The Byzantine Emperor, Priscus tells us, tried to win this warrior race over to his side, but the greedy Khazar chieftain named Karidach, considered the bribe offered to him inadequate, and sided with the Huns. Attila defeated Karidach's rival chieftains, installed him as the sole ruler of the Akatzirs, and invited him to visit his court. Karidach thanked him profusely for the invitation and went on to say that "it would be too hard on a mortal man to look into the face of a god. For, as one cannot stare into the sun's disc, even less could one look into the face of the greatest god without suffering injury." Attila must have been pleased, for he confirmed Karidach in his rule.
After the collapse of the Hun Empire, the Khazars raided and absorbed numerous tribes of nomadic hordes coming from the East. At this point, the West Turkish kingdom arose, a confederation of tribes ruled by a Kagan, or Khagan. The Khazars later adopted this title for their rulers as well. This "Turkish state" fell apart after a century, but it is important to note that it was only after this period that the word Turkish was used in reference to a specific nation, as opposed to its earlier use which simply meant a tribe speaking a Turkic language such as the Khazars and Bulgars.
And so, at the time of the cometary disasters that brought on the Dark Ages, the Khazars rose to power. By the first decades of the seventh century, there were three "Superpowers," two of whom had been fighting each other for a century and were seemingly on the verge of collapse. Persia was about to face its doom in the armies of the Khazars, but through its friendship with Khazaria, Byzantium survived.
In 627, the Roman Emperor Heraclius made an alliance with the Khazars so as to defeat his nemesis: Persia. The Khazars provided Heraclius with 40,000 horsemen under a commander named Ziebel and Heraclius promised him his daughter.
The Persians were defeated, which was followed by a revolution and after ten years of anarchy and chaos, the first Arab armies delivered the coup de grace. And so, a new Superpower arose: the Islamic Caliphate.
In short order, the Muslims conquered Persia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and surrounded the Byzantine empire in a half-circle from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus. Between 642 and 652, the Muslims repeatedly penetrated into Khazaria in an attempt to gain a foothold on the way to Eastern Europe. After a defeat in 652, the Muslims backed off for thirty or forty years and concentrated on Byzantium, laying siege to Constantinople on several occasions. Had they been able to get to the other side, to surround Byzantium from the Khazarian side, it would have been fatal for the Roman Empire.
Meanwhile, the Khazars consolidated their own power, expanding into Ukraine and the Crimea, incorporating the conquered people into their empire ruled by the Kagan. By the time of the 8th century, the Khazar empire was stable enough to actually go on the offensive against the Muslims rather than just holding their position and driving them away repeatedly.
From a distance of more than a thousand years, the period of intermittent warfare that followed looks like a series of tedious episodes on a local scale, following the same, repetitive pattern: the Khazar cavalry in their heavy armour breaking through the pass of Dariel or the Gate of Darband into the Caliph's domains to the south; followed by Arab counter-thrusts through the same pass or the defile, towards the Volga and back again. [...] One is reminded of the old jingle about the noble Duke of York who had ten thousand men; "he marched them up to the top of the hill. And he marched them down again." In fact, the Arab sources speak of armies of 100,000, even of 300,000 men engaged on either side - probably outnumbering the armies which decided the fate of the Western world at the battle of Tours about the same time.
The death-defying fanaticism which characterized these wars is illustrated by episodes such as the suicide by fire of a whole Khazar town as an alternative to surrender; the poisoning of the water supply of Bab al Abwab by an Arab general; or by the traditional exhortation which would halt the rout of a defeated Arab army and make it fight to the last man: "To the Garden Muslims, not the Fire" - the joys of Paradise being assured to every Muslim soldier killed in the Holy War.[Koestler, p. 28]
The giant Islamic pincer movement across the Pyrenees in the west and across the Caucasus into Eastern Europe was halted at both ends about the same time. As Charles Martel's Franks saved Gaul and Western Europe, so the Khazars saved the Eastern Roman Empire.
At the end of all this was the marriage of the Khazar princess to the heir of the Byzantine Empire in gratitude for defeat of the Muslims. Following this event, of course, was the politically expedient conversion of the Khazars to Judaism.
Overnight an entire group of people, the warlike, fanatical Khazars, suddenly proclaimed themselves Jews. The Khazar kingdom began to be described as the "Kingdom of the Jews" by historians of the day. Succeeding Khazar rulers took Jewish names, sent for Jewish scholars from Spain to come and instruct them, settle with them. During the late 9th Century the Khazar kingdom became a haven for Jews of other lands. But it seems that this process was almost exclusively a question of male Jews - including Kohanim - coming to Khazaria and marrying Khazar women. What does not seem to have happened, is the intermarriage of Khazars with Separdic Jewish women from other European communities of Jews.
Koestler quotes at length from ancient accounts of the Khazars and I highly recommend this book to the reader not only because it is well researched, but also because it can be quite entertaining reading!
At the height of the Khazar empire, the main source of royal income was foreign trade. There were enormous caravans that transported textiles, dried fruit, honey, wax, and spices following the Silk road to and from the East. Arts and crafts and haute couture flourished. Slaves and furs were traded by Rus merchants, Vikings coming down the Volga on a north/south trade axis. On all these goods, the Khazars levied a tax of ten per cent. This was added to the tribute paid by the Bulgars, Magyars, and others. Khazaria was cosmopolitan, open to all sorts of cultural and religious influences while, at the same time, using its State Religion to defend itself against the other two ecclesiastical powers in the world.
In short, Khazaria was an extremely prosperous country and this prosperity depended on its military power. Khazaria had a standing army by which means it was able to maintain brutal domination over its subject tribes and peoples. Human sacrifice was also practiced by the earlier Khazars- including the ritual killing of the king at the end of his reign.
At the beginning of the ninth century, the Khazars had more or less a tacit "nonaggression pact" with the Caliphate, and relations with Byzantium were friendly. After all, they were family! But, a new cloud was on the horizon: the Vikings began to stir.
Two centuries earlier, it had been the Arabs and their "Holy War." Now it was the Vikings and their "unholy war" of piracy and plunder.
In neither case have historians been able to provide convincing explanations of the economical, ecological or ideological reasons which transformed these apparently quiescent regions of Arabia and Scandinavia quasi overnight into volcanoes of exuberant vitality and reckless enterprise. Both eruptions spent their force within a couple of centuries but left a permanent mark on the world. Both evolved in this time-span from savagery and destructiveness to splendid cultural achievement. [Koestler, p. 86]
Within a few decades, the Vikings had penetrated all the major waterways of Europe, conquered half of Ireland, colonized Iceland, conquered Normandy, sacked Paris, raided Germany, the Rhone delta, the gulf of Genoa, circumnavigated the Iberian peninsula and attacked Constantinople through the Mediterranean and the Dardanelles, coordinated with an attack down the Dnieper and across the Black Sea. A special prayer was formulated in Christendom: Lord deliver us from the fury of the Normans.
Again, Byzantium depended on Khazaria to block the advance of the Vikings.
This branch of norsemen who were called Rhos or Varangians, originated from eastern Sweden and were cousins to the Norwegians and Danes who raided Western Europe.
These Varangian-Rus seem to have been a unique blend - unique even among their brother Vikings - combining the traits of pirates, robbers and meretricious merchants, who traded on their own terms, imposed by sword and battle-axe. They bartered furs, swords and amber in exchange for gold, but their principal merchandise were slaves. [Koestler, p. 89]
For a century and a half, trade and diplomacy between the Byzantines and the Khazars and the Rus alternated with war. Slowly but surely, the Vikings built permanent settlements, becoming Slavonized by intermingling with their subjects and vassals - the Slavs along the Dnieper who were agricultural and more timid than the "Turks." This mixing of genes and cultures tamed the Rus and turned them into Russians.
At first, the Rus were friendlier with the Khazars than with the Byzantines. The Rus even adopted the title "Kagan" for their ruler. However, all the while they were having "cultural exchanges" with the Khazars, the Rus were bringing the Slavs into their own fold. Considering the genetic data, this may be as much due to intermarriage between the Slavonic tribes, as much as to conquest. Within a couple of decades, the Rus were receiving tribute from almost half of the former subjects of the Khazars!
When the town of Kiev, on the Dnieper river, passed into Rus hands, apparently without an armed struggle, it was the beginning of the end for Khazaria. There were still large communities of Khazar Jews in Kiev, and later, after the final destruction of Khazaria, they were joined by Khazar refugees.
oyed since time immemorial by every Turkish nation - Huns, Avars, Turks, Pechenegs, Kumans - and by no other ... light cavalry using the old devices of simulated flight, of shooting while fleeing, of sudden charges with fearful, wolf-like howling." [Koestler, p. 103]
Turkish society was nomadic and mercatile it was not held together by
territory but rather by kinship relations and religio-shamanic cult
elements. The political and social structure , generated by common
residence in a winter quarter, by precarious tribal union led by
charismatic Ashina clan. The tribes composed of clans, were organized
into boduns, political power over the bodun was expressed with term
el/il, a „polity“ mandated by heaven. At the top of the tribal union
stood the Qaghan, the leader who established the toru, the tribal law.
Of the greatest importance was the biological association of the charismatic ruling clan with the tribal totem. The ruling clan's charisma was heavenly ordained and as such would override election. The belief in the celestial origin of authority linked up with an ideal of world domination that acquired a prominent and historical form among the sixth-century Turks but existed before as part of shamanic creed.
The related idea that domination was an exclusive right of Turks was later passed on to the Uyghurs and Mongols, and it seemed to received confirmation by Islam. Much of this cultural and political apparatus the Turks inherited from their predecessors in Mongolia rather than from China. In fact, Chinese cult may have Altaic origins, rather than reverse.
But the cult of heavenly ordained rule was not peculiar to Altaic world; even less were the principle of legitimation by descent and of charisma residing in blood royal which allowed individual members of the clan to be elevated to the Qaghanate.
What is peculiar about the Turkish ceremony of qaghanal investiture is that ,like blacksmithing, it has specific shamanic context.
The fist Chinese account of the origins of Turks (itself derived from Turkish materials) is already full of shamanic symbolism, relating to the totem ancestor and the wolf ethnogenic legend. Ritual, State, and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman (Memoirs of the Kern Institute, No 5) , Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN-13: 978-9004094673, pg.757.,758.
Dmitry Ermakov in his 828-pages study „BO & BON - ANCIENT SHAMANIC TRADITIONS OF SIBERIA AND TIBET IN THEIR RELATION TO THE TEACHINGS OF A CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHA“( Publisher: Vajra Publications (2008), ISBN-13: 978-9937506113) ,confirms that siberian shamanic lineages reside within male or male lineages indefinitely (as two most often ways).
And indeed, even converted Khazar Jewish rulers (Quote from The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; "Ultimately, about 786-809, their king Bulan and 4,000 of his nobles accepted Judaism, the prince Obadiah being active in securing their Judaization") adhered to the same eternal shamanic creed of the blood;
The account of al-Iṣṭakhrī, written c. 320/932, is as follows (Viae Regnorum,ed.by M.J. De Goeje /1927./,223ff; „As to their politics and system of government, their chief is called khāqān of the Khazars. He is greater than the king of the Khazars [elsewhere called by al-Iṣṭakhrī the bak or bāk, i.e., beg], except that the king of the Khazars appoints him. When they wish to appoint this khāqān, they bring him and throttle him with a piece of silk, till, when his breath is nearly cut off, they say to him, 'How long do you wish to reign?' and he says, 'So and-so many years.' If he dies short of them, well and good. If not, he is killed when he reaches that year. The khaqanate is valid among them only in a house of notables. He possesses no right of command nor of veto but he is honored, and people prostrate themselves when they enter his presence.…. The khaqanate is in a group of notables who possess neither sovereignty nor riches. When the chief place comes to one of them, they appoint him, and do not consider his condition. I have been informed by a reliable person that he had seen a young man selling bread in one of the sūqs. People said that when their khāqān died, there was none more deserving of the khaqanate than he, except that he was a Muslim, and the khaqanate is not conferred on any but a Jew."
This historical quotation prove the fact that shamanic/Tengrist right did not ceased to exist with the fact of Khazar conversion to Judaism, as it is universally accepted as indefinite/everlasting, and as such do not know invented misconcepts like those that we can wittnness in so called „law of prescription“ or „illegal birth“.
Of the greatest importance was the biological association of the charismatic ruling clan with the tribal totem. The ruling clan's charisma was heavenly ordained and as such would override election. The belief in the celestial origin of authority linked up with an ideal of world domination that acquired a prominent and historical form among the sixth-century Turks but existed before as part of shamanic creed.
The related idea that domination was an exclusive right of Turks was later passed on to the Uyghurs and Mongols, and it seemed to received confirmation by Islam. Much of this cultural and political apparatus the Turks inherited from their predecessors in Mongolia rather than from China. In fact, Chinese cult may have Altaic origins, rather than reverse.
But the cult of heavenly ordained rule was not peculiar to Altaic world; even less were the principle of legitimation by descent and of charisma residing in blood royal which allowed individual members of the clan to be elevated to the Qaghanate.
What is peculiar about the Turkish ceremony of qaghanal investiture is that ,like blacksmithing, it has specific shamanic context.
The fist Chinese account of the origins of Turks (itself derived from Turkish materials) is already full of shamanic symbolism, relating to the totem ancestor and the wolf ethnogenic legend. Ritual, State, and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman (Memoirs of the Kern Institute, No 5) , Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN-13: 978-9004094673, pg.757.,758.
Dmitry Ermakov in his 828-pages study „BO & BON - ANCIENT SHAMANIC TRADITIONS OF SIBERIA AND TIBET IN THEIR RELATION TO THE TEACHINGS OF A CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHA“( Publisher: Vajra Publications (2008), ISBN-13: 978-9937506113) ,confirms that siberian shamanic lineages reside within male or male lineages indefinitely (as two most often ways).
And indeed, even converted Khazar Jewish rulers (Quote from The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; "Ultimately, about 786-809, their king Bulan and 4,000 of his nobles accepted Judaism, the prince Obadiah being active in securing their Judaization") adhered to the same eternal shamanic creed of the blood;
The account of al-Iṣṭakhrī, written c. 320/932, is as follows (Viae Regnorum,ed.by M.J. De Goeje /1927./,223ff; „As to their politics and system of government, their chief is called khāqān of the Khazars. He is greater than the king of the Khazars [elsewhere called by al-Iṣṭakhrī the bak or bāk, i.e., beg], except that the king of the Khazars appoints him. When they wish to appoint this khāqān, they bring him and throttle him with a piece of silk, till, when his breath is nearly cut off, they say to him, 'How long do you wish to reign?' and he says, 'So and-so many years.' If he dies short of them, well and good. If not, he is killed when he reaches that year. The khaqanate is valid among them only in a house of notables. He possesses no right of command nor of veto but he is honored, and people prostrate themselves when they enter his presence.…. The khaqanate is in a group of notables who possess neither sovereignty nor riches. When the chief place comes to one of them, they appoint him, and do not consider his condition. I have been informed by a reliable person that he had seen a young man selling bread in one of the sūqs. People said that when their khāqān died, there was none more deserving of the khaqanate than he, except that he was a Muslim, and the khaqanate is not conferred on any but a Jew."
This historical quotation prove the fact that shamanic/Tengrist right did not ceased to exist with the fact of Khazar conversion to Judaism, as it is universally accepted as indefinite/everlasting, and as such do not know invented misconcepts like those that we can wittnness in so called „law of prescription“ or „illegal birth“.
Shamanism is the oldest religious practices of the world. Its a
religion for its followers, but some anthropologists call it a set of
beliefs. Shamanism is the ancient religious beleifs of Mongols dating
back to centuries before Chingis Khan era. Today there is a considerable
number of Shamans in Mongolia, though Buddhism is the dominating
religion here. The festival in Seleng Aimag is the grand festival of
Shamanism in Mongolia. All the Shamans from across the country gather at
the site of a big tree called “Eej Mod” which means “Mother Tree”. Its
not an organized religion. There is not a particular set of practices
known throughout the entire Shamanism world. They don’t have any
religious holy place like Church or Mosque. Many anthropologists have
declared it a set of the oldest religious practices in human
civilizations and most of today’s organized religions have roots of some
practices from Shamanism. Though there is not an exact period about the
origin of Shamanism, but it has been the dominating religion of
Turko-Mongol ethnic groups in Siberia and Central Asia for centuries.
Today followers of Shamanism are found in largest number in Japan,
Korea, China, Mongolia and Africa. Shamans are the messengers between
the humans and spiritual world. Among Mongols, many families have a
Shaman, who is responsible for the religious stuff like communication
between spirits of the family members and other good and evil spirits.
When we reached the site, large number of people had already arrived there. I saw people praying around the “Mother Tree”. Pieces of cloth were tied to the tree, mostly blue. People were making rounds of the tree and throwing milk, vodka or some beans on the tree. There was a table near the tree decorated with Mongolian cake, milk, vodka and candles. People would keep some food items, like chocolate, there and pray. We followed all the practices to have a better understanding of the belief of people. There was another small table of candles near the tree. Everyone would go to the candles and take some “blessings” from the smoke of candles. So did I. There was a kind of hole in the tree, fit for a human head to go inside. People had lined to make special prayers with their heads in that hole. I also did it, but had no idea what to say or pray. Though i am a secular person but have respect for all beliefs. People were throwing Vodka and milk on that tree while making rounds. I took the bottle of Vodka and packet of milk from my friend and followed others. To understand best a belief, one has to be practically among the followers and closely see what and how they do. Families had come with children from far-flung areas to attend this festival. Some had even brought tents. A group of Shamans were beating the drum near by the tree and doing prayers, running rounds and making a strange noise. The grand prayer with all Shamans had to start later at 10am. We had much time till then and left for breakfast back to the hotel. Sukhbataar is a small city. We were lucky to find a small restaurant with Khushuur, Tsutai Tsai (milk tea) and soup in the morning, when most restaurants are closed in small cities. My Chinese friend, who had an argument about the flying capability of Shamans, again started a discussion during the breakfast. I said “when you go rounds and rounds, you feel dizzy. Shamans make rounds of the tree running, they drink Vodka during this practice. While extremely dizzy, it feels as if someone is flying”. Everyone laughed and this was funny to be reasonable for my friend. I told him that i made this joke to make him understand and keep quiet on how Shamans can fly? After the breakfast, we left back to “Mother Tree”, about 20 minutes drive north of Sukhbaatar city.
Now the grand prayers were to start soon. People were making a big circle around the tree. We sat in the first row. All Shamans, male and female, were gathering around the tree to start the prayers. Their was a senior Shaman reading the prayers and other Shamans and people, including us, would say “Khuree”, which means the word “Ameen” in Islam and Christianity. People were still throwing Vodka and milk on the tree. My back and cap were wet with milk and Vodka thrown from behind, coming like rain drops. After the prayers were finished, Shamans started running around the tree, beating the drums with a stick in their hand. I asked my Mongol friend what do they mean by doing this? He said they will now start communication with spirits and someone’s spirit “will come” in them! When these Shamans would fall down, their family members carrying them from shoulder would take up and give another drink of Vodka. I was amused by these all unique religious practices. While thinking later about all the practices i saw, i believed most of the very ancient practices of Christianity, Islam and other organized religions were taken from Shamanism. For instance, fear of nature was the causes of many ancient religious practices in almost all religions of the world. Shamanism is also mainly based on fear of nature and spiritual world. After several rounds of the tree, those Shamans would fall down making loud noise in strange language. It was when they would “go to the spiritual world and talk with spirits”. They believe good and bad spirits exist and that Shamans can heal disease with the help of spirits, most probably “good spirits”. There is a similar concept of good and bad “Jin” among Muslims. “Jin” is spirit or a supernatural creature, that some magicians try to control with verses of Quran and solve problems or cure disease by them. In today’s modern era of scientific advancement, Its still a good business for some Mullah thugs to loot ignorant people in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. http://hazarainmongolia.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/travels-darkhan-russia-mongolia-border-and-shamanism/img_4851/
Mother Tree below
When we reached the site, large number of people had already arrived there. I saw people praying around the “Mother Tree”. Pieces of cloth were tied to the tree, mostly blue. People were making rounds of the tree and throwing milk, vodka or some beans on the tree. There was a table near the tree decorated with Mongolian cake, milk, vodka and candles. People would keep some food items, like chocolate, there and pray. We followed all the practices to have a better understanding of the belief of people. There was another small table of candles near the tree. Everyone would go to the candles and take some “blessings” from the smoke of candles. So did I. There was a kind of hole in the tree, fit for a human head to go inside. People had lined to make special prayers with their heads in that hole. I also did it, but had no idea what to say or pray. Though i am a secular person but have respect for all beliefs. People were throwing Vodka and milk on that tree while making rounds. I took the bottle of Vodka and packet of milk from my friend and followed others. To understand best a belief, one has to be practically among the followers and closely see what and how they do. Families had come with children from far-flung areas to attend this festival. Some had even brought tents. A group of Shamans were beating the drum near by the tree and doing prayers, running rounds and making a strange noise. The grand prayer with all Shamans had to start later at 10am. We had much time till then and left for breakfast back to the hotel. Sukhbataar is a small city. We were lucky to find a small restaurant with Khushuur, Tsutai Tsai (milk tea) and soup in the morning, when most restaurants are closed in small cities. My Chinese friend, who had an argument about the flying capability of Shamans, again started a discussion during the breakfast. I said “when you go rounds and rounds, you feel dizzy. Shamans make rounds of the tree running, they drink Vodka during this practice. While extremely dizzy, it feels as if someone is flying”. Everyone laughed and this was funny to be reasonable for my friend. I told him that i made this joke to make him understand and keep quiet on how Shamans can fly? After the breakfast, we left back to “Mother Tree”, about 20 minutes drive north of Sukhbaatar city.
Now the grand prayers were to start soon. People were making a big circle around the tree. We sat in the first row. All Shamans, male and female, were gathering around the tree to start the prayers. Their was a senior Shaman reading the prayers and other Shamans and people, including us, would say “Khuree”, which means the word “Ameen” in Islam and Christianity. People were still throwing Vodka and milk on the tree. My back and cap were wet with milk and Vodka thrown from behind, coming like rain drops. After the prayers were finished, Shamans started running around the tree, beating the drums with a stick in their hand. I asked my Mongol friend what do they mean by doing this? He said they will now start communication with spirits and someone’s spirit “will come” in them! When these Shamans would fall down, their family members carrying them from shoulder would take up and give another drink of Vodka. I was amused by these all unique religious practices. While thinking later about all the practices i saw, i believed most of the very ancient practices of Christianity, Islam and other organized religions were taken from Shamanism. For instance, fear of nature was the causes of many ancient religious practices in almost all religions of the world. Shamanism is also mainly based on fear of nature and spiritual world. After several rounds of the tree, those Shamans would fall down making loud noise in strange language. It was when they would “go to the spiritual world and talk with spirits”. They believe good and bad spirits exist and that Shamans can heal disease with the help of spirits, most probably “good spirits”. There is a similar concept of good and bad “Jin” among Muslims. “Jin” is spirit or a supernatural creature, that some magicians try to control with verses of Quran and solve problems or cure disease by them. In today’s modern era of scientific advancement, Its still a good business for some Mullah thugs to loot ignorant people in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. http://hazarainmongolia.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/travels-darkhan-russia-mongolia-border-and-shamanism/img_4851/
Mother Tree below
Khazar burial artifacts found in mound
Here are short descriptions of the three Khazarian mounds:
Khazarian Mound 9: Excavated by the student group. Was robbed in the past. Very few human bones. A golden earring, some pieces of ceramics, and two arrow-heads were found.
Photos:
Khazarian Mound 9: Excavated by the student group. Was robbed in the past. Very few human bones. A golden earring, some pieces of ceramics, and two arrow-heads were found.
Photos:
http://www.da.aaanet.ru/exped/chkur201_en.htm
Khazar fortress at Sarkel (Belaya Vyezha, Russia). Aerial photo from
excavations conducted by M. I. Artamanov during the 1930's. Public
domain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazar
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF KHAZARIA
http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-history.html
by Kevin Alan Brook, Copyright © 1996-2009 Latest revision: November 2009.
"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, Second Edition" by Kevin Alan Brook (2006). 10 chapters, plus glossary, timeline, bibliography, maps, notes. Click here for table of contents, reviews, and more information.
"The World of the Khazars" edited by Peter B. Golden, Haggai Ben-Shammai, and András Róna-Tas (2007)
"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, 2009)
"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
http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-history.html
by Kevin Alan Brook, Copyright © 1996-2009 Latest revision: November 2009.
"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, Second Edition" by Kevin Alan Brook (2006). 10 chapters, plus glossary, timeline, bibliography, maps, notes. Click here for table of contents, reviews, and more information.
"The World of the Khazars" edited by Peter B. Golden, Haggai Ben-Shammai, and András Róna-Tas (2007)
"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, 2009)
"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
Originally, the Khazars practiced traditional Turkic shamanism, focused on the sky god Tengri, but were heavily influenced by Confucian ideas imported from China, notably that of the Mandate of Heaven. The Ashina
clan were considered to be the chosen of Tengri and the kaghan was the
incarnation of the favor the sky-god bestowed on the Turks. A kaghan who
failed had clearly lost the god's favor and was typically ritually executed.
Historians have sometimes wondered, only half in jest, whether the
Khazar tendency to occasionally execute their rulers on religious
grounds led those rulers to seek out other religions.
The Khazars worshipped a number of deities subordinate to Tengri, including the fertility goddess Umay, Kuara, a thunder god, and Erlik, the god of death. "
Khazar kingship was divided between the khagan and the Bek or Khagan Bek. Contemporary Arab historians related that the Khagan was purely a spiritual ruler or figurehead with limited powers, while the Bek was responsible for administration and military affairs.
Both the Khagan and the Khagan Bek lived in Itil. The Khagan's palace, according to Arab sources, was on an island in the Volga River. He was reported to have 25 wives, each the daughter of a client ruler; this may, however, have been an exaggeration.
In the Khazar Correspondence, King Joseph identifies himself as the ruler of the Khazars and makes no reference to a colleague. It has been disputed whether Joseph was a Khagan or a Bek; his description of his military campaigns make the latter probable. However, аccording to the Schechter Letter, king Joseph is identified as not Khagan. A third option is that by the time of the Correspondence (c. 950-960) the Khazars had merged the two positions into a single ruler, or that the Beks had somehow supplanted the Khagans or vice versa.
The Khazar dual kingship may have influenced other people; power was similarly divided among the early Hungarian people between the sacral king, or kende, and the military king, or gyula. Similarly, according to Ibn Fadlan, the early Oghuz Turks had a warlord, the Kudarkin, who was subordinate to the reigning yabghu.
The Dulo Clan or the House of Dulo was the name of the ruling dynasty of the early Bulgars. This was the clan of Kubrat who founded Old Great Bulgaria[1], and his sons Batbayan, Kuber and Asparuh, the latter of which founded Danube Bulgaria.
A later genealogy claims that the Dulo clan is descended from Attila the Hun. As Kubrat is mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions and if John of Nikiu's "Quetrades" is indeed Kubrat, it is also likely that they were somewhat related to the Ashina clan adopting its Tamga, though it seems that Dulo not only broke off from the royal Ashina clan, but became totally opposed to it, manifesting it not only in opposition to the Khazar Kaganate headed by an Ashina kagan, but also demonstratively not using the name. The Dulo clan name descends from the Dulo (Tiele) tribe group, and the Dulo/Ashina opposition was a main cause of the ethnic conflicts that tore apart the Turkic Kaganate, and a little later the Western Turkic Kaganate, bringing about the creation of the Great Bulgaria, and the emergence of Danube Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria and Rus kaganate in the early 800 CE.
Dulo Hill on Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the Bulgarian ruling dynasty of Dulo.[2]
The trident tamga of the Dulo clan is the tamga of the Ashina clan, a trident later found in the coat of arms of the Bulgarian and Rus dynasties adopted as the national symbol of the Ukraine and Crimea.
A tamga or tamgha (tamga is a Altaic word and means "stamp or seal". It also has similar meaning in Turkish: damga, "mark", "stamp," or Mongolian: "tamag") is an abstract seal or stamp used by Altaic Eurasian nomadic peoples and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the emblem of a particular tribe, clan or family. They were common among the Mongols, Scythians, Sarmatians, Bulgars, Alans, all Turkic peoples, including Khazars and Uyghurs. Neighboring sedentary people sometimes adopted tamga-like symbols; for example, the stylized trident tamga, or seal were used by various peoples of Eastern Europe and Asia: Kushans, Bulgarians, the House of Dulo, Rus', Khazars, Kypchaks, Tatars, Hungarians, Lithuanians and Poles.[1] Archaeologists prize tamgas as a first-rate source for the study of present and extinct cultures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulo_clan
Mongolian - ince the time when the ancients, including the Mongol nations have developed into relative groups, origins, and ethnic groups, the symbol and belief of a clan have emerged, and a custom to distinguish their origins and relatives have been established. Consequently, when labor distributions within clans began to develop and people started to manage an economy, various tamghas, drawings, notes and earmarks have been used as an identification sign for labor instruments and utilities as well as in domestication of animals. Every time the clan branched off due to internal clashes, the number of derivative tamghas been gradually developed into personal, family, lineage, khans, and state tamghas. Those new tamghas were created through adding new markings on the original tamgha, in order to conserve the tradition. "Tamga" or "tamag" literally means just a stamp or seal in the Mongolian language. Tamgas are also stamped using hot irons on domesticated animals such as horses in present-day Mongolia and others to identify that the livestock belongs to a certain family while they graze during the day on their own. In this regard, each family has their own tamga markings for easier identification. Tamga marking in that case is not very elaborate and is just a curved iron differentiating from other families' tamgas. Mongolian president also passes the state "seal" or "tamag" when he/she transitions the position to the new president. In the presidential case, the tamag or seal is little more elaborate and is contained in a wooden box.
Tamga used by Turkic peoples Flag of the Crimean Tatars, sporting the traditional tamğa. Among modern Turkic people, the tamga is a design identifying property or cattle belonging to a specific Turkic clan, usually as a cattle brand or stamp.
When Turkish clans took over more urban or rural areas, tamgas dropped out of use as pastoral ways of life became forgotten. This is most evident in the Turkish clans who took over western and eastern Anatolia following the Battle of Manzikert. The Turks who took over western Anatolia founded the Sultanate of Rum and became Roman-style aristocrats. Most of them adopted the (at the time) Muslim symbol of the Seal of Suleyman after the sultanate disintegrated into a mass of feuding Ghazi states (see Candaroglu, Karamanid). Only the Ottoman Ghazi state (later to become the Ottoman Empire) kept its tamga, and this was highly stylized, so much so that the bow was stylized down eventually to a crescent moon.
The Turks who remained pastoral nomad kings in eastern Anatolia and Iran however, continued to use their clan tamgas, and in fact they became high-strung nationalistic imagery. The Ak Koyunlu, like many other royal dynasties in Eurasia, put their tamga on their flags and stamped their coinage with it.
For those Turks who never left their homeland of Turkestan in the first place it remained and still is what it was originally, a cattle brand and clan identifier.
Tamga and Uran Traditionally, each tribe and clan has its tamga and uran battle cry, and the identity of such ethnic groups is defined by both attributes. While tamgas are more conservative and some can be traced back for two millennia, the battle cries are more fluid, and the present urans are frequently associated with tribal divisions, migrations, and relatively late religious symbols. The urans have survived until the present among most of the Turkic people, a necessary component of their ethnological description. Among Germanic and Slavic peoples they have taken the form of the famous battle cries, the English "Hurray" and the Slavic "Urra".
The Tamga in Polish heraldry Polish heraldry includes the extensive use of horseshoes, arrows, Maltese crosses, scythes, stars and crescents as well as many purely geometrical shapes for which a separate set of heraldic terms was invented. It has been suggested that originally all Polish coats of arms were based on such abstract geometrical shapes, but most were gradually "rationalized" into horseshoes, arrows and so on. If this hypothesis is correct, it suggests in turn that Polish heraldry, also unlike Western European heraldry, may be at least partly derived from a kind of rune-like symbols: the Tamgas used by nomadic peoples of the Steppe, such as the Sarmatians or the Avars, to mark property. However, the evidence about the origins of the system is scanty, and this hypothesis has been criticized as being part of the Polish noble tradition of romanticizing their supposed Sarmatian ancestry. On this matter, research and controversy continue.
Urdu In the Urdu language (which absorbed Turkic vocabulary), Tamgha is used as medal. Tamgha-i-Jurat is the 4th highest Military medal of Pakistan. It is admissible to all ranks for gallantry and distinguished services in combat. Tamgha-i-Imtiaz or Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Urdu: تمغہ امتیاز), which translates as the medal of excellence, is fourth highest honour given by the Government of Pakistan to both the military and civilians. Tamgha-i-Khidmat or Tamgha-e-Khidmat (Urdu: تمغہءخدمت), which translates as the medal of services , is 7th highest honour given by the Government of Pakistan to both the military and civilians. It is admissible to non commissioned officers other ranks for long meritorious or distinguished services of a non-operational nature.
In Egypt, the term damgha دمغة or tamgha تمغة is still used in several contexts:
The first is a tax or fee when dealing with the government. It is normally in the form of stamps that have to be purchased and affixed to most government form, be they a driver license, registration of a contact, any most other forms. The term is derived from Ottoman times.
The other is a stamp that every piece of jewelry made from gold or silver must have to ensure it is genuine, and not made of lesser metals.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamga
The Khazars worshipped a number of deities subordinate to Tengri, including the fertility goddess Umay, Kuara, a thunder god, and Erlik, the god of death. "
Khazar kingship was divided between the khagan and the Bek or Khagan Bek. Contemporary Arab historians related that the Khagan was purely a spiritual ruler or figurehead with limited powers, while the Bek was responsible for administration and military affairs.
Both the Khagan and the Khagan Bek lived in Itil. The Khagan's palace, according to Arab sources, was on an island in the Volga River. He was reported to have 25 wives, each the daughter of a client ruler; this may, however, have been an exaggeration.
In the Khazar Correspondence, King Joseph identifies himself as the ruler of the Khazars and makes no reference to a colleague. It has been disputed whether Joseph was a Khagan or a Bek; his description of his military campaigns make the latter probable. However, аccording to the Schechter Letter, king Joseph is identified as not Khagan. A third option is that by the time of the Correspondence (c. 950-960) the Khazars had merged the two positions into a single ruler, or that the Beks had somehow supplanted the Khagans or vice versa.
The Khazar dual kingship may have influenced other people; power was similarly divided among the early Hungarian people between the sacral king, or kende, and the military king, or gyula. Similarly, according to Ibn Fadlan, the early Oghuz Turks had a warlord, the Kudarkin, who was subordinate to the reigning yabghu.
The Dulo Clan or the House of Dulo was the name of the ruling dynasty of the early Bulgars. This was the clan of Kubrat who founded Old Great Bulgaria[1], and his sons Batbayan, Kuber and Asparuh, the latter of which founded Danube Bulgaria.
A later genealogy claims that the Dulo clan is descended from Attila the Hun. As Kubrat is mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions and if John of Nikiu's "Quetrades" is indeed Kubrat, it is also likely that they were somewhat related to the Ashina clan adopting its Tamga, though it seems that Dulo not only broke off from the royal Ashina clan, but became totally opposed to it, manifesting it not only in opposition to the Khazar Kaganate headed by an Ashina kagan, but also demonstratively not using the name. The Dulo clan name descends from the Dulo (Tiele) tribe group, and the Dulo/Ashina opposition was a main cause of the ethnic conflicts that tore apart the Turkic Kaganate, and a little later the Western Turkic Kaganate, bringing about the creation of the Great Bulgaria, and the emergence of Danube Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria and Rus kaganate in the early 800 CE.
Dulo Hill on Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the Bulgarian ruling dynasty of Dulo.[2]
The trident tamga of the Dulo clan is the tamga of the Ashina clan, a trident later found in the coat of arms of the Bulgarian and Rus dynasties adopted as the national symbol of the Ukraine and Crimea.
A tamga or tamgha (tamga is a Altaic word and means "stamp or seal". It also has similar meaning in Turkish: damga, "mark", "stamp," or Mongolian: "tamag") is an abstract seal or stamp used by Altaic Eurasian nomadic peoples and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the emblem of a particular tribe, clan or family. They were common among the Mongols, Scythians, Sarmatians, Bulgars, Alans, all Turkic peoples, including Khazars and Uyghurs. Neighboring sedentary people sometimes adopted tamga-like symbols; for example, the stylized trident tamga, or seal were used by various peoples of Eastern Europe and Asia: Kushans, Bulgarians, the House of Dulo, Rus', Khazars, Kypchaks, Tatars, Hungarians, Lithuanians and Poles.[1] Archaeologists prize tamgas as a first-rate source for the study of present and extinct cultures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulo_clan
Mongolian - ince the time when the ancients, including the Mongol nations have developed into relative groups, origins, and ethnic groups, the symbol and belief of a clan have emerged, and a custom to distinguish their origins and relatives have been established. Consequently, when labor distributions within clans began to develop and people started to manage an economy, various tamghas, drawings, notes and earmarks have been used as an identification sign for labor instruments and utilities as well as in domestication of animals. Every time the clan branched off due to internal clashes, the number of derivative tamghas been gradually developed into personal, family, lineage, khans, and state tamghas. Those new tamghas were created through adding new markings on the original tamgha, in order to conserve the tradition. "Tamga" or "tamag" literally means just a stamp or seal in the Mongolian language. Tamgas are also stamped using hot irons on domesticated animals such as horses in present-day Mongolia and others to identify that the livestock belongs to a certain family while they graze during the day on their own. In this regard, each family has their own tamga markings for easier identification. Tamga marking in that case is not very elaborate and is just a curved iron differentiating from other families' tamgas. Mongolian president also passes the state "seal" or "tamag" when he/she transitions the position to the new president. In the presidential case, the tamag or seal is little more elaborate and is contained in a wooden box.
Tamga used by Turkic peoples Flag of the Crimean Tatars, sporting the traditional tamğa. Among modern Turkic people, the tamga is a design identifying property or cattle belonging to a specific Turkic clan, usually as a cattle brand or stamp.
When Turkish clans took over more urban or rural areas, tamgas dropped out of use as pastoral ways of life became forgotten. This is most evident in the Turkish clans who took over western and eastern Anatolia following the Battle of Manzikert. The Turks who took over western Anatolia founded the Sultanate of Rum and became Roman-style aristocrats. Most of them adopted the (at the time) Muslim symbol of the Seal of Suleyman after the sultanate disintegrated into a mass of feuding Ghazi states (see Candaroglu, Karamanid). Only the Ottoman Ghazi state (later to become the Ottoman Empire) kept its tamga, and this was highly stylized, so much so that the bow was stylized down eventually to a crescent moon.
The Turks who remained pastoral nomad kings in eastern Anatolia and Iran however, continued to use their clan tamgas, and in fact they became high-strung nationalistic imagery. The Ak Koyunlu, like many other royal dynasties in Eurasia, put their tamga on their flags and stamped their coinage with it.
For those Turks who never left their homeland of Turkestan in the first place it remained and still is what it was originally, a cattle brand and clan identifier.
Tamga and Uran Traditionally, each tribe and clan has its tamga and uran battle cry, and the identity of such ethnic groups is defined by both attributes. While tamgas are more conservative and some can be traced back for two millennia, the battle cries are more fluid, and the present urans are frequently associated with tribal divisions, migrations, and relatively late religious symbols. The urans have survived until the present among most of the Turkic people, a necessary component of their ethnological description. Among Germanic and Slavic peoples they have taken the form of the famous battle cries, the English "Hurray" and the Slavic "Urra".
The Tamga in Polish heraldry Polish heraldry includes the extensive use of horseshoes, arrows, Maltese crosses, scythes, stars and crescents as well as many purely geometrical shapes for which a separate set of heraldic terms was invented. It has been suggested that originally all Polish coats of arms were based on such abstract geometrical shapes, but most were gradually "rationalized" into horseshoes, arrows and so on. If this hypothesis is correct, it suggests in turn that Polish heraldry, also unlike Western European heraldry, may be at least partly derived from a kind of rune-like symbols: the Tamgas used by nomadic peoples of the Steppe, such as the Sarmatians or the Avars, to mark property. However, the evidence about the origins of the system is scanty, and this hypothesis has been criticized as being part of the Polish noble tradition of romanticizing their supposed Sarmatian ancestry. On this matter, research and controversy continue.
Urdu In the Urdu language (which absorbed Turkic vocabulary), Tamgha is used as medal. Tamgha-i-Jurat is the 4th highest Military medal of Pakistan. It is admissible to all ranks for gallantry and distinguished services in combat. Tamgha-i-Imtiaz or Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Urdu: تمغہ امتیاز), which translates as the medal of excellence, is fourth highest honour given by the Government of Pakistan to both the military and civilians. Tamgha-i-Khidmat or Tamgha-e-Khidmat (Urdu: تمغہءخدمت), which translates as the medal of services , is 7th highest honour given by the Government of Pakistan to both the military and civilians. It is admissible to non commissioned officers other ranks for long meritorious or distinguished services of a non-operational nature.
In Egypt, the term damgha دمغة or tamgha تمغة is still used in several contexts:
The first is a tax or fee when dealing with the government. It is normally in the form of stamps that have to be purchased and affixed to most government form, be they a driver license, registration of a contact, any most other forms. The term is derived from Ottoman times.
The other is a stamp that every piece of jewelry made from gold or silver must have to ensure it is genuine, and not made of lesser metals.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamga
Wanderers
http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Places/Place/339482
During the 8th and 9th centuries, the Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who occupied a large part of southern Russia - the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus - from the 6th to the 11th centuries. (The name 'Khazar' may mean "wanderer", but the etymology is uncertain.) In the 7th century, the Khazars founded an independent kingdom or Khaganate in the Northern Caucasus along the Caspian Sea. Initially Tengri shamanists, (Tengriism comes in several forms, depending on the peoples that adopted it, from China's Xiongnu to the Bulgars; it also features, in common with Nordic myth, the notion of a World Tree holding up the heavens) they seem to have had a refreshingly tolerant attitude to other creeds, many of them converting to Christianity, Islam, and other religions.
Judaism became the official faith in the 8th century. At their height, they and their tributaries controlled much of what is today southern Russia, western Kazakhstan, the eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and the Crimea. Itil, also known as Atil (means "big river" - this name also refers to the Volga) was the capital of the Khazars from circa 750 to the middle of the 10th century AD. Itil was established by the delta of the Volga sometime early during the 8th century AD, that is a few decades after the establishment of the Khazarian Kaganate (around 650 AD). Its first capital was Balanjar (which fell to al-Djarrah ibn Abdullah in 722-723), then Samandar, deemed too close to the territories occupied by the Arabs in the light of the defeat of the Khazars in the second Khazar-Arab war; Itil finally became the third capital circa 750 AD.
At this time, Itil was flourishing, thanks to its location. Following the plan of a campsite on seven concentric rings, it was judiciously established at the crossroad of several commercial roads, one of which being the famous Silk Road, guaranteeing its prosperity as a major trading point. But it wasn't its only function: Itil was also refered to as Khamlij in contemporary Arab sources, a name probably derived from the Hebrew word ha-melekh, meaning "king" hinting at the fact that it was also a royal city.
The City:
Itil was built on both sides of the main branch of the Volga and on an island in between. The western side was refered to as Khazaran and was mostly inhabited by the Khazars, in particular its nobility and the army, as well as serving as an administrative center. The courthouse was also located there: it is interesting to note that seven judges were appointed, representing the multiple religions cohabitating in Itil: 2 were Christian, 2 Jewish and 2 Muslim; another was appointed for the pagans. Each of these religions had its own cult center within the city. This multi-ethnicity was certainly a result of the importance of trade resulting from the traffic generated by the various trade roads, and was certainly particularly striking in the eastern half of the city, Itil, as it was the trade center as well as the home to numerous merchants and artisans. One could travel from one side to the other by boat, while the island where the royal palace stood surrounded by gardens and vineyards, was connected to the western side by a bridge. The royal palace was the only building of backed bricks; some homes were made of clay, but the majority were of felt and wood. They would reside there during winter, but a part of the population would migrate to the surrounding steppes in spring and summer to cultivate their crops. Their diet was dominated by fish and vegetables.
Originally the Khazars were allied with various Norse factions who controlled the region around Holmgardr and regularly travelled through Khazar-held territory to attack territories around the Black and Caspian Seas. By 913, however, the Khazars were engaged in open hostilities with Norse marauders. The Khazar fortress of Sarkel, constructed with Byzantine aid around 830, may have been constructed as a defense against Varangian-Rus incursions, as well as attacks by nomadic people such as the Pechenegs.
In the 10th century the empire began to decline due to the attacks of both Vikings from Kievan Rus and various Turkic tribes. It enjoyed a brief revival under the strong rulers Aaron and Joseph, who subdued rebellious client states such as the Alans and led victorious wars against Varangian-Rus invaders.
Kabar rebellion and the departure of the Magyars:
At some point in the ninth century, a group of three Khazar clans called the Kabars revolted against the Khazar government. It is speculated that the revolt had something to do with a rejection of rabbinic Judaism; this is unlikely as it is believed that both the Kabars and mainstream Khazars had pagan, Jewish (both rabbinic and Karaite), Christian, and Muslim members. The Kabars were led by the Khagan Khan-Tuvan Dyggvi in a war against the Bek. The Kabars were defeated and joined a confederacy led by the Magyars. It has been speculated that "Hungarian" derives from the Turkic word "Onogur", or "Ten Arrows", referring to seven Finno-Ugric tribes and the three tribes of the Kabars.
In the closing years of the ninth century the Khazars and Oghuz allied to attack the Pechenegs, who had been attacking both nations. The Pechenegs were driven westward, where they forced out the Magyars (Hungarians) who had previously inhabited the Don-Dnieper basin in vassalage to Khazaria. Under the leadership of the chieftain Lebedias and later Arpad, the Hungarians moved west into modern-day Hungary. The departure of the Hungarians led to an unstable power vacuum and the loss of Khazar control over the steppes north of the Black Sea.
The alliance with the Byzantines began to collapse in the early 900s, possibly as a result of the conversion to Judaism. Byzantine and Khazar forces may have clashed in the Crimea, and by the 940s Constantine VII Porphyrogentius was speculating in De Administrando Imperio about ways in which the Khazars could be isolated and attacked. The Byzantines during the same period began to attempt alliances with the Pechenegs and the Varangian Rus, with varying degrees of success.
The Rus warlords Oleg and Sviatoslav I of Kiev, with the help of Norse warriors launched several wars against the Khazar khaganate, often with Byzantine connivance. Sviatoslav finally succeeded in destroying Khazar imperial power in the 960s. The Khazar fortresses of Sarkel and Tamatarkha fell to the Rus in 965, with the capital city of Itil following circa 967 or 969.
During the 8th and 9th centuries, the Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who occupied a large part of southern Russia - the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus - from the 6th to the 11th centuries. (The name 'Khazar' may mean "wanderer", but the etymology is uncertain.) In the 7th century, the Khazars founded an independent kingdom or Khaganate in the Northern Caucasus along the Caspian Sea. Initially Tengri shamanists, (Tengriism comes in several forms, depending on the peoples that adopted it, from China's Xiongnu to the Bulgars; it also features, in common with Nordic myth, the notion of a World Tree holding up the heavens) they seem to have had a refreshingly tolerant attitude to other creeds, many of them converting to Christianity, Islam, and other religions.
Judaism became the official faith in the 8th century. At their height, they and their tributaries controlled much of what is today southern Russia, western Kazakhstan, the eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and the Crimea. Itil, also known as Atil (means "big river" - this name also refers to the Volga) was the capital of the Khazars from circa 750 to the middle of the 10th century AD. Itil was established by the delta of the Volga sometime early during the 8th century AD, that is a few decades after the establishment of the Khazarian Kaganate (around 650 AD). Its first capital was Balanjar (which fell to al-Djarrah ibn Abdullah in 722-723), then Samandar, deemed too close to the territories occupied by the Arabs in the light of the defeat of the Khazars in the second Khazar-Arab war; Itil finally became the third capital circa 750 AD.
At this time, Itil was flourishing, thanks to its location. Following the plan of a campsite on seven concentric rings, it was judiciously established at the crossroad of several commercial roads, one of which being the famous Silk Road, guaranteeing its prosperity as a major trading point. But it wasn't its only function: Itil was also refered to as Khamlij in contemporary Arab sources, a name probably derived from the Hebrew word ha-melekh, meaning "king" hinting at the fact that it was also a royal city.
The City:
Itil was built on both sides of the main branch of the Volga and on an island in between. The western side was refered to as Khazaran and was mostly inhabited by the Khazars, in particular its nobility and the army, as well as serving as an administrative center. The courthouse was also located there: it is interesting to note that seven judges were appointed, representing the multiple religions cohabitating in Itil: 2 were Christian, 2 Jewish and 2 Muslim; another was appointed for the pagans. Each of these religions had its own cult center within the city. This multi-ethnicity was certainly a result of the importance of trade resulting from the traffic generated by the various trade roads, and was certainly particularly striking in the eastern half of the city, Itil, as it was the trade center as well as the home to numerous merchants and artisans. One could travel from one side to the other by boat, while the island where the royal palace stood surrounded by gardens and vineyards, was connected to the western side by a bridge. The royal palace was the only building of backed bricks; some homes were made of clay, but the majority were of felt and wood. They would reside there during winter, but a part of the population would migrate to the surrounding steppes in spring and summer to cultivate their crops. Their diet was dominated by fish and vegetables.
Originally the Khazars were allied with various Norse factions who controlled the region around Holmgardr and regularly travelled through Khazar-held territory to attack territories around the Black and Caspian Seas. By 913, however, the Khazars were engaged in open hostilities with Norse marauders. The Khazar fortress of Sarkel, constructed with Byzantine aid around 830, may have been constructed as a defense against Varangian-Rus incursions, as well as attacks by nomadic people such as the Pechenegs.
In the 10th century the empire began to decline due to the attacks of both Vikings from Kievan Rus and various Turkic tribes. It enjoyed a brief revival under the strong rulers Aaron and Joseph, who subdued rebellious client states such as the Alans and led victorious wars against Varangian-Rus invaders.
Kabar rebellion and the departure of the Magyars:
At some point in the ninth century, a group of three Khazar clans called the Kabars revolted against the Khazar government. It is speculated that the revolt had something to do with a rejection of rabbinic Judaism; this is unlikely as it is believed that both the Kabars and mainstream Khazars had pagan, Jewish (both rabbinic and Karaite), Christian, and Muslim members. The Kabars were led by the Khagan Khan-Tuvan Dyggvi in a war against the Bek. The Kabars were defeated and joined a confederacy led by the Magyars. It has been speculated that "Hungarian" derives from the Turkic word "Onogur", or "Ten Arrows", referring to seven Finno-Ugric tribes and the three tribes of the Kabars.
In the closing years of the ninth century the Khazars and Oghuz allied to attack the Pechenegs, who had been attacking both nations. The Pechenegs were driven westward, where they forced out the Magyars (Hungarians) who had previously inhabited the Don-Dnieper basin in vassalage to Khazaria. Under the leadership of the chieftain Lebedias and later Arpad, the Hungarians moved west into modern-day Hungary. The departure of the Hungarians led to an unstable power vacuum and the loss of Khazar control over the steppes north of the Black Sea.
The alliance with the Byzantines began to collapse in the early 900s, possibly as a result of the conversion to Judaism. Byzantine and Khazar forces may have clashed in the Crimea, and by the 940s Constantine VII Porphyrogentius was speculating in De Administrando Imperio about ways in which the Khazars could be isolated and attacked. The Byzantines during the same period began to attempt alliances with the Pechenegs and the Varangian Rus, with varying degrees of success.
The Rus warlords Oleg and Sviatoslav I of Kiev, with the help of Norse warriors launched several wars against the Khazar khaganate, often with Byzantine connivance. Sviatoslav finally succeeded in destroying Khazar imperial power in the 960s. The Khazar fortresses of Sarkel and Tamatarkha fell to the Rus in 965, with the capital city of Itil following circa 967 or 969.
The KHAZARS
The Khazars were a Turkic-speaking nation of semi-nomadic steppe dwellers living to the northwest of the Caspian Sea, near the portage between the Volga and Don Rivers. Proselytized by both Christian and Muslim missionaries, they took the remarkable step of converting to Judaism as a way of side-stepping potential domination by either the Byzantine Empire or the Caliphate.
Thereafter, they contained Muslim expansion beyond the Caucasus for several hundred years. Their Kingdom disintegrated in the 10th century, and they were dispersed as a people after the 13th. century. I have information on both the Khagans and also the military commanders, the Beks, and so include both. *
Early Khazar rulers... * Khozarig (Eponymous folk-ancestor) * Karadach..........................................fl. 450's * Khazar Khagans (Ashina dynasty) The Khagans were the supreme chiefs of the people, holding a position of much influence and spiritual authority, but not much actual day-to-day command. * Ziebel (Same as Tun Yabgu Khan in Sogdiana).......618-630 * Interregnum.......................................630-650 * Irbis ? ..........................................
fl. 650 * In this period of time (650's-680's), one will sometimes see references to a Khalga, fl. mid 660's, and a Kaban, fl. late 660's. Researchers should be aware that these names are derived from a single document, the Djagfar tarikhy, and that this document has been severely attacked by a great many scholars as being a mixture of factual data and outright fabrications. The Djagfar tarikhy purports to be a compiliation of early Bulgar historical information, assembled (or at least written in it's present form) in the late 17th century. It has been used by Volgan Tatars to provide documentation for extending their antecedents in their region back in time by many centuries. It's critics claim it to be a forgery created by or at the behest of the Soviet Secret Police (then the NKVD) in the 1930's, for the purpose of creating divisiveness and factionalism within the ethnic Tatars of that era. It is known that the Soviet government did create spurious historical documents on several occasions. The historicity of people that it refers to is questionable therefore, so until such time as there may come to light additional documentation, Khalga and Kaban should be regarded warily at best. * Busir (Ibuzir Glavan)...........................
c.690-715 * Busir Glavan took in the exiled Byzantine Emperor Justinian II and gave him his own sister (baptismal name Theodora). He later tried to kill Justinian to placate Tiberius III (to be fair, attempting to kill Justinian II was a fairly common passtime of the period), causing Justinian's flight to Bulgaria and his ultimate restoration to the throne. * Barjik.................................
fl. late 720's-731 * Barjik is famous for having annihilated an Arab army outside Ardebil (NW Iran) in 730, taking thousands of prisoners and plundering the region until his defeat and death at Mosul a year later. The victory at Ardebil was such a blow to the Arab psyche that for years it was referred to as "the Ardebil catastrophe." * Bihar..........................................fl. c. 732 * Bihar is the name given in some sources to the Khazar Khagan whose daughter Tzitzak married the future Byzantine Emperor Constantine V. Their son was Leo IV, called "Leo The Khazar". * Prisbit (fem.)(Regent ?).......................
fl. late 730's * To the Caliphate..................................737-c. 740 * Baghatur.......................................fl. c. 760 * Xan-Tuvan Dyggvi...............................c. 825-830 d. ? * "Tarkhan".............................................840's * Arab sources speak of "Tarkhan, King of the Khazars" during this period. Tarkhan can be both a proper name and a military rank, and it is unclear whether the sources refer to a Khagan named Tarkhan or are merely a confused reference to a general. * Zachariah..........................................
c. 860's * ?? * Khazar Beks The Beks were warlords, military commanders who exercised considerable day-to-day authority, and were sometimes regarded by outsiders as the supreme lords of the Khazar Nation. It is not entirely clear that the individuals listed before 737 were or were not Bulanids, or were Beks - they may have been simply warlords. Nevertheless, their activity parallels that of later Beks, and so they are included. * Yazir Bulash * Chorpan Tarkhan...................................mid 600's * Alp Tarkhan.....................................early 700's * Tar'mach.......................................fl. c. 730 * Hazer Tarkhan..................................... ? -737 * To the Caliphate..................................
737-c. 740 * Hazer's army was annihilated at Itil in 737: The Caliphate imposed Islam upon the Khazars. Nevertheless, the Caliphs could not adequately garrison Khazaria, and within a few years the Khazars were once again independent. The famous conversion to Judaism seems to have occured about this time. The date of the actual conversion to Judaism is a matter of some controversy. Traditionally it occurred around 740, though some Arab sources point to a date closer to the end of the 700s/early 800's and more recent scholars postulated that 861, the date of St. Cyril's visit to Khazaria, was the year of the conversion to Judaism.
The 2002 discovery of a coin hoard in Sweden further complicates the issue, as some of the coins bear dates from the early 800's and the legends "Ard al-Khazar" (Land of the Khazars) and "Moses is the Prophet of God". Bulan Sabriel was the Khazar ruler at the time of the conversion, but all the dates up to Aaron I are based on a 740 conversion date. * Bulanid dynasty * Bulan Sabriel..................................fl. c. 740 * Obadiah........................................c. 786-809 * Hezekiah * Manasseh I * Chanukkah * Isaac * Zebulun * Manasseh II * Nisi * Aaron I........................................fl. c. 900 * Menahem * Benjamin.......................................fl. c. 920 * Aaron II...............................c. late 920's -940 * Joseph........................................fl.
940-965 * Joseph corresponded with Hisdai ibn Shaprut, a Jewish vizier to Abd al-Rahman III, Caliph of Cordova. It is from this letter that the preceding list is taken. It is not 100% clear that the Bulanids were in fact not Khagans, though their power certainly appears to be that of the Beks. Moreover, it is possible that the positions merged in the 900's, as Joseph makes no reference to a colleague, instead referring to himself as "king of the Khazars." * In 969 Sviatoslav of Kiev sacked Itil, the capital of the Khazar Khaganate. Khazar successor states appear to have survived in the Caucasus and around the Black Sea. We know of two later Khazar rulers: * David (in Taman)...............................c. 986-988 * Georgius Tzul (In Kerch).......................... ?
-1016 * Georgius Tzul was captured by a joint Rus-Byzantine expedition and his state was destroyed. Shortly thereafter the Kipchaks became masters of the Pontic steppe (see Cumans). However, there continue to be tantalizing references in Muslim sources of battles against "Khazars" in the Caucasus well into the late 1000's- whether Khazar states continued to survive or their name was used generically to describe Caucasian highlanders is unclear. The fate of the Jewish Khazars is unclear. Jewish travellers of the 1100s continue to refer to them in passing.
Khazar Jews are known to have lived in Kiev and even to have emigrated to Spain, Egypt, and Iraq. The majority may have gone to Hungary, Poland and the Crimea, mingling with Jews in those areas and with later waves of Jewish immigrants from the west. Genetic testing has disproven that Ashkenazi Jews are primarily descended from the Khazars, but some admixture is highly probable. Note also, the name "Khazaria" survived, at least for a time, as the general label for the region of Crimea and the lands beside the Sea of Azov utilized by Genoese merchant-colonizers in the area. ----------------------------------------------
KHAZAR TIMELINE /PARTIAL/:
656 Campain of Chinese Empire Tan against W Türkic Khaganate. Sogdiana (Chinese "Kang-chu") occupied by Chinese (657-700). Resistance of Baiyrku, Sige, Bugu and Tonra tribes against Chinese occupation 657 657-659 Demise of W Türkic Kaganate 659 W Türkic Kagan Yshbara Khan died. W Türkic Kaganate ceased to exist forever
659 Unnamed members of W Türkic Kaganate royal Ashina clan move to western ulus E of Itil 660 Pletneva: 660 (provisional date) Migration of Khan Asparuh horde to Danube ? 682 Mission of Albania bishop Israil to Hunno-Savirs 684 Invasion of Khazars to S.Caucasia 695 Dethronement of Justinian II Cut-nose (685-695 d. 711) and his refuge in Kherson 705 Byzantian emperor Justinian II Cut-nose (705-711 restored)
711 Execution of Justinian II Cut-nose, Khazars attack of S.Caucasia
713 Capture of Derbent by Arab commander Maslama and intrusion of his armies into depth of Khazaria 717 Byzantian emperor Leo III from Isaurian mountains (717-741) with strong Türkic domestic and foreign orientation 721 Arab commander Jerrah campaign to Khazaria, capture of Belendjer 723 723-724 Arab commander Jerrah campaigns against Alans
730 Acceptance of Judaism by Khazarian Kagan Bulan of Ashina dynasty
730 730-731 Khazarian campaigns against Albania, capture of its capital Ardebil, defeat of Jerrah Arab army 732 Leo III Isaur's son prince Constantin Copronim's (Constantine V, 741-775) dynastic marriage to sister of Khazarian Kagan Chichak (Empress Irina) from Ashina clan 732 Arab commander Mervan campaign to Derbent and Belendjer ("Muddy Campaign") 735 Arab commander Mervan campaign to Khazaria, catastrophic defeat of Khazarian army 737 Acceptance by Khazarian Kagan Bardjil of Islam as a condition of staying in power
740 Byzantian emperor Constantine V (741-775), half Khazar and partially Türk on father's side
786 Baghdad Caliph Harun-ar-Rashid (786-809) 787 787-791 John the Goth revolt in Byzantian Crimea supported by Khazars 799 799-809 Reforms of Khazarian Kagan Obadia, official acceptance of Judaism as a state religion with continued policy of religious tolerance 810 810-820 Revolt of Tengrian Kabars in Khazarian Kaganate. Kabar clans eventually migrate to Pannonia, join Hungarians, and assimilate 822 822-836 Intrusion of Hungarians into Black Sea Coast where? against whom? 829 Byzantian emperor Theophilus (829-842) 834 Byzantian mission to Khazaria purportedly for construction of fortress in Sarkel, but not doing it
860 860-862 Kushtan (Constantine)-Baksan (baptized Cyril on his deathbed), brother of Bandja (baptized Methodius), travel to Khazaria 883 883-885 Conquest of Acathyrs (Slav. Drevlyan, i.e Foresters), and switch of some Seber clans (Slav. Severyan) and Radimiches to Salahbi Yolyg (yolyg means "divinator, prophet") (Slav. Oleg, aka Veschiy Oleg, i.e Oleg the Seer, 882-916) of incipient Kyiv Rus 889 Intrusion of Badjanks (Besenyos), displaced by Oguses from Yaik steppes, into N.Pontic steppes 890 Arbat (Arpad) Madjar of Dulo clan (ca 895-907), senior son of Bulgarian Kaan Almysh (895-925, baptized Djafar in 922) displaced chieftain Kurszán of Magyars (Madjars) as Prince of Magyars, future Hungarians, and established Arpad dynasty. Kurszán is moved to sacral figurehead position of the horde's tribal confederation.
Hungarians escape Khazarian domination after 3-years stay in Lebedia in Khazarian territory, and moving to Atelkuzy (future Bessarabia). Arbat (Arpad) Madjar must have been Bulgarian governor of N.Pontic ulus where Magyars led by chieftain Lebed stayed for 3-years. 894 Hungarian campaign to Danube 895 Defeat of Hungarians by Badjanks (Besenyos), retreat of Hungarians to Atelkuzu (future Bessarabia) 909 Capture by Ruses of Abesgun island in Caspian Sea 912 Reign of Ummayad Caliph Abdarrahman III (912-961)
913 Joined attack of Badjanks (Besenyos), Oguzes and Ases (Alans ) on Khazars 913 Raid of Rus state pirates on Caspian Sea coastal population headed by Salahbi Yolyg (Slav. Oleg, aka Veschiy Oleg, i.e Oleg the Seer, 882-916) 915 First encounter of Badjanks (Besenyos) with Rus and their peace with prince Ugyr Lachini (916-945, Slav. Igor the Old, son of Lachyn Dulo, aka Rürik, 855-882) 922 Travel of Ibn-Fadlan to Itil Bulgaria 932 Khazar-Alan war ends with victory of Khazars. Alans remain in Khazarian sphere as autonomous state and multiple Alanian colonies along Don-Severskiy Donets area
943 943-944 Raid of Rus state pirates on Caspian Sea coastal population including a winter in captured city Berda 954 954-961 Correspondence of Hasdai Ibn-Shafrut with Khazarian Kagan Joseph 965 Campaign of Kyiv Prince Barys (945-972, Slav. Svyatoslav I, son of Ugyr-Igor) on Khazars, capture of Itil and Sarkel. In Russian historiography this event is termed a dissolution of Khazar Kaganate and disappearance of its peoples 966 Switch of Nukrat (Slav. Vyatka, from Bulgarian Batysh = western, i.e Western Kipchaks) province's Khazarian tribute obligations from Khazaria to Kyiv Rus scored by Kyiv Prince Barys (945-972, Slav. Svyatoslav I) 977 977-985 Khazars turn to Horesm for help, Horesm help comes conditioned by conversion of Khazars to Islam and with occupation of Khazaria's Itil and some other cities by Horesmians
981 981-982 Conquest campaign of prince Kyiv Prince Vladimir son of Barys (Svyatoslavich) against western (Slav. Vyatka, from Türk. Batysh = western) Kipchak tribe 985 Kyiv Prince Vladimir's raid against Itil Bulgaria and Khazaria 1079 Khazars take prisoner Rus prince Oleg (Slav. Oleg Svyatoslavich) who was prince of captured city Tamiyatarkhan (Slav. Tmutarakan) ship him to Byzantium 1083 Rus prince Oleg returned to city Tamiyatarkhan (Slav. Tmutarakan) and retaliated to Khazars 986 Khazars present Judaism to Knyaz Vladimir of Kiev, Itil Bolgars present Islam.
1000 Khazars in Kievan Rus are Slavicized and adopt East Slavic language(1000-1300).
1016 Last Khazar Khagan Georgius Tzul is cuptured by combined army of Byzantine Basil II and Sfengus, brother of Kiev's Grand Prince Vladimir. Khazaria loses last independence and territories of Crimea and Taman.
1035 Established fort Khazar (Voronej) 1050 Before 800, Alans or Asses lived, together with Besenyos, around lower reaches of the Amu-darya (Uzboy) flowing into Caspian Sea, and later, after river changed its course, they migrated to coast of Sea of the Khazars
1096 Per Rabbi Nissim, seventeen Khazarian communities join nomads (Kengeres, Bolgars, Oguses)
1206 Khazar Jews are reported to use a form of Cyrillic script.
1222 Kotyan Khan's Cumans, Bulgars, Khazars and Alans in first fight with Mongol-Tatars, accept promise not to harm them as speakers of the same Kipchak dialect to withdraw, but are attacked and defeated. Capital of Alania Magas (Meget) is seized
1242 End of Daghestani Khazar kingdom. 1300 Descendants of Jewish Khazars in Eastern Europe adopt Yiddish language (1300-1500).
1309 Hungarian Christian clergy edicts that Catholics cannot marry "Khazars".
1349 Hungarian Jews, partly of Khazar origin, resettle in Poland and Austria.
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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. ------------------------------------------------- Encyclopedia Britannica;
KHAZARS, a national group of general Turkic type, independent and sovereign in Eastern Europe between the seventh and tenth centuries C.E. During part of this time the leading Khazars professed Judaism. The name is frequently pronounced with an a-vowel, as in the Greek Χάξαροι and Arabic Khazar (Ḥazar), but there are traces of a different pronunciation in Hebrew (Kuzari, pl. Kuzarim), Greek (Χότξιροι), and Chinese (Kʿo-sa). The name has been explained as having derived from Turkish qazmak ("to wander," "nomadize (?)"), or from quz ("side of mountain exposed to the north"). The latter etymology would account for the o/u-vowel in some forms of the name, for which no satisfactory explanation has been given.
The Origin of the Khazars
The Khazars, of Turkic stock, originally nomadic, reached the Volga-Caucasus region from farther east at some time not easily determinable. They may have belonged to the empire of the Huns (fifth century C.E.) as the Akatzirs, mentioned by Priscus. This name is said to be equivalent to Aq-Khazar, i.e., White Khazars, as opposed to the Qara-Khazar or Black Khazars mentioned by al-Iṣṭakhrī (see below). The Khazars probably belonged to the West Turkish Empire (from 552 C.E.), and they may have marched with Sinjibū (Istämi), the first khāqān of the West Turks, against the Sassanid (Persian) fortress of Ṣul or Darband.
In the time of Procopius (sixth century) the region immediately north of the Caucasus was held by the Sabirs, who are referred to by Jordanes as one of the two great branches of the Huns (Getica, ed. Mommsen, 63). Masʿūdī (tenth century C.E.) says that the Khazars are called in Turkish, Sabīr (Tanbīh, ed. Cairo, 1938, 72). In 627 (Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. De Boor, 1 (1883), 315) "the Turks from the East whom they call Khazars" under their chief, Ziebel, passed the Caspian Gates (Darband) and joined Heraclius at the siege of Tiflis. In view of what is known of a dual kingship among the Khazars (see below), it would be natural to assume that Ziebel, described by Theophanes as "second in rank to the khāqān," was the subordinate Khazar king or beg.
However, there are grounds for thinking that Ziebel stands for yabgu, a Turkish title – in the parallel Armenian account (Moses of Kalankatuk, trans. Dowsett, 87) he is called Jebu Khāqān – and that he is T'ung-ye-hu, Ye-hu Khagan of the Chinese sources, i.e., T'ung Yabgu, Yabgu Khāqān, the paramount ruler of the West Turks, who is represented as second in rank to "the King of the North, the lord of the whole world," i.e., the supreme khāqān of the Turks. In the narratives of Theophanes and Moses of Kalankatuk respectively, the Khazars are also called Turks and Huns.
From 681 C.E., we hear much in the latter author of the Huns of Varach ʿ an (Warathān), north of Darband, who evidently formed part of a Khazar confederation or empire. Their prince Alp Ilutver was often in attendance on the Khazar khāqān and was converted to Christianity by an Albanian bishop. It will be seen that the question of the precise racial affinities of the Khazars is not readily solved (see also below). There appears to be insufficient evidence to warrant the conclusion of K. Czeglédy that the Khazars were of Sabīr origin and distinct from the Caucasian Huns and West Turks ("Bemerkungen zur Geschichte der Chazaren," Acta Orientalia… Hungariae, 13 (1961), 245), since it is not known how far these ethnic names mean the same thing. Consolidation of the Khazar State According to Theophanes (ibid., 358), the ruler of the Bulgars in the region of the Kuban River (West Caucasus) died c. 650 C.E., leaving five sons of whom only the eldest remained in his inheritance, while the others moved further west, as far as the Danube. On this, the Khazars, described as a "great nation … from the interior of Berzilia in the First Sarmatia," emerged and took possession of the territory as far as the Black Sea. The change of position was completed by 679, when one of the brothers crossed the Danube and conquered present-day Bulgaria. Earlier than this, in 576 C.E., a West Turkish force had been present at the siege of Bosporus (Kerch) in the Crimea (Menander Protector, ed. Bonn, 404), but hitherto there is no mention of the Khazars as such so far to the west.
The Khazars were a Turkic-speaking nation of semi-nomadic steppe dwellers living to the northwest of the Caspian Sea, near the portage between the Volga and Don Rivers. Proselytized by both Christian and Muslim missionaries, they took the remarkable step of converting to Judaism as a way of side-stepping potential domination by either the Byzantine Empire or the Caliphate.
Thereafter, they contained Muslim expansion beyond the Caucasus for several hundred years. Their Kingdom disintegrated in the 10th century, and they were dispersed as a people after the 13th. century. I have information on both the Khagans and also the military commanders, the Beks, and so include both. *
Early Khazar rulers... * Khozarig (Eponymous folk-ancestor) * Karadach..........................................fl. 450's * Khazar Khagans (Ashina dynasty) The Khagans were the supreme chiefs of the people, holding a position of much influence and spiritual authority, but not much actual day-to-day command. * Ziebel (Same as Tun Yabgu Khan in Sogdiana).......618-630 * Interregnum.......................................630-650 * Irbis ? ..........................................
fl. 650 * In this period of time (650's-680's), one will sometimes see references to a Khalga, fl. mid 660's, and a Kaban, fl. late 660's. Researchers should be aware that these names are derived from a single document, the Djagfar tarikhy, and that this document has been severely attacked by a great many scholars as being a mixture of factual data and outright fabrications. The Djagfar tarikhy purports to be a compiliation of early Bulgar historical information, assembled (or at least written in it's present form) in the late 17th century. It has been used by Volgan Tatars to provide documentation for extending their antecedents in their region back in time by many centuries. It's critics claim it to be a forgery created by or at the behest of the Soviet Secret Police (then the NKVD) in the 1930's, for the purpose of creating divisiveness and factionalism within the ethnic Tatars of that era. It is known that the Soviet government did create spurious historical documents on several occasions. The historicity of people that it refers to is questionable therefore, so until such time as there may come to light additional documentation, Khalga and Kaban should be regarded warily at best. * Busir (Ibuzir Glavan)...........................
c.690-715 * Busir Glavan took in the exiled Byzantine Emperor Justinian II and gave him his own sister (baptismal name Theodora). He later tried to kill Justinian to placate Tiberius III (to be fair, attempting to kill Justinian II was a fairly common passtime of the period), causing Justinian's flight to Bulgaria and his ultimate restoration to the throne. * Barjik.................................
fl. late 720's-731 * Barjik is famous for having annihilated an Arab army outside Ardebil (NW Iran) in 730, taking thousands of prisoners and plundering the region until his defeat and death at Mosul a year later. The victory at Ardebil was such a blow to the Arab psyche that for years it was referred to as "the Ardebil catastrophe." * Bihar..........................................fl. c. 732 * Bihar is the name given in some sources to the Khazar Khagan whose daughter Tzitzak married the future Byzantine Emperor Constantine V. Their son was Leo IV, called "Leo The Khazar". * Prisbit (fem.)(Regent ?).......................
fl. late 730's * To the Caliphate..................................737-c. 740 * Baghatur.......................................fl. c. 760 * Xan-Tuvan Dyggvi...............................c. 825-830 d. ? * "Tarkhan".............................................840's * Arab sources speak of "Tarkhan, King of the Khazars" during this period. Tarkhan can be both a proper name and a military rank, and it is unclear whether the sources refer to a Khagan named Tarkhan or are merely a confused reference to a general. * Zachariah..........................................
c. 860's * ?? * Khazar Beks The Beks were warlords, military commanders who exercised considerable day-to-day authority, and were sometimes regarded by outsiders as the supreme lords of the Khazar Nation. It is not entirely clear that the individuals listed before 737 were or were not Bulanids, or were Beks - they may have been simply warlords. Nevertheless, their activity parallels that of later Beks, and so they are included. * Yazir Bulash * Chorpan Tarkhan...................................mid 600's * Alp Tarkhan.....................................early 700's * Tar'mach.......................................fl. c. 730 * Hazer Tarkhan..................................... ? -737 * To the Caliphate..................................
737-c. 740 * Hazer's army was annihilated at Itil in 737: The Caliphate imposed Islam upon the Khazars. Nevertheless, the Caliphs could not adequately garrison Khazaria, and within a few years the Khazars were once again independent. The famous conversion to Judaism seems to have occured about this time. The date of the actual conversion to Judaism is a matter of some controversy. Traditionally it occurred around 740, though some Arab sources point to a date closer to the end of the 700s/early 800's and more recent scholars postulated that 861, the date of St. Cyril's visit to Khazaria, was the year of the conversion to Judaism.
The 2002 discovery of a coin hoard in Sweden further complicates the issue, as some of the coins bear dates from the early 800's and the legends "Ard al-Khazar" (Land of the Khazars) and "Moses is the Prophet of God". Bulan Sabriel was the Khazar ruler at the time of the conversion, but all the dates up to Aaron I are based on a 740 conversion date. * Bulanid dynasty * Bulan Sabriel..................................fl. c. 740 * Obadiah........................................c. 786-809 * Hezekiah * Manasseh I * Chanukkah * Isaac * Zebulun * Manasseh II * Nisi * Aaron I........................................fl. c. 900 * Menahem * Benjamin.......................................fl. c. 920 * Aaron II...............................c. late 920's -940 * Joseph........................................fl.
940-965 * Joseph corresponded with Hisdai ibn Shaprut, a Jewish vizier to Abd al-Rahman III, Caliph of Cordova. It is from this letter that the preceding list is taken. It is not 100% clear that the Bulanids were in fact not Khagans, though their power certainly appears to be that of the Beks. Moreover, it is possible that the positions merged in the 900's, as Joseph makes no reference to a colleague, instead referring to himself as "king of the Khazars." * In 969 Sviatoslav of Kiev sacked Itil, the capital of the Khazar Khaganate. Khazar successor states appear to have survived in the Caucasus and around the Black Sea. We know of two later Khazar rulers: * David (in Taman)...............................c. 986-988 * Georgius Tzul (In Kerch).......................... ?
-1016 * Georgius Tzul was captured by a joint Rus-Byzantine expedition and his state was destroyed. Shortly thereafter the Kipchaks became masters of the Pontic steppe (see Cumans). However, there continue to be tantalizing references in Muslim sources of battles against "Khazars" in the Caucasus well into the late 1000's- whether Khazar states continued to survive or their name was used generically to describe Caucasian highlanders is unclear. The fate of the Jewish Khazars is unclear. Jewish travellers of the 1100s continue to refer to them in passing.
Khazar Jews are known to have lived in Kiev and even to have emigrated to Spain, Egypt, and Iraq. The majority may have gone to Hungary, Poland and the Crimea, mingling with Jews in those areas and with later waves of Jewish immigrants from the west. Genetic testing has disproven that Ashkenazi Jews are primarily descended from the Khazars, but some admixture is highly probable. Note also, the name "Khazaria" survived, at least for a time, as the general label for the region of Crimea and the lands beside the Sea of Azov utilized by Genoese merchant-colonizers in the area. ----------------------------------------------
KHAZAR TIMELINE /PARTIAL/:
656 Campain of Chinese Empire Tan against W Türkic Khaganate. Sogdiana (Chinese "Kang-chu") occupied by Chinese (657-700). Resistance of Baiyrku, Sige, Bugu and Tonra tribes against Chinese occupation 657 657-659 Demise of W Türkic Kaganate 659 W Türkic Kagan Yshbara Khan died. W Türkic Kaganate ceased to exist forever
659 Unnamed members of W Türkic Kaganate royal Ashina clan move to western ulus E of Itil 660 Pletneva: 660 (provisional date) Migration of Khan Asparuh horde to Danube ? 682 Mission of Albania bishop Israil to Hunno-Savirs 684 Invasion of Khazars to S.Caucasia 695 Dethronement of Justinian II Cut-nose (685-695 d. 711) and his refuge in Kherson 705 Byzantian emperor Justinian II Cut-nose (705-711 restored)
711 Execution of Justinian II Cut-nose, Khazars attack of S.Caucasia
713 Capture of Derbent by Arab commander Maslama and intrusion of his armies into depth of Khazaria 717 Byzantian emperor Leo III from Isaurian mountains (717-741) with strong Türkic domestic and foreign orientation 721 Arab commander Jerrah campaign to Khazaria, capture of Belendjer 723 723-724 Arab commander Jerrah campaigns against Alans
730 Acceptance of Judaism by Khazarian Kagan Bulan of Ashina dynasty
730 730-731 Khazarian campaigns against Albania, capture of its capital Ardebil, defeat of Jerrah Arab army 732 Leo III Isaur's son prince Constantin Copronim's (Constantine V, 741-775) dynastic marriage to sister of Khazarian Kagan Chichak (Empress Irina) from Ashina clan 732 Arab commander Mervan campaign to Derbent and Belendjer ("Muddy Campaign") 735 Arab commander Mervan campaign to Khazaria, catastrophic defeat of Khazarian army 737 Acceptance by Khazarian Kagan Bardjil of Islam as a condition of staying in power
740 Byzantian emperor Constantine V (741-775), half Khazar and partially Türk on father's side
786 Baghdad Caliph Harun-ar-Rashid (786-809) 787 787-791 John the Goth revolt in Byzantian Crimea supported by Khazars 799 799-809 Reforms of Khazarian Kagan Obadia, official acceptance of Judaism as a state religion with continued policy of religious tolerance 810 810-820 Revolt of Tengrian Kabars in Khazarian Kaganate. Kabar clans eventually migrate to Pannonia, join Hungarians, and assimilate 822 822-836 Intrusion of Hungarians into Black Sea Coast where? against whom? 829 Byzantian emperor Theophilus (829-842) 834 Byzantian mission to Khazaria purportedly for construction of fortress in Sarkel, but not doing it
860 860-862 Kushtan (Constantine)-Baksan (baptized Cyril on his deathbed), brother of Bandja (baptized Methodius), travel to Khazaria 883 883-885 Conquest of Acathyrs (Slav. Drevlyan, i.e Foresters), and switch of some Seber clans (Slav. Severyan) and Radimiches to Salahbi Yolyg (yolyg means "divinator, prophet") (Slav. Oleg, aka Veschiy Oleg, i.e Oleg the Seer, 882-916) of incipient Kyiv Rus 889 Intrusion of Badjanks (Besenyos), displaced by Oguses from Yaik steppes, into N.Pontic steppes 890 Arbat (Arpad) Madjar of Dulo clan (ca 895-907), senior son of Bulgarian Kaan Almysh (895-925, baptized Djafar in 922) displaced chieftain Kurszán of Magyars (Madjars) as Prince of Magyars, future Hungarians, and established Arpad dynasty. Kurszán is moved to sacral figurehead position of the horde's tribal confederation.
Hungarians escape Khazarian domination after 3-years stay in Lebedia in Khazarian territory, and moving to Atelkuzy (future Bessarabia). Arbat (Arpad) Madjar must have been Bulgarian governor of N.Pontic ulus where Magyars led by chieftain Lebed stayed for 3-years. 894 Hungarian campaign to Danube 895 Defeat of Hungarians by Badjanks (Besenyos), retreat of Hungarians to Atelkuzu (future Bessarabia) 909 Capture by Ruses of Abesgun island in Caspian Sea 912 Reign of Ummayad Caliph Abdarrahman III (912-961)
913 Joined attack of Badjanks (Besenyos), Oguzes and Ases (Alans ) on Khazars 913 Raid of Rus state pirates on Caspian Sea coastal population headed by Salahbi Yolyg (Slav. Oleg, aka Veschiy Oleg, i.e Oleg the Seer, 882-916) 915 First encounter of Badjanks (Besenyos) with Rus and their peace with prince Ugyr Lachini (916-945, Slav. Igor the Old, son of Lachyn Dulo, aka Rürik, 855-882) 922 Travel of Ibn-Fadlan to Itil Bulgaria 932 Khazar-Alan war ends with victory of Khazars. Alans remain in Khazarian sphere as autonomous state and multiple Alanian colonies along Don-Severskiy Donets area
943 943-944 Raid of Rus state pirates on Caspian Sea coastal population including a winter in captured city Berda 954 954-961 Correspondence of Hasdai Ibn-Shafrut with Khazarian Kagan Joseph 965 Campaign of Kyiv Prince Barys (945-972, Slav. Svyatoslav I, son of Ugyr-Igor) on Khazars, capture of Itil and Sarkel. In Russian historiography this event is termed a dissolution of Khazar Kaganate and disappearance of its peoples 966 Switch of Nukrat (Slav. Vyatka, from Bulgarian Batysh = western, i.e Western Kipchaks) province's Khazarian tribute obligations from Khazaria to Kyiv Rus scored by Kyiv Prince Barys (945-972, Slav. Svyatoslav I) 977 977-985 Khazars turn to Horesm for help, Horesm help comes conditioned by conversion of Khazars to Islam and with occupation of Khazaria's Itil and some other cities by Horesmians
981 981-982 Conquest campaign of prince Kyiv Prince Vladimir son of Barys (Svyatoslavich) against western (Slav. Vyatka, from Türk. Batysh = western) Kipchak tribe 985 Kyiv Prince Vladimir's raid against Itil Bulgaria and Khazaria 1079 Khazars take prisoner Rus prince Oleg (Slav. Oleg Svyatoslavich) who was prince of captured city Tamiyatarkhan (Slav. Tmutarakan) ship him to Byzantium 1083 Rus prince Oleg returned to city Tamiyatarkhan (Slav. Tmutarakan) and retaliated to Khazars 986 Khazars present Judaism to Knyaz Vladimir of Kiev, Itil Bolgars present Islam.
1000 Khazars in Kievan Rus are Slavicized and adopt East Slavic language(1000-1300).
1016 Last Khazar Khagan Georgius Tzul is cuptured by combined army of Byzantine Basil II and Sfengus, brother of Kiev's Grand Prince Vladimir. Khazaria loses last independence and territories of Crimea and Taman.
1035 Established fort Khazar (Voronej) 1050 Before 800, Alans or Asses lived, together with Besenyos, around lower reaches of the Amu-darya (Uzboy) flowing into Caspian Sea, and later, after river changed its course, they migrated to coast of Sea of the Khazars
1096 Per Rabbi Nissim, seventeen Khazarian communities join nomads (Kengeres, Bolgars, Oguses)
1206 Khazar Jews are reported to use a form of Cyrillic script.
1222 Kotyan Khan's Cumans, Bulgars, Khazars and Alans in first fight with Mongol-Tatars, accept promise not to harm them as speakers of the same Kipchak dialect to withdraw, but are attacked and defeated. Capital of Alania Magas (Meget) is seized
1242 End of Daghestani Khazar kingdom. 1300 Descendants of Jewish Khazars in Eastern Europe adopt Yiddish language (1300-1500).
1309 Hungarian Christian clergy edicts that Catholics cannot marry "Khazars".
1349 Hungarian Jews, partly of Khazar origin, resettle in Poland and Austria.
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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. ------------------------------------------------- Encyclopedia Britannica;
KHAZARS, a national group of general Turkic type, independent and sovereign in Eastern Europe between the seventh and tenth centuries C.E. During part of this time the leading Khazars professed Judaism. The name is frequently pronounced with an a-vowel, as in the Greek Χάξαροι and Arabic Khazar (Ḥazar), but there are traces of a different pronunciation in Hebrew (Kuzari, pl. Kuzarim), Greek (Χότξιροι), and Chinese (Kʿo-sa). The name has been explained as having derived from Turkish qazmak ("to wander," "nomadize (?)"), or from quz ("side of mountain exposed to the north"). The latter etymology would account for the o/u-vowel in some forms of the name, for which no satisfactory explanation has been given.
The Origin of the Khazars
The Khazars, of Turkic stock, originally nomadic, reached the Volga-Caucasus region from farther east at some time not easily determinable. They may have belonged to the empire of the Huns (fifth century C.E.) as the Akatzirs, mentioned by Priscus. This name is said to be equivalent to Aq-Khazar, i.e., White Khazars, as opposed to the Qara-Khazar or Black Khazars mentioned by al-Iṣṭakhrī (see below). The Khazars probably belonged to the West Turkish Empire (from 552 C.E.), and they may have marched with Sinjibū (Istämi), the first khāqān of the West Turks, against the Sassanid (Persian) fortress of Ṣul or Darband.
In the time of Procopius (sixth century) the region immediately north of the Caucasus was held by the Sabirs, who are referred to by Jordanes as one of the two great branches of the Huns (Getica, ed. Mommsen, 63). Masʿūdī (tenth century C.E.) says that the Khazars are called in Turkish, Sabīr (Tanbīh, ed. Cairo, 1938, 72). In 627 (Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. De Boor, 1 (1883), 315) "the Turks from the East whom they call Khazars" under their chief, Ziebel, passed the Caspian Gates (Darband) and joined Heraclius at the siege of Tiflis. In view of what is known of a dual kingship among the Khazars (see below), it would be natural to assume that Ziebel, described by Theophanes as "second in rank to the khāqān," was the subordinate Khazar king or beg.
However, there are grounds for thinking that Ziebel stands for yabgu, a Turkish title – in the parallel Armenian account (Moses of Kalankatuk, trans. Dowsett, 87) he is called Jebu Khāqān – and that he is T'ung-ye-hu, Ye-hu Khagan of the Chinese sources, i.e., T'ung Yabgu, Yabgu Khāqān, the paramount ruler of the West Turks, who is represented as second in rank to "the King of the North, the lord of the whole world," i.e., the supreme khāqān of the Turks. In the narratives of Theophanes and Moses of Kalankatuk respectively, the Khazars are also called Turks and Huns.
From 681 C.E., we hear much in the latter author of the Huns of Varach ʿ an (Warathān), north of Darband, who evidently formed part of a Khazar confederation or empire. Their prince Alp Ilutver was often in attendance on the Khazar khāqān and was converted to Christianity by an Albanian bishop. It will be seen that the question of the precise racial affinities of the Khazars is not readily solved (see also below). There appears to be insufficient evidence to warrant the conclusion of K. Czeglédy that the Khazars were of Sabīr origin and distinct from the Caucasian Huns and West Turks ("Bemerkungen zur Geschichte der Chazaren," Acta Orientalia… Hungariae, 13 (1961), 245), since it is not known how far these ethnic names mean the same thing. Consolidation of the Khazar State According to Theophanes (ibid., 358), the ruler of the Bulgars in the region of the Kuban River (West Caucasus) died c. 650 C.E., leaving five sons of whom only the eldest remained in his inheritance, while the others moved further west, as far as the Danube. On this, the Khazars, described as a "great nation … from the interior of Berzilia in the First Sarmatia," emerged and took possession of the territory as far as the Black Sea. The change of position was completed by 679, when one of the brothers crossed the Danube and conquered present-day Bulgaria. Earlier than this, in 576 C.E., a West Turkish force had been present at the siege of Bosporus (Kerch) in the Crimea (Menander Protector, ed. Bonn, 404), but hitherto there is no mention of the Khazars as such so far to the west.
The advance of the Khazars to the Black Sea and Crimea area appears to
be mentioned also in the Reply of Joseph (see below, Khazar
Correspondence), where a great Khazar victory over the W-n-nt-r is
referred to. A people north of the Khazars called W-n-nd-r is mentioned
in the Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (Regions of the World, trans. by V. Minorsky
(1937), 162). Both names are best explained as corresponding to
Onogundur, an old name in Greek sources for the Bulgars. The advent of
the Khazars on the Black Sea was clearly of great consequence for the
future, for they now came within the sphere of Greek political and
cultural influence.
By 700 C.E. or earlier there were Khazar officials in Bosporus and Phanagoria. Henceforth the Crimea, as well as the Volga and the Caucasus, came to be specially associated with the Khazars, and a further way westward was opened for them toward both Kiev and the Slav lands via the Dnieper (see below). Arabs and Khazars had already been in conflict on the line of the Caucasus (first Arab-Khazar war, 642–52 C.E.). *Bāb al-Abwāb at the eastern end of the range was occupied by the Arabs in 22 A.H. (643).
In the same year the caliph Omar sent instructions to advance northward. Though the Arabs attacked *Balanjar repeatedly, they were unable to take it. The defeat and death of the Arab general at Balanjar in 32 A.H. (653) practically marks the end of the war and the close of the first phase of Arab-Khazar relations. According to Mus ʿ ūdī, the Khazar capital was at this time moved from*Samandar to *Atil, but he says elsewhere that Balanjar was the former capital. Further Relations with Byzantium and the Arabs After the exile of Justinian II to the Crimea in 695, the Khazars on several occasions played an important, even determining, part in Byzantine politics.
Toward 704 the khāqān helped the emperor at a crucial moment and gave him his sister Theodora in marriage. Justinian returned to Constantinople to reign a second time. His successor Bardanes (711–13) was likewise indebted to the khāqān. In 732 the emperor Leo the Isaurian married his son, the future Constantine V, to a Khazar princess called in the sources Irene. The child of this marriage was Leo IV, the Khazar (775–80). It is to be understood that Irene and Theodora above are baptismal, i.e., not Khazar, names. The second Arab-Khazar war began in 722 or earlier, and ended in 737 with the defeat of the Khazars by Marwān b. Muhammad (later Marwān II). The Khazar khāqān is said at this time to have professed Islam. If so, we hear no more about it. Later the khāqān was a Jew, as we know from the Arabic geographers Ibn Rustah (c. 290/903), Iṣṭakhrī (c. 320/932), Ibn Ḥauqal (367/977), etc., and it is implied in the Reply of Joseph that the beginnings of Khazar Judaism dated as far back as 112/730, when the Khazars defeated the Arabs south of the Caucasus, and from the spoils consecrated a tabernacle on the Mosaic model.
The conversion of the leading Khazars to Judaism perhaps took place toward 740 C.E. It seems at all events certain that the Khazars successfully resisted the Arabs for several decades, and that they were reduced only with difficulty and at a time when the internal situation of the caliphate prevented the Arabs from exploiting their victory: Marwān was called away to become the last*Umayyad Caliph (744) and to struggle against ever-growing opposition, until The Khazar kingdom, c. seventhtenth century. From D.M. Dunlop, History of the Jewish Khazars, New York, 1967. The Khazar kingdom, c. seventh–tenth century. From D.M. Dunlop, History of the Jewish Khazars, New York, 1967. his death in 750 at the hands of *Abbasid soldiers in Egypt.
The dynastic crisis probably saved Khazaria. At the same time the situation had wider implications, for if Marwān had been able to hold the Khazar territory permanently, the history of Eastern Europe might have been very different.
The Khazar Double Kingship
This was a phenomenon found among other Turkic peoples, e.g., the Qara-Khanids, and not unknown elsewhere; compare the double kingship at Sparta in antiquity, and the shogun and mikado of medieval Japan. How far back the institution goes among the Khazars cannot be exactly determined. Ya ʿ qūbī (ninth century) speaks of the Khazar khāqān and his representative (khalīfa) apparently in the sixth century (Historiae, ed. by M.T. Houtsma, 1 (1883), 203; cf. above for Ziebel Jebu Khāqān in 627). Arab accounts, in Ṭabarī, Ibn al-Athīr, etc., of the Arab-Khazar wars (see above) afford no precise evidence of the dual kingship, yet the Arab geographers regularly mention it.
The account of al-Iṣṭakhrī, written c. 320/932, is as follows (Viae regnorum, ed. by M.J. De Goeje (1927), 223ff.): "As to their politics and system of government, their chief is called khāqān of the Khazars. He is greater than the king of the Khazars [elsewhere called by al-Iṣṭakhrī the bak or bāk, i.e., beg], except that the king of the Khazars appoints him. When they wish to appoint this khāqān, they bring him and throttle him with a piece of silk, till, when his breath is nearly cut off, they say to him, 'How long do you wish to reign?' and he says, 'So and-so many years.' If he dies short of them, well and good. If not, he is killed when he reaches that year. The khaqanate is valid among them only in a house of notables. He possesses no right of command nor of veto but he is honored, and people prostrate themselves when they enter his presence.…. The khaqanate is in a group of notables who possess neither sovereignty nor riches. When the chief place comes to one of them, they appoint him, and do not consider his condition. I have been informed by a reliable person that he had seen a young man selling bread in one of the sūqs.
People said that when their khāqān died, there was none more deserving of the khaqanate than he, except that he was a Muslim, and the khaqanate is not conferred on any but a Jew." A remarkable parallel to the inauguration ceremony described by Iṣṭakhrī is found in a Chinese source on the Turks in the sixth century C.E., the Chou Shu (trans. by Liu Mau-Tsai, Die chinesischen Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Ost-Tuerken, 1 (1958), 8). Recently the theory of A. Alföldi that the double kingship among nomadic peoples corresponds to leadership of the two wings of the horde ("Türklerde çift krallik," Ikinci Türk Tarih Kongresi, Istanbul, 1943, 507–19) has won wide acceptance, but does not apply particularly well to the Khazars.
Masʿūdī had already suspected that the Khazar khāqān represented a dynasty which had been superseded (Murūj al-Dhahab, ed. by B. de Maynard and P. de Courteille, 2 (1878), 13). K. Czeglédy (op. cit.) has suggested that the khāqān was the representative at the Khazar capital, Atil, of the West Turks, whom he thinks of as in control of Khazaria. This is not likely to have been the situation except for a very short time, since the Khazar capital was not transferred to Atil before the time of the first Arab-Khazar war (642–52) and the destruction of the West Turkish power took place in 652–57. Yet the Khazar khāqān may in fact have represented the West Turk ruling dynasty. This seems to be the view of the tenth-century Persian work, Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (trans. Minor-sky, 162), according to which the khāqān of the Khazars was "of the descendants of Ansāʾ," apparently corresponding to Asnā, or Achena, well-known as the ruling family among the Turks. Ko-sa (different from K ʿ o-sa above), the name in Chinese of a subtribe of the Uigurs, is often taken as the equivalent of Khazars.
We know that the destruction of the West Turks was brought about by a coalition of which the Uigurs formed part. It may therefore be that the convulsions which attended the breakup of the West Turkish Empire brought forward this section of the Uigurs, so that, while the khāqān represented the old ruling family, the Khazar beg, i.e., the effective king, was their representative.
Date of the Khazar Conversion to Judaism
The date c. 740 C.E. is suggested by converging considerations, namely, the circumstances of the reported conversion to Islam in 737 and the dating given by*Judah Halevi in the Kūzari (Cosri). The absence of distinct references to the Judaism of the Khazars in the biographies of St. Abo of Tiflis, who was in Khazaria c. 780 C.E. and of Constantine (Cyril), who was there c. 860, should not be pressed as proof that the conversion to Judaism took place only later (cf. also M.I. Artamonov, Istoriya Khazar, 332–3).
Mas ʿ ūdī states positively that the king of the Khazars became a Jew in the caliphate of Hārūn al-Rashīd (786–809 C.E.). This may well refer to the reformation c. 800 under *Obadiah of which the Reply of Joseph speaks. S.P. Tolstov has sought to explain the Khazar conversion to Judaism as a result of the conquest of Khwārizm (*Khorezm) by the Arab general Muslim ibn Qutayba in 712.
The Khazar Empire
The extent of the territory ruled by the Khazars has been variously estimated. Thus B.A. Ribakov ("K voprosu o roli khazarskogo kaganata v istorii Rusi," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, 18 (1953), 128–50) makes Khazaria a small territory on the lower courses of the Volga and Don, to include Sarkil (see below) and the Khazar capital (assigning separate localities to Atil, Khamlīj, and al-Bayḍā', usually taken to be the same place). This is based principally on the data in the world map of Idrīsī, which offers a somewhat misleading picture of Khazaria (see K. Miller, Mappae Arabicae, 1 (1926), Heft 2). On the other hand, S.P. Tolstov envisages a Khazaria united with Khwārizm under one ruler to form a single state, a view for which the evidence is slight.
It must be allowed, however, that at one time Khazar rule extended westward a long way beyond the Crimea-Caucasus-Volga region which for the Greek and Arabic sources is Khazaria. The Russian Primary Chronicle ((1953), 58–59; Chronicle of Nestor, Povest vremennykh let) reports that at an unspecified date the Polians south of the Middle Dnieper paid tribute to the Khazars of a sword per hearth, and that in 859 C.E. the Polians, Severians, and Viatichians paid them a white squirrel skin per hearth (trans. Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, 58, 59). Later these payments in kind ceased to be made, being evidently replaced by money payments; e.g., the Radimichians paid the Khazars a shilling or dirham apiece until 885 C.E., according to the Chronicle (61), and the Viatichians until 964, the same per plowshare (ibid., 84).
All these peoples were exposed to attack by any strong forces coming up the valleys of the Don and Donets from the Khazar territory. Kiev itself was occupied by the Khazars for some period before 862, but presumably was not built by or for them (ibid., 60, cf. 54), unlike Sarkel or *Sarkil on the Don, which on the application of the khāqān and beg to Emperor Theophilus was constructed by Byzantine workmen in 833 C.E. All of these territories were to be taken from the Khazars, some already in the ninth century, by the advancing Russians. East of the Volga, in the direction of Khwārizm, the situation is obscure.
Al-Iṣṭakhrī tells of caravans passing between Khwārizm and Khazaria, mentioning specifically Slav, Khazar, and Turkish slaves and all kinds of furs among the principal merchandise of Khwārizm. On the other hand, he says that Khwārizm has the nomad Turks (Ghuzz) on its northern and western frontier, not the Khazars. According to Tolstov, a "royal road" led from Khorezm to the Volga, traces of which may be seen from the air, and he finds in it an indication of the emergence of a great Khorezmian-Khazar state in the tenth and beginning of the 11th century (cf. above).
The Extent of Khazar Judaism While the Khazars were generally known to their neighbors as Jews (cf. notably the narrative of Ibn Faḍlān), they seem to have had little or no contact with the central Jewish organization in Iraq, and they tend to be mentioned less by Rabbanite than by Karaite authors. This is not to say that the Khazars were Karaites, a view which has not lacked defenders, at least since the time ofA. *Firkovich . Yet such contemporary or nearly contemporary documents as we possess offer no evidence of the Karaism of the Khazars.
On the other hand, it would seem that the lack of interest in the Khazars on the part of the Jewish authorities, as reflected in the literary works at our disposal, was due at least partly to their imperfect adherence to Judaism. This is illustrated notably in their retention of a number of pagan (shamanist) customs, dating back to their Turkic past, which are duly noted by the Arab geographers. We may here consider the position of H. Baratz that in the oldest Russian writings of a legal character there are Hebrew, mostly biblical-talmudic, elements, and that these go back to Khazar times.
Thus the fact that early Russian codes, including the Zakon sudni liudem ("Law for the Judging of the People"), contain traces of Mosaic and talmudic legislation, is due not to contact with the Catholic West, as has also been maintained, but to the influence of the Jewish Khazars. This view has been characterized by a Russian academician (I.V. Yagich) as "a scarlet thread for everyone to walk by." Yet the chance of Khazar influence on Russian codes, in the form of the introduction of Mosaic and talmudic elements, clearly becomes less if it is demonstrable, as seems to be the case, that Khazar Judaism was never very strong. (For Baratz's view see his Collection of Works on the Question of Hebrew Elements in Ancient Russian Literature – in Russian – Vol. I, Paris, 1926–27, Vol. II, Berlin, 1924; also Léon Baratz, Sur les origines étrangères de la plupart des lois civiles russes, Publications de l'Institut de Droit Comparé de l'Université de Paris (lère Série), 52, Appendice.)
The Downfall of Khazaria
The Reply of Joseph mentions that the Khazars guarded the mouth of the Volga before 961 C.E. and prevented the Russians from reaching the Caspian. On several occasions, notably c. 913 and again in 943, the Russians made raids down the Volga, passing through Atil. Later, apparently in 965, Khazaria was the object of a great Russian attack, which was aimed at the Khazar capital and reached as far as Samandar, as we know from Ibn Ḥawqal. From this disaster the Khazars appear to have recovered only partially.
Again at this time (cf. above) we hear of a Khazar khāqān adopting Islam. His motive is said to have been to secure the help of the people of Khwārizm (Miskawayh, ed. Amedroz, II, 209; Ibn al-Athīr, VIII, 196). After 965 the Khazars are still mentioned occasionally, but scarcely for long as an independent people. We cannot use the Cairo Genizah document published by J. Mann, concerning a messianic movement supposedly in Khazaria in the time of al-Afḍal, the great Fatimid vizier who ruled 1094–1121 (REJ, 71 (1920), 89–93; 89 (1930), 257–8), as proof of continued Khazar existence until this time, since it has been shown that the movement in question took place in Kurdistan (seeS.D. Goitein, "Obadyah, a Norman Proselyte," in JJS, 4 (1953), 74ff.).
Furthermore, Oleg, the same who, according to the Russian Chronicle, established himself in Tmutorokan in 1083, is called in a seal of the 11th–12th century "archon of all Khazaria" (N. Bǎnescu in Bulletin of the Romanian Academy, Hist. Sect. 22 (1941), cited by A.V. Soloviev, For Roman Jakobson (1956), 478). Whatever is precisely indicated here by "Khazaria" – e.g., the Khazar country in the Crimea – such a claim could not have been made prior to 965. We must therefore see the Khazar state as having subsisted until the second half of the tenth century, or the 11th century at the latest. By the 12th century the Qipchaqs or Cumans (identified also with the Polovtsi) appeared in the steppes once ruled by the Khazars. At the time of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, it was they, not the Khazars, who were in possession.
The Khazar Correspondence
This name is usually given to what appears as an interchange of letters in Hebrew between *Ḥisdai ibn Shaprut, a well-known personality of Muslim Spain in the tenth century, and *Joseph, king of the Khazars. M.I. Artamonov (Istoriya Khazar, 12) includes the Cambridge Document as well as the Letter of Ḥisdai and the Reply of Joseph in the Khazar Correspondence, but this would seem to be contrary to general usage. The Reply is available in a Long Version and a Short Version (LV and SV). The Correspondence involves serious critical difficulties, and its authenticity has been much debated.
The Letter of Ḥisdai begins with a piyyut containing an acrostic which gives his own name and that of Menaḥem b. Saruq, the latter presumably acting as Ḥisdai's secretary and being the author of the piyyut. The prose part, after compliments, refers to the geographical situation of al-Andalus and Khazaria and describes the natural wealth of al-Andalus and Ḥisdai's own position there. It seems that his interest has been aroused by his having heard repeatedly that the Khazars are Jews. The Letter mentions attempts made by Ḥisdai to get in touch with the Khazar king. He was finally successful through the instrumentality of two Jews, Mar Saul and Mar Joseph, who accompanied an embassy which arrived at Cordoba from the "king of the G-b-līm, who are the Ṣaqlab" (see below). The Letter of Ḥisdai was conveyed to the East by their means, i.e., overland, and eventually was put into the hands of the Khazar king, according to the Reply, by a certain Jacob or (LV) Isaac b. Eliezer, a Central European Jew. The tone of the Letter of Ḥisdai is mostly one of enquiry, and it invites an answer to questions which range over a variety of topics: Is there a Jewish kingdom anywhere on earth?
How did the Jews come to Khazaria? In what way did the conversion of the Khazars take place? Where does the king live? To what tribe does he belong? What is his method of procession to his place of worship? Does war abrogate the Sabbath? Has the Khazar king any information about the possible end of the world?
Ḥisdai mentions that ʿ Abd al-Raḥmān III al-Nāṣir is the reigning king of al-Andalus. This gives 961 as the terminus ad quem for the Letter, with 953–55 as a possible terminus a quo, for in those years Cordoba was visited by John of Gorz, as envoy of the German emperor Otto I, who may be the "king of the G-b-līm, who are the Ṣaqlab" already referred to. The Reply of Joseph begins by referring to the principal contents of the Letter and recapitulates a number of its questions. It then relates the early history of the Khazars, and proceeds to deal at length with the conversion to Judaism under Būlān.
The conversion is initiated by a dream of Būlān, which he communicates to a certain general among them (LV), apparently the beg. From the spoils of a Khazar attack on Ardabil, south of the Caucasus, for which we have the synchronism 730 in the Arabic sources, a tabernacle on the biblical model is set up.
A religious debate between representatives of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is held, after which Būlān and the principal Khazars accept the religion of Israel. Under a later king, Obadiah, there was a reform of religion. Synagogues and schools were built, and the Khazars became familiar with Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, and the liturgy, i.e., rabbinic Judaism was introduced. Joseph then traces his descent from Obadiah and gives a description of his country and capital. He refers to Ḥisdai's question concerning the end of the age in a somewhat noncommittal fashion, and finally expresses his desire that Ḥisdai may come to Khazaria, which, if a notice in a map of Ibn Ḥawqal can be trusted, he actually did.
The correspondence has been available since the appearance of the work Kol Mevasser of Isaac Akrish in or after 1577, and more generally since the two letters were published by the younger *Buxtorf in his edition of the book Cosri (Kūzārī) of Judah Halevi in 1660. It is not known what manuscript source was used by Isaac Akrish; Buxtorf depended on Kol Mevasser. The only known manuscript of the Correspondence as a whole, containing the Letter of Ḥisdai and the Reply of Joseph (SV), is in the library of Christ Church, Oxford. This manuscript is very similar to the printed text, which, it has been suggested, is a transcript. There appear to be no special grounds for this opinion, though the manuscript, which is undated, has no claims to great antiquity. Nothing is sure about its provenance, but it is thought to have belonged originally to the celebrated Dr. Fell (1625–1686). A longer version of the Reply of Joseph was published by A. *Harkavy in 1874, from a manuscript of the Second Firkovich Collection in the Leningrad Public Library.
The Long Version bears no indication of any alterations or additions, and is supposed to date from the 13th century. Harkavy, in spite of his very critical attitude to Firkovich, regarded it as the undoubted original of the Short Version. It appears impossible to suppose that the Khazar Correspondence is a fabrication of the 16th century in view of a reference to it, with the citation of part of the Reply of Joseph, agreeing in general with the Long Version, in the Sefer ha-Ittim of Judah b. Barzillai al-Bargeloni, dated between 1090 and 1105, and a similar reference in the Sefer ha-Kabbalah of Abraham *Ibn Daud in the 12th century. It cannot be admitted that these works were interpolated in the 16th century or later, to support the authenticity. Nor does it appear at all plausible that the letters forming the Khazar Correspondence were forgeries of the tenth century, composed with a view to informing the Jews about the Khazars.
It is demonstrable that the literary style of the Letter of Ḥisdai differs from that of the Reply of Joseph in a marked manner. The classical Hebrew construction of vav conversive with the imperfect to express the past tense is freely used in the Letter of Ḥisdai, actually 48 times as against 14 times when the past tense is rendered by simple vav with the perfect. In the Reply (LV), on the other hand, vav conversive with the imperfect occurs not more than once or twice, while the past is expressed by the perfect and simple vav nearly 100 times. Further, in the Short Version of the Reply the vav conversive with the imperfect to express the past, instead of simple vav with the perfect, occurs in a number of passages where the wording is different from the Long Version. There is a new proportion of vav conversive with the imperfect to simple vav with the perfect: 37 to 50. It may therefore be affirmed that there is a separate authorship for the Letter and the Reply, and assumed that the Long Version of the Reply, or something very like it, has been worked over by a third hand to produce the Short Version.
There are grounds for thinking that the Reply originally was written in a non-Arabic-speaking environment. Most people would agree with Kokovtsov's cautious statement that as basis for both versions there is the same original text, in general better preserved in the Long Version. B.A. Ribakov supposed that an authentic letter of King Joseph was worked over in Tmutorokan toward the end of the 11th century ("about 1083"), which resulted in the Long Version, and that some time afterward the text of the Long Version was modified by Jews of Barcelona to produce the Short Version of the Reply. [Douglas Morton Dunlop]
Khazar Jews After the Fall of the Kingdom
The artifacts of the Khazars appear to be scant. A number of sites have been excavated, and though details of the archaeological activity in Russia are difficult to obtain (the Russians hold a monopoly on digs in ancient Khazaria), it appears that there have not been any sensational discoveries to date. No royal burial sites have been unearthed – hardly surprising since, according to Ibn Faḍlān, the khāqāns were buried under a stream – and no inscriptions, public or private.
Prior to 1914 archaeological excavations were conducted in successive years, especially at Verkhniĭ Saltov on the Donets. Since then, scholars have been divided on whether or not Saltov is a Khazar site. Additional work has been done at Bulghār and at the neighboring town of Suwār, which was mentioned in al-Iṣṭakhrī. A tenth-century two-storied palace, in which many coins were found, was discovered at the latter site, but this, the only building of a public character which has come to light, might possibly be Bulgar rather than Khazar. Belaya (Bela) Vezha, the ancient Sarkil, near the village of Tsimlyanskaya on the left bank of the lower Don, has been the site which has attracted the most interest in recent years.
Though not the Khazar capital, as had been erroneously attested, it was an important settlement. Nothing specifically Jewish has been found there. Nevertheless, discoveries analogous to the culture of Saltov and Mayatskoe Gorodishche, both at least presumed Khazar sites, were unearthed, as well as ceramics engraved with markings of the type found in the Don inscriptions. No traces of the fortress constructed by the Greeks for the Khazars have been found. In spite of the negligible information of an archaeological nature, the presence of Jewish groups and the impact of Jewish ideas in Eastern Europe are considerable during the Middle Ages. Groups have been mentioned as migrating to Central Europe from the East or have been referred to as Khazars, thus making it impossible to overlook the possibility that they originated from within the former Khazar Empire.
Even though the 12th-century traveler Benjamin of Tudela did not mention Khazaria as such he did refer to Khazars in Constantinople and Alexandria. Aside from the Kabars (Khazars) who migrated earlier to Hungary, the Hungarian duke Taksony (tenth century) is said to have invited the Khazars to settle in his lands.
In about 1117 Khazars appear to have come to Vladimir Monomakh, Prince of Kiev, after fleeing from the Cumans, building a town they named Bela Vezha (near Chernigov). If this assumption is correct, these Khazars previously lived in Bela Vezha (Sarkil) and then settled near Chernigov. Prior to this time Jews who were possibly Khazars were introduced by Svyatopolk into Kiev. The Khalisioi in the 12th century, who were mentioned as fighting against Manuel I Comnenus, retained, according to John Cinnamus, "the Mosaic laws but not in their pure form" (see bibl.).
As late as 1309 a council of the Hungarian clergy (at Pressburg) forbade Catholics to marry those people who were at that time described as Khazars; papal confirmation of this decision was given in 1346. Both the Mountain Jews and the Karachais seem to be connected with the Khazars of the Caucasus region. It is also possible that there were Khazar Jews in the Crimea, which was known to the Italians in the late Middle Ages and perhaps still later as Gazaria.
The Turkish-speaking Karaites of the Crimea, Poland, and elsewhere have affirmed a connection with the Khazars, which is perhaps confirmed by evidence from folklore and anthropology as well as language. There seems to be a considerable amount of evidence attesting to the continued presence in Europe of descendants of the Khazars. The story of the conversion of the Khazar king to Judaism formed the basis for Judah Halevi's famous philosophical dialogue, Kūzārī (see *Judah Halevi).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.M. Dunlop, History of the Jewish Khazars (1954, p. b. 1967), includes extensive bibliography; idem, in: Roth, Dark Ages, ch. 8, and index; M.I. Artamonov, Istoriya Khazar (1962), especially valuable for the archaeology; V. Minorsky, in: Oriens, 11 (1958), 122–45 (review of Dunlop's History…); G. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica, 2 (1958), 334–6 (refers to Greek sources); A. Zajączkowski, in: Acta Orientalia Hungaricae, 12 (1961), 299–307 (regards the Karaites as successors of the Khazars); Szyszman, in: Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, 152 (1957), 174–221 (an original short treatment from the Karaite standpoint); A.N. Poliak, Kazariyyah (Heb., 19513); A. Yarmolinsky, in: Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 42 (1938), 695–710; 63 (1959), 237–41 (bibliographies); B.D. Weinryb, in: Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, 6 (1963), 111–29 (updates Yarmolinsky's bibliographies); B.A. Ribakov, in: Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, 18 (1953), 128–50.
By 700 C.E. or earlier there were Khazar officials in Bosporus and Phanagoria. Henceforth the Crimea, as well as the Volga and the Caucasus, came to be specially associated with the Khazars, and a further way westward was opened for them toward both Kiev and the Slav lands via the Dnieper (see below). Arabs and Khazars had already been in conflict on the line of the Caucasus (first Arab-Khazar war, 642–52 C.E.). *Bāb al-Abwāb at the eastern end of the range was occupied by the Arabs in 22 A.H. (643).
In the same year the caliph Omar sent instructions to advance northward. Though the Arabs attacked *Balanjar repeatedly, they were unable to take it. The defeat and death of the Arab general at Balanjar in 32 A.H. (653) practically marks the end of the war and the close of the first phase of Arab-Khazar relations. According to Mus ʿ ūdī, the Khazar capital was at this time moved from*Samandar to *Atil, but he says elsewhere that Balanjar was the former capital. Further Relations with Byzantium and the Arabs After the exile of Justinian II to the Crimea in 695, the Khazars on several occasions played an important, even determining, part in Byzantine politics.
Toward 704 the khāqān helped the emperor at a crucial moment and gave him his sister Theodora in marriage. Justinian returned to Constantinople to reign a second time. His successor Bardanes (711–13) was likewise indebted to the khāqān. In 732 the emperor Leo the Isaurian married his son, the future Constantine V, to a Khazar princess called in the sources Irene. The child of this marriage was Leo IV, the Khazar (775–80). It is to be understood that Irene and Theodora above are baptismal, i.e., not Khazar, names. The second Arab-Khazar war began in 722 or earlier, and ended in 737 with the defeat of the Khazars by Marwān b. Muhammad (later Marwān II). The Khazar khāqān is said at this time to have professed Islam. If so, we hear no more about it. Later the khāqān was a Jew, as we know from the Arabic geographers Ibn Rustah (c. 290/903), Iṣṭakhrī (c. 320/932), Ibn Ḥauqal (367/977), etc., and it is implied in the Reply of Joseph that the beginnings of Khazar Judaism dated as far back as 112/730, when the Khazars defeated the Arabs south of the Caucasus, and from the spoils consecrated a tabernacle on the Mosaic model.
The conversion of the leading Khazars to Judaism perhaps took place toward 740 C.E. It seems at all events certain that the Khazars successfully resisted the Arabs for several decades, and that they were reduced only with difficulty and at a time when the internal situation of the caliphate prevented the Arabs from exploiting their victory: Marwān was called away to become the last*Umayyad Caliph (744) and to struggle against ever-growing opposition, until The Khazar kingdom, c. seventhtenth century. From D.M. Dunlop, History of the Jewish Khazars, New York, 1967. The Khazar kingdom, c. seventh–tenth century. From D.M. Dunlop, History of the Jewish Khazars, New York, 1967. his death in 750 at the hands of *Abbasid soldiers in Egypt.
The dynastic crisis probably saved Khazaria. At the same time the situation had wider implications, for if Marwān had been able to hold the Khazar territory permanently, the history of Eastern Europe might have been very different.
The Khazar Double Kingship
This was a phenomenon found among other Turkic peoples, e.g., the Qara-Khanids, and not unknown elsewhere; compare the double kingship at Sparta in antiquity, and the shogun and mikado of medieval Japan. How far back the institution goes among the Khazars cannot be exactly determined. Ya ʿ qūbī (ninth century) speaks of the Khazar khāqān and his representative (khalīfa) apparently in the sixth century (Historiae, ed. by M.T. Houtsma, 1 (1883), 203; cf. above for Ziebel Jebu Khāqān in 627). Arab accounts, in Ṭabarī, Ibn al-Athīr, etc., of the Arab-Khazar wars (see above) afford no precise evidence of the dual kingship, yet the Arab geographers regularly mention it.
The account of al-Iṣṭakhrī, written c. 320/932, is as follows (Viae regnorum, ed. by M.J. De Goeje (1927), 223ff.): "As to their politics and system of government, their chief is called khāqān of the Khazars. He is greater than the king of the Khazars [elsewhere called by al-Iṣṭakhrī the bak or bāk, i.e., beg], except that the king of the Khazars appoints him. When they wish to appoint this khāqān, they bring him and throttle him with a piece of silk, till, when his breath is nearly cut off, they say to him, 'How long do you wish to reign?' and he says, 'So and-so many years.' If he dies short of them, well and good. If not, he is killed when he reaches that year. The khaqanate is valid among them only in a house of notables. He possesses no right of command nor of veto but he is honored, and people prostrate themselves when they enter his presence.…. The khaqanate is in a group of notables who possess neither sovereignty nor riches. When the chief place comes to one of them, they appoint him, and do not consider his condition. I have been informed by a reliable person that he had seen a young man selling bread in one of the sūqs.
People said that when their khāqān died, there was none more deserving of the khaqanate than he, except that he was a Muslim, and the khaqanate is not conferred on any but a Jew." A remarkable parallel to the inauguration ceremony described by Iṣṭakhrī is found in a Chinese source on the Turks in the sixth century C.E., the Chou Shu (trans. by Liu Mau-Tsai, Die chinesischen Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Ost-Tuerken, 1 (1958), 8). Recently the theory of A. Alföldi that the double kingship among nomadic peoples corresponds to leadership of the two wings of the horde ("Türklerde çift krallik," Ikinci Türk Tarih Kongresi, Istanbul, 1943, 507–19) has won wide acceptance, but does not apply particularly well to the Khazars.
Masʿūdī had already suspected that the Khazar khāqān represented a dynasty which had been superseded (Murūj al-Dhahab, ed. by B. de Maynard and P. de Courteille, 2 (1878), 13). K. Czeglédy (op. cit.) has suggested that the khāqān was the representative at the Khazar capital, Atil, of the West Turks, whom he thinks of as in control of Khazaria. This is not likely to have been the situation except for a very short time, since the Khazar capital was not transferred to Atil before the time of the first Arab-Khazar war (642–52) and the destruction of the West Turkish power took place in 652–57. Yet the Khazar khāqān may in fact have represented the West Turk ruling dynasty. This seems to be the view of the tenth-century Persian work, Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (trans. Minor-sky, 162), according to which the khāqān of the Khazars was "of the descendants of Ansāʾ," apparently corresponding to Asnā, or Achena, well-known as the ruling family among the Turks. Ko-sa (different from K ʿ o-sa above), the name in Chinese of a subtribe of the Uigurs, is often taken as the equivalent of Khazars.
We know that the destruction of the West Turks was brought about by a coalition of which the Uigurs formed part. It may therefore be that the convulsions which attended the breakup of the West Turkish Empire brought forward this section of the Uigurs, so that, while the khāqān represented the old ruling family, the Khazar beg, i.e., the effective king, was their representative.
Date of the Khazar Conversion to Judaism
The date c. 740 C.E. is suggested by converging considerations, namely, the circumstances of the reported conversion to Islam in 737 and the dating given by*Judah Halevi in the Kūzari (Cosri). The absence of distinct references to the Judaism of the Khazars in the biographies of St. Abo of Tiflis, who was in Khazaria c. 780 C.E. and of Constantine (Cyril), who was there c. 860, should not be pressed as proof that the conversion to Judaism took place only later (cf. also M.I. Artamonov, Istoriya Khazar, 332–3).
Mas ʿ ūdī states positively that the king of the Khazars became a Jew in the caliphate of Hārūn al-Rashīd (786–809 C.E.). This may well refer to the reformation c. 800 under *Obadiah of which the Reply of Joseph speaks. S.P. Tolstov has sought to explain the Khazar conversion to Judaism as a result of the conquest of Khwārizm (*Khorezm) by the Arab general Muslim ibn Qutayba in 712.
The Khazar Empire
The extent of the territory ruled by the Khazars has been variously estimated. Thus B.A. Ribakov ("K voprosu o roli khazarskogo kaganata v istorii Rusi," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, 18 (1953), 128–50) makes Khazaria a small territory on the lower courses of the Volga and Don, to include Sarkil (see below) and the Khazar capital (assigning separate localities to Atil, Khamlīj, and al-Bayḍā', usually taken to be the same place). This is based principally on the data in the world map of Idrīsī, which offers a somewhat misleading picture of Khazaria (see K. Miller, Mappae Arabicae, 1 (1926), Heft 2). On the other hand, S.P. Tolstov envisages a Khazaria united with Khwārizm under one ruler to form a single state, a view for which the evidence is slight.
It must be allowed, however, that at one time Khazar rule extended westward a long way beyond the Crimea-Caucasus-Volga region which for the Greek and Arabic sources is Khazaria. The Russian Primary Chronicle ((1953), 58–59; Chronicle of Nestor, Povest vremennykh let) reports that at an unspecified date the Polians south of the Middle Dnieper paid tribute to the Khazars of a sword per hearth, and that in 859 C.E. the Polians, Severians, and Viatichians paid them a white squirrel skin per hearth (trans. Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor, 58, 59). Later these payments in kind ceased to be made, being evidently replaced by money payments; e.g., the Radimichians paid the Khazars a shilling or dirham apiece until 885 C.E., according to the Chronicle (61), and the Viatichians until 964, the same per plowshare (ibid., 84).
All these peoples were exposed to attack by any strong forces coming up the valleys of the Don and Donets from the Khazar territory. Kiev itself was occupied by the Khazars for some period before 862, but presumably was not built by or for them (ibid., 60, cf. 54), unlike Sarkel or *Sarkil on the Don, which on the application of the khāqān and beg to Emperor Theophilus was constructed by Byzantine workmen in 833 C.E. All of these territories were to be taken from the Khazars, some already in the ninth century, by the advancing Russians. East of the Volga, in the direction of Khwārizm, the situation is obscure.
Al-Iṣṭakhrī tells of caravans passing between Khwārizm and Khazaria, mentioning specifically Slav, Khazar, and Turkish slaves and all kinds of furs among the principal merchandise of Khwārizm. On the other hand, he says that Khwārizm has the nomad Turks (Ghuzz) on its northern and western frontier, not the Khazars. According to Tolstov, a "royal road" led from Khorezm to the Volga, traces of which may be seen from the air, and he finds in it an indication of the emergence of a great Khorezmian-Khazar state in the tenth and beginning of the 11th century (cf. above).
The Extent of Khazar Judaism While the Khazars were generally known to their neighbors as Jews (cf. notably the narrative of Ibn Faḍlān), they seem to have had little or no contact with the central Jewish organization in Iraq, and they tend to be mentioned less by Rabbanite than by Karaite authors. This is not to say that the Khazars were Karaites, a view which has not lacked defenders, at least since the time ofA. *Firkovich . Yet such contemporary or nearly contemporary documents as we possess offer no evidence of the Karaism of the Khazars.
On the other hand, it would seem that the lack of interest in the Khazars on the part of the Jewish authorities, as reflected in the literary works at our disposal, was due at least partly to their imperfect adherence to Judaism. This is illustrated notably in their retention of a number of pagan (shamanist) customs, dating back to their Turkic past, which are duly noted by the Arab geographers. We may here consider the position of H. Baratz that in the oldest Russian writings of a legal character there are Hebrew, mostly biblical-talmudic, elements, and that these go back to Khazar times.
Thus the fact that early Russian codes, including the Zakon sudni liudem ("Law for the Judging of the People"), contain traces of Mosaic and talmudic legislation, is due not to contact with the Catholic West, as has also been maintained, but to the influence of the Jewish Khazars. This view has been characterized by a Russian academician (I.V. Yagich) as "a scarlet thread for everyone to walk by." Yet the chance of Khazar influence on Russian codes, in the form of the introduction of Mosaic and talmudic elements, clearly becomes less if it is demonstrable, as seems to be the case, that Khazar Judaism was never very strong. (For Baratz's view see his Collection of Works on the Question of Hebrew Elements in Ancient Russian Literature – in Russian – Vol. I, Paris, 1926–27, Vol. II, Berlin, 1924; also Léon Baratz, Sur les origines étrangères de la plupart des lois civiles russes, Publications de l'Institut de Droit Comparé de l'Université de Paris (lère Série), 52, Appendice.)
The Downfall of Khazaria
The Reply of Joseph mentions that the Khazars guarded the mouth of the Volga before 961 C.E. and prevented the Russians from reaching the Caspian. On several occasions, notably c. 913 and again in 943, the Russians made raids down the Volga, passing through Atil. Later, apparently in 965, Khazaria was the object of a great Russian attack, which was aimed at the Khazar capital and reached as far as Samandar, as we know from Ibn Ḥawqal. From this disaster the Khazars appear to have recovered only partially.
Again at this time (cf. above) we hear of a Khazar khāqān adopting Islam. His motive is said to have been to secure the help of the people of Khwārizm (Miskawayh, ed. Amedroz, II, 209; Ibn al-Athīr, VIII, 196). After 965 the Khazars are still mentioned occasionally, but scarcely for long as an independent people. We cannot use the Cairo Genizah document published by J. Mann, concerning a messianic movement supposedly in Khazaria in the time of al-Afḍal, the great Fatimid vizier who ruled 1094–1121 (REJ, 71 (1920), 89–93; 89 (1930), 257–8), as proof of continued Khazar existence until this time, since it has been shown that the movement in question took place in Kurdistan (seeS.D. Goitein, "Obadyah, a Norman Proselyte," in JJS, 4 (1953), 74ff.).
Furthermore, Oleg, the same who, according to the Russian Chronicle, established himself in Tmutorokan in 1083, is called in a seal of the 11th–12th century "archon of all Khazaria" (N. Bǎnescu in Bulletin of the Romanian Academy, Hist. Sect. 22 (1941), cited by A.V. Soloviev, For Roman Jakobson (1956), 478). Whatever is precisely indicated here by "Khazaria" – e.g., the Khazar country in the Crimea – such a claim could not have been made prior to 965. We must therefore see the Khazar state as having subsisted until the second half of the tenth century, or the 11th century at the latest. By the 12th century the Qipchaqs or Cumans (identified also with the Polovtsi) appeared in the steppes once ruled by the Khazars. At the time of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, it was they, not the Khazars, who were in possession.
The Khazar Correspondence
This name is usually given to what appears as an interchange of letters in Hebrew between *Ḥisdai ibn Shaprut, a well-known personality of Muslim Spain in the tenth century, and *Joseph, king of the Khazars. M.I. Artamonov (Istoriya Khazar, 12) includes the Cambridge Document as well as the Letter of Ḥisdai and the Reply of Joseph in the Khazar Correspondence, but this would seem to be contrary to general usage. The Reply is available in a Long Version and a Short Version (LV and SV). The Correspondence involves serious critical difficulties, and its authenticity has been much debated.
The Letter of Ḥisdai begins with a piyyut containing an acrostic which gives his own name and that of Menaḥem b. Saruq, the latter presumably acting as Ḥisdai's secretary and being the author of the piyyut. The prose part, after compliments, refers to the geographical situation of al-Andalus and Khazaria and describes the natural wealth of al-Andalus and Ḥisdai's own position there. It seems that his interest has been aroused by his having heard repeatedly that the Khazars are Jews. The Letter mentions attempts made by Ḥisdai to get in touch with the Khazar king. He was finally successful through the instrumentality of two Jews, Mar Saul and Mar Joseph, who accompanied an embassy which arrived at Cordoba from the "king of the G-b-līm, who are the Ṣaqlab" (see below). The Letter of Ḥisdai was conveyed to the East by their means, i.e., overland, and eventually was put into the hands of the Khazar king, according to the Reply, by a certain Jacob or (LV) Isaac b. Eliezer, a Central European Jew. The tone of the Letter of Ḥisdai is mostly one of enquiry, and it invites an answer to questions which range over a variety of topics: Is there a Jewish kingdom anywhere on earth?
How did the Jews come to Khazaria? In what way did the conversion of the Khazars take place? Where does the king live? To what tribe does he belong? What is his method of procession to his place of worship? Does war abrogate the Sabbath? Has the Khazar king any information about the possible end of the world?
Ḥisdai mentions that ʿ Abd al-Raḥmān III al-Nāṣir is the reigning king of al-Andalus. This gives 961 as the terminus ad quem for the Letter, with 953–55 as a possible terminus a quo, for in those years Cordoba was visited by John of Gorz, as envoy of the German emperor Otto I, who may be the "king of the G-b-līm, who are the Ṣaqlab" already referred to. The Reply of Joseph begins by referring to the principal contents of the Letter and recapitulates a number of its questions. It then relates the early history of the Khazars, and proceeds to deal at length with the conversion to Judaism under Būlān.
The conversion is initiated by a dream of Būlān, which he communicates to a certain general among them (LV), apparently the beg. From the spoils of a Khazar attack on Ardabil, south of the Caucasus, for which we have the synchronism 730 in the Arabic sources, a tabernacle on the biblical model is set up.
A religious debate between representatives of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is held, after which Būlān and the principal Khazars accept the religion of Israel. Under a later king, Obadiah, there was a reform of religion. Synagogues and schools were built, and the Khazars became familiar with Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, and the liturgy, i.e., rabbinic Judaism was introduced. Joseph then traces his descent from Obadiah and gives a description of his country and capital. He refers to Ḥisdai's question concerning the end of the age in a somewhat noncommittal fashion, and finally expresses his desire that Ḥisdai may come to Khazaria, which, if a notice in a map of Ibn Ḥawqal can be trusted, he actually did.
The correspondence has been available since the appearance of the work Kol Mevasser of Isaac Akrish in or after 1577, and more generally since the two letters were published by the younger *Buxtorf in his edition of the book Cosri (Kūzārī) of Judah Halevi in 1660. It is not known what manuscript source was used by Isaac Akrish; Buxtorf depended on Kol Mevasser. The only known manuscript of the Correspondence as a whole, containing the Letter of Ḥisdai and the Reply of Joseph (SV), is in the library of Christ Church, Oxford. This manuscript is very similar to the printed text, which, it has been suggested, is a transcript. There appear to be no special grounds for this opinion, though the manuscript, which is undated, has no claims to great antiquity. Nothing is sure about its provenance, but it is thought to have belonged originally to the celebrated Dr. Fell (1625–1686). A longer version of the Reply of Joseph was published by A. *Harkavy in 1874, from a manuscript of the Second Firkovich Collection in the Leningrad Public Library.
The Long Version bears no indication of any alterations or additions, and is supposed to date from the 13th century. Harkavy, in spite of his very critical attitude to Firkovich, regarded it as the undoubted original of the Short Version. It appears impossible to suppose that the Khazar Correspondence is a fabrication of the 16th century in view of a reference to it, with the citation of part of the Reply of Joseph, agreeing in general with the Long Version, in the Sefer ha-Ittim of Judah b. Barzillai al-Bargeloni, dated between 1090 and 1105, and a similar reference in the Sefer ha-Kabbalah of Abraham *Ibn Daud in the 12th century. It cannot be admitted that these works were interpolated in the 16th century or later, to support the authenticity. Nor does it appear at all plausible that the letters forming the Khazar Correspondence were forgeries of the tenth century, composed with a view to informing the Jews about the Khazars.
It is demonstrable that the literary style of the Letter of Ḥisdai differs from that of the Reply of Joseph in a marked manner. The classical Hebrew construction of vav conversive with the imperfect to express the past tense is freely used in the Letter of Ḥisdai, actually 48 times as against 14 times when the past tense is rendered by simple vav with the perfect. In the Reply (LV), on the other hand, vav conversive with the imperfect occurs not more than once or twice, while the past is expressed by the perfect and simple vav nearly 100 times. Further, in the Short Version of the Reply the vav conversive with the imperfect to express the past, instead of simple vav with the perfect, occurs in a number of passages where the wording is different from the Long Version. There is a new proportion of vav conversive with the imperfect to simple vav with the perfect: 37 to 50. It may therefore be affirmed that there is a separate authorship for the Letter and the Reply, and assumed that the Long Version of the Reply, or something very like it, has been worked over by a third hand to produce the Short Version.
There are grounds for thinking that the Reply originally was written in a non-Arabic-speaking environment. Most people would agree with Kokovtsov's cautious statement that as basis for both versions there is the same original text, in general better preserved in the Long Version. B.A. Ribakov supposed that an authentic letter of King Joseph was worked over in Tmutorokan toward the end of the 11th century ("about 1083"), which resulted in the Long Version, and that some time afterward the text of the Long Version was modified by Jews of Barcelona to produce the Short Version of the Reply. [Douglas Morton Dunlop]
Khazar Jews After the Fall of the Kingdom
The artifacts of the Khazars appear to be scant. A number of sites have been excavated, and though details of the archaeological activity in Russia are difficult to obtain (the Russians hold a monopoly on digs in ancient Khazaria), it appears that there have not been any sensational discoveries to date. No royal burial sites have been unearthed – hardly surprising since, according to Ibn Faḍlān, the khāqāns were buried under a stream – and no inscriptions, public or private.
Prior to 1914 archaeological excavations were conducted in successive years, especially at Verkhniĭ Saltov on the Donets. Since then, scholars have been divided on whether or not Saltov is a Khazar site. Additional work has been done at Bulghār and at the neighboring town of Suwār, which was mentioned in al-Iṣṭakhrī. A tenth-century two-storied palace, in which many coins were found, was discovered at the latter site, but this, the only building of a public character which has come to light, might possibly be Bulgar rather than Khazar. Belaya (Bela) Vezha, the ancient Sarkil, near the village of Tsimlyanskaya on the left bank of the lower Don, has been the site which has attracted the most interest in recent years.
Though not the Khazar capital, as had been erroneously attested, it was an important settlement. Nothing specifically Jewish has been found there. Nevertheless, discoveries analogous to the culture of Saltov and Mayatskoe Gorodishche, both at least presumed Khazar sites, were unearthed, as well as ceramics engraved with markings of the type found in the Don inscriptions. No traces of the fortress constructed by the Greeks for the Khazars have been found. In spite of the negligible information of an archaeological nature, the presence of Jewish groups and the impact of Jewish ideas in Eastern Europe are considerable during the Middle Ages. Groups have been mentioned as migrating to Central Europe from the East or have been referred to as Khazars, thus making it impossible to overlook the possibility that they originated from within the former Khazar Empire.
Even though the 12th-century traveler Benjamin of Tudela did not mention Khazaria as such he did refer to Khazars in Constantinople and Alexandria. Aside from the Kabars (Khazars) who migrated earlier to Hungary, the Hungarian duke Taksony (tenth century) is said to have invited the Khazars to settle in his lands.
In about 1117 Khazars appear to have come to Vladimir Monomakh, Prince of Kiev, after fleeing from the Cumans, building a town they named Bela Vezha (near Chernigov). If this assumption is correct, these Khazars previously lived in Bela Vezha (Sarkil) and then settled near Chernigov. Prior to this time Jews who were possibly Khazars were introduced by Svyatopolk into Kiev. The Khalisioi in the 12th century, who were mentioned as fighting against Manuel I Comnenus, retained, according to John Cinnamus, "the Mosaic laws but not in their pure form" (see bibl.).
As late as 1309 a council of the Hungarian clergy (at Pressburg) forbade Catholics to marry those people who were at that time described as Khazars; papal confirmation of this decision was given in 1346. Both the Mountain Jews and the Karachais seem to be connected with the Khazars of the Caucasus region. It is also possible that there were Khazar Jews in the Crimea, which was known to the Italians in the late Middle Ages and perhaps still later as Gazaria.
The Turkish-speaking Karaites of the Crimea, Poland, and elsewhere have affirmed a connection with the Khazars, which is perhaps confirmed by evidence from folklore and anthropology as well as language. There seems to be a considerable amount of evidence attesting to the continued presence in Europe of descendants of the Khazars. The story of the conversion of the Khazar king to Judaism formed the basis for Judah Halevi's famous philosophical dialogue, Kūzārī (see *Judah Halevi).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.M. Dunlop, History of the Jewish Khazars (1954, p. b. 1967), includes extensive bibliography; idem, in: Roth, Dark Ages, ch. 8, and index; M.I. Artamonov, Istoriya Khazar (1962), especially valuable for the archaeology; V. Minorsky, in: Oriens, 11 (1958), 122–45 (review of Dunlop's History…); G. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica, 2 (1958), 334–6 (refers to Greek sources); A. Zajączkowski, in: Acta Orientalia Hungaricae, 12 (1961), 299–307 (regards the Karaites as successors of the Khazars); Szyszman, in: Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, 152 (1957), 174–221 (an original short treatment from the Karaite standpoint); A.N. Poliak, Kazariyyah (Heb., 19513); A. Yarmolinsky, in: Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 42 (1938), 695–710; 63 (1959), 237–41 (bibliographies); B.D. Weinryb, in: Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, 6 (1963), 111–29 (updates Yarmolinsky's bibliographies); B.A. Ribakov, in: Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, 18 (1953), 128–50.
Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Who were the Khazars?
The Khazars flourished from the seventh to the eleventh century. This means that they emerged following the reign of the emperor Justinian. The issues surrounding the reign of Justinian, recorded by Procopius, indicate that something very strange was going on during that period of history. In August 17, 1999, the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau published an article by Robert S. Boyd entitled: Comets may have caused Earth's great empires to fall.
Earth underwent a series of very cold summers around 536-540 AD, indicating an effect rather like a nuclear winter. The scientists in the School of Physics and Astronomy believe this was caused by a comet hitting the earth and exploding in the upper atmosphere. The debris from this giant explosion was such that it enveloped the earth in soot and ash, blocking out the sunlight and causing the very cold weather.
Dr. Ward-Thompson said: "One of the exciting aspects of this work is that we have re-classified the size of comet that represents a global threat. This work shows that even a comet of only half a kilometre in size could have global consequences. Previously nothing less than a kilometre across was counted as a global threat. If such an event happened again today, then once again a large fraction of the earth's population could face starvation."
The comet impact caused crop failures and wide-spread starvation among the sixth century population. The timing coincides with the Justinian Plague, widely believed to be the first appearance of the Black Death in Europe. It is possible that the plague was so rampant and took hold so quickly because the population was already weakened by starvation.(Astronomy and Geophysics, Feb. 2004)
Global Burning
Is this why great empires such as Egypt, Babylon and Rome fell apart, giving way to the periodic "dark ages'' that punctuate human history? At least five times during the last 6,000 years, major environmental calamities undermined civilizations around the world. Burckle Crater near Madagascar has been suggested as the culprit in the Great Flood of Sumeria.
Some researchers say these disasters appear to be linked to collisions with comets or fragments of comets such as the one that broke apart and smashed spectacularly into Jupiter . The impacts, yielding many megatons of explosive energy, produced vast clouds of smoke and dust that circled the globe for years, dimming the sun, driving down temperatures and sowing hunger, disease and death.
A global crisis occurred between AD 530 and 540-- at the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe -- when Earth was pummeled by a swarm of cosmic debris. It hastened the fall of Rome. Chinese observers described at the time as "dragons in the sky" - comets! We're not talking about an intact large comet (if that had hit in the last several millennia, we would not be here today), but rather fragments from a disintegrating comet or asteroid (small pieces like that which hit Tunguska in 1908). All this was possibly compounded by an eruption of Krakatoa in 535 AD.
Earlier disasters include the following: http://www.barry.warmkessel.com/4related.html#e
In Catastrophe, the Day the Sun Went Out, British historian David Keys describes a 2-year-long winter that began in AD 535. Trees from California to Ireland to Siberia stopped growing. Crops failed. Plague and famine decimated Italy, China and the Middle East.
Keys quotes the writings of a 6th-century Syrian bishop, John of Ephesus:
"The sun became dark. ... Each day it shone for about four hours and still this light was only a feeble shadow.''
A contemporary Italian historian, Flavius Cassiodorus, wrote:
"We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon. We have summer without heat.''
And a contemporary Chinese chronicler reported, "Yellow dust rained like snow.''
Dendrochronologist, Mike Baillie, established that:
Analysis of tree rings shows that at in 540 AD in different parts of the world the climate changed. Temperatures dropped enough to hinder the growth of trees as widely dispersed as northern Europe, Siberia, western North America, and southern South America.
A search of historical records and mythical stories pointed to a disastrous visitation from the sky during the same period, it is claimed. There was one reference to a "comet in Gaul so vast that the whole sky seemed on fire" in 540-41.
According to legend, King Arthur died around this time, and Celtic myths associated with Arthur hinted at bright sky Gods and bolts of fire.
In the 530s, an unusual meteor shower was recorded by both Mediterranean and Chinese observers. Meteors are caused by the fine dust from comets burning up in the atmosphere. Furthermore, a team of astronomers from Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland published research in 1990 which said the Earth would have been at risk from cometary bombardment between the years 400 and 600 AD. [...]
Famine followed the crop failures, and hard on its heels bubonic plague that swept across Europe in the mid-6th century. [...]
At this time, the Roman emperor Justinian was attempting to regenerate the decaying Roman empire. But the plan failed in 540 and was followed by the Dark Ages and the rise of Islam.
Apparently, this disaster was also followed by the arrival of the Khazars.
The kingdom of the Khazars has vanished from the map of the world and today many people have never even heard of it. But, in its day the Khazar kingdom [Khazaria] was a major power.
The Byzantine Emperor and historian, Constantine Porphyrogenitus (913-959) recorded in a treatise on Court Protocol that letters addressed to the pope in Rome, and similarly those to the Emperor of the West, had a gold seal worth two solidi attached to them, whereas messages to the King of the Khazars required a seal worth three solidi.
In other words, it was clearly understood that the Khazars were more powerful than the Emperor of the West or the Pope. As Koestler commented, "This was not flattery, but Realpolitik." How can it be that we are taught about the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the power of the Popes of the Western Empire, and have so little knowledge of an empire that existed at the same time, that was obviously more powerful than either of them? A Jewish empire, in fact?
The country of the Khazars was strategically located at the gateway between the Black Sea and the Caspian, acting as a buffer protecting Byzantium against invasions by the barbarian Bulgars, Magyars, Pechenegs, and later the Vikings and Russians. More important than this was the fact that the Khazars also blocked the Arabs from Eastern Europe.
Within a few years of the death of Muhammad (AD 632) the armies of the Caliphate, sweeping northward through the wreckage of two empires and carrying all before them, reached the great mountain barrier of the Caucasus. This barrier once passed, the road lay open to the lands of eastern Europe. As it was, on the line of the Caucasus the Arabs met the forces of an organized military power which effectively prevented them from extending their conquests in this direction. The wars of the Arabs and the Khazars, which lasted more than a hundred years, though little known, have thus considerable historical importance. [Professor Dunlop of Columbia University, authority on the Khazars, quoted by Koestler, p. 14]
Most people know that the Frankish army of Charles Martel turned back the Arabs on the field of Tours. Few people know that, at the same time, the Muslims were met and held by the forces of the Khazar kingdom.
In 732, the future emperor, Constantine V, married a Khazar princess and their son became Emperor Leo IV, known as Leo the Khazar.
A few years later, probably in AD 740, the King of the Khazars, his court and the military ruling class embraced the Jewish faith and Judaism became the state religion of the Khazars. This came about as a reaction against the political pressure of the other two Superpowers of the day - Byzantium and the Muslims - both of which had the advantage of a monotheistic State Religion which allowed them greater control over their subjects. Not wanting to be subject either to the Pope or the Byzantine Emperor, but seeing the political benefits of religious controls, Judaism was chosen.
The Khazar kingdom held its power and position for most of four centuries during which time they were transformed from a tribe of nomadic warriors into a nation of farmers, cattle-breeders, fishermen, viticulturists, traders and craftsmen. Soviet archaeologists have found evidence of advanced civilization with houses built in a circular shape at the lower levels, later being replaced by rectangular buildings. This is explained as evidence of the transition from from portable, dome shaped tents, to settled lifestyles.
At the peak of their power, the Khazars controlled and/or received tribute from thirty or so different nations and tribes spread across the territories between the Caucasus, the Aral Sea, the Ural Mountains, the town of Kiev, and the Ukrainian steppes. These peoples included the Bulgars, Burtas, Ghuzz, Magyars, the Gothic and Greek colonies of the Crimea, and the Slavonic tribes to the Northwest.
Until the ninth century, the Khazars had no rivals to their supremacy in the regions north of the Black Sea and the adjoining steppe and the forest regions of the Dnieper. The Khazars were the supreme masters of the southern half of Eastern Europe for a century and a half. [...] During this whole period, they held back the onslaught of the nomadic tribes from the East. [Soviet archaeologist M. I. Artamonov]
In the timeline of history, the Khazar empire existed between the Huns and the Mongols. The Arab chroniclers wrote that the Khazars were "white, their eyes blue, their hair flowing and predominantly reddish, their bodies large, and their natures cold. Their general aspect is wild."
The Georgians and Armenians, having been repeatedly devastated by the Khazars, identified them as Gog and Magog. An Armenian writer described them as having "insolent, broad, lashless faces and long falling hair, like women."
They sound like the long-haired Franks, don't they?
One of the earliest factual references to the Khazars occurs in a Syriac chronicle dating from the middle of the sixth century. It mentions the Khazars in a list of people who inhabit the region of the Caucasus. Koestler recounts that other sources indicate that the Khazars were intimately connected with the Huns.
In AD 448, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II sent an embassy to Attila which included a famed rhetorician by name of Priscus. He kept a minute account not only of the diplomatic negotiations, but also of the court intrigues and goings-on in Attila's sumptuous banqueting hall - he was in fact the perfect gossip columnist, and is still one of the main sources of information about Hun customs and habits. But Priscus also has anecdotes to tell about a people subject to the Huns whom he calls Akatzirs - that is, very likely, the Ak-Khazars, or "White" Khazars.
The Byzantine Emperor, Priscus tells us, tried to win this warrior race over to his side, but the greedy Khazar chieftain named Karidach, considered the bribe offered to him inadequate, and sided with the Huns. Attila defeated Karidach's rival chieftains, installed him as the sole ruler of the Akatzirs, and invited him to visit his court. Karidach thanked him profusely for the invitation and went on to say that "it would be too hard on a mortal man to look into the face of a god. For, as one cannot stare into the sun's disc, even less could one look into the face of the greatest god without suffering injury." Attila must have been pleased, for he confirmed Karidach in his rule.
After the collapse of the Hun Empire, the Khazars raided and absorbed numerous tribes of nomadic hordes coming from the East. At this point, the West Turkish kingdom arose, a confederation of tribes ruled by a Kagan, or Khagan. The Khazars later adopted this title for their rulers as well. This "Turkish state" fell apart after a century, but it is important to note that it was only after this period that the word Turkish was used in reference to a specific nation, as opposed to its earlier use which simply meant a tribe speaking a Turkic language such as the Khazars and Bulgars.
And so, at the time of the cometary disasters that brought on the Dark Ages, the Khazars rose to power. By the first decades of the seventh century, there were three "Superpowers," two of whom had been fighting each other for a century and were seemingly on the verge of collapse. Persia was about to face its doom in the armies of the Khazars, but through its friendship with Khazaria, Byzantium survived.
In 627, the Roman Emperor Heraclius made an alliance with the Khazars so as to defeat his nemesis: Persia. The Khazars provided Heraclius with 40,000 horsemen under a commander named Ziebel and Heraclius promised him his daughter.
The Persians were defeated, which was followed by a revolution and after ten years of anarchy and chaos, the first Arab armies delivered the coup de grace. And so, a new Superpower arose: the Islamic Caliphate.
In short order, the Muslims conquered Persia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and surrounded the Byzantine empire in a half-circle from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus. Between 642 and 652, the Muslims repeatedly penetrated into Khazaria in an attempt to gain a foothold on the way to Eastern Europe. After a defeat in 652, the Muslims backed off for thirty or forty years and concentrated on Byzantium, laying siege to Constantinople on several occasions. Had they been able to get to the other side, to surround Byzantium from the Khazarian side, it would have been fatal for the Roman Empire.
Meanwhile, the Khazars consolidated their own power, expanding into Ukraine and the Crimea, incorporating the conquered people into their empire ruled by the Kagan. By the time of the 8th century, the Khazar empire was stable enough to actually go on the offensive against the Muslims rather than just holding their position and driving them away repeatedly.
From a distance of more than a thousand years, the period of intermittent warfare that followed looks like a series of tedious episodes on a local scale, following the same, repetitive pattern: the Khazar cavalry in their heavy armour breaking through the pass of Dariel or the Gate of Darband into the Caliph's domains to the south; followed by Arab counter-thrusts through the same pass or the defile, towards the Volga and back again. [...] One is reminded of the old jingle about the noble Duke of York who had ten thousand men; "he marched them up to the top of the hill. And he marched them down again." In fact, the Arab sources speak of armies of 100,000, even of 300,000 men engaged on either side - probably outnumbering the armies which decided the fate of the Western world at the battle of Tours about the same time.
The death-defying fanaticism which characterized these wars is illustrated by episodes such as the suicide by fire of a whole Khazar town as an alternative to surrender; the poisoning of the water supply of Bab al Abwab by an Arab general; or by the traditional exhortation which would halt the rout of a defeated Arab army and make it fight to the last man: "To the Garden Muslims, not the Fire" - the joys of Paradise being assured to every Muslim soldier killed in the Holy War.[Koestler, p. 28]
The giant Islamic pincer movement across the Pyrenees in the west and across the Caucasus into Eastern Europe was halted at both ends about the same time. As Charles Martel's Franks saved Gaul and Western Europe, so the Khazars saved the Eastern Roman Empire.
At the end of all this was the marriage of the Khazar princess to the heir of the Byzantine Empire in gratitude for defeat of the Muslims. Following this event, of course, was the politically expedient conversion of the Khazars to Judaism.
Overnight an entire group of people, the warlike, fanatical Khazars, suddenly proclaimed themselves Jews. The Khazar kingdom began to be described as the "Kingdom of the Jews" by historians of the day. Succeeding Khazar rulers took Jewish names, sent for Jewish scholars from Spain to come and instruct them, settle with them. During the late 9th Century the Khazar kingdom became a haven for Jews of other lands. But it seems that this process was almost exclusively a question of male Jews - including Kohanim - coming to Khazaria and marrying Khazar women. What does not seem to have happened, is the intermarriage of Khazars with Separdic Jewish women from other European communities of Jews.
Koestler quotes at length from ancient accounts of the Khazars and I highly recommend this book to the reader not only because it is well researched, but also because it can be quite entertaining reading!
At the height of the Khazar empire, the main source of royal income was foreign trade. There were enormous caravans that transported textiles, dried fruit, honey, wax, and spices following the Silk road to and from the East. Arts and crafts and haute couture flourished. Slaves and furs were traded by Rus merchants, Vikings coming down the Volga on a north/south trade axis. On all these goods, the Khazars levied a tax of ten per cent. This was added to the tribute paid by the Bulgars, Magyars, and others. Khazaria was cosmopolitan, open to all sorts of cultural and religious influences while, at the same time, using its State Religion to defend itself against the other two ecclesiastical powers in the world.
In short, Khazaria was an extremely prosperous country and this prosperity depended on its military power. Khazaria had a standing army by which means it was able to maintain brutal domination over its subject tribes and peoples. Human sacrifice was also practiced by the earlier Khazars- including the ritual killing of the king at the end of his reign.
At the beginning of the ninth century, the Khazars had more or less a tacit "nonaggression pact" with the Caliphate, and relations with Byzantium were friendly. After all, they were family! But, a new cloud was on the horizon: the Vikings began to stir.
Two centuries earlier, it had been the Arabs and their "Holy War." Now it was the Vikings and their "unholy war" of piracy and plunder.
In neither case have historians been able to provide convincing explanations of the economical, ecological or ideological reasons which transformed these apparently quiescent regions of Arabia and Scandinavia quasi overnight into volcanoes of exuberant vitality and reckless enterprise. Both eruptions spent their force within a couple of centuries but left a permanent mark on the world. Both evolved in this time-span from savagery and destructiveness to splendid cultural achievement. [Koestler, p. 86]
Within a few decades, the Vikings had penetrated all the major waterways of Europe, conquered half of Ireland, colonized Iceland, conquered Normandy, sacked Paris, raided Germany, the Rhone delta, the gulf of Genoa, circumnavigated the Iberian peninsula and attacked Constantinople through the Mediterranean and the Dardanelles, coordinated with an attack down the Dnieper and across the Black Sea. A special prayer was formulated in Christendom: Lord deliver us from the fury of the Normans.
Again, Byzantium depended on Khazaria to block the advance of the Vikings.
This branch of norsemen who were called Rhos or Varangians, originated from eastern Sweden and were cousins to the Norwegians and Danes who raided Western Europe.
These Varangian-Rus seem to have been a unique blend - unique even among their brother Vikings - combining the traits of pirates, robbers and meretricious merchants, who traded on their own terms, imposed by sword and battle-axe. They bartered furs, swords and amber in exchange for gold, but their principal merchandise were slaves. [Koestler, p. 89]
For a century and a half, trade and diplomacy between the Byzantines and the Khazars and the Rus alternated with war. Slowly but surely, the Vikings built permanent settlements, becoming Slavonized by intermingling with their subjects and vassals - the Slavs along the Dnieper who were agricultural and more timid than the "Turks." This mixing of genes and cultures tamed the Rus and turned them into Russians.
At first, the Rus were friendlier with the Khazars than with the Byzantines. The Rus even adopted the title "Kagan" for their ruler. However, all the while they were having "cultural exchanges" with the Khazars, the Rus were bringing the Slavs into their own fold. Considering the genetic data, this may be as much due to intermarriage between the Slavonic tribes, as much as to conquest. Within a couple of decades, the Rus were receiving tribute from almost half of the former subjects of the Khazars!
When the town of Kiev, on the Dnieper river, passed into Rus hands, apparently without an armed struggle, it was the beginning of the end for Khazaria. There were still large communities of Khazar Jews in Kiev, and later, after the final destruction of Khazaria, they were joined by Khazar refugees.
A tribe called the Magyars now come into view. The Magyars seem to have originated in the forest regions of the northern Urals along with two other tribes, the Vogul and Ostyak. Probably at the time of the cometary bombardment that brought on the dark ages, these tribes were driven out of their forests and the Magyars, attached themselves as willing vassals to first the Huns and then the Khazars. There is no record of a single armed conflict between the Khazars and Magyars. Toynbee says that the Magyars "took tribute" on the Khazars' behalf from the Slav and Finn peoples.
At the time of the arrival of the Rus, the Magyars moved across the Don river to its West bank. One might assume, by the fact that they were allies of the Khazars, that they did this with the full permission of the Khazars and that it was intended to act as a check against the advancement of the Rus.
The Khazars compensated the Magyars for their loyalty by giving them a king, the founder of the first Magyar dynasty and then, they did something that they apparently had not done up to this point: intermarriage between the Magyars and several Khazar tribes took place. The Khazar Kagan gave a noble Khazar lady to the new king of the Magyars for his wife. There were no children of this union, but it is assumed that there were marriages between her retainers and the members of the Magyar court.
At some point during this period, there also seems to have been a rebellion of three Khazar tribes some of whom fled to the Magyars. As Koestler puts it: the Magyars received metaphorically and literally, a blood transfusion from the Khazars.
Until the middle of the tenth century, both the Magyar and Khazar languages were spoken in Hungary. The result of this double tongue is the mixed character of the modern Hungarian language. Though the Hungarians have ceased to be bilingual, there are still some two hundred loan-words from the Chuvash dialect of Turkish which the Khazars spoke.
There is some evidence to indicate that among the dissident Khazar tribes (the leading one was called Kabar), who de facto took over the leadership of the Magyar tribes, there were Jews, or adherents of a "judaizing religion." Some experts think that this rebellion was, in fact, connected with the religious reforms initiated by King Obadiah of the Khazars. Rabbinical law, strict rules, and other elements of Judaism would certainly have grated on a tribe of steppe warriors.
The alliance of the Magyars and Khazars came to an end when the Magyars crossed the Carpathian mountains and conquered the territory that was to become Hungary. Thus, in 862, they raided the East Frankish empire.
The Magyars seem to have acquired the raiding habit only in the second half of the ninth century - about the time when they received that critical blood-transfusion from the Khazars. The Kabars ... became the leading tribe, and infused their hosts with the spirit of adventure which was soon to turn them into the scourge of Europe, as the Huns had earlier been. They also taught the Magyars "those very peculiar and characteristic tactics employed since time immemorial by every Turkish nation - Huns, Avars, Turks, Pechenegs, Kumans - and by no other ... light cavalry using the old devices of simulated flight, of shooting while fleeing, of sudden charges with fearful, wolf-like howling." [Koestler, p. 103]
In other words: "By way of deception, thou shalt do war..."
Thus, the Khazars were instrumental in establishing the Hungarian state. In the tenth century, the Hungarian Duke Taksony invited an unknown number of Khazars to settle in his domains. It is not unlikely that these Khazars were Jews. Steve Jones writes in In the Blood: God, Genes, and Destiny:
Ashkenazim are quite distinct from their Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern co-religionists in the incidence of the disease and in the mutations responsible...
The genetic family tree of Jews from different parts of Europe shows that they are not a unique group, biologically distinct from other peoples around them. There is, though, evidence of common ancestry that gives Jews at least a partial identity of their own. In most places, there is overlap between the genes of the Jewish population and those of local non-Jews. There has been interchange; sometimes through recent marriage, but more often as a result of mating long ago....
The Y chromosomes of Jews are - unsurprisingly - not all the same; the idea of the sons of Abraham is a symbolic one. They do show that many males, some only distantly related to each other, have contributed to the genes of European Jewry. On the average, most Jewish populations contain more diversity for male lineages than for female (whose history is recorded in mitochondrial DNA). This means that there has been more invasion of the Jewish gene pool by the genes of non-Jewish men than of women. The Y chromosomes of Jewish men from the Balkans are rather unlike those of other European Jews, perhaps because there was more admixture in this unstable part of the world."
Judit Beres and C. R. Guglielmino write in: Genetic Structure in relation to the history of the Hungarian ethnic group.
Magyars, Jews, Gypsies, Germans, Slovaks, Kuns, Romanians, etc. In this very large study, Hungarian Jews were found to be highly distinct from all other groups residing in Hungary. [ Human Biology 68:3 (June 1996): 335- 356]
In another article on this website, I speculated about the "Secret Controllers" of our present world:
At the turn of the century bankers, merchants, industrialists, artists, and intellectuals thronged the broad boulevards that ring [Budapest] or rode beneath them in Europe's first subway. Between 1890 and 1900 the population of Budapest had increased by more than 40 percent to over three-quarters of a million souls, making it the sixth largest city in Europe. Because of Budapest's lively cafes, boulevards, parks, and financial exchange, visitors called it the "Little Paris on the Danube." What would not become apparent for years was that while the cares were doing a booming business, the maternity wards of Budapest were churning out [Jewish] geniuses like a Ford assembly line.
Hungary's economic and intellectual flowering began with the Ausgleich of 1867, which established the dual monarchy with Austria. Under that agreement Hungary achieved something approaching independence from Austria; the Austrian Empire became the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With astonishing rapidity the engines of the industrial age and capitalism would transform Hungary. "The operators of those mechanisms," writes historian Richard Rhodes, "by virtue of their superior ambition and energy, but also by default, were Jews."
Shortly after the establishment of the dual monarchy, discriminatory laws against Jews were repealed, opening to them all civic and political functions. The surge of Jewish immigration followed, paralleling the contemporaneous flood of Jewish immigrants from Russia to New York City.
Political power remained in the hands of the nobility, whose indifference to the gentile non-Hungarian minorities - nearly half the population - would keep a third of the gentiles illiterate as late as 1918, and most of them tied to the land. The Hungarian nobility, unwilling to dirty its hands on commerce, found allies in the Jews. By 1904 Hungarian Jews, who comprised about 5 percent of the population, accounted for about half of Hungary's lawyers and commercial businessmen, 60 percent of its doctors, and 80 percent of its financiers. Budapest Jews were also a dominant presence in the artistic, literary, musical, and scientific life of the country, which caused the growing anti-Semitic community to coin the derogatory label "Judapest."
The growing anti-Semitism would in later years cause many of the brightest members of the Hungarian Jewish community to flee their country. Some of the leading scientists and mathematicians, whose ideas and inventions would help form this century, were part of this tide of immigration. Among the better known were Leo Szilard, who was the first person to understand how chain reactions can unleash the power of the atom; John von Neumann, inventor of the electronic computer and game theory; and Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb. Less well known outside the world of science but equally influential were Theodor von Karman, the father of supersonic flight; George de Hevesy who received a Nobel Prize for his invention of the technique of using radioactive tracers that has had a revolutionary impact on virtually every field of science; and Eugene Wigner, whose exploration of the foundations of quantum mechanics earned him a Nobel Prize.
The list of the great Hungarian scientists could be extended almost indefinitely, but even outside the sciences the prominence of Hungarians is extraordinary. In music it would include the conductors Georg Solti, George Szell, Fritz Reiner, Antal Dorati, and Eugene Ormandy, and the composers Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. Hungarian visual arts in this century were dominated by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, who founded the Chicago Institute of Design. Holly wood was even more influenced by the Magyar emigration. Movie moguls William Fox and Adolph Zukor were Budapest-born, as were Alexander Korda and his brothers, Vincent and Theodor, the director George Cukor, and the producer of Casablanca, Michael Curtisz. And of course, Zsa Zsa Gabor and her sisters were Hungarian, as were Paul Lukas and Erich Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini.
Trying to account for what the physicist Otto Frisch called the "galaxy of brilliant Hungarian expatriates," is a favorite activity in scientific circles. The leading theory, attributed to the theoretical physicist Fritz Houtermans, is that "these people are really from Mars." Andrew Vazxonyi offers a particularly charming version of the extraterrestrial theory. "Well, at the beginning of the century," he says quite seriously, but with a twinkle in his eye, "some people from outer space landed on earth. They thought that the Hungarian women were the best-looking of all, and they took on the form of humans, and after a few years, they decided the Earth was not worth colonizing, so they left. Soon afterward this bunch of geniuses was born. That's the true story."
The actual explanation for Hungary's outpouring of genius is hard to find. Chance certainly played a role. But the strong intellectual values of the Jewish bourgeoisie, combined with the excellent Hungarian educational system, were the fertile field in which the random seeds of genetic chance could flourish. [My Brain is Open, Bruce Schecter, 1998, Touchstone, New York]
Kevin MacDonald writes inThe Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements
Jews have indeed made positive contributions to Western culture in the last 200 years. But whatever one might think are the unique and irreplaceable Jewish contributions to the post-Enlightenment world, it is na�ve to suppose they were intended for the purpose of benefiting humanity solely or even primarily.
I would like to point out that the list of Jewish scientific achievements from the quote above include atomic bombs and Game Theory. Jewish led Science has indeed exploded - no pun intended - and it has brought mankind�to the edge of self-destruction. Advances in mathematical, physical� and computer sciences have brought about "applied game theory", where "wars" are called "games", and to "win the game" is to kill as many� people as possible with as little cost as possible.
Now, back to the Rus. At the same point in time when the Magyars went across the Carpathians, thus depriving the Khazars of their protection in the buffer zone, taking many Jews with them, the Rus took over Kiev in a bloodless coup. There is a reason that they were able to do this.
Three years earlier, the Byzantine emperor set out against the Saracens. He hadn't been gone long when a messenger came to tell him to turn around and return to Constantinople as soon as possible because 200 Russian ships had entered the Bosporus from the Black Sea and were sacking the suburbs of the city. This attack had been coordinated with a simultaneous attack of a western Viking fleet approaching Constantinople across the Mediterranean. The master mind behind this almost capture of Constantinople was Rurik of Novgorod AKA Rorik of Jutland.
The Byzantines now realized what they were up against and, as Koestler notes, decided to play the double game. Treaties were signed in 860 and 866. Scandinavian sailors were recruited into the Byzantine fleet and the famous Varangian Guard was formed. Later treaties in 945 and 971, led to the Principality of Kiev supplying the Byzantine Emperor with troops on request. In 957, Princess Olga of Kiev was baptized on her state visit to Constantinople.
In 988, during the reign of St. Vladimir, the ruling dynasty of the Russians finally and definitively adopted Christianity via the Greek Orthodox Church.
At about the same time, the Hungarians, Poles and Scandinavians converted to Roman Catholicism. The lines of religious division were being drawn across the world. With new alliances and new enemies, the Khazars were, it seems no longer needed. Now the taxes they charged on all the commerce between Russia and Byzantine and the West and the East became a burden no longer to be borne. The Byzantines sacrificed the Khazar alliance in favor of a Russian détente.
The destruction of the capital city of Khazaria, Sarkel, by Svyatoslav of Kiev in 965, was the end of the Khazar empire though the state continued.
In 1016, a combined Russian-Byzantine army invaded Khazaria, defeated its ruler and "subdued the country."
The Russians were unable to hold against the tide of nomad warriors from the Steppes. The constant pressure pushed the center of Russian power north and Kiev went into decline. Independent principalities arose and fell, creating chaos and endless war. Into this vacuum rode the Ghuzz, "pagan and godless foes" also known as Polovtsi, Kumans, Kun or Kipchaks. They ruled the steppes from the late 11th to the thirteenth century when they were overrun by the Mongols.
The Eastern Steppes were plunged into darkness and the later history of the Khazars is shrouded in obscurity. Arab chroniclers speak of a temporary exodus of the population to the Caspian shore, but later returned with the aid of the Muslim Shah of Shirwan. More than one source speaks of this exodus, and then return with the aid of the Muslims, but that the price for this help was conversion.
The first non-Arab mention of Khazaria after 965 is a travel report by Ibrahim Ibn Jakub, the Spanish-Jewish ambassador to Otto the Great. He described the Khazars as still flourishing in 973. The Russian Chronicles give an account of Jews from Khazaria arriving in Kiev in 986.
A later mention, in the Russian Chronicle for the year 1023, mentions Prince Mtislav marching against his brother prince Yaroslav with a force of Khazars and Kasogians. Seven years later, a Khazar army is reported to have defeated a Kurdish invading force.
In 1079, the Russian Chronicle says"The Khazars of Tmutorakan took Oleg prisoner and shipped him overseas to Tsargrad (Constantinople.) Four years later, Oleg was allowed to return to Tmutorakan where "he slaughtered the Khazars who had counseled the death of his brother and had plotted against himself."
Around AD 1100, the Christian saint, Eustratius was a prisoner in Cherson, in the Crimea, and was ill-treated by his "Jewish master," who forced ritual Passover food on him. Koestler emphasizes that the story is probably bunk, but what is important is that it takes a strong Jewish presence in the town for granted.
The last mention of the Khazars in the Russian chronicle is in 1106. About 50 years later, two Persian poets mention a joint Khazar-Rus invasion of Shirwan and speak of Dervent Khazars. At around the same time, there is a short and grumpy (Koestler's term) remark made by the Jewish traveler, Rabbi Petachia of Regensburg who was scandalized at the lack of talmudic learning among the Khazar Jews when he crossed Khazaria.
The last mention of the Khazars as a nation is dated around 1245, at which point in time, the Mongols had already established the greatest nomad empire in the world, extending from Hungary to China. Pope Innocent IV sent a mission to Batu Khan, grandson of Jinghiz Khan, ruler of the Western part of the Mongol Empire. Franciscan friar, Joannes de Plano Carpini visited the capital of Batu Khan: Sarai Batu, AKA Saksin, AKA Itil, the former city of the Khazars.
After his return Plano Carpini wrote in his famous history a list of the regions he visited, as well as the occupants. He mentions, along with the Alans and Circassians, the "Khazars observing the Jewish religion."
And then, darkness.
Bar Hebraeus, one of the greatest Syriac scholars, relates that the father of Seljuk, (the founder of the Seljuk Turk dynasty), Tukak, was a commander in the army of the Khazar Kagan and that Seljuk himself was brought up at the Kagan's court. He was banned from the court for being too familiar with the Kagan.
Another source speaks of Seljuk's father as "one of the notables of the Khazar Turks." Thus, there seems to have been an intimate relationship between the Khazars and the founders of the Seljuk dynasty. There was an obvious break, but whether it was because of conversion to Islam, or whether conversion to Islam came about because of the break in relations, we cannot know.
Russian epics and folk tales give us a few scattered bits to consider after the expiration of the official chronicles. They speak of the "country of the Jews" and "Jewish heroes" who fought against Russians and ruled the steppes. Legends from the Middle ages circulated among Western Jews tell of a "kingdom of the Red Jews."
The Jews of other lands were flattered by the existence of an independent Jewish state. Popular imagination found here a particularly fertile field. Just as the biblically minded Slavonic epics speak of "Jews" rather than Khazars, so did western Jews long after spin romantic tales around those "red Jews" so styled perhaps because of the slight Mongolian pigmentation of many Khazars.
In the twelfth century there arose in Khazaria a Messianic movement, a rudimentary attempt at a Jewish crusade, aimed at the conquest of Palestine by force of arms. The initiator of the movement was a Khazar Jew, one Solomon ben Duji, aided by his son Menahem and a Palestinian scribe. "They wrote letters to all the Jews, near and far, in all the lands around them ... They said that the time had come in which God would gather Israel, His people from all lands to Jerusalem, the holy city, and that Solomon Ben Duji was Elijah, and his son was the Messiah.
These appeals were apparently addressed to the Jewish communities in the Middle East, and seemed to have had little effect, for the next episode takes place only about twenty years later, when young Menahem assumed the name David al-Roy, and the title of Messiah. Though the movement originated in Khazaria, its centre soon shifted to Kurdistan. Here David assembled a substantial armed force - possibly of local Jews, reinforced by Khazars - and succeeded in taking possession of the strategic fortress of Amadie, northeast of Mosul. From here he may have hoped to lead his army to Edessa, and fight his way through Syria into the Holy Land. [...]
Among the Jews of the Middle East, David certainly aroused fervent Messianic hopes. One of his messages came to Baghdad and ... instructed its Jewish citizens to assemble on a certain night on their flat roofs, whence they would be flown on clouds to the Messiah's camp. A goodly number of Jews spent that night on their roofs awaiting the miraculous flight.
But the rabbinical hierarchy in Baghdad, fearing reprisals by the authorities, took a hostile attitude to the pseudo-Messiah and threatened him with a ban. Not surprisingly, David al-Roy was assassinated - apparently in his sleep, allegedly by his own father-in-law...
His memory was venerated, and when Benjamin of Tudela traveled through Persia twenty years after the event, "they still spoke lovingly of their leader." But the cult did not stop there. According to one theory, the six-pointed "shield of David" which adorns the modern Israeli flag, stated to become a national symbol with David a- Roy's crusade. [...]
During the half millennium of its existence and its aftermath in the East European communities, this noteworthy experiment in Jewish statecraft doubtless exerted a greater influence on Jewish history than we are as yet able to envisage. [...]
In general, the reduced Khazar kingdom persevered. It waged a more or less effective defence against all foes until the middle of the thirteenth century, when it fell victim to the great Mongol invasion... Even then it resisted stubbornly until the surrender of all its neighbors. Its population was largely absorbed by the Golden Horde which had established the centre of its empire in Khazar territory. But before and after the Mongol upheaval the Khazars sent many offshoots into the unsubdued Slavonic lands, helping ultimately to build up the great Jewish centres of Eastern Europe.
Here, then, we have the cradle of the numerically strongest and culturally dominant part of modern Jewry. [Koestler, pp. 135 - 137]
As Koestler remarks, this history reduces the term "anti-Semitism" to meaningless jargon based on a misapprehension shared by both the Nazi killers and their victims.
It also reduces the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the most meaningless and tragic hoax which history has ever perpetrated.
Now, let's try to answer the question about the Mongols with a passage from Lev Gumilev's work on Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere:
Names deceive. When one is studying the general patterns of ethnology one must remember above all that a real ethnos and an ethnonym, i.e. ethnic name, are not the same thing.
We often encounter several different ethnoi bearing one and the same name; conversely, one ethnos may be called differently. The word 'Romans' (romani), for instance, originally meant a citizen of the polis Rome, but not at all the Italics and not even the Latins who inhabited other towns of Latium.
In the epoch of the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries A.D. the number of Romans increased through the inclusion among them of all Italians-Etruscans, Samnites, Ligurians, Gauls, and many inhabitants of the provinces, by no means of Latin origin.
After the edict of Caracalla in A.D. 212 all free inhabitants of municipalities on the territory of the Roman Empire were called 'Romans', i.e. Greeks, Cappadocians, Jews, Berbers, Gauls, Illyrians, Germans, etc. The concept 'Roman' lost its ethnic meaning, it would seem, but that was not so; it simply changed it.
The general element became unity not even of culture, but of historical fate, instead of unity of origin and language. The ethnos existed in that form for three centuries, a considerable period, and did not break up.
On the contrary, it was transformed in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., through the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, which began to be the determinant principle after the fourth ecumenical council. Those who recognized these councils sanctioned by the state authority were Romans, and those who did not became enemies.
A new ethnos was formed on that basis, that I conventionally call 'Byzantine', but they themselves called themselves 'Romaic', i.e. 'Romans', though they spoke Greek.
A large number of Slavs, Armenians, and Syrians were gradually merged among the Romaic, but they retained the name 'Romans' until 1453, until the fall of Constantinople. The Romaic considered precisely themselves 'Romans', but not the population of Italy, where Langobards had become feudal lords, Syrian Semites (who had settled in Italy, which had become deserted, in the first to third centuries A.D.) the townsmen, and the former colons from prisoners of war of all peoples at any time conquered by the Romans of the Empire became peasants.
Florentines, Genoese, Venetians, and other inhabitants of Italy considered themselves 'Romans', and not the Greeks, and on those grounds claimed the priority of Rome where only ruins remained of the antique city.
A third branch of the ethnonym 'Romans' arose on the Danube, which had been a place of exile after the Roman conquest of Dacia. There Phrygians, Cappadocians, Thracians, Galatians, Syrians, Greeks, Illyrians, in short, all the eastern subjects of the Roman Empire, served sentences for rebellion against Roman rule. To understand one another they conversed in the generally known Latin tongue. When the Roman legions left Dacia, the descendants of the exiled settlers remained and formed an ethnos that took the name 'Romanian', i.e. 'Roman', in the nineteenth century.
If one can treat the continuity between 'Romans' of the age of the Republic and the 'Roman citizens' of the late Empire, even as a gradual extension of the concept functionally associated with the spread of culture, there is no such link even between the Byzantines and the Romans, from which it follows that the word changed meaning and content and cannot serve as an identifying attribute of the ethnos.
It is obviously also necessary to take into consideration the context in which the word - and so the epoch - has a semantic content, because the meaning of words changes in the course of time. That is even more indicative when we analyze the ethnonyms 'Turk', 'Tatar', and 'Mongol', an example that cannot be left aside.
Examples of camouflage. In the sixth century A.D. a small people living on the eastern slopes of the Altai and Khangai mountains were called Turks. Through several successful wars they managed to subordinate the whole steppe from Hingan to the Sea of Azov. [The Khazars] The subjects of the Great Kaghanate, who preserved their own ethnonyms for internal use, also began to be called Turks, since they were subject to the Turkish Khan.
When the Arabs conquered Sogdiana and clashed with the nomads, they began to call all of them Turks, including the Ugro-Magyars.
In the eighteenth century European scholars called all nomads 'les Tartars', and in the nineteenth century, when linguistic classification became fashionable, the name 'Turk' was arrogated to a definite group of languages.
Many peoples thus fell into the category 'Turk' who had not formed part of it in antiquity, for example the Yakuts, Chuvash and the hybrid people, the Ottoman Turks.
The modification of the ethnonym 'Tatar' is an example of direct camouflage. Up to the twelfth century this was the ethnic name of a group of 30 big clans inhabiting the banks of the Korulen. In the twelfth century this nationality increased in numbers, and Chinese geographers began to call all the Central Asian nomads (Turkish speaking, Tungus-speaking, and Mongol-speaking), including the Mongols, Tatars. And even when, in 1206, Genghis-khan officially called all his subjects Mongols, neighbors continued for some time from habit to call them Tatars.
In this form the word 'Tatar' reached Eastern Europe as a synonym of the word 'Mongol', and became acclimatized in the Volga Valley where the local population began, as a mark of loyalty to the Khan of the Golden Horde to call themselves Tatars. But the original bearers of this name (Kereites, Naimans, Oirats, and Tatars) began to call themselves Mongols. The names thus changed places.
Since that time a scientific terminology arose in which the Tatar anthropological type began to be called 'Mongoloid', and the language of the Volga Kipchak-Turks Tatar. In other words we even employ an obviously camouflaged terminology in science.
But then it is not simply a matter of confusion, but of an ethnonymic phantasmagoria. Not all the nomad subjects of the Golden Horde were loyal to its government. The rebels who lived in the steppes west of the Urals began to call themselves Nogai, and those who lived on the eastern borders of the Jochi ulus, in Tarbagatai and on the banks of the Irtysh, and who were practically independent, because of their remoteness from the capital, became the ancestors of the Kazakhs.
These ethnoi arose in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a consequence of rapid mixing of various ethnic components. The ancestors of the Nogai were the Polovtsy, steppe Alans, Central Asian Turks, who survived a defeat by Batu and were taken into the Mongol army, and inhabitants of the southern frontier of Rus, who adopted Islam, which became a symbol at that time of ethnic consolidation. The Tatars included Kama Bulgars, Khazars, and Burtasy, and also some of the Polovtsy and Ugric Mishari. The population of the White Horde was the mixture; three Kazakh jus were formed from it in the fifteenth century.
But that is not yet all. At the end of the fifteenth century Russian bands from the Upper Volga began to attack the Middle Volga Tatar towns, forced some of the population to quit their homeland and go off into Central Asia under the chieftainship of Sheibani-khan (1500-1510). There they were met as fierce enemies because the local Turks who at that time bore the name of 'Chagatai' (after Genghis-khan's second son Chagatei, the chief of the Central Asian ulus), were ruled by descendants of Timur, the enemy of the steppe and Volga Tatars, who ravaged the Volga Valley in 1398-1399.
The members of the horde who quit their homeland took on a new name 'Uzbeks' to honor the Khan Uzbeg (1312-1341), who had established Islam in the Golden Horde as the state religion. In the sixteenth century the 'Uzbeks' defeated Babur, the last of the Timurides, who led the remnants of his supporters into India and conquered a new kingdom for himself there.
So the Turks who remained in Samarkand and Ferghana bear the name of their conquerors, the Uzbeks. The same Turks, who went to India, began to be called 'Moghuls' in memory of their having been, three hundred years earlier, subject to the Mongol Empire.
But the genuine Mongols who settled in eastern Iran in the thirteenth century, and even retained their language, are called Khazareitsy from the Persian word khazar -a thousand (meaning a military unit, or division).
But where are the Mongols, by whose name the yoke that lay on Rus for 240 years is known?
They were not an ethnos, because by Genghis-khan's will Jochi, Batu, Orda, and Sheibani each received 4 000 warriors, of whom only part came from the Far East. The latter were called 'Kins' and not 'Tatars', from the Chinese name of the Jurchen. This rare name occurred for the last time in the Zadonshchina, in which Mamai was called Kinnish.
Consequently, the yoke was not Mongol at all, but was enforced by the ancestors of the nomad Uzbeks, who should not be confused with the settled Uzbeks, although they merged in the nineteenth century, and now constitute a single ethnos, who equally revere the Timurides and the Sheibanides, who were deadly enemies in the sixteenth century, because that enmity had already lost sense and meaning in the seventeenth century.
Look again at the italicized paragraph above and then consider the comment from Michael Hammer's paper where he says:
The much older estimated age of the factor XI type II mutation ( B3000 years), which has a high frequency in both Ashkenazi and Iraqi Jewish populations, implies that its frequency is largely independent of the recent demographic upheavals particular to the Ashkenazi population. [...]
Now, with the history of the Khazars in mind, look again at the chart of relationships. It all begins to make sense, doesn't it?
Graph from Michael Hammer's study, Uni of Arizona.
Jews are represented by triangles: Ashkenazim = Ash, Roman Jews = Rom, North African Jews = Naf; Near Eastern Jews = Nea; Kurdish Jews = Kur, Yemenite Jews = Yem; Ethiopian Jews = EtJ; non-Jewish Middle Easterners = Pal, non-Jewish Syrians = Syr, non-Jewish Lebanes = Leb, Israeli Druze = Dru, non-Jewish Saudi Arabians = Sar; Non-Jewish Europeans: Rus = Russians, Bri = British, Ger = Germans, Aus = Austrians, Ita = Italians, Spa = Spanish, Gre = Greeks, Tun = North Africans and Tunisians; Egy = Egyptians, Eth = Ethiopians, Gam = Gambians, Bia = Giaka, Bag = Bagandans, San = San, Zul = Zulu. Tur = non Jewish Turks, Lem = Lemba from south Africa.
Now, I want to go back, for a moment, to my off-hand remark that the descriptions of the Khazars sound a lot like descriptions of the Franks. An Armenian writer described them as having "insolent, broad, lashless faces and long falling hair, like women."
The fact is, nobody really knows who the Franks were or where they came from. It has been conjectured that they were barbarian tribes from the East that met and mingled with the Frisians.
The areas that the Frisians originate from was settled as early as 3500 BC. There were comings and goings of additional peoples as the archaeological records show, but it seems to be possible to systematically track who was who and who went where by their pottery and other artifacts.
During the period 400-200 BC, the archaeology shows that a group with its own identity developed from the Ems/Weser and Drenthe settlers. This group was called the Proto-Frisian culture by archaeologists. These Proto-Frisians lived in an area between modern Leiden and Delfzijl. Over the coming centuries, this group of Proto-Frisians expanded to fill the whole of the habitable region.
The coming of the Romans to the southern Netherlands in 12 BC prevented the Frisians from expanding their territory to the south of the Amstel and the Rhine. Around the year 150 BC, the Frisians also lost the Groningen salt-marshes to the Chatti who had advanced from East Friesland.
A list of place-names compiled in Alexandria by geographer Claudius Ptolameus (Ptolemy) c.150 AD was turned into maps by Europeans in the 15th century. These maps also supply the names of those tribes dwelling along the North Sea coastal regions. The evidence indicates that Saxons lived in southwest Jutland (Ribe and southwards), North Friesland and Ditmarschen - as far as the Elbe. Between the Elbe and the Weser lived the "greater" Chatti, while the "lesser" Chatti lived in East Friesland. The descriptions given by Ptolemy agrees with what has been reconstructed from the archaeological finds.
Depopulation of the Frisian salt-marshes occurred between 250 and 400 AD due to the rising sea levels and flooding and, undoubtedly, the cometary destruction of Europe. This resulted in an almost total depopulation of the Frisians in North Holland.
This depopulation not only affected Frisian areas. In the Baltic and northern European coastal regions, the population retreated to the higher areas inland during the second century AD. Where the Frisians went still cannot be stated with certainty. It is thought that some of them migrated to Flanders in the 3rd century, and from there crossed over to Kent in England. Frisian Tritzumer pottery has been found in both regions. Kerst Huisman has theorized that the Frisians of the flooded salt-marshes migrated to East Friesland and there, together with the Chatti, formed the tribe known as the Franks. There came into being, at any rate, a new tribe bearing the name of the Franks about the year 300 AD.
The presence of the tribe known as the Chatti has been mentioned by several ancient sources. What I find to be of great interest is that the Hittites were also known as the Chatti. And Abraham, the patriarch of the Jews, was said to have been a Hittite. That is to say, an Aryan. I began to wonder if the so-called pejorative characteristics that were historically assigned to Jews might actually be an "Aryan cultural inheritance?" It is, after all, the "Salic Law," from the Salian Franks, that deprived women of the rights of inheritance and the position of women was seriously degraded with the impostion of monotheism through Judaism.
Who were the Khazars?
The Khazars flourished from the seventh to the eleventh century. This means that they emerged following the reign of the emperor Justinian. The issues surrounding the reign of Justinian, recorded by Procopius, indicate that something very strange was going on during that period of history. In August 17, 1999, the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau published an article by Robert S. Boyd entitled: Comets may have caused Earth's great empires to fall.
Earth underwent a series of very cold summers around 536-540 AD, indicating an effect rather like a nuclear winter. The scientists in the School of Physics and Astronomy believe this was caused by a comet hitting the earth and exploding in the upper atmosphere. The debris from this giant explosion was such that it enveloped the earth in soot and ash, blocking out the sunlight and causing the very cold weather.
Dr. Ward-Thompson said: "One of the exciting aspects of this work is that we have re-classified the size of comet that represents a global threat. This work shows that even a comet of only half a kilometre in size could have global consequences. Previously nothing less than a kilometre across was counted as a global threat. If such an event happened again today, then once again a large fraction of the earth's population could face starvation."
The comet impact caused crop failures and wide-spread starvation among the sixth century population. The timing coincides with the Justinian Plague, widely believed to be the first appearance of the Black Death in Europe. It is possible that the plague was so rampant and took hold so quickly because the population was already weakened by starvation.(Astronomy and Geophysics, Feb. 2004)
Global Burning
Is this why great empires such as Egypt, Babylon and Rome fell apart, giving way to the periodic "dark ages'' that punctuate human history? At least five times during the last 6,000 years, major environmental calamities undermined civilizations around the world. Burckle Crater near Madagascar has been suggested as the culprit in the Great Flood of Sumeria.
Some researchers say these disasters appear to be linked to collisions with comets or fragments of comets such as the one that broke apart and smashed spectacularly into Jupiter . The impacts, yielding many megatons of explosive energy, produced vast clouds of smoke and dust that circled the globe for years, dimming the sun, driving down temperatures and sowing hunger, disease and death.
A global crisis occurred between AD 530 and 540-- at the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe -- when Earth was pummeled by a swarm of cosmic debris. It hastened the fall of Rome. Chinese observers described at the time as "dragons in the sky" - comets! We're not talking about an intact large comet (if that had hit in the last several millennia, we would not be here today), but rather fragments from a disintegrating comet or asteroid (small pieces like that which hit Tunguska in 1908). All this was possibly compounded by an eruption of Krakatoa in 535 AD.
Earlier disasters include the following: http://www.barry.warmkessel.com/4related.html#e
- THE 12,945 BC STRIKE - Swarm A - 14,945 YA
- THE 11,600 BC STRIKE - Swarm B' - 13,600 YA
- THE 11,000 BC STRIKE - Swarm B - 13,000 YA
- THE 10,600 BC STRIKE - Swarm A' - 12,600 YA
- THE 9,600 BC STRIKE - Swarm A' - 11,600 YA
- THE 8,300 BC STRIKE - Swarm B' - 10,300 YA
- THE 7,800 BC STRIKE - Swarm B - 9,800 YA
- THE 6,800 BC STRIKE - Swarm A' - 8,800 YA
- THE 6,200 BC STRIKE - Swarm A - 8,200 YA
- THE 5,600 BC STRIKE - Swarm C - 7,600 YA
- THE 5,000 BC STRIKE - Swarm B' - 7,000 YA
- THE 4,500 BC STRIKE - Swarm B - 6,500 YA
- THE 3,500 BC STRIKE - Swarm A' - 5,500 YA
- THE 3,000 BC STRIKE - Swarm A - 5,000 YA
- THE 2,350 BC STRIKE - Swarm C - 4,350 YA
- THE 1,600 BC STRIKE - Swarm B' - 3,600 YA
- THE 1,200 BC STRIKE - Swarm B - 3,200 YA
- THE 200 BC STRIKE - Swarm A' - 2,200 YA
- THE 500 AD STRIKE - Swarm A - 1,500 YA
- THE 1,000 AD STRIKE - Swarm C - 1,000 YA
- THE 1,500 AD STRIKE - Swarm B' - 500 YA
In Catastrophe, the Day the Sun Went Out, British historian David Keys describes a 2-year-long winter that began in AD 535. Trees from California to Ireland to Siberia stopped growing. Crops failed. Plague and famine decimated Italy, China and the Middle East.
Keys quotes the writings of a 6th-century Syrian bishop, John of Ephesus:
"The sun became dark. ... Each day it shone for about four hours and still this light was only a feeble shadow.''
A contemporary Italian historian, Flavius Cassiodorus, wrote:
"We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon. We have summer without heat.''
And a contemporary Chinese chronicler reported, "Yellow dust rained like snow.''
Dendrochronologist, Mike Baillie, established that:
Analysis of tree rings shows that at in 540 AD in different parts of the world the climate changed. Temperatures dropped enough to hinder the growth of trees as widely dispersed as northern Europe, Siberia, western North America, and southern South America.
A search of historical records and mythical stories pointed to a disastrous visitation from the sky during the same period, it is claimed. There was one reference to a "comet in Gaul so vast that the whole sky seemed on fire" in 540-41.
According to legend, King Arthur died around this time, and Celtic myths associated with Arthur hinted at bright sky Gods and bolts of fire.
In the 530s, an unusual meteor shower was recorded by both Mediterranean and Chinese observers. Meteors are caused by the fine dust from comets burning up in the atmosphere. Furthermore, a team of astronomers from Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland published research in 1990 which said the Earth would have been at risk from cometary bombardment between the years 400 and 600 AD. [...]
Famine followed the crop failures, and hard on its heels bubonic plague that swept across Europe in the mid-6th century. [...]
At this time, the Roman emperor Justinian was attempting to regenerate the decaying Roman empire. But the plan failed in 540 and was followed by the Dark Ages and the rise of Islam.
Apparently, this disaster was also followed by the arrival of the Khazars.
The kingdom of the Khazars has vanished from the map of the world and today many people have never even heard of it. But, in its day the Khazar kingdom [Khazaria] was a major power.
The Byzantine Emperor and historian, Constantine Porphyrogenitus (913-959) recorded in a treatise on Court Protocol that letters addressed to the pope in Rome, and similarly those to the Emperor of the West, had a gold seal worth two solidi attached to them, whereas messages to the King of the Khazars required a seal worth three solidi.
In other words, it was clearly understood that the Khazars were more powerful than the Emperor of the West or the Pope. As Koestler commented, "This was not flattery, but Realpolitik." How can it be that we are taught about the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the power of the Popes of the Western Empire, and have so little knowledge of an empire that existed at the same time, that was obviously more powerful than either of them? A Jewish empire, in fact?
The country of the Khazars was strategically located at the gateway between the Black Sea and the Caspian, acting as a buffer protecting Byzantium against invasions by the barbarian Bulgars, Magyars, Pechenegs, and later the Vikings and Russians. More important than this was the fact that the Khazars also blocked the Arabs from Eastern Europe.
Within a few years of the death of Muhammad (AD 632) the armies of the Caliphate, sweeping northward through the wreckage of two empires and carrying all before them, reached the great mountain barrier of the Caucasus. This barrier once passed, the road lay open to the lands of eastern Europe. As it was, on the line of the Caucasus the Arabs met the forces of an organized military power which effectively prevented them from extending their conquests in this direction. The wars of the Arabs and the Khazars, which lasted more than a hundred years, though little known, have thus considerable historical importance. [Professor Dunlop of Columbia University, authority on the Khazars, quoted by Koestler, p. 14]
Most people know that the Frankish army of Charles Martel turned back the Arabs on the field of Tours. Few people know that, at the same time, the Muslims were met and held by the forces of the Khazar kingdom.
In 732, the future emperor, Constantine V, married a Khazar princess and their son became Emperor Leo IV, known as Leo the Khazar.
A few years later, probably in AD 740, the King of the Khazars, his court and the military ruling class embraced the Jewish faith and Judaism became the state religion of the Khazars. This came about as a reaction against the political pressure of the other two Superpowers of the day - Byzantium and the Muslims - both of which had the advantage of a monotheistic State Religion which allowed them greater control over their subjects. Not wanting to be subject either to the Pope or the Byzantine Emperor, but seeing the political benefits of religious controls, Judaism was chosen.
The Khazar kingdom held its power and position for most of four centuries during which time they were transformed from a tribe of nomadic warriors into a nation of farmers, cattle-breeders, fishermen, viticulturists, traders and craftsmen. Soviet archaeologists have found evidence of advanced civilization with houses built in a circular shape at the lower levels, later being replaced by rectangular buildings. This is explained as evidence of the transition from from portable, dome shaped tents, to settled lifestyles.
At the peak of their power, the Khazars controlled and/or received tribute from thirty or so different nations and tribes spread across the territories between the Caucasus, the Aral Sea, the Ural Mountains, the town of Kiev, and the Ukrainian steppes. These peoples included the Bulgars, Burtas, Ghuzz, Magyars, the Gothic and Greek colonies of the Crimea, and the Slavonic tribes to the Northwest.
Until the ninth century, the Khazars had no rivals to their supremacy in the regions north of the Black Sea and the adjoining steppe and the forest regions of the Dnieper. The Khazars were the supreme masters of the southern half of Eastern Europe for a century and a half. [...] During this whole period, they held back the onslaught of the nomadic tribes from the East. [Soviet archaeologist M. I. Artamonov]
In the timeline of history, the Khazar empire existed between the Huns and the Mongols. The Arab chroniclers wrote that the Khazars were "white, their eyes blue, their hair flowing and predominantly reddish, their bodies large, and their natures cold. Their general aspect is wild."
The Georgians and Armenians, having been repeatedly devastated by the Khazars, identified them as Gog and Magog. An Armenian writer described them as having "insolent, broad, lashless faces and long falling hair, like women."
They sound like the long-haired Franks, don't they?
One of the earliest factual references to the Khazars occurs in a Syriac chronicle dating from the middle of the sixth century. It mentions the Khazars in a list of people who inhabit the region of the Caucasus. Koestler recounts that other sources indicate that the Khazars were intimately connected with the Huns.
In AD 448, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II sent an embassy to Attila which included a famed rhetorician by name of Priscus. He kept a minute account not only of the diplomatic negotiations, but also of the court intrigues and goings-on in Attila's sumptuous banqueting hall - he was in fact the perfect gossip columnist, and is still one of the main sources of information about Hun customs and habits. But Priscus also has anecdotes to tell about a people subject to the Huns whom he calls Akatzirs - that is, very likely, the Ak-Khazars, or "White" Khazars.
The Byzantine Emperor, Priscus tells us, tried to win this warrior race over to his side, but the greedy Khazar chieftain named Karidach, considered the bribe offered to him inadequate, and sided with the Huns. Attila defeated Karidach's rival chieftains, installed him as the sole ruler of the Akatzirs, and invited him to visit his court. Karidach thanked him profusely for the invitation and went on to say that "it would be too hard on a mortal man to look into the face of a god. For, as one cannot stare into the sun's disc, even less could one look into the face of the greatest god without suffering injury." Attila must have been pleased, for he confirmed Karidach in his rule.
After the collapse of the Hun Empire, the Khazars raided and absorbed numerous tribes of nomadic hordes coming from the East. At this point, the West Turkish kingdom arose, a confederation of tribes ruled by a Kagan, or Khagan. The Khazars later adopted this title for their rulers as well. This "Turkish state" fell apart after a century, but it is important to note that it was only after this period that the word Turkish was used in reference to a specific nation, as opposed to its earlier use which simply meant a tribe speaking a Turkic language such as the Khazars and Bulgars.
And so, at the time of the cometary disasters that brought on the Dark Ages, the Khazars rose to power. By the first decades of the seventh century, there were three "Superpowers," two of whom had been fighting each other for a century and were seemingly on the verge of collapse. Persia was about to face its doom in the armies of the Khazars, but through its friendship with Khazaria, Byzantium survived.
In 627, the Roman Emperor Heraclius made an alliance with the Khazars so as to defeat his nemesis: Persia. The Khazars provided Heraclius with 40,000 horsemen under a commander named Ziebel and Heraclius promised him his daughter.
The Persians were defeated, which was followed by a revolution and after ten years of anarchy and chaos, the first Arab armies delivered the coup de grace. And so, a new Superpower arose: the Islamic Caliphate.
In short order, the Muslims conquered Persia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and surrounded the Byzantine empire in a half-circle from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus. Between 642 and 652, the Muslims repeatedly penetrated into Khazaria in an attempt to gain a foothold on the way to Eastern Europe. After a defeat in 652, the Muslims backed off for thirty or forty years and concentrated on Byzantium, laying siege to Constantinople on several occasions. Had they been able to get to the other side, to surround Byzantium from the Khazarian side, it would have been fatal for the Roman Empire.
Meanwhile, the Khazars consolidated their own power, expanding into Ukraine and the Crimea, incorporating the conquered people into their empire ruled by the Kagan. By the time of the 8th century, the Khazar empire was stable enough to actually go on the offensive against the Muslims rather than just holding their position and driving them away repeatedly.
From a distance of more than a thousand years, the period of intermittent warfare that followed looks like a series of tedious episodes on a local scale, following the same, repetitive pattern: the Khazar cavalry in their heavy armour breaking through the pass of Dariel or the Gate of Darband into the Caliph's domains to the south; followed by Arab counter-thrusts through the same pass or the defile, towards the Volga and back again. [...] One is reminded of the old jingle about the noble Duke of York who had ten thousand men; "he marched them up to the top of the hill. And he marched them down again." In fact, the Arab sources speak of armies of 100,000, even of 300,000 men engaged on either side - probably outnumbering the armies which decided the fate of the Western world at the battle of Tours about the same time.
The death-defying fanaticism which characterized these wars is illustrated by episodes such as the suicide by fire of a whole Khazar town as an alternative to surrender; the poisoning of the water supply of Bab al Abwab by an Arab general; or by the traditional exhortation which would halt the rout of a defeated Arab army and make it fight to the last man: "To the Garden Muslims, not the Fire" - the joys of Paradise being assured to every Muslim soldier killed in the Holy War.[Koestler, p. 28]
The giant Islamic pincer movement across the Pyrenees in the west and across the Caucasus into Eastern Europe was halted at both ends about the same time. As Charles Martel's Franks saved Gaul and Western Europe, so the Khazars saved the Eastern Roman Empire.
At the end of all this was the marriage of the Khazar princess to the heir of the Byzantine Empire in gratitude for defeat of the Muslims. Following this event, of course, was the politically expedient conversion of the Khazars to Judaism.
Overnight an entire group of people, the warlike, fanatical Khazars, suddenly proclaimed themselves Jews. The Khazar kingdom began to be described as the "Kingdom of the Jews" by historians of the day. Succeeding Khazar rulers took Jewish names, sent for Jewish scholars from Spain to come and instruct them, settle with them. During the late 9th Century the Khazar kingdom became a haven for Jews of other lands. But it seems that this process was almost exclusively a question of male Jews - including Kohanim - coming to Khazaria and marrying Khazar women. What does not seem to have happened, is the intermarriage of Khazars with Separdic Jewish women from other European communities of Jews.
Koestler quotes at length from ancient accounts of the Khazars and I highly recommend this book to the reader not only because it is well researched, but also because it can be quite entertaining reading!
At the height of the Khazar empire, the main source of royal income was foreign trade. There were enormous caravans that transported textiles, dried fruit, honey, wax, and spices following the Silk road to and from the East. Arts and crafts and haute couture flourished. Slaves and furs were traded by Rus merchants, Vikings coming down the Volga on a north/south trade axis. On all these goods, the Khazars levied a tax of ten per cent. This was added to the tribute paid by the Bulgars, Magyars, and others. Khazaria was cosmopolitan, open to all sorts of cultural and religious influences while, at the same time, using its State Religion to defend itself against the other two ecclesiastical powers in the world.
In short, Khazaria was an extremely prosperous country and this prosperity depended on its military power. Khazaria had a standing army by which means it was able to maintain brutal domination over its subject tribes and peoples. Human sacrifice was also practiced by the earlier Khazars- including the ritual killing of the king at the end of his reign.
At the beginning of the ninth century, the Khazars had more or less a tacit "nonaggression pact" with the Caliphate, and relations with Byzantium were friendly. After all, they were family! But, a new cloud was on the horizon: the Vikings began to stir.
Two centuries earlier, it had been the Arabs and their "Holy War." Now it was the Vikings and their "unholy war" of piracy and plunder.
In neither case have historians been able to provide convincing explanations of the economical, ecological or ideological reasons which transformed these apparently quiescent regions of Arabia and Scandinavia quasi overnight into volcanoes of exuberant vitality and reckless enterprise. Both eruptions spent their force within a couple of centuries but left a permanent mark on the world. Both evolved in this time-span from savagery and destructiveness to splendid cultural achievement. [Koestler, p. 86]
Within a few decades, the Vikings had penetrated all the major waterways of Europe, conquered half of Ireland, colonized Iceland, conquered Normandy, sacked Paris, raided Germany, the Rhone delta, the gulf of Genoa, circumnavigated the Iberian peninsula and attacked Constantinople through the Mediterranean and the Dardanelles, coordinated with an attack down the Dnieper and across the Black Sea. A special prayer was formulated in Christendom: Lord deliver us from the fury of the Normans.
Again, Byzantium depended on Khazaria to block the advance of the Vikings.
This branch of norsemen who were called Rhos or Varangians, originated from eastern Sweden and were cousins to the Norwegians and Danes who raided Western Europe.
These Varangian-Rus seem to have been a unique blend - unique even among their brother Vikings - combining the traits of pirates, robbers and meretricious merchants, who traded on their own terms, imposed by sword and battle-axe. They bartered furs, swords and amber in exchange for gold, but their principal merchandise were slaves. [Koestler, p. 89]
For a century and a half, trade and diplomacy between the Byzantines and the Khazars and the Rus alternated with war. Slowly but surely, the Vikings built permanent settlements, becoming Slavonized by intermingling with their subjects and vassals - the Slavs along the Dnieper who were agricultural and more timid than the "Turks." This mixing of genes and cultures tamed the Rus and turned them into Russians.
At first, the Rus were friendlier with the Khazars than with the Byzantines. The Rus even adopted the title "Kagan" for their ruler. However, all the while they were having "cultural exchanges" with the Khazars, the Rus were bringing the Slavs into their own fold. Considering the genetic data, this may be as much due to intermarriage between the Slavonic tribes, as much as to conquest. Within a couple of decades, the Rus were receiving tribute from almost half of the former subjects of the Khazars!
When the town of Kiev, on the Dnieper river, passed into Rus hands, apparently without an armed struggle, it was the beginning of the end for Khazaria. There were still large communities of Khazar Jews in Kiev, and later, after the final destruction of Khazaria, they were joined by Khazar refugees.
A tribe called the Magyars now come into view. The Magyars seem to have originated in the forest regions of the northern Urals along with two other tribes, the Vogul and Ostyak. Probably at the time of the cometary bombardment that brought on the dark ages, these tribes were driven out of their forests and the Magyars, attached themselves as willing vassals to first the Huns and then the Khazars. There is no record of a single armed conflict between the Khazars and Magyars. Toynbee says that the Magyars "took tribute" on the Khazars' behalf from the Slav and Finn peoples.
At the time of the arrival of the Rus, the Magyars moved across the Don river to its West bank. One might assume, by the fact that they were allies of the Khazars, that they did this with the full permission of the Khazars and that it was intended to act as a check against the advancement of the Rus.
The Khazars compensated the Magyars for their loyalty by giving them a king, the founder of the first Magyar dynasty and then, they did something that they apparently had not done up to this point: intermarriage between the Magyars and several Khazar tribes took place. The Khazar Kagan gave a noble Khazar lady to the new king of the Magyars for his wife. There were no children of this union, but it is assumed that there were marriages between her retainers and the members of the Magyar court.
At some point during this period, there also seems to have been a rebellion of three Khazar tribes some of whom fled to the Magyars. As Koestler puts it: the Magyars received metaphorically and literally, a blood transfusion from the Khazars.
Until the middle of the tenth century, both the Magyar and Khazar languages were spoken in Hungary. The result of this double tongue is the mixed character of the modern Hungarian language. Though the Hungarians have ceased to be bilingual, there are still some two hundred loan-words from the Chuvash dialect of Turkish which the Khazars spoke.
There is some evidence to indicate that among the dissident Khazar tribes (the leading one was called Kabar), who de facto took over the leadership of the Magyar tribes, there were Jews, or adherents of a "judaizing religion." Some experts think that this rebellion was, in fact, connected with the religious reforms initiated by King Obadiah of the Khazars. Rabbinical law, strict rules, and other elements of Judaism would certainly have grated on a tribe of steppe warriors.
The alliance of the Magyars and Khazars came to an end when the Magyars crossed the Carpathian mountains and conquered the territory that was to become Hungary. Thus, in 862, they raided the East Frankish empire.
The Magyars seem to have acquired the raiding habit only in the second half of the ninth century - about the time when they received that critical blood-transfusion from the Khazars. The Kabars ... became the leading tribe, and infused their hosts with the spirit of adventure which was soon to turn them into the scourge of Europe, as the Huns had earlier been. They also taught the Magyars "those very peculiar and characteristic tactics employed since time immemorial by every Turkish nation - Huns, Avars, Turks, Pechenegs, Kumans - and by no other ... light cavalry using the old devices of simulated flight, of shooting while fleeing, of sudden charges with fearful, wolf-like howling." [Koestler, p. 103]
In other words: "By way of deception, thou shalt do war..."
Thus, the Khazars were instrumental in establishing the Hungarian state. In the tenth century, the Hungarian Duke Taksony invited an unknown number of Khazars to settle in his domains. It is not unlikely that these Khazars were Jews. Steve Jones writes in In the Blood: God, Genes, and Destiny:
Ashkenazim are quite distinct from their Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern co-religionists in the incidence of the disease and in the mutations responsible...
The genetic family tree of Jews from different parts of Europe shows that they are not a unique group, biologically distinct from other peoples around them. There is, though, evidence of common ancestry that gives Jews at least a partial identity of their own. In most places, there is overlap between the genes of the Jewish population and those of local non-Jews. There has been interchange; sometimes through recent marriage, but more often as a result of mating long ago....
The Y chromosomes of Jews are - unsurprisingly - not all the same; the idea of the sons of Abraham is a symbolic one. They do show that many males, some only distantly related to each other, have contributed to the genes of European Jewry. On the average, most Jewish populations contain more diversity for male lineages than for female (whose history is recorded in mitochondrial DNA). This means that there has been more invasion of the Jewish gene pool by the genes of non-Jewish men than of women. The Y chromosomes of Jewish men from the Balkans are rather unlike those of other European Jews, perhaps because there was more admixture in this unstable part of the world."
Judit Beres and C. R. Guglielmino write in: Genetic Structure in relation to the history of the Hungarian ethnic group.
Magyars, Jews, Gypsies, Germans, Slovaks, Kuns, Romanians, etc. In this very large study, Hungarian Jews were found to be highly distinct from all other groups residing in Hungary. [ Human Biology 68:3 (June 1996): 335- 356]
In another article on this website, I speculated about the "Secret Controllers" of our present world:
At the turn of the century bankers, merchants, industrialists, artists, and intellectuals thronged the broad boulevards that ring [Budapest] or rode beneath them in Europe's first subway. Between 1890 and 1900 the population of Budapest had increased by more than 40 percent to over three-quarters of a million souls, making it the sixth largest city in Europe. Because of Budapest's lively cafes, boulevards, parks, and financial exchange, visitors called it the "Little Paris on the Danube." What would not become apparent for years was that while the cares were doing a booming business, the maternity wards of Budapest were churning out [Jewish] geniuses like a Ford assembly line.
Hungary's economic and intellectual flowering began with the Ausgleich of 1867, which established the dual monarchy with Austria. Under that agreement Hungary achieved something approaching independence from Austria; the Austrian Empire became the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With astonishing rapidity the engines of the industrial age and capitalism would transform Hungary. "The operators of those mechanisms," writes historian Richard Rhodes, "by virtue of their superior ambition and energy, but also by default, were Jews."
Shortly after the establishment of the dual monarchy, discriminatory laws against Jews were repealed, opening to them all civic and political functions. The surge of Jewish immigration followed, paralleling the contemporaneous flood of Jewish immigrants from Russia to New York City.
Political power remained in the hands of the nobility, whose indifference to the gentile non-Hungarian minorities - nearly half the population - would keep a third of the gentiles illiterate as late as 1918, and most of them tied to the land. The Hungarian nobility, unwilling to dirty its hands on commerce, found allies in the Jews. By 1904 Hungarian Jews, who comprised about 5 percent of the population, accounted for about half of Hungary's lawyers and commercial businessmen, 60 percent of its doctors, and 80 percent of its financiers. Budapest Jews were also a dominant presence in the artistic, literary, musical, and scientific life of the country, which caused the growing anti-Semitic community to coin the derogatory label "Judapest."
The growing anti-Semitism would in later years cause many of the brightest members of the Hungarian Jewish community to flee their country. Some of the leading scientists and mathematicians, whose ideas and inventions would help form this century, were part of this tide of immigration. Among the better known were Leo Szilard, who was the first person to understand how chain reactions can unleash the power of the atom; John von Neumann, inventor of the electronic computer and game theory; and Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb. Less well known outside the world of science but equally influential were Theodor von Karman, the father of supersonic flight; George de Hevesy who received a Nobel Prize for his invention of the technique of using radioactive tracers that has had a revolutionary impact on virtually every field of science; and Eugene Wigner, whose exploration of the foundations of quantum mechanics earned him a Nobel Prize.
The list of the great Hungarian scientists could be extended almost indefinitely, but even outside the sciences the prominence of Hungarians is extraordinary. In music it would include the conductors Georg Solti, George Szell, Fritz Reiner, Antal Dorati, and Eugene Ormandy, and the composers Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. Hungarian visual arts in this century were dominated by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, who founded the Chicago Institute of Design. Holly wood was even more influenced by the Magyar emigration. Movie moguls William Fox and Adolph Zukor were Budapest-born, as were Alexander Korda and his brothers, Vincent and Theodor, the director George Cukor, and the producer of Casablanca, Michael Curtisz. And of course, Zsa Zsa Gabor and her sisters were Hungarian, as were Paul Lukas and Erich Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini.
Trying to account for what the physicist Otto Frisch called the "galaxy of brilliant Hungarian expatriates," is a favorite activity in scientific circles. The leading theory, attributed to the theoretical physicist Fritz Houtermans, is that "these people are really from Mars." Andrew Vazxonyi offers a particularly charming version of the extraterrestrial theory. "Well, at the beginning of the century," he says quite seriously, but with a twinkle in his eye, "some people from outer space landed on earth. They thought that the Hungarian women were the best-looking of all, and they took on the form of humans, and after a few years, they decided the Earth was not worth colonizing, so they left. Soon afterward this bunch of geniuses was born. That's the true story."
The actual explanation for Hungary's outpouring of genius is hard to find. Chance certainly played a role. But the strong intellectual values of the Jewish bourgeoisie, combined with the excellent Hungarian educational system, were the fertile field in which the random seeds of genetic chance could flourish. [My Brain is Open, Bruce Schecter, 1998, Touchstone, New York]
Kevin MacDonald writes inThe Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements
Jews have indeed made positive contributions to Western culture in the last 200 years. But whatever one might think are the unique and irreplaceable Jewish contributions to the post-Enlightenment world, it is na�ve to suppose they were intended for the purpose of benefiting humanity solely or even primarily.
I would like to point out that the list of Jewish scientific achievements from the quote above include atomic bombs and Game Theory. Jewish led Science has indeed exploded - no pun intended - and it has brought mankind�to the edge of self-destruction. Advances in mathematical, physical� and computer sciences have brought about "applied game theory", where "wars" are called "games", and to "win the game" is to kill as many� people as possible with as little cost as possible.
Now, back to the Rus. At the same point in time when the Magyars went across the Carpathians, thus depriving the Khazars of their protection in the buffer zone, taking many Jews with them, the Rus took over Kiev in a bloodless coup. There is a reason that they were able to do this.
Three years earlier, the Byzantine emperor set out against the Saracens. He hadn't been gone long when a messenger came to tell him to turn around and return to Constantinople as soon as possible because 200 Russian ships had entered the Bosporus from the Black Sea and were sacking the suburbs of the city. This attack had been coordinated with a simultaneous attack of a western Viking fleet approaching Constantinople across the Mediterranean. The master mind behind this almost capture of Constantinople was Rurik of Novgorod AKA Rorik of Jutland.
The Byzantines now realized what they were up against and, as Koestler notes, decided to play the double game. Treaties were signed in 860 and 866. Scandinavian sailors were recruited into the Byzantine fleet and the famous Varangian Guard was formed. Later treaties in 945 and 971, led to the Principality of Kiev supplying the Byzantine Emperor with troops on request. In 957, Princess Olga of Kiev was baptized on her state visit to Constantinople.
In 988, during the reign of St. Vladimir, the ruling dynasty of the Russians finally and definitively adopted Christianity via the Greek Orthodox Church.
At about the same time, the Hungarians, Poles and Scandinavians converted to Roman Catholicism. The lines of religious division were being drawn across the world. With new alliances and new enemies, the Khazars were, it seems no longer needed. Now the taxes they charged on all the commerce between Russia and Byzantine and the West and the East became a burden no longer to be borne. The Byzantines sacrificed the Khazar alliance in favor of a Russian détente.
The destruction of the capital city of Khazaria, Sarkel, by Svyatoslav of Kiev in 965, was the end of the Khazar empire though the state continued.
In 1016, a combined Russian-Byzantine army invaded Khazaria, defeated its ruler and "subdued the country."
The Russians were unable to hold against the tide of nomad warriors from the Steppes. The constant pressure pushed the center of Russian power north and Kiev went into decline. Independent principalities arose and fell, creating chaos and endless war. Into this vacuum rode the Ghuzz, "pagan and godless foes" also known as Polovtsi, Kumans, Kun or Kipchaks. They ruled the steppes from the late 11th to the thirteenth century when they were overrun by the Mongols.
The Eastern Steppes were plunged into darkness and the later history of the Khazars is shrouded in obscurity. Arab chroniclers speak of a temporary exodus of the population to the Caspian shore, but later returned with the aid of the Muslim Shah of Shirwan. More than one source speaks of this exodus, and then return with the aid of the Muslims, but that the price for this help was conversion.
The first non-Arab mention of Khazaria after 965 is a travel report by Ibrahim Ibn Jakub, the Spanish-Jewish ambassador to Otto the Great. He described the Khazars as still flourishing in 973. The Russian Chronicles give an account of Jews from Khazaria arriving in Kiev in 986.
A later mention, in the Russian Chronicle for the year 1023, mentions Prince Mtislav marching against his brother prince Yaroslav with a force of Khazars and Kasogians. Seven years later, a Khazar army is reported to have defeated a Kurdish invading force.
In 1079, the Russian Chronicle says"The Khazars of Tmutorakan took Oleg prisoner and shipped him overseas to Tsargrad (Constantinople.) Four years later, Oleg was allowed to return to Tmutorakan where "he slaughtered the Khazars who had counseled the death of his brother and had plotted against himself."
Around AD 1100, the Christian saint, Eustratius was a prisoner in Cherson, in the Crimea, and was ill-treated by his "Jewish master," who forced ritual Passover food on him. Koestler emphasizes that the story is probably bunk, but what is important is that it takes a strong Jewish presence in the town for granted.
The last mention of the Khazars in the Russian chronicle is in 1106. About 50 years later, two Persian poets mention a joint Khazar-Rus invasion of Shirwan and speak of Dervent Khazars. At around the same time, there is a short and grumpy (Koestler's term) remark made by the Jewish traveler, Rabbi Petachia of Regensburg who was scandalized at the lack of talmudic learning among the Khazar Jews when he crossed Khazaria.
The last mention of the Khazars as a nation is dated around 1245, at which point in time, the Mongols had already established the greatest nomad empire in the world, extending from Hungary to China. Pope Innocent IV sent a mission to Batu Khan, grandson of Jinghiz Khan, ruler of the Western part of the Mongol Empire. Franciscan friar, Joannes de Plano Carpini visited the capital of Batu Khan: Sarai Batu, AKA Saksin, AKA Itil, the former city of the Khazars.
After his return Plano Carpini wrote in his famous history a list of the regions he visited, as well as the occupants. He mentions, along with the Alans and Circassians, the "Khazars observing the Jewish religion."
And then, darkness.
Bar Hebraeus, one of the greatest Syriac scholars, relates that the father of Seljuk, (the founder of the Seljuk Turk dynasty), Tukak, was a commander in the army of the Khazar Kagan and that Seljuk himself was brought up at the Kagan's court. He was banned from the court for being too familiar with the Kagan.
Another source speaks of Seljuk's father as "one of the notables of the Khazar Turks." Thus, there seems to have been an intimate relationship between the Khazars and the founders of the Seljuk dynasty. There was an obvious break, but whether it was because of conversion to Islam, or whether conversion to Islam came about because of the break in relations, we cannot know.
Russian epics and folk tales give us a few scattered bits to consider after the expiration of the official chronicles. They speak of the "country of the Jews" and "Jewish heroes" who fought against Russians and ruled the steppes. Legends from the Middle ages circulated among Western Jews tell of a "kingdom of the Red Jews."
The Jews of other lands were flattered by the existence of an independent Jewish state. Popular imagination found here a particularly fertile field. Just as the biblically minded Slavonic epics speak of "Jews" rather than Khazars, so did western Jews long after spin romantic tales around those "red Jews" so styled perhaps because of the slight Mongolian pigmentation of many Khazars.
In the twelfth century there arose in Khazaria a Messianic movement, a rudimentary attempt at a Jewish crusade, aimed at the conquest of Palestine by force of arms. The initiator of the movement was a Khazar Jew, one Solomon ben Duji, aided by his son Menahem and a Palestinian scribe. "They wrote letters to all the Jews, near and far, in all the lands around them ... They said that the time had come in which God would gather Israel, His people from all lands to Jerusalem, the holy city, and that Solomon Ben Duji was Elijah, and his son was the Messiah.
These appeals were apparently addressed to the Jewish communities in the Middle East, and seemed to have had little effect, for the next episode takes place only about twenty years later, when young Menahem assumed the name David al-Roy, and the title of Messiah. Though the movement originated in Khazaria, its centre soon shifted to Kurdistan. Here David assembled a substantial armed force - possibly of local Jews, reinforced by Khazars - and succeeded in taking possession of the strategic fortress of Amadie, northeast of Mosul. From here he may have hoped to lead his army to Edessa, and fight his way through Syria into the Holy Land. [...]
Among the Jews of the Middle East, David certainly aroused fervent Messianic hopes. One of his messages came to Baghdad and ... instructed its Jewish citizens to assemble on a certain night on their flat roofs, whence they would be flown on clouds to the Messiah's camp. A goodly number of Jews spent that night on their roofs awaiting the miraculous flight.
But the rabbinical hierarchy in Baghdad, fearing reprisals by the authorities, took a hostile attitude to the pseudo-Messiah and threatened him with a ban. Not surprisingly, David al-Roy was assassinated - apparently in his sleep, allegedly by his own father-in-law...
His memory was venerated, and when Benjamin of Tudela traveled through Persia twenty years after the event, "they still spoke lovingly of their leader." But the cult did not stop there. According to one theory, the six-pointed "shield of David" which adorns the modern Israeli flag, stated to become a national symbol with David a- Roy's crusade. [...]
During the half millennium of its existence and its aftermath in the East European communities, this noteworthy experiment in Jewish statecraft doubtless exerted a greater influence on Jewish history than we are as yet able to envisage. [...]
In general, the reduced Khazar kingdom persevered. It waged a more or less effective defence against all foes until the middle of the thirteenth century, when it fell victim to the great Mongol invasion... Even then it resisted stubbornly until the surrender of all its neighbors. Its population was largely absorbed by the Golden Horde which had established the centre of its empire in Khazar territory. But before and after the Mongol upheaval the Khazars sent many offshoots into the unsubdued Slavonic lands, helping ultimately to build up the great Jewish centres of Eastern Europe.
Here, then, we have the cradle of the numerically strongest and culturally dominant part of modern Jewry. [Koestler, pp. 135 - 137]
As Koestler remarks, this history reduces the term "anti-Semitism" to meaningless jargon based on a misapprehension shared by both the Nazi killers and their victims.
It also reduces the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the most meaningless and tragic hoax which history has ever perpetrated.
Now, let's try to answer the question about the Mongols with a passage from Lev Gumilev's work on Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere:
Names deceive. When one is studying the general patterns of ethnology one must remember above all that a real ethnos and an ethnonym, i.e. ethnic name, are not the same thing.
We often encounter several different ethnoi bearing one and the same name; conversely, one ethnos may be called differently. The word 'Romans' (romani), for instance, originally meant a citizen of the polis Rome, but not at all the Italics and not even the Latins who inhabited other towns of Latium.
In the epoch of the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries A.D. the number of Romans increased through the inclusion among them of all Italians-Etruscans, Samnites, Ligurians, Gauls, and many inhabitants of the provinces, by no means of Latin origin.
After the edict of Caracalla in A.D. 212 all free inhabitants of municipalities on the territory of the Roman Empire were called 'Romans', i.e. Greeks, Cappadocians, Jews, Berbers, Gauls, Illyrians, Germans, etc. The concept 'Roman' lost its ethnic meaning, it would seem, but that was not so; it simply changed it.
The general element became unity not even of culture, but of historical fate, instead of unity of origin and language. The ethnos existed in that form for three centuries, a considerable period, and did not break up.
On the contrary, it was transformed in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., through the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, which began to be the determinant principle after the fourth ecumenical council. Those who recognized these councils sanctioned by the state authority were Romans, and those who did not became enemies.
A new ethnos was formed on that basis, that I conventionally call 'Byzantine', but they themselves called themselves 'Romaic', i.e. 'Romans', though they spoke Greek.
A large number of Slavs, Armenians, and Syrians were gradually merged among the Romaic, but they retained the name 'Romans' until 1453, until the fall of Constantinople. The Romaic considered precisely themselves 'Romans', but not the population of Italy, where Langobards had become feudal lords, Syrian Semites (who had settled in Italy, which had become deserted, in the first to third centuries A.D.) the townsmen, and the former colons from prisoners of war of all peoples at any time conquered by the Romans of the Empire became peasants.
Florentines, Genoese, Venetians, and other inhabitants of Italy considered themselves 'Romans', and not the Greeks, and on those grounds claimed the priority of Rome where only ruins remained of the antique city.
A third branch of the ethnonym 'Romans' arose on the Danube, which had been a place of exile after the Roman conquest of Dacia. There Phrygians, Cappadocians, Thracians, Galatians, Syrians, Greeks, Illyrians, in short, all the eastern subjects of the Roman Empire, served sentences for rebellion against Roman rule. To understand one another they conversed in the generally known Latin tongue. When the Roman legions left Dacia, the descendants of the exiled settlers remained and formed an ethnos that took the name 'Romanian', i.e. 'Roman', in the nineteenth century.
If one can treat the continuity between 'Romans' of the age of the Republic and the 'Roman citizens' of the late Empire, even as a gradual extension of the concept functionally associated with the spread of culture, there is no such link even between the Byzantines and the Romans, from which it follows that the word changed meaning and content and cannot serve as an identifying attribute of the ethnos.
It is obviously also necessary to take into consideration the context in which the word - and so the epoch - has a semantic content, because the meaning of words changes in the course of time. That is even more indicative when we analyze the ethnonyms 'Turk', 'Tatar', and 'Mongol', an example that cannot be left aside.
Examples of camouflage. In the sixth century A.D. a small people living on the eastern slopes of the Altai and Khangai mountains were called Turks. Through several successful wars they managed to subordinate the whole steppe from Hingan to the Sea of Azov. [The Khazars] The subjects of the Great Kaghanate, who preserved their own ethnonyms for internal use, also began to be called Turks, since they were subject to the Turkish Khan.
When the Arabs conquered Sogdiana and clashed with the nomads, they began to call all of them Turks, including the Ugro-Magyars.
In the eighteenth century European scholars called all nomads 'les Tartars', and in the nineteenth century, when linguistic classification became fashionable, the name 'Turk' was arrogated to a definite group of languages.
Many peoples thus fell into the category 'Turk' who had not formed part of it in antiquity, for example the Yakuts, Chuvash and the hybrid people, the Ottoman Turks.
The modification of the ethnonym 'Tatar' is an example of direct camouflage. Up to the twelfth century this was the ethnic name of a group of 30 big clans inhabiting the banks of the Korulen. In the twelfth century this nationality increased in numbers, and Chinese geographers began to call all the Central Asian nomads (Turkish speaking, Tungus-speaking, and Mongol-speaking), including the Mongols, Tatars. And even when, in 1206, Genghis-khan officially called all his subjects Mongols, neighbors continued for some time from habit to call them Tatars.
In this form the word 'Tatar' reached Eastern Europe as a synonym of the word 'Mongol', and became acclimatized in the Volga Valley where the local population began, as a mark of loyalty to the Khan of the Golden Horde to call themselves Tatars. But the original bearers of this name (Kereites, Naimans, Oirats, and Tatars) began to call themselves Mongols. The names thus changed places.
Since that time a scientific terminology arose in which the Tatar anthropological type began to be called 'Mongoloid', and the language of the Volga Kipchak-Turks Tatar. In other words we even employ an obviously camouflaged terminology in science.
But then it is not simply a matter of confusion, but of an ethnonymic phantasmagoria. Not all the nomad subjects of the Golden Horde were loyal to its government. The rebels who lived in the steppes west of the Urals began to call themselves Nogai, and those who lived on the eastern borders of the Jochi ulus, in Tarbagatai and on the banks of the Irtysh, and who were practically independent, because of their remoteness from the capital, became the ancestors of the Kazakhs.
These ethnoi arose in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a consequence of rapid mixing of various ethnic components. The ancestors of the Nogai were the Polovtsy, steppe Alans, Central Asian Turks, who survived a defeat by Batu and were taken into the Mongol army, and inhabitants of the southern frontier of Rus, who adopted Islam, which became a symbol at that time of ethnic consolidation. The Tatars included Kama Bulgars, Khazars, and Burtasy, and also some of the Polovtsy and Ugric Mishari. The population of the White Horde was the mixture; three Kazakh jus were formed from it in the fifteenth century.
But that is not yet all. At the end of the fifteenth century Russian bands from the Upper Volga began to attack the Middle Volga Tatar towns, forced some of the population to quit their homeland and go off into Central Asia under the chieftainship of Sheibani-khan (1500-1510). There they were met as fierce enemies because the local Turks who at that time bore the name of 'Chagatai' (after Genghis-khan's second son Chagatei, the chief of the Central Asian ulus), were ruled by descendants of Timur, the enemy of the steppe and Volga Tatars, who ravaged the Volga Valley in 1398-1399.
The members of the horde who quit their homeland took on a new name 'Uzbeks' to honor the Khan Uzbeg (1312-1341), who had established Islam in the Golden Horde as the state religion. In the sixteenth century the 'Uzbeks' defeated Babur, the last of the Timurides, who led the remnants of his supporters into India and conquered a new kingdom for himself there.
So the Turks who remained in Samarkand and Ferghana bear the name of their conquerors, the Uzbeks. The same Turks, who went to India, began to be called 'Moghuls' in memory of their having been, three hundred years earlier, subject to the Mongol Empire.
But the genuine Mongols who settled in eastern Iran in the thirteenth century, and even retained their language, are called Khazareitsy from the Persian word khazar -a thousand (meaning a military unit, or division).
But where are the Mongols, by whose name the yoke that lay on Rus for 240 years is known?
They were not an ethnos, because by Genghis-khan's will Jochi, Batu, Orda, and Sheibani each received 4 000 warriors, of whom only part came from the Far East. The latter were called 'Kins' and not 'Tatars', from the Chinese name of the Jurchen. This rare name occurred for the last time in the Zadonshchina, in which Mamai was called Kinnish.
Consequently, the yoke was not Mongol at all, but was enforced by the ancestors of the nomad Uzbeks, who should not be confused with the settled Uzbeks, although they merged in the nineteenth century, and now constitute a single ethnos, who equally revere the Timurides and the Sheibanides, who were deadly enemies in the sixteenth century, because that enmity had already lost sense and meaning in the seventeenth century.
Look again at the italicized paragraph above and then consider the comment from Michael Hammer's paper where he says:
The much older estimated age of the factor XI type II mutation ( B3000 years), which has a high frequency in both Ashkenazi and Iraqi Jewish populations, implies that its frequency is largely independent of the recent demographic upheavals particular to the Ashkenazi population. [...]
Now, with the history of the Khazars in mind, look again at the chart of relationships. It all begins to make sense, doesn't it?
Graph from Michael Hammer's study, Uni of Arizona.
Jews are represented by triangles: Ashkenazim = Ash, Roman Jews = Rom, North African Jews = Naf; Near Eastern Jews = Nea; Kurdish Jews = Kur, Yemenite Jews = Yem; Ethiopian Jews = EtJ; non-Jewish Middle Easterners = Pal, non-Jewish Syrians = Syr, non-Jewish Lebanes = Leb, Israeli Druze = Dru, non-Jewish Saudi Arabians = Sar; Non-Jewish Europeans: Rus = Russians, Bri = British, Ger = Germans, Aus = Austrians, Ita = Italians, Spa = Spanish, Gre = Greeks, Tun = North Africans and Tunisians; Egy = Egyptians, Eth = Ethiopians, Gam = Gambians, Bia = Giaka, Bag = Bagandans, San = San, Zul = Zulu. Tur = non Jewish Turks, Lem = Lemba from south Africa.
Now, I want to go back, for a moment, to my off-hand remark that the descriptions of the Khazars sound a lot like descriptions of the Franks. An Armenian writer described them as having "insolent, broad, lashless faces and long falling hair, like women."
The fact is, nobody really knows who the Franks were or where they came from. It has been conjectured that they were barbarian tribes from the East that met and mingled with the Frisians.
The areas that the Frisians originate from was settled as early as 3500 BC. There were comings and goings of additional peoples as the archaeological records show, but it seems to be possible to systematically track who was who and who went where by their pottery and other artifacts.
During the period 400-200 BC, the archaeology shows that a group with its own identity developed from the Ems/Weser and Drenthe settlers. This group was called the Proto-Frisian culture by archaeologists. These Proto-Frisians lived in an area between modern Leiden and Delfzijl. Over the coming centuries, this group of Proto-Frisians expanded to fill the whole of the habitable region.
The coming of the Romans to the southern Netherlands in 12 BC prevented the Frisians from expanding their territory to the south of the Amstel and the Rhine. Around the year 150 BC, the Frisians also lost the Groningen salt-marshes to the Chatti who had advanced from East Friesland.
A list of place-names compiled in Alexandria by geographer Claudius Ptolameus (Ptolemy) c.150 AD was turned into maps by Europeans in the 15th century. These maps also supply the names of those tribes dwelling along the North Sea coastal regions. The evidence indicates that Saxons lived in southwest Jutland (Ribe and southwards), North Friesland and Ditmarschen - as far as the Elbe. Between the Elbe and the Weser lived the "greater" Chatti, while the "lesser" Chatti lived in East Friesland. The descriptions given by Ptolemy agrees with what has been reconstructed from the archaeological finds.
Depopulation of the Frisian salt-marshes occurred between 250 and 400 AD due to the rising sea levels and flooding and, undoubtedly, the cometary destruction of Europe. This resulted in an almost total depopulation of the Frisians in North Holland.
This depopulation not only affected Frisian areas. In the Baltic and northern European coastal regions, the population retreated to the higher areas inland during the second century AD. Where the Frisians went still cannot be stated with certainty. It is thought that some of them migrated to Flanders in the 3rd century, and from there crossed over to Kent in England. Frisian Tritzumer pottery has been found in both regions. Kerst Huisman has theorized that the Frisians of the flooded salt-marshes migrated to East Friesland and there, together with the Chatti, formed the tribe known as the Franks. There came into being, at any rate, a new tribe bearing the name of the Franks about the year 300 AD.
The presence of the tribe known as the Chatti has been mentioned by several ancient sources. What I find to be of great interest is that the Hittites were also known as the Chatti. And Abraham, the patriarch of the Jews, was said to have been a Hittite. That is to say, an Aryan. I began to wonder if the so-called pejorative characteristics that were historically assigned to Jews might actually be an "Aryan cultural inheritance?" It is, after all, the "Salic Law," from the Salian Franks, that deprived women of the rights of inheritance and the position of women was seriously degraded with the impostion of monotheism through Judaism.
We explored the possible origins of the "Long Haired" Franks after noticing that the ancient descriptions of the Khazars were couched in similar terms. Actually, that is true of most of the ancient Aryan tribes; they were fierce with wild, flowing blonde or red hair, and susceptible to a "furor" that came on them accompanied by great heat. That, of course, reminds us of the mitochondria and its function: the powerhouse of the body that works by virtue of its oxygen-capturing enzymes. The fact that the areas that the Frisians originate from was settled as early as 3500 BC is of some interest as well. The theory that the mastermind behind the attack on Constantinople was Rurik of Novgorod AKA Rorik of Jutland connects us back to the list of place-names compiled in Alexandria by geographer Claudius Ptolameus (Ptolemy) c.150 AD. As we noted, Ptolemy's maps gave the names of the tribes that lived along the North Sea coastal regions, including Jutland where Saxons were found. Next door to the Saxons were the "greater" Chatti, while the "lesser" Chatti lived in East Friesland.
As we noted, depopulation of the Frisian salt-marshes is said to have occurred between 250 and 400 AD due to the rising sea levels and flooding. Later, undoubtedly, the cometary destruction of Europe led to tribes long settled going on the march. Most probably, this is the ultimate reason for the almost total depopulation of the Frisians in North Holland.
As the experts note (though they can't come up with a real reason for it unless they look at the ideas of cometary destruction), this depopulation did not just affect Frisian areas. In the Baltic and northern European coastal regions, the population retreated to the higher areas inland during the second century AD, and certainly were on the move when the comets came. So, either there were two periods of depopulation, or only one and the dating is incorrect.
The experts tell us that where the "archaeological" Frisians went is unknown. After having a look at what Lev Gumilev said about ethnoi, we also realize that names of groups can change in context as well as content. Additionally, language is not always a clue as to origin since languages can be imposed on conquered peoples who then believe that it is their own, or adopted out of necessity.
One example of such a problem is the case of the Finns, Saami (Laplanders), Estonians and Magyars. Their language is called Uralic because such languages are mostly spoken to the east of the Ural Mountains, but obviously, the Finns, Estonians, Saami and Magyars are West of the Ural Mountains. Did they ALL come from the Urals?
No. The Finns and Estonians seem to be almost entirely European, genetically speaking, while the Magyars have a 12 percent Uralic genetic origin. On the other hand, while the Saami are dominantly genetically European, there is still a genetic connection between the Magyars and the Saami.
Additionally, the Finnish population is subject to an unusual collection of genetic diseases that are either very rare or entirely unknown elsewhere. This suggests a bottleneck founder event. The explanation then is that a very small group entered Finland about 2,000 years ago where the Saami population already lived. The Saami retreated to the north, but there was obviously sufficient contact for the Finns to learn the Saami language, while still not intermarrying to any great degree. The reason they would have adopted the Saami language would be because, in a hostile environment, they needed to learn the local dialect of the only people who knew how to survive and get around in Finland's maze of lakes, fjords, and forests.
In short, just because the Finns and Magyars speak a similar language, doesn't mean that they are genetically close. The same is probably true for the tribes of the Middle East who came to be known as "Semitic" after the conquest of Sargon, who came down from the North and was, most probably, from one of the Aryan steppe tribes. The Sumerian peoples were developing writing for their agricultural civilization, and this writing was utilized for the Semitic language of Sargon - the official tongue after the conquest - while the Sumerian language became extinct. The extensive population of Sumerians then came to think of themselves as "Semitic" when, in fact, they weren't - at least not in the terms meant by "Semitic" at that period.
In the truest sense, then, anti-Semitism could be defined as "against Aryan/Indo-Europeans." Of course, if it is true that Abraham was a Hittite, then it could be said that the "Patriarch of the Jews" was truly a Semite, but the tribes who were assimilated to Judaism in those days were not, judging by the paternal affinity between the Separdic Jews and the Palestinians. However, the problem of the Eight Founding Mothers of the Jews adds a twist to the problem and one wonders how and when, and IF those eight women connect to the "daughters of Eve" discussed by Brian Sykes in his book about the Founding mothers of humanity.
Returning to our problem: one clue that strikes me as compelling is the idea that there was a connection between the Frisians of North Holland and a tribe that lived in Kent, England. The current idea is that some of the Frisians may have gone to Kent, but it is equally possible that they CAME from Kent to North Holland, and later traveled further, fleeing to escape destruction and famine. Some of them certainly may have migrated to East Friesland and hooked up with the Chatti to form the Franks around 300 AD. Others of them could just as easily have trekked to the Eurasian steppes.
The languages spoken by many of the tribes of the Eurasian steppes, including the Turkic languages of the Khazars, are also known as Altaic. As a language family, this is still a bit contentious. The Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic families do have strong similarities in many ways, but some linguists suggest these are due to intensive borrowing from long contact. To a some extent, the Altaic-Turkic languages also resemble the Uralic languages already discussed, such as Finnish and Hungarian. As a consequence, a Ural-Altaic superfamily has been suggested: Eurasiatic, in which Indo-European languages would also be included as a "brother" language. This super-family has a parent also which makes a connect to Amerind languages, (!) but we won't go into that just now. The short of it is that we can't rely on language to denote a genetic or ethnic affinity over long periods of time, though it can, sometimes, be a clue.
Returning to the Chatti: obviously, there were/are two types of Aryans as I have demonstrated in my book, Ancient Science where I wrote:
When one tracks back through all of the ancient "matters" and studies the different groups, trying to follow them as they moved from place to place, studying the genetic morphology in order to keep track of who is who, and comparing linguistics and myth and archaeology, one comes to the startling realization that there were significant polarities throughout space and time. I have tentatively identified these polarities as the Circle People and the Triangle - or Pyramid - People. In a general sense, one can see the broad brush of the triangle people in the Southern hemisphere, in the pyramids and related cultures and artifacts. For the most part, their art is primitive and stylistically rigid. In the northern hemisphere, one sees the circle makers, the spirals, the rough megaliths, the art of Lascaux and Chauvet and the many other caves. One can note a clear difference between the perceptions and the response to the environment between the two trends and groups. Of course, there are areas where there was obvious mixture of both cultures and styles, and ideological constructions, but overall, there is a very distinct difference.
Even with these "polarities," again and again we find those "big, blond" types popping up. However, it is not exactly that simple. As the research has proceeded, I have formed hypotheses and tested and discarded them innumerable times. For the moment, the current hypothesis runs as follows:
The issue does not seem to be one of skin color or "race," (which is a ridiculous term as it is currently used). It is more an issue of the difference between human beings who have "something" inside as opposed to those who don't have this "something."
When this "something" is analyzed, it reveals a fundamental difference in "being" that is most easily expressed as those who worship something outside themselves, vs those who don't worship any god or thing outside themselves because they cannot worship outside what is inside.
There are behavioral clues to the different natures of the two polarities, and it seems that the real reason that those who are of the so-called Aryan bloodlines, often "rise to the top" in many cultures for the simple reason that they have more potent "power cells" - mitochondria - that energize their bodily functions, producing greater "heat" and activity. This "rising to the top" can be positive, or it can be negative.
This poses a unique problem: very energetic negatively oriented beings have many advantages in this world over very energetic positive beings due to the fact that the former have no "moral imperative." For them, the material world is all there is: in their core being, they worship the material universe represented by a god who is "outside" of them, and inner reflection and analysis so as to determine if they are conducting themselves in such a way so as to return to the inner "Origin" - or Edenic state - has no real meaning for them.
Many religions have been created that promise salvation or heaven via an intermediary, and these concepts are appealing to the negative orientation, but the deep, internal conviction that this can and must be accomplished by cultivating that divine spark within does not exist for them. They may claim that it does, but their actions do not match their words. Their thinking is "legalistic," and the best way to describe is is that they "strain at gnats and swallow camels."
Again, the important point is: those with the spark of the divine within cannot worship outside what is inside. No matter how hard they may try to "have faith" in this god or that god who has promised to save them, that divine spark within will constantly agitate, asking questions and casting doubts. Such individuals carry the bloodline - the genetic traits - to manifest the Origin - the Hyperboreans.
Just a hypothesis, as I said.
Let's come back to our problem of Gog and Magog.
I have asked: could it be possible that the Frisians came FROM England to the salt marshes of northern Europe? How does this relate to the belief of the ancient Armenians and Georgians that the Khazars were "Gog and Magog."
Yesterday, we looked at the passages from the Bible that mention Gog and Magog (I am excluding repeating genealogical passages).
In Genesis, we read:
10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
10:2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
10:3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
10:4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
In the passage from Ezekiel we notice several of the "sons of Japheth" being named as places:
38:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
38:3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal...
Then later, he mentions the land of Magog is in the same breath with "them that dwell carelessly in the isles..."
39:6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles...
Why should people in the "isles of the gentiles" be described as living carelessly? Is that "carelessly" as in "without cares," or is it carelessly as in not taking sufficient care in some way that led to an incident in which such carelessness became a "marker" for these people? Perhaps a famous blunder of some sort?
The only place on the planet that has been called Gog and Magog for any considerable length of time in our history is in England: the Gog Magog hills near Cambridge.
Historians suggest that the Gog Magog hills got their name because of the innumerable human bones that have been found there; evidence of a battle so fierce that it reminded the locals of Ezekiel's passage about Gog, king of Magog.
The earliest reference to this name for these hills is in a decree of 1574 forbidding students to visit them or be fined. Nowadays, they are still a trysting area. A map dating from the end of the 16th century also depicts the Gogmagog Hills.
There is a small problem here, I think. How did the locals know about the prophecy of Ezekiel?
John Wycliff's hand-written manuscripts in the 1380s were the first complete Bibles in the English language. They were obviously not widely available.
William Tyndale printed the first English NEW Testament in 1525/6. One risked death by burning if caught in mere possession of the forbidden book. Only two complete copies of that first printing are known to have survived. Any Edition printed before 1570 is very rare, most of them were confiscated and burned.
Myles Coverdale and John Rogers, assistants to Tyndale, carried the project forward. The first complete English Bible was printed on October 4, 1535, and is known as the Coverdale Bible.
Considering this timeline, it seems questionable that the locals around the Gogmagog hills should have give such a new name to their hills, or that it would have become commonly known to everyone, such that a decree could be published in less than 40 years regarding same. Considering the fact that having or reading the Bible was a crime for most of those 40 years, it is not likely that the local people would have wanted to reveal their knowledge of the name in this way. One would also think that if ancient battle sites were subject to being renamed in this fashion after the release of the English Bible, many other ancient battle sites would have received Biblical names as well.
Even though there is no proof, it seems to be highly probable that the Gogmagog hills were called that from more ancient times, and for a different reason.
There are two figures of the giants Gog and Magog that strike the hours on a clock at Dunstan-n-the West, Fleet Street, but few people in London seem to know why they are there. Adrian Gilbert writes in his book, The New Jerusalem:
Once more we have to go back to Geoffrey of Monmouth's book, in which there is a story of how, when Brutus and his Trojans arrived in Britain, they found the island sparsley inhabited by a race of giants. One of these, called Gogmagog, wrestled with a Trojan hero called Corineus and was eventually thrown to his death from a cliff- top called in consequense 'Gogmagog's Leap'.
In the 1811 translation into English of Brut Tysilio, a Welsh version of the chronicles translated by the Rev. Peter Roberts, there is a footnote suggesting that Gogmagog is a corrupted form of Cawr-Madog, meaning 'Madog the great' or 'Madog the giant' in Welsh. It would appear that with Gog of Magog, the name of a war leader who the Bible prophesies will lead an invation of the Holy Land at the end of the age.
In another version of the Gogmagog tale, the Recuyell des histories de Troye, Gog and Magog are two seperate giants. In this story they are not killed but brought back as slaves by Brutus to his city of New Troy. Here there were to be employed as gatekeepers, opening and closing the great gates of the palace.
The story of Gog and Magog, the paired giants who worked the gates of London, was very popular in the middle ages and effigies of them were placed on the city gates at least as early as the reign of Henry VI. These were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, but so popular were they that new ones were made in 1708 and installed at the Guildhall. This pair of statues was destroyed in 1940 during the Blitz, the third great fire of London, when the roof and much of the interior furnishings of the Guildhall were burnt. A new pair of the statues was carved to replace them when the Guildhall was repaired after the war.
We should note that the dates of Henry VI are from well before the English Bible was available.
The prophecies of Ezekiel date from sometime around 695-690 BC, and we would like to consider the question as to where he heard the term "Gog, Magog" and what terrible battle was fought in the past that was used as a model for Ezekiel's prediction to which this name was attached?
As it happens, there are three terms often associated with archetypal battles: Armageddon, Gog Magog, and the Trojan War. Right away, we notice a homophonic similarity between Megiddo and Magog and it seems that we have a clear connection between Gog, Magog, Troy and Britain.
As we noted, depopulation of the Frisian salt-marshes is said to have occurred between 250 and 400 AD due to the rising sea levels and flooding. Later, undoubtedly, the cometary destruction of Europe led to tribes long settled going on the march. Most probably, this is the ultimate reason for the almost total depopulation of the Frisians in North Holland.
As the experts note (though they can't come up with a real reason for it unless they look at the ideas of cometary destruction), this depopulation did not just affect Frisian areas. In the Baltic and northern European coastal regions, the population retreated to the higher areas inland during the second century AD, and certainly were on the move when the comets came. So, either there were two periods of depopulation, or only one and the dating is incorrect.
The experts tell us that where the "archaeological" Frisians went is unknown. After having a look at what Lev Gumilev said about ethnoi, we also realize that names of groups can change in context as well as content. Additionally, language is not always a clue as to origin since languages can be imposed on conquered peoples who then believe that it is their own, or adopted out of necessity.
One example of such a problem is the case of the Finns, Saami (Laplanders), Estonians and Magyars. Their language is called Uralic because such languages are mostly spoken to the east of the Ural Mountains, but obviously, the Finns, Estonians, Saami and Magyars are West of the Ural Mountains. Did they ALL come from the Urals?
No. The Finns and Estonians seem to be almost entirely European, genetically speaking, while the Magyars have a 12 percent Uralic genetic origin. On the other hand, while the Saami are dominantly genetically European, there is still a genetic connection between the Magyars and the Saami.
Additionally, the Finnish population is subject to an unusual collection of genetic diseases that are either very rare or entirely unknown elsewhere. This suggests a bottleneck founder event. The explanation then is that a very small group entered Finland about 2,000 years ago where the Saami population already lived. The Saami retreated to the north, but there was obviously sufficient contact for the Finns to learn the Saami language, while still not intermarrying to any great degree. The reason they would have adopted the Saami language would be because, in a hostile environment, they needed to learn the local dialect of the only people who knew how to survive and get around in Finland's maze of lakes, fjords, and forests.
In short, just because the Finns and Magyars speak a similar language, doesn't mean that they are genetically close. The same is probably true for the tribes of the Middle East who came to be known as "Semitic" after the conquest of Sargon, who came down from the North and was, most probably, from one of the Aryan steppe tribes. The Sumerian peoples were developing writing for their agricultural civilization, and this writing was utilized for the Semitic language of Sargon - the official tongue after the conquest - while the Sumerian language became extinct. The extensive population of Sumerians then came to think of themselves as "Semitic" when, in fact, they weren't - at least not in the terms meant by "Semitic" at that period.
In the truest sense, then, anti-Semitism could be defined as "against Aryan/Indo-Europeans." Of course, if it is true that Abraham was a Hittite, then it could be said that the "Patriarch of the Jews" was truly a Semite, but the tribes who were assimilated to Judaism in those days were not, judging by the paternal affinity between the Separdic Jews and the Palestinians. However, the problem of the Eight Founding Mothers of the Jews adds a twist to the problem and one wonders how and when, and IF those eight women connect to the "daughters of Eve" discussed by Brian Sykes in his book about the Founding mothers of humanity.
Returning to our problem: one clue that strikes me as compelling is the idea that there was a connection between the Frisians of North Holland and a tribe that lived in Kent, England. The current idea is that some of the Frisians may have gone to Kent, but it is equally possible that they CAME from Kent to North Holland, and later traveled further, fleeing to escape destruction and famine. Some of them certainly may have migrated to East Friesland and hooked up with the Chatti to form the Franks around 300 AD. Others of them could just as easily have trekked to the Eurasian steppes.
The languages spoken by many of the tribes of the Eurasian steppes, including the Turkic languages of the Khazars, are also known as Altaic. As a language family, this is still a bit contentious. The Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic families do have strong similarities in many ways, but some linguists suggest these are due to intensive borrowing from long contact. To a some extent, the Altaic-Turkic languages also resemble the Uralic languages already discussed, such as Finnish and Hungarian. As a consequence, a Ural-Altaic superfamily has been suggested: Eurasiatic, in which Indo-European languages would also be included as a "brother" language. This super-family has a parent also which makes a connect to Amerind languages, (!) but we won't go into that just now. The short of it is that we can't rely on language to denote a genetic or ethnic affinity over long periods of time, though it can, sometimes, be a clue.
Returning to the Chatti: obviously, there were/are two types of Aryans as I have demonstrated in my book, Ancient Science where I wrote:
When one tracks back through all of the ancient "matters" and studies the different groups, trying to follow them as they moved from place to place, studying the genetic morphology in order to keep track of who is who, and comparing linguistics and myth and archaeology, one comes to the startling realization that there were significant polarities throughout space and time. I have tentatively identified these polarities as the Circle People and the Triangle - or Pyramid - People. In a general sense, one can see the broad brush of the triangle people in the Southern hemisphere, in the pyramids and related cultures and artifacts. For the most part, their art is primitive and stylistically rigid. In the northern hemisphere, one sees the circle makers, the spirals, the rough megaliths, the art of Lascaux and Chauvet and the many other caves. One can note a clear difference between the perceptions and the response to the environment between the two trends and groups. Of course, there are areas where there was obvious mixture of both cultures and styles, and ideological constructions, but overall, there is a very distinct difference.
Even with these "polarities," again and again we find those "big, blond" types popping up. However, it is not exactly that simple. As the research has proceeded, I have formed hypotheses and tested and discarded them innumerable times. For the moment, the current hypothesis runs as follows:
The issue does not seem to be one of skin color or "race," (which is a ridiculous term as it is currently used). It is more an issue of the difference between human beings who have "something" inside as opposed to those who don't have this "something."
When this "something" is analyzed, it reveals a fundamental difference in "being" that is most easily expressed as those who worship something outside themselves, vs those who don't worship any god or thing outside themselves because they cannot worship outside what is inside.
There are behavioral clues to the different natures of the two polarities, and it seems that the real reason that those who are of the so-called Aryan bloodlines, often "rise to the top" in many cultures for the simple reason that they have more potent "power cells" - mitochondria - that energize their bodily functions, producing greater "heat" and activity. This "rising to the top" can be positive, or it can be negative.
This poses a unique problem: very energetic negatively oriented beings have many advantages in this world over very energetic positive beings due to the fact that the former have no "moral imperative." For them, the material world is all there is: in their core being, they worship the material universe represented by a god who is "outside" of them, and inner reflection and analysis so as to determine if they are conducting themselves in such a way so as to return to the inner "Origin" - or Edenic state - has no real meaning for them.
Many religions have been created that promise salvation or heaven via an intermediary, and these concepts are appealing to the negative orientation, but the deep, internal conviction that this can and must be accomplished by cultivating that divine spark within does not exist for them. They may claim that it does, but their actions do not match their words. Their thinking is "legalistic," and the best way to describe is is that they "strain at gnats and swallow camels."
Again, the important point is: those with the spark of the divine within cannot worship outside what is inside. No matter how hard they may try to "have faith" in this god or that god who has promised to save them, that divine spark within will constantly agitate, asking questions and casting doubts. Such individuals carry the bloodline - the genetic traits - to manifest the Origin - the Hyperboreans.
Just a hypothesis, as I said.
Let's come back to our problem of Gog and Magog.
I have asked: could it be possible that the Frisians came FROM England to the salt marshes of northern Europe? How does this relate to the belief of the ancient Armenians and Georgians that the Khazars were "Gog and Magog."
Yesterday, we looked at the passages from the Bible that mention Gog and Magog (I am excluding repeating genealogical passages).
In Genesis, we read:
10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
10:2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
10:3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
10:4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
In the passage from Ezekiel we notice several of the "sons of Japheth" being named as places:
38:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
38:3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal...
Then later, he mentions the land of Magog is in the same breath with "them that dwell carelessly in the isles..."
39:6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles...
Why should people in the "isles of the gentiles" be described as living carelessly? Is that "carelessly" as in "without cares," or is it carelessly as in not taking sufficient care in some way that led to an incident in which such carelessness became a "marker" for these people? Perhaps a famous blunder of some sort?
The only place on the planet that has been called Gog and Magog for any considerable length of time in our history is in England: the Gog Magog hills near Cambridge.
Historians suggest that the Gog Magog hills got their name because of the innumerable human bones that have been found there; evidence of a battle so fierce that it reminded the locals of Ezekiel's passage about Gog, king of Magog.
The earliest reference to this name for these hills is in a decree of 1574 forbidding students to visit them or be fined. Nowadays, they are still a trysting area. A map dating from the end of the 16th century also depicts the Gogmagog Hills.
There is a small problem here, I think. How did the locals know about the prophecy of Ezekiel?
John Wycliff's hand-written manuscripts in the 1380s were the first complete Bibles in the English language. They were obviously not widely available.
William Tyndale printed the first English NEW Testament in 1525/6. One risked death by burning if caught in mere possession of the forbidden book. Only two complete copies of that first printing are known to have survived. Any Edition printed before 1570 is very rare, most of them were confiscated and burned.
Myles Coverdale and John Rogers, assistants to Tyndale, carried the project forward. The first complete English Bible was printed on October 4, 1535, and is known as the Coverdale Bible.
Considering this timeline, it seems questionable that the locals around the Gogmagog hills should have give such a new name to their hills, or that it would have become commonly known to everyone, such that a decree could be published in less than 40 years regarding same. Considering the fact that having or reading the Bible was a crime for most of those 40 years, it is not likely that the local people would have wanted to reveal their knowledge of the name in this way. One would also think that if ancient battle sites were subject to being renamed in this fashion after the release of the English Bible, many other ancient battle sites would have received Biblical names as well.
Even though there is no proof, it seems to be highly probable that the Gogmagog hills were called that from more ancient times, and for a different reason.
There are two figures of the giants Gog and Magog that strike the hours on a clock at Dunstan-n-the West, Fleet Street, but few people in London seem to know why they are there. Adrian Gilbert writes in his book, The New Jerusalem:
Once more we have to go back to Geoffrey of Monmouth's book, in which there is a story of how, when Brutus and his Trojans arrived in Britain, they found the island sparsley inhabited by a race of giants. One of these, called Gogmagog, wrestled with a Trojan hero called Corineus and was eventually thrown to his death from a cliff- top called in consequense 'Gogmagog's Leap'.
In the 1811 translation into English of Brut Tysilio, a Welsh version of the chronicles translated by the Rev. Peter Roberts, there is a footnote suggesting that Gogmagog is a corrupted form of Cawr-Madog, meaning 'Madog the great' or 'Madog the giant' in Welsh. It would appear that with Gog of Magog, the name of a war leader who the Bible prophesies will lead an invation of the Holy Land at the end of the age.
In another version of the Gogmagog tale, the Recuyell des histories de Troye, Gog and Magog are two seperate giants. In this story they are not killed but brought back as slaves by Brutus to his city of New Troy. Here there were to be employed as gatekeepers, opening and closing the great gates of the palace.
The story of Gog and Magog, the paired giants who worked the gates of London, was very popular in the middle ages and effigies of them were placed on the city gates at least as early as the reign of Henry VI. These were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, but so popular were they that new ones were made in 1708 and installed at the Guildhall. This pair of statues was destroyed in 1940 during the Blitz, the third great fire of London, when the roof and much of the interior furnishings of the Guildhall were burnt. A new pair of the statues was carved to replace them when the Guildhall was repaired after the war.
We should note that the dates of Henry VI are from well before the English Bible was available.
The prophecies of Ezekiel date from sometime around 695-690 BC, and we would like to consider the question as to where he heard the term "Gog, Magog" and what terrible battle was fought in the past that was used as a model for Ezekiel's prediction to which this name was attached?
As it happens, there are three terms often associated with archetypal battles: Armageddon, Gog Magog, and the Trojan War. Right away, we notice a homophonic similarity between Megiddo and Magog and it seems that we have a clear connection between Gog, Magog, Troy and Britain.
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Khazars / Transylvania
We don't know if Marot was Jewish or not, or whether he was really a Khazar or just a member of the "Kabar" group who was friendly with Khazars, but some historians (including the expert historian of the Khazars, D.M. Dunlop, in his article "The Khazars" in the book "The Dark Ages: Jews in Christian Europe, 711-1096") interpret the chronicle of Anonymus to mean that Marot (Morut) and his relative, Menmarot (Menumorut), who were both rulers (eltebers) in western Transylvania, were ethnic Khazars.
As for your question about the lineage of Marot, it is said that the lineage runs as follows, and that Marot and Menmarot married into the Hungarian royal family:
Menmarot the Khazar Duke of Bihar = unknown person
their daughter was
name unknown (daughter of Menmarot) = Zoltan, King of Hungary
their son was
Taksony, King of Hungary = daughter of Thonuzoba, Chief of Pechenegs?
their son was
Michael, King of Hungary = Adelajda of Poland
their son was
Vazul, King of Hungary = Anastasia of Bulgaria
their son was
Andrew I, King of Hungary = Anastasia Agmunda of Kiev
their daughter was
Adelaida of Hungary = Vratislav II, King of Bohemia
their daughter was
Judita of Bohemia = Wladislaw I Herman, King of Poland
their son was
Boleslaw III, King of Poland = Zbyslava of Kiev
their son was
Wladislaw II, Prince of Poland = Agnes of Austria
their daughter was
Ryksa of Poland = Alfonso VII, King of Castile
their daughter was
Sancha of Castile = Alfonso II, King of Aragon
their son was
Alfonso II, Count of Provence = Gersenda of Sabran
their son was
Raymond Berenger IV, Count of Provence = Beatrice of Savoy
their daughter was
Eleanor of Provence = Henry III, King of England
which leads down to the current royal line of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of England
There is no existing evidence that would connect the lineage of the eltebers Marot and Menmarot to the Khazar royal family in Atil. But wouldn't it be nice if we knew?
A separate case from Menmarot is that the Hungarian chief Leved (Lebedias) married a noble Khazar woman. One of the descendants of this marriage was the Hungarian kende Kurszan, who died in 904. So the Menmarot story does fit into a pattern of Khazars marrying Hungarians, especially those in positions of power and status.
Some Hungarian scholars suggest that Kabars were a mix of Khazars, Alans, Kalizes, and Szekelys, such that not all Kabars are necessarily Khazars. In Transylvania there were certainly Kabars, whatever their origin. http://genforum.genealogy.com/jewish/messages/2792.html
One of the most ignoble examples of the institutionalized obfuscation of history is that applied to the history of the Khazars by the Byzantines, the Islamic Muhammadans, the pan-Arabists, and the Russian/Stalinist ethnocentrists. Each in turn went to great lengths to expunge whatever records endured the destruction of the Khazar kingdom, and to put a self-serving spin on the surviving elements.
One reason for the extraordinary effort to distort history was the unique relationship that developed between the Khazars and the Jews. The two peoples, whose languages had different roots, one illiterate and the other highly literate, one shamanist and the other monotheistic, one nomadic and the other urban, peacefully merged to share a common destiny. How, indeed, did such a strange union evolve_
The association of the two peoples begins early on. The Jews encountered the Turkic tribes, including the Khazars, in the fifth century BCE in Asia, when Judaic entrepreneurs from Persia passed over the Pamir mountains to blaze a new trade route to Kaifeng, then the capital of China.1 Trading centers sprang up along the trail to serve the passing traders and their heavily laden beasts. The caravansaries became bustling commercial towns in which Jews were prominent. Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Balkh, Kabul, and other posts along the tortuous route through the central Asian deserts and mountains burgeoned with the passing centuries. The Jews and the Turkic nomads enjoyed a peaceful exchange of goods in these strategic centers throughout that long period.
Many Turkic tribes began to infiltrate into Europe about the fifth century CE. The Magyars moved into what is now Finland; The Avars, Sabirs and Bulgars occupied the Danube basin; the Khazars followed the Kok Turks and spread out along the northern flanks of the Caucacus Mountains, skirting the Aral, Chtmlian and Black Seas. The tent-dwelling, horse-riding, Khazar herdsmen absorbed some peoples of that hilly area, allied themselves with others, and became transformed into a sedentary nation.
The Khazars were brought into contact with other communities of Jews already functioning around the Chtmlian Sea from the time Sidonese Israelites had been deported in 351 BCE. Documentary evidence shows that, likewise, both Karaite and Rabbinate Jews had been in continuous habitation in the Crimea at least as far back as the first century CE.2
The Judaic communities around the Chtmlian Sea burgeoned with refugees after Roman legions crushed the Bar Khochba revolt and proceeded to destroy the Judaic state in 135 CE. The expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem and the enslavement and exportation of scores of thousands of Jews spurred the exodus to the east.
A few centuries later the Khazars moved into the area and evolved into a vigorous civilization. They became self-sufficient enough to become independent of the sovereignty of the Khagans who ruled over the vast eastern Turkic empire. They conducted affairs under their own Khans, warrior kings who derived from the same roots which produced the much-feared Genghis Khan.3
New waves of Judaic immigrants again joined those established in the region as a result of recurrent problems with the Byzantines, the Persian Sassanians, and finally with the Arabs. Jews crossed the Caucasus and found respite among the Khazars. Jews became the technological and commercial advisors to the Khazar Khans. The Khazars were duly impressed with the technical sagacity and cultural acumen of the Jews. Abba Eban notes that:
"As elsewhere, the Jews engaged in pioneering pursuits. They taught their rather primitive neighbors more advanced ways of cultivating the soil, and means of exchanging goods among themselves and with foreign nations. They taught the art of writing. A tenth century Arab author states, 'The Khazars use the Hebrew script.'"4
One of the arts introduced into the Khazar region was that of glassmaking, a pyrotechnological tour-de-forcedominated by Judaic masters of the art. The trail of the associated Judaic/Khazar traders through central Asia and up the Russian rivers are peculiarly coincident with that of the establishment of glassworks, an art that provides unique evidence of the presence of the Jews.
The earliest glassworks found in the southern foothills of the Caucasus was at Mecheta-Santawbro, which appears to date back to the fourth century, pre-dating the association between the Khazars and the Jews.5 The Mecheta glasshouse seems to have continued operation into the ninth century as the Judaic/Persian traders reached a peak of activity. A significant glass workshop was excavated at Orbeti, dating from the seventh and eighth centuries, the period in which the Khazars converted to Judaism and an exodus from Persia took place. The art thereafter spread with the advancing Khazar/Judaic influence up the Volga, Don, Danube, Dniester and Dniepr rivers into Transylvania (now Hungary, Bulgaria and Rumania) and Silesia (now Poland).
Studies of glassware of the eighth through the thirteenth centuries found throughout the vast territory from central Asia through Russia. Poland, and the Danube basin, have shown a correlation of style and composition by which the art can be traced back through time and territory to a single source, the Near-Eastern enclaves where the Jews were carrying on the art. Maria deKowna, of the Polish Academy of Sciences, expressed amazement at the phenomenon of commonality. Comparing the characteristics of glass beads found throughout the territory, the single most prevalent glass artifact, DeKowna demonstrated that they "exhibit a strong resemblance (form, color, and motif of ornamentation) which cannot but suggest their influx into the territory from one unique center of production."6
DeKowna's observations are supported by numerous analyses conducted in the past 60 years. The ruins of glassmaking and jewelry shops were found in the artisan's quarters within the confines of a mighty Khazar fortress defending the Khazar city of Sarkal, situated at the lower reaches of the Don. By that time the Khazars had converted to Judaism. The Khazars were persuaded by the unpretentious precepts of Judaic philosophy, the rationality of Judaic religion, and the technological advances wrought by their Judaic advisors. The khan, nobles and many of their subjects demonstrated the impact the Jews had made not only by converting but by bringing Jews into the government. It was a government whose tenets incorporated the democratic, tolerant teachings of the Jews. The composition of the governmental court is given by al-Masudi, a Baghdad-born Arab, who wrote a comprehensive treatise on history and geography about 956:
"The custom in the Khazar capital is to have seven judges. Of these two are for the Muslims, two are for the Khazars, judging according to the Torah (Mosaic Law), two for the Christians, judging according to the Gospel, and one for the Saqualibbah, Rus, and other Pagans."7
Martin Gilbert noted that the Khazar king, Bulan, converted to Judaism about 700 CE and that a later king, Bulan, strengthened Judaism among the Khazars by inviting rabbis into his kingdom and erecting synagogues. Gilbert extols the composition of the judicial court and adds, "Religious toleration was maintained for the kingdom's 300 years."8
The most revealing, and probably the most accurate, description of the process by which the Khazars discarded Shamanism and adopted Judaic religion and law came down to us from Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, a youthful Jew appointed by the caliph of Cordoba to an important administrative post. Hasdai was a linguist, a doctor and a scientist who continued important researches, developing new medicines and rediscovering ancient formulas while carrying on delicate diplomatic assignments for the caliph, Hasdai carried the title nasi (prince) among the Jews, for the caliph had conferred upon him the authority to settle the affairs of the Judaic community as he saw fit.
The caliph also assigned the management of customs to Hasdai, central to the administration of foreign affairs. Hasdai was in touch with the world through this privileged post, and he utilized his position to pursue his passion, which was to to exchange information with Judaic communities of the Dihtmlora, to assist those in difficulties and to find a refuge for the nation. Hasdai, and beleaguered Jews everywhere, sought desperately to find a realm where the Jews could live and practice their religion in freedom. There were persistent rumors that such a place did indeed exist, stories repeated by merchants bringing back merchandise from Slavic countries. Hasdai pressed them for information, met with Persian emissaries who reported on the kingdom to their north, and interrogated other envoys arriving at the court. He obtained a picture of the Judaic kingdom of the Khazars, despite the barrier of Byzantine belligerence separating the Khazrs from the west.
Hasdai learned that the Khazars had no formal dynasty of kings. A noble who distinguished himself militarily might be chosen to become commander-in-chief, and usually assumed kingship thereafter. Thus a Jewish commander achieved this position. His wife, Sarah, persisted in urging him to practice Judaism in its entirety. He did so, and many of the noblemen followed suit. The neighboring Moslems and Christians, who had been proselyting their causes within the Khazar realm, angrily protested, sending envoys to counteract Judaic influence and win the nation over to their respective religions.
A disputation was arranged. Greek. Muslim and Judaic scholars were heard in turn. Since all based themselves upon the Holy Scriptures of the Judaic Bible, and since the Jews were able to interpret the hole writings far better than their competitors, the nobles accepted Judaism as the true faith. The Khazar Jews who had relinquished the faith in part or in whole returned to it, and became the teachers of the Khazars.
If it were not for the correspondence carried on by Hasdai and by a miserably few references from Arabic and other sources, the very existence of the Khazars would hardly have become known!
This hiatus is all the more remarkable inasmuch as the Khazars endured as a sovereign nation for five centuries. For two of those centuries the Khazars exercised hegemony over, and together with their Judaic allies, brought civilization to a considerable part of southern and western Russia, the Baltic and, along with other Asian peoples, controlled much of the effluvial basin of the Danube. One is left to wonder "How can the dearth of information about five hundred years of a significant part of Europe be accounted for_"
We start with one of the great ironies of history. The first attempt to annihilate both the Khazars and their history was by the Byzantines, whose very existence can be attributed to the military assistance given them in the Persian and subsequent Islamic wars with Byzantia. The Byzantines were allied with the Khazars, who formed the main bulwark against the dynamic eastern forces. The Arabs, having learned from the Persian attempts to conquer Byzantia that it was necessary to crush the Khazars first, turned their army against the Khazars, seeking to protect their flanks in their westward drive against the Christians. They bypassed the formidable natural barrier of the Caucasus range through the file of Durband, along the Chtmlian shore. After the year 642 they repeatedly drove through the Darband gate, but their incursions int Khazaria were beaten back each time. In 652 they suffered a disastrous defeat in which "four thousand Arabs were killed, including their commander Abd-al-Rahman ibn-Rabiah; the rest fled in disorder across the mountains."9
The Arabs, frustrated, turned upon Byzantia, besieging Constantinople again and again by land and by sea. The Khazars re-entered the fray in 722. Arab sources speak of armies of from 100,000 to 300,000 men engaging in the battlefield during multiple campaigns waged during the "Second Arab War." It was a war characterized by "death-defying fanaticism [and the] traditional exhortation which would halt the rout of a defeated Arab army and make it into a fight to the last man: 'To the Garden, Muslims, not the Fire' - the joys of Paradise being assured to every Muslim killed in the Holy War."10
In 737 a Pyrrhic victory was won after an insidious attack which followed an offer of alliance caught the Khazars by surprise and forced a retreat to the Volga. The Muslim pincer movement was halted and reversed, and this last Khazar initiative saved the Byzantine Empire from being inundated and probably destroyed by Islamic hordes. 40,000 Khazar lives were lost in the process of curtailing Arab aggression. D. M. Dunlop, author of the most authoritative work on the Khazars, emphasizes that but for the Khazars, "Byzantium, the bulwark of European civilization in the east, would have found itself outflanked by the Arabs, and the history of Christendom and Islam might very well have been different."11
When the Persian Empire began to disintegrate, the Byzantines launched a perfidious plan to destroy their erstwhile ally and savior. The plot was fully outlined early on by Constantine in a dissertation entitled How War is to be Made on Khazaria and by Whom. Constantine proposed that surrounding peoples as well as dissident peoples within the Khazar domain be encouraged to rip apart the Jewish Empire. The English historian Toynbee, generally an admirer of Constantine and no friend of the Jews, puts this patently devious scheme into historical perspective:
"Khazaria was one of the most pacific states in the world ... her arms had never been directed at the East Roman Empire. The two powers had, in fact, never been at war with each other, while, on the other hand, Khazaria had frequently been at war with the East Roman Empire's enemies, and this to the Empire's signal advantage. Indeed, the Empire may have owed it to the Khazars that she had survived the successive onslaughts of the Sassanid Persian Emperor Khusraw II Parviz and the Muslim Arabs."12
The principle of "divide and conquer" was applied by the Byzantines with consummate duplicity. The Byzantines had no compunction about secretly encouraging the pagan Rus tribes to invade Khazar territory from the north. The city of Kiev had become a great, bustling, commercial center. This rich and tempting prize was offered as bait to the Rus by the Byzantines, the first step toward the implementation of the Constantine plan.The bribe succeeded; the first break between the Khazars and the Rus commenced with the occupation of Kiev by the Rus in the year 862.
Relations nonetheless resumed with time between the Khazars and the Rus until, circa 965, the Russian Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev renewed a Byzantine-supported campaign against the Khazars by sacking and destroying Itil, a formidable Khazar commercial and communications center.
The Khazars again attempted to reconstruct a mutually beneficial relationship with the Rus by peaceful means. An old Russian chronicle relates that a group of Jews arrived in Kiev in the year 986 in an attempt to make peace and to convert Vladimir, a dissolute son of the prince. But Vladimir, like his father before him, had accepted baptism. In 988 the pagan Russian dynastic rulers officially adopted the Greek Orthodox faith, and relations between the Rus and the Khazars deteriorated further. During that same period the Slavic and Scandinavian peoples likewise converted to the Latin Church of Rome.
The decay of the Abbasid (Persian) Empire during the tenth century removed the Byzantine fear of the Persians and rendered the Judaic/ Khazar state superfluous as a buffer. "Constantinople offered it as bait to the Russians, who promptly seized the opportunity to invade it."13 The Byzantines welded their duplicitous alliance with the Rus by bribing them with the promise of further spoils, especially by ceding possession of the important Crimean port of Cherson, until then under contention between them.
JudaicKhazar integrity was again threatened by a concordance between the Byzantine Emperor Leo and the Magyars, fierce Turkic tribes who had conquered and absorbed the native Finns. The Byzantines supported the Magyars to assail the Bulgars, allies of the Khazars, from the rear. The Magyars invaded and integrated into the area to become the modern-day Hungarians. Finally, in the year 1016, the Byzantine and Rus forces joined in a massive invasion of Khazaria.
The primitive Rus tribes thus became heir to the industrial, technological and commercial development that took place under the Judaic/Khazar state over the course of three centuries. The presence of residual communities of Jews in Kiev and elsewhere in the Ukraine and southern Russia were tolerated, inasmuch as they were essential for maintaining the industries they had established and for bringing wealth into the region with the commercial ties they had likewise established. In Perislavl and Cernigov major Jewish enclaves continued to carry on crafts and commerce. The multiplicity of Khazar and Judaic eponymic names of ancient towns of western Russia testify dramatically to a continuous and pervasive Judaic presence: Zydowo, Kozarzewk, Kozara, Kozarzow, Zhydowska Vola, Zydaticze, to mention but a few.
The Jews were understandably uncomfortable under the hegemony of the Rus. A movement of Jews into Silesia (now Poland) and western Russia ensued, enticed into the region by a newly rising class of feudal noblemen. At this time the Polish nation was formed, and the Jews were central to its formation. The Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian nobility, eager to obtain industries and develop commerce, proffered refuge to the Jews escaping Western European and Byzantine persecution and created an environment in which a new social structure developed, the shtetl civilization, a fully articulated nation within a nation.
A rich store of early Polish legends exists, persistent despite having been regarded as next to blhtmlhemous by churchmen and as bourgeois Zionist [!] propaganda by the Soviets. The very creation of the Polish nation is attributed in these folk tales to a legendary Jew, Abraham Prokownik. The Polans were the mightiest of several Slavonic tribes who formed an alliance around the year 962. Concluding that they needed a king capable of creating a viable state, the "Slav backwoodsmen" elected Abraham to that office. "Abraham, with unwonted modesty, resigned the crown, in favor of a peasant named Piast, who thus became the founder of the historic Piast dynasty which ruled Poland from circa 962 to 1370."14
The culturally and economically underdeveloped Silesian region eagerly welcomed Judaic craftsmen and merchants of all sorts from Germany, Armenia and Khazaria. The Jews were granted extraordinary privileges. The Jewish towns, large and small, became bustling craft centers and trading posts from which the people of the surrounding hinterlands obtained local and imported products. Fairs were regularly held in which farm products, timber, products manufactured in the towns and in rural cottage industries and imported wares were exchanged. The local trade centers were integrated into a free market network which spanned across the borders of the regional fiefs of the noblemen. The metal working acumen of the Jews provided them with the obligation of minting coins for most of the rulers of central Europe, a discipline that remained in Judaic hands over many centuries. Polish silver coins of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries bear Polish inscriptions in Hebrew lettering.
"These coins are the final evidence for the spreading of the Hebrew script from Khazaria to the neighboring Slavonic countries. The use of these coins was not related to any question of religion. They were minted because many of the Polish people were more used to this type of script than to the Roman script, not considering that it was particularly Jewish."15
Among the Jews there were those who served the nobility as physicians, managers of estates, accountants, tax collectors, and bankers; but by far the vast majority were blacksmiths, gold- and silver-smiths, jewelers, millers, tailors, millwrights, bakers, tanners, textile manufacturers, candlestick makers and most other skilled trades; they were scribes who wrote letters for the essentially illiterate indigenous populace; they ran the inns at which merchant/travelers found respite; they were the carters who brought the local goods to market and ranged abroad for goods produced in neighboring shtetls and from other countries; they were bards, itinerant story tellers, and troupes of actors and musicians.
Among these artisans and entrepreneurs were the Judaic glassworkers. After its appearance across the Caucasus, the art spread up the Volga, Dan, Dnieper, Dniester and Danube river routes coincident with the advance of Judaic/Khazar civilization. By 1964 Russian archaeologists had confirmed eleven glassworking sites in Kievan Khazaria "notably at Kiev, Cernogov, Kolodjajin, Kostroma, Novgorod and others.16 All the sites lie along established Judaic/Khazar trade routes
From Kiev and its outlying towns the art advanced to Novgorod and finally into Silesia (Poland). The Khazars had penetrated northwest to Grodno. Lithuania, the Slavic city in which a Judaic glassworks was established in the late ninth or early tenth century. Documentation of that event is contained in the famous Judaic libraries assembled by the Jewish Barons Gunzberg and Polakoff. Both libraries were confiscated by the Bolsheviks and stored away in the Hermitage in Leningrad.17
The glassmakers continued to operate in the region after the defeat of the Khazar state. The Silesian barons enticed the glassmakers with forest privileges and sundry other inducements to encourage the immigration of these artisans into their fiefs. One of the oldest was uncovered at Wolin, dating to the first half of the tenth century. That facility was followed by others at Opole, Niemeza Sl. Wroclaw, Kruswica, Miedzyrzecz Wielkapolski.
The region's economy prospered, and the position of the Jews was solidified by King Boleslav the Pious, with a charter in 1264; it became the model for securing Jewish freedom of opportunity and security from molestation.
How is it, therefore, that so many hundreds of years of the advance of civilization into central Europe is virtually absent from modern historiography_
The final obliteration of this glorious history was perpetrated in Stalinist Russia.
http://www.hebrewhistory.org/factpapers/khazars23.html
We don't know if Marot was Jewish or not, or whether he was really a Khazar or just a member of the "Kabar" group who was friendly with Khazars, but some historians (including the expert historian of the Khazars, D.M. Dunlop, in his article "The Khazars" in the book "The Dark Ages: Jews in Christian Europe, 711-1096") interpret the chronicle of Anonymus to mean that Marot (Morut) and his relative, Menmarot (Menumorut), who were both rulers (eltebers) in western Transylvania, were ethnic Khazars.
As for your question about the lineage of Marot, it is said that the lineage runs as follows, and that Marot and Menmarot married into the Hungarian royal family:
Menmarot the Khazar Duke of Bihar = unknown person
their daughter was
name unknown (daughter of Menmarot) = Zoltan, King of Hungary
their son was
Taksony, King of Hungary = daughter of Thonuzoba, Chief of Pechenegs?
their son was
Michael, King of Hungary = Adelajda of Poland
their son was
Vazul, King of Hungary = Anastasia of Bulgaria
their son was
Andrew I, King of Hungary = Anastasia Agmunda of Kiev
their daughter was
Adelaida of Hungary = Vratislav II, King of Bohemia
their daughter was
Judita of Bohemia = Wladislaw I Herman, King of Poland
their son was
Boleslaw III, King of Poland = Zbyslava of Kiev
their son was
Wladislaw II, Prince of Poland = Agnes of Austria
their daughter was
Ryksa of Poland = Alfonso VII, King of Castile
their daughter was
Sancha of Castile = Alfonso II, King of Aragon
their son was
Alfonso II, Count of Provence = Gersenda of Sabran
their son was
Raymond Berenger IV, Count of Provence = Beatrice of Savoy
their daughter was
Eleanor of Provence = Henry III, King of England
which leads down to the current royal line of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of England
There is no existing evidence that would connect the lineage of the eltebers Marot and Menmarot to the Khazar royal family in Atil. But wouldn't it be nice if we knew?
A separate case from Menmarot is that the Hungarian chief Leved (Lebedias) married a noble Khazar woman. One of the descendants of this marriage was the Hungarian kende Kurszan, who died in 904. So the Menmarot story does fit into a pattern of Khazars marrying Hungarians, especially those in positions of power and status.
Some Hungarian scholars suggest that Kabars were a mix of Khazars, Alans, Kalizes, and Szekelys, such that not all Kabars are necessarily Khazars. In Transylvania there were certainly Kabars, whatever their origin. http://genforum.genealogy.com/jewish/messages/2792.html
One of the most ignoble examples of the institutionalized obfuscation of history is that applied to the history of the Khazars by the Byzantines, the Islamic Muhammadans, the pan-Arabists, and the Russian/Stalinist ethnocentrists. Each in turn went to great lengths to expunge whatever records endured the destruction of the Khazar kingdom, and to put a self-serving spin on the surviving elements.
One reason for the extraordinary effort to distort history was the unique relationship that developed between the Khazars and the Jews. The two peoples, whose languages had different roots, one illiterate and the other highly literate, one shamanist and the other monotheistic, one nomadic and the other urban, peacefully merged to share a common destiny. How, indeed, did such a strange union evolve_
The association of the two peoples begins early on. The Jews encountered the Turkic tribes, including the Khazars, in the fifth century BCE in Asia, when Judaic entrepreneurs from Persia passed over the Pamir mountains to blaze a new trade route to Kaifeng, then the capital of China.1 Trading centers sprang up along the trail to serve the passing traders and their heavily laden beasts. The caravansaries became bustling commercial towns in which Jews were prominent. Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Balkh, Kabul, and other posts along the tortuous route through the central Asian deserts and mountains burgeoned with the passing centuries. The Jews and the Turkic nomads enjoyed a peaceful exchange of goods in these strategic centers throughout that long period.
Many Turkic tribes began to infiltrate into Europe about the fifth century CE. The Magyars moved into what is now Finland; The Avars, Sabirs and Bulgars occupied the Danube basin; the Khazars followed the Kok Turks and spread out along the northern flanks of the Caucacus Mountains, skirting the Aral, Chtmlian and Black Seas. The tent-dwelling, horse-riding, Khazar herdsmen absorbed some peoples of that hilly area, allied themselves with others, and became transformed into a sedentary nation.
The Khazars were brought into contact with other communities of Jews already functioning around the Chtmlian Sea from the time Sidonese Israelites had been deported in 351 BCE. Documentary evidence shows that, likewise, both Karaite and Rabbinate Jews had been in continuous habitation in the Crimea at least as far back as the first century CE.2
The Judaic communities around the Chtmlian Sea burgeoned with refugees after Roman legions crushed the Bar Khochba revolt and proceeded to destroy the Judaic state in 135 CE. The expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem and the enslavement and exportation of scores of thousands of Jews spurred the exodus to the east.
A few centuries later the Khazars moved into the area and evolved into a vigorous civilization. They became self-sufficient enough to become independent of the sovereignty of the Khagans who ruled over the vast eastern Turkic empire. They conducted affairs under their own Khans, warrior kings who derived from the same roots which produced the much-feared Genghis Khan.3
New waves of Judaic immigrants again joined those established in the region as a result of recurrent problems with the Byzantines, the Persian Sassanians, and finally with the Arabs. Jews crossed the Caucasus and found respite among the Khazars. Jews became the technological and commercial advisors to the Khazar Khans. The Khazars were duly impressed with the technical sagacity and cultural acumen of the Jews. Abba Eban notes that:
"As elsewhere, the Jews engaged in pioneering pursuits. They taught their rather primitive neighbors more advanced ways of cultivating the soil, and means of exchanging goods among themselves and with foreign nations. They taught the art of writing. A tenth century Arab author states, 'The Khazars use the Hebrew script.'"4
One of the arts introduced into the Khazar region was that of glassmaking, a pyrotechnological tour-de-forcedominated by Judaic masters of the art. The trail of the associated Judaic/Khazar traders through central Asia and up the Russian rivers are peculiarly coincident with that of the establishment of glassworks, an art that provides unique evidence of the presence of the Jews.
The earliest glassworks found in the southern foothills of the Caucasus was at Mecheta-Santawbro, which appears to date back to the fourth century, pre-dating the association between the Khazars and the Jews.5 The Mecheta glasshouse seems to have continued operation into the ninth century as the Judaic/Persian traders reached a peak of activity. A significant glass workshop was excavated at Orbeti, dating from the seventh and eighth centuries, the period in which the Khazars converted to Judaism and an exodus from Persia took place. The art thereafter spread with the advancing Khazar/Judaic influence up the Volga, Don, Danube, Dniester and Dniepr rivers into Transylvania (now Hungary, Bulgaria and Rumania) and Silesia (now Poland).
Studies of glassware of the eighth through the thirteenth centuries found throughout the vast territory from central Asia through Russia. Poland, and the Danube basin, have shown a correlation of style and composition by which the art can be traced back through time and territory to a single source, the Near-Eastern enclaves where the Jews were carrying on the art. Maria deKowna, of the Polish Academy of Sciences, expressed amazement at the phenomenon of commonality. Comparing the characteristics of glass beads found throughout the territory, the single most prevalent glass artifact, DeKowna demonstrated that they "exhibit a strong resemblance (form, color, and motif of ornamentation) which cannot but suggest their influx into the territory from one unique center of production."6
DeKowna's observations are supported by numerous analyses conducted in the past 60 years. The ruins of glassmaking and jewelry shops were found in the artisan's quarters within the confines of a mighty Khazar fortress defending the Khazar city of Sarkal, situated at the lower reaches of the Don. By that time the Khazars had converted to Judaism. The Khazars were persuaded by the unpretentious precepts of Judaic philosophy, the rationality of Judaic religion, and the technological advances wrought by their Judaic advisors. The khan, nobles and many of their subjects demonstrated the impact the Jews had made not only by converting but by bringing Jews into the government. It was a government whose tenets incorporated the democratic, tolerant teachings of the Jews. The composition of the governmental court is given by al-Masudi, a Baghdad-born Arab, who wrote a comprehensive treatise on history and geography about 956:
"The custom in the Khazar capital is to have seven judges. Of these two are for the Muslims, two are for the Khazars, judging according to the Torah (Mosaic Law), two for the Christians, judging according to the Gospel, and one for the Saqualibbah, Rus, and other Pagans."7
Martin Gilbert noted that the Khazar king, Bulan, converted to Judaism about 700 CE and that a later king, Bulan, strengthened Judaism among the Khazars by inviting rabbis into his kingdom and erecting synagogues. Gilbert extols the composition of the judicial court and adds, "Religious toleration was maintained for the kingdom's 300 years."8
The most revealing, and probably the most accurate, description of the process by which the Khazars discarded Shamanism and adopted Judaic religion and law came down to us from Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, a youthful Jew appointed by the caliph of Cordoba to an important administrative post. Hasdai was a linguist, a doctor and a scientist who continued important researches, developing new medicines and rediscovering ancient formulas while carrying on delicate diplomatic assignments for the caliph, Hasdai carried the title nasi (prince) among the Jews, for the caliph had conferred upon him the authority to settle the affairs of the Judaic community as he saw fit.
The caliph also assigned the management of customs to Hasdai, central to the administration of foreign affairs. Hasdai was in touch with the world through this privileged post, and he utilized his position to pursue his passion, which was to to exchange information with Judaic communities of the Dihtmlora, to assist those in difficulties and to find a refuge for the nation. Hasdai, and beleaguered Jews everywhere, sought desperately to find a realm where the Jews could live and practice their religion in freedom. There were persistent rumors that such a place did indeed exist, stories repeated by merchants bringing back merchandise from Slavic countries. Hasdai pressed them for information, met with Persian emissaries who reported on the kingdom to their north, and interrogated other envoys arriving at the court. He obtained a picture of the Judaic kingdom of the Khazars, despite the barrier of Byzantine belligerence separating the Khazrs from the west.
Hasdai learned that the Khazars had no formal dynasty of kings. A noble who distinguished himself militarily might be chosen to become commander-in-chief, and usually assumed kingship thereafter. Thus a Jewish commander achieved this position. His wife, Sarah, persisted in urging him to practice Judaism in its entirety. He did so, and many of the noblemen followed suit. The neighboring Moslems and Christians, who had been proselyting their causes within the Khazar realm, angrily protested, sending envoys to counteract Judaic influence and win the nation over to their respective religions.
A disputation was arranged. Greek. Muslim and Judaic scholars were heard in turn. Since all based themselves upon the Holy Scriptures of the Judaic Bible, and since the Jews were able to interpret the hole writings far better than their competitors, the nobles accepted Judaism as the true faith. The Khazar Jews who had relinquished the faith in part or in whole returned to it, and became the teachers of the Khazars.
If it were not for the correspondence carried on by Hasdai and by a miserably few references from Arabic and other sources, the very existence of the Khazars would hardly have become known!
This hiatus is all the more remarkable inasmuch as the Khazars endured as a sovereign nation for five centuries. For two of those centuries the Khazars exercised hegemony over, and together with their Judaic allies, brought civilization to a considerable part of southern and western Russia, the Baltic and, along with other Asian peoples, controlled much of the effluvial basin of the Danube. One is left to wonder "How can the dearth of information about five hundred years of a significant part of Europe be accounted for_"
We start with one of the great ironies of history. The first attempt to annihilate both the Khazars and their history was by the Byzantines, whose very existence can be attributed to the military assistance given them in the Persian and subsequent Islamic wars with Byzantia. The Byzantines were allied with the Khazars, who formed the main bulwark against the dynamic eastern forces. The Arabs, having learned from the Persian attempts to conquer Byzantia that it was necessary to crush the Khazars first, turned their army against the Khazars, seeking to protect their flanks in their westward drive against the Christians. They bypassed the formidable natural barrier of the Caucasus range through the file of Durband, along the Chtmlian shore. After the year 642 they repeatedly drove through the Darband gate, but their incursions int Khazaria were beaten back each time. In 652 they suffered a disastrous defeat in which "four thousand Arabs were killed, including their commander Abd-al-Rahman ibn-Rabiah; the rest fled in disorder across the mountains."9
The Arabs, frustrated, turned upon Byzantia, besieging Constantinople again and again by land and by sea. The Khazars re-entered the fray in 722. Arab sources speak of armies of from 100,000 to 300,000 men engaging in the battlefield during multiple campaigns waged during the "Second Arab War." It was a war characterized by "death-defying fanaticism [and the] traditional exhortation which would halt the rout of a defeated Arab army and make it into a fight to the last man: 'To the Garden, Muslims, not the Fire' - the joys of Paradise being assured to every Muslim killed in the Holy War."10
In 737 a Pyrrhic victory was won after an insidious attack which followed an offer of alliance caught the Khazars by surprise and forced a retreat to the Volga. The Muslim pincer movement was halted and reversed, and this last Khazar initiative saved the Byzantine Empire from being inundated and probably destroyed by Islamic hordes. 40,000 Khazar lives were lost in the process of curtailing Arab aggression. D. M. Dunlop, author of the most authoritative work on the Khazars, emphasizes that but for the Khazars, "Byzantium, the bulwark of European civilization in the east, would have found itself outflanked by the Arabs, and the history of Christendom and Islam might very well have been different."11
When the Persian Empire began to disintegrate, the Byzantines launched a perfidious plan to destroy their erstwhile ally and savior. The plot was fully outlined early on by Constantine in a dissertation entitled How War is to be Made on Khazaria and by Whom. Constantine proposed that surrounding peoples as well as dissident peoples within the Khazar domain be encouraged to rip apart the Jewish Empire. The English historian Toynbee, generally an admirer of Constantine and no friend of the Jews, puts this patently devious scheme into historical perspective:
"Khazaria was one of the most pacific states in the world ... her arms had never been directed at the East Roman Empire. The two powers had, in fact, never been at war with each other, while, on the other hand, Khazaria had frequently been at war with the East Roman Empire's enemies, and this to the Empire's signal advantage. Indeed, the Empire may have owed it to the Khazars that she had survived the successive onslaughts of the Sassanid Persian Emperor Khusraw II Parviz and the Muslim Arabs."12
The principle of "divide and conquer" was applied by the Byzantines with consummate duplicity. The Byzantines had no compunction about secretly encouraging the pagan Rus tribes to invade Khazar territory from the north. The city of Kiev had become a great, bustling, commercial center. This rich and tempting prize was offered as bait to the Rus by the Byzantines, the first step toward the implementation of the Constantine plan.The bribe succeeded; the first break between the Khazars and the Rus commenced with the occupation of Kiev by the Rus in the year 862.
Relations nonetheless resumed with time between the Khazars and the Rus until, circa 965, the Russian Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev renewed a Byzantine-supported campaign against the Khazars by sacking and destroying Itil, a formidable Khazar commercial and communications center.
The Khazars again attempted to reconstruct a mutually beneficial relationship with the Rus by peaceful means. An old Russian chronicle relates that a group of Jews arrived in Kiev in the year 986 in an attempt to make peace and to convert Vladimir, a dissolute son of the prince. But Vladimir, like his father before him, had accepted baptism. In 988 the pagan Russian dynastic rulers officially adopted the Greek Orthodox faith, and relations between the Rus and the Khazars deteriorated further. During that same period the Slavic and Scandinavian peoples likewise converted to the Latin Church of Rome.
The decay of the Abbasid (Persian) Empire during the tenth century removed the Byzantine fear of the Persians and rendered the Judaic/ Khazar state superfluous as a buffer. "Constantinople offered it as bait to the Russians, who promptly seized the opportunity to invade it."13 The Byzantines welded their duplicitous alliance with the Rus by bribing them with the promise of further spoils, especially by ceding possession of the important Crimean port of Cherson, until then under contention between them.
JudaicKhazar integrity was again threatened by a concordance between the Byzantine Emperor Leo and the Magyars, fierce Turkic tribes who had conquered and absorbed the native Finns. The Byzantines supported the Magyars to assail the Bulgars, allies of the Khazars, from the rear. The Magyars invaded and integrated into the area to become the modern-day Hungarians. Finally, in the year 1016, the Byzantine and Rus forces joined in a massive invasion of Khazaria.
The primitive Rus tribes thus became heir to the industrial, technological and commercial development that took place under the Judaic/Khazar state over the course of three centuries. The presence of residual communities of Jews in Kiev and elsewhere in the Ukraine and southern Russia were tolerated, inasmuch as they were essential for maintaining the industries they had established and for bringing wealth into the region with the commercial ties they had likewise established. In Perislavl and Cernigov major Jewish enclaves continued to carry on crafts and commerce. The multiplicity of Khazar and Judaic eponymic names of ancient towns of western Russia testify dramatically to a continuous and pervasive Judaic presence: Zydowo, Kozarzewk, Kozara, Kozarzow, Zhydowska Vola, Zydaticze, to mention but a few.
The Jews were understandably uncomfortable under the hegemony of the Rus. A movement of Jews into Silesia (now Poland) and western Russia ensued, enticed into the region by a newly rising class of feudal noblemen. At this time the Polish nation was formed, and the Jews were central to its formation. The Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian nobility, eager to obtain industries and develop commerce, proffered refuge to the Jews escaping Western European and Byzantine persecution and created an environment in which a new social structure developed, the shtetl civilization, a fully articulated nation within a nation.
A rich store of early Polish legends exists, persistent despite having been regarded as next to blhtmlhemous by churchmen and as bourgeois Zionist [!] propaganda by the Soviets. The very creation of the Polish nation is attributed in these folk tales to a legendary Jew, Abraham Prokownik. The Polans were the mightiest of several Slavonic tribes who formed an alliance around the year 962. Concluding that they needed a king capable of creating a viable state, the "Slav backwoodsmen" elected Abraham to that office. "Abraham, with unwonted modesty, resigned the crown, in favor of a peasant named Piast, who thus became the founder of the historic Piast dynasty which ruled Poland from circa 962 to 1370."14
The culturally and economically underdeveloped Silesian region eagerly welcomed Judaic craftsmen and merchants of all sorts from Germany, Armenia and Khazaria. The Jews were granted extraordinary privileges. The Jewish towns, large and small, became bustling craft centers and trading posts from which the people of the surrounding hinterlands obtained local and imported products. Fairs were regularly held in which farm products, timber, products manufactured in the towns and in rural cottage industries and imported wares were exchanged. The local trade centers were integrated into a free market network which spanned across the borders of the regional fiefs of the noblemen. The metal working acumen of the Jews provided them with the obligation of minting coins for most of the rulers of central Europe, a discipline that remained in Judaic hands over many centuries. Polish silver coins of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries bear Polish inscriptions in Hebrew lettering.
"These coins are the final evidence for the spreading of the Hebrew script from Khazaria to the neighboring Slavonic countries. The use of these coins was not related to any question of religion. They were minted because many of the Polish people were more used to this type of script than to the Roman script, not considering that it was particularly Jewish."15
Among the Jews there were those who served the nobility as physicians, managers of estates, accountants, tax collectors, and bankers; but by far the vast majority were blacksmiths, gold- and silver-smiths, jewelers, millers, tailors, millwrights, bakers, tanners, textile manufacturers, candlestick makers and most other skilled trades; they were scribes who wrote letters for the essentially illiterate indigenous populace; they ran the inns at which merchant/travelers found respite; they were the carters who brought the local goods to market and ranged abroad for goods produced in neighboring shtetls and from other countries; they were bards, itinerant story tellers, and troupes of actors and musicians.
Among these artisans and entrepreneurs were the Judaic glassworkers. After its appearance across the Caucasus, the art spread up the Volga, Dan, Dnieper, Dniester and Danube river routes coincident with the advance of Judaic/Khazar civilization. By 1964 Russian archaeologists had confirmed eleven glassworking sites in Kievan Khazaria "notably at Kiev, Cernogov, Kolodjajin, Kostroma, Novgorod and others.16 All the sites lie along established Judaic/Khazar trade routes
From Kiev and its outlying towns the art advanced to Novgorod and finally into Silesia (Poland). The Khazars had penetrated northwest to Grodno. Lithuania, the Slavic city in which a Judaic glassworks was established in the late ninth or early tenth century. Documentation of that event is contained in the famous Judaic libraries assembled by the Jewish Barons Gunzberg and Polakoff. Both libraries were confiscated by the Bolsheviks and stored away in the Hermitage in Leningrad.17
The glassmakers continued to operate in the region after the defeat of the Khazar state. The Silesian barons enticed the glassmakers with forest privileges and sundry other inducements to encourage the immigration of these artisans into their fiefs. One of the oldest was uncovered at Wolin, dating to the first half of the tenth century. That facility was followed by others at Opole, Niemeza Sl. Wroclaw, Kruswica, Miedzyrzecz Wielkapolski.
The region's economy prospered, and the position of the Jews was solidified by King Boleslav the Pious, with a charter in 1264; it became the model for securing Jewish freedom of opportunity and security from molestation.
How is it, therefore, that so many hundreds of years of the advance of civilization into central Europe is virtually absent from modern historiography_
The final obliteration of this glorious history was perpetrated in Stalinist Russia.
http://www.hebrewhistory.org/factpapers/khazars23.html
TURKS, KHAZARS, & CUMANS
PART 1: TURKISH CHIEFS
00. Liu Tsugu (d398)
issue:
a. Ashinha
398-43301. Ashinha (Ashina), Duke of Liang 396/8; King of Liang 400/6
(d433), eponym of the Assena clan
issue:
a. Apangpu
b. Ichichni Shihtu, father of Asyana Shad, father of Ay Uzhru, 1st
King of Uighurs (487-508)
c. Notuliu
433-46102. Apangpu
issue:
a. Hsien I
b. Pusun
c. Kulapan
d. Liangu
e. Wangu Sun, father of Ahingu, Benatru, & Wangu
f. Duku, father of Duku Tasien
461-490 03. Hsien I
issue:
a. Hsien II
b. Mengen Kaghan
c. Lilipan (dau), wife of Khuganye XIV, Hunnish Emperor of Asia
490-49104. Pusun
491-49605. Kulapan
496-51106. Liangu
511-52107. Hsien II
521-52308. Mengen Kaghan
issue: Tuwu "Tayehu"
523-54609. Tuwu "Tayehu" [T'u-u Mengen Tsugu]
issue:
a. Bumin, reck'd "1st" king (below)
b. Istami
c. Dardo
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 2: TURKISH KINGS/KHANS
546-55301. Bumin (Tumen) Khan, reck'd "1st" King of Turks 552
= Changlo, dau of Xi-Wei Wen-Ti, Emperor of China (535-552)
issue:
a. Kholo (Kara Kola)
b. Kushu Mukan
c. Toubo (Tapo Khan)
XXX 55302. Kholo (Kelou) (Kara Kola) (Qara Khan) [Kok-Khan]
issue:
a. Yandu Muchu Kagan
b. Bagha Yshbar Khan
c. Cur Bagha
d. Kiuli Tegin, father of Assena Jabghu, father of Yasir Bulsa Kapan,
father of Chuja Jabgu (d644), father of Khuli Chuja, the ancestor of
Li-Chin Chung (d808), father of Khehi (d847), father of Shih-Hsin
[Li-Kwoh Chang] (d878), father of Kieh Yong, "Blon" of East Turks 878,
Prince of Ch'in [China] 894 (d908), father of Huang Tsung, 109th
Emperor of China 923-926
e. Angsu Tegin [Yang-Su Tu-Liu], father of (a) Nivar Kagan, (b)
Zhangar, & (c) Basyu Tegin
553-57203. Kushu Mukan (Mugan; Myhan) Khan [Djigin]
issue:
a. Apa Qapan
b. dau, 3rd wife of Khusru I (Khosroe), Shah of Persia (d579)
c. dau, wife of Kao-Tsu Wu-Ti Pei-Chou, Emperor of China (d578)
572-57304. Istami Khan [Silizibul; Sinjibul] [Irksi Khan] [Iski Khan]
issue:
a. Taspar Arslan Khan
b. Shetu Efu Yabgu [Shapolo I]
c. [K]Hulagu Khan
d. Anghis Yabghu (d590)
e. Tardu[sh] [II] Khan
f. dau, 1st wife of Khusru I (Khosroe), Shah of Persia (d579)
XXX 57305. Yandu Muchu Kagan
573-5766A. Toubo (Tapo Khan) (To-Pei)
issue:
a. Amrak Jotan Kagan
573-5766B. Dardo [Sukhaili] (Tardu)
issue:
a. Tarruk Khan
b. Togrul, father of (x) Qara Khoran Turk, father of (a) Nishu Kutlo,
(b) Khilash Kagan [Shaporo V], (c) Irbis Kagan, (d) Bagadur [II], (e)
Ilviro Shaporo Khagan
XXX 57607. Amrak Jotan Kagan [Amro Khan]
576-57808. Taspar Arslan
578-58109. Apa Qapan (Apoukia Kagan) [Dizabul]
issue:
a. Danao Tegin (d638)
b. Assena Tegin, father of Assena Tegin, father of Assena Tegin,
father of Ghora Jabgu [Shapolo VII]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Great-kings [khans] of Eastern Turks
581-58710A Bagha Yshbar Khan
issue:
a. Tunga (Tuhan) Tegin
587-58811A Cur Bagha
588-59012A Tunga [Tuhan] Tegin
issue:
a. Qimin Qagan
590-59713A Nivar Kagan [Neri Khan]
= [name], Khazarite princess, descended from Karadach, Khazar-King
(450), descended from Khozarig, 1st Khazar-King (date)
issue:
a. Pio-She Tegin, kld 589
b. Nikul Chula
c. Shifkwi [II] (Shih-Kuei)
d. Tong Yabghu Khan, aka Ziebel, Khazar-King
e. Moho Shad
---------------------------------------------------------------------
issue of Moho Shad (above):
a. Yshbar Tolis Shad
b. Shapolo V [Tongngo]
c. Nichu Kapan [Hilipi Khan]
d. Kian Shad, father of (a) Pihotu Khan & (b) Irbis Shegui Khan
e. Kieyue Khan [Puli Shad], Khazar King (640)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
issue of Kieyue Khan [Puli Shad] (above):
a. Ashena Holo [Shapolo VI]
b. Khalge Kaghan [Harbis II], Khazar-King (650)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
597-59914A Zhangar
issue:
a. Bagatur [I] Kiuliuq
599-60315A Nikul Chula
issue:
a. Nipo Taman Khan [Hsien III]
b. Kiue Tatu [Kwuope Kaghan]
XXX 60316A Basyu Tegin [Boshir Teguin]
603-60917A Qimin Qagan [Chi-Min] [Koran Kagan]
609-61518A Nipo Taman Khan [Hsien III], dep (d618)
615-61819A Shifkwi II [Shih-Kuei] Qagan
618-62720A Tong Yabghu Khan, aka Zeibel, King of Khazars, founds
another Khazarite dynasty
XXX 62721A Bagatur [I] Kiuliuq
issue:
a. Ilvi Shifkwi Khan
627-63222A Ilvi Khan [Tili Khan] [Ipipolo] [Shaporo IV]
a. Symo Khan
632-63923A Kiue Tatu [Kwoupe Khan], King of Third-Part Turks
632-63923C Yiwu Khan, King of Third-Part Turks
632-63923D Yshbar Tolis Shad, King of Third-Part Turks
XXX 63924A Shapolo V [Tongngo] Khan
issue:
a. Ikilishe [Mohotu]
639-64025A Nichu Kagan [Hilipi Khan], dep (d653)
XXX 64026A Ikilishe [Mohotu] Khan
640-64127A Pihotu Khan
641-64428A Symo Khan
XXX 64429A Shifkwi III (Shekwei) Khan
644-64730A Irbis Shegui Khan
647-65131A Ashena Holo [Shapolo VI] Khan
651-65332A Ilvi Shifkwi Khan
653-65733A Ghora Jabgu [Shaporo VII], dep
issue:
a. Mishe
--------------------------------------------------------------------
see 34C (below)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
anti-kings:
657-66434A Mishe, anti-king [in exile]
issue:
a. Yong Khan
664-67735A Tiyun Shehu
677-69336A Yong Khan, anti-king [in exile]
issue:
a. Suizi
693-69437A Suizi, anti-king [in exile], dep
---------------------------------------------------------------------
great-kings [khans] of Western Turks
581-58710B Shabolo [I] Khan [Shetu Efu Wabgu]
issue:
a. Rudan [Buli Khan]
XXX 58711B Rudan [Buli Khan]
587-58812B [K]Hulagu [Chulo Khan]
issue:
a. Tulan
b. Tateu
588-59813B Tulan [Dolan Khan] [Yong Yulu] [Tidin]
= Yang-Ling, dau of Sui-Wenti, Emperor of China
issue:
a. Shipi
b. Chulo
c. Xieli
598-59914B Tardu[sh] [II]
599-60315B Tateu [Datou Khan] [Bogiu Tardush Kagan], dep
issue:
a. Duli I [Tuli] Khan
XXX 60316B Nili Khan
603-60917B Duli I [Tuli] Khan
609-61918B Shipi [Shih-Pi] [Dugi Shibir Khan]
issue:
a. Duli II [Tuli]
b. Sirin (dau), wife of Khusru II [Khosroe], Shah of Persia (d627/8)
619-62019B Chulo [Tchu-Lo] [Hesan] Kagan, dep & ex
issue:
a. Oghuz Ghuzz [Ochir Tegin], father of (a) Wen Tchuen Assete, (b)
Nichofu, & (c) Baz Kagan
620-62920B Xieli (Khieli) [Hsieh-Li] [Kat Il-Khan Tugbir]
issue:
a. Tupi Khan
b. Bilghe [Szelipi] Khan
c. Hopo Khan
XXX 62921B Tupi Khan
629-63022B Schehu Khan
grandson of (10C) Tarruk Khan (below)
630-63123B Duli II [Toli] Khan
issue:
a. Dudu Ghologur Khan
631-63324B Telige Tegin [Irbis Bolun Yabgu Kagan]
grandson of 10C (below)
issue:
a. Kari Khan, father of (1) Mizif, 1st King of Turkish Khanate of
Tu'chueh [now China's Xinjiang province] 657-679, father of (2) Yuan
Chin Khan, King 679-697
b. Aldo Yabghu Khan (d645), father of (3) Buchin, King 697-?, father
of (4) Khusere Khan, King ?-703
c. Kayi, father of Ochir, father of (5) Wuchile [Utuhele] Khan, King
703-706, father of (6) Sokho, King 706-711, & (7) Mecho, King 711-716,
father of (8) Sughlu, King 716-738, father of (9) Tu-Ho Khan, King
738-739, & (10) Mo-Ho Khan, King 739-744, deposed by the Chinese.
XXX 63325B Nishu Kutlo
great-grandson of 6B (above)
son of Qara Khoran Turk, son of Togrul, bro of (10C) Tarruk Khan, the
sons of (6B) Dardo (Tardu)
633-63926B Dude Ghologur Khan, King of Third Turks, dep
633-63926W Khilash [Shaporo V], King of Western Turks
633-63926E Bagadur [II] [Khu-Moe-Khe], King of Eastern Turks
639-64127W Irbis Kagan [Huo Hsien], King of Western Turks
issue:
a. Torak Han [Turug]
639-64127E Ilviro Shaporo [VI] Kagan [Yasbar Jabghu], King of Eastern
Turks
issue:
a. Sirba (640/1), father of (34B) Buzhe
641-64428B Torak Han (Turuk), dep (d656)
issue:
a. Ay Kutluq
XXX 64429B Ay Kutlug Khan, dep (d685)
issue:
a. Qimin Tur
644-64630B Bilghe [Szelipi] Khan
issue:
a. Hollyg Yshbar
b. Jenchu Suibir
646-64831B Hollyg Yshbar
648-65332B Jenchu Suibir
653-66433B Hopo [Ho-Pei] (Chebi; Khepi) Khan
-----------------------------------------------------------
see 34C (below)
----------------------------------------------------------
descent-line to Osman, who gave name to the Turkish Ottomon Dynasty
01. Torak Han [Turug] (28B), King of Turks 641-4 dep (d656), id. with
same name in Ottoman pedigree
02. Ay Kutlug (29B), King of Turks 644 dep (d685)
03. Qimin Tor (35B), King of Turks 667-671 dep (d724)
04. Yasak (d768)
05. Tur Temur (790)
06. Kara Khan (820)
07. Sungur (d865)
08. Bulgay (d906)
09. Turac Ortuk (d947)
10. Bulshi Khan (d974)
11. Sakur (d991), whose bro Sharu was ancestor of the kings of the
European Cumans
12. Kara Batur (d1012)
13. Togrul Khan (d1058)
14. Ay Kutluq (d1097)
15. Beg Temur (d1165)
16. Kizil Bughe (d1183)
17. Qia Alp (d1212) [ancestor of another Turkish dynasty]
18. Suleyman Sah (d1236)
19. Ertugrul (d1281)
20. Osman (d1326), who gave the dynasty its name "Ottoman"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
anti-kings:
664-66734B Buzhe
issue:
a. Duzhi [II]
667-67135B Qimin Tur [Cemen Dur], dep (d724)
issue:
a. Yasak [Isaac] (d768), father of Tur Temur, father of (a) Gazi Neli
Khan, (b) Bilge Kul, & (c) Kara Khan
671-67936B Duzhi [II]
issue:
a. Hushelo
679-68237B Hushelo
issue:
a. Kibu Chur
682-XXX38B Kibu Chur
-------------------------------------------------------------
great-kings [khans] of Third Turks
581-59810C Tarruk Khan
son of Dardo [Tardu], bro of Istami & Bumin
issue:
a. Shabolo II
b. Saba (d598), father of (22B) Schehu Khan & (24B) Telige Khan
XXX 59811C Shabolo [II]
598-59912C Shifkwi [I]
--------------------------------------------------------------
Turkish Khanate re-united: Turkestan
657/664-679 34C Wen Tchuen Assete, King of Turkestan
son of Oghuz Ghuzz [Ochir Tegin], son of (19B) Chulo Hesan Kagan
(above)
issue:
a. Qutlugh Khan
b. Bakor Kapagan Khan
c. Zieghu
679-68135C Nichofu [Nishu Beg]
issue:
a. Funian
681-68236C Funian
XXX 68237C Baz Kagan
issue:
a. Toghu Che
XXX 68238C Toghu Che, dep (d715)
XXX 68239C Pisutu, queen
682-69140C Qutluq [Kutlugh Teris] [Ilteres Idat] Khan
issue:
a. Bilghe [Mogilian] Khan
b. Yollug Khan
c. Tengri Kul
691-71641C Bakor Kapagan Khan [Mercho]
issue:
a. Fugiyu Bogi [Inal Khan]
XXX 71642C Fugiyu Bogi [Inal Khan]
716-73143C Bilghe Khan [Mogilian]
= Khatun
issue:
a. Igen Khan
b. Duzhi [Tengri] Khan
c. Koto Khan
d. Teih Shih [Kiethi Khan]
e. Ozmis Khan
f. Talo (dau), wife of [unsure]
731-73544C Igen Khan
735-73945C Yollug Khan
739-74246C Tengri Kul [Kul Tegin] [Kull Khan]
XXX 74247C Duzhi Khan [Tengri II]
issue:
a. Yuchu (dau), wife of (53C) Ghora Kagan (below)
742-74348C Koto [Ku-Tu] [Siuan] Khan
issue:
a. dau, wife of [unsure]
XXX 74349C Tieh Shih [Kiethi Khan]
743-74450C Ozmis[h] Khan
= Priset, regent 744-745, dau of Hazer, King of Beks (d737), son of
Tarmach, King of Beks (725), son of Alp, King of Beks (700)
issue:
a. Pomei
744-74551C Pomei [Pei-Mei] (Baimei) Khan, dep
745-74852C Etimis [El-Itmish Qutlugh Bilge] Khan, in exile
745-74852D Basmil Khan, rebel king
son of Utibeg, son of Zieghu, bro of (39C) Qutluq Khan & (40C) Bakor
Kapagan Khan
issue:
a. Ghora Kagan
748-77053C Ghora Kagan, dep, in exile [last one]
[note: his 6th great-grandson was Seljuk]
= Yuchu, dau of (46C) Duzhi (above), or his bro (47C) Siuan [Koto
Khan]
issue:
a. Elterish, Prince of Basmils (770)
b. Kerekuci Hoci
-------------------------------------
descent-line to Seljuk, who gave name to the Turkish Seljuk Dynasty:
30. Ghora Kagan, (53C) King of Turks (above)
31. Kerekuci Hoci, bro of Elterish, Prince of Basmils (770)
32. Toksurmu Ilci
33. Lokman Ucoko
34. Bayindir [Ertugrul] Khan, King of Turks
35. Qiniq Qagan [Kiniq Khagan], bro of Kamgu Kagan & Kazan Yabgu
36. Shaghri Beg [Tschaghri "Bek"]
37. Duqaq [Tuquq] "Iron-Bow"
38. Seljuk [Sarjuq], founded new Turkish dynasty (985)
------------------------------------------------------
KHAZAR KINGS/KHANS
618-62701. Ziebel, founded new Khazar dynasty, id. with Turkish Khan
Tong Yabghu Khan
issue:
a. Harbis [I]
627-?02. Harbis [I] [Irbis]
= Epiphania, dau of Heraclius, Byzantine Emperor
issue:
a. Anastasia (dau)
= Khalge Kagan [Harbis II]
(640)03. Kieyue Khan
issue:
a. Khalge Kagan
b. Ashena Holo, father of Kaban Kagan, Khazar King
(650)04. Khalge Kagan [Harbis II]
= Anastasia, dau of Harbis [I], Khazar King (above)
issue:
a. Ibuzir Glavan
b. Theodora (dau)
= Justinian II, Byzantine Emperor
(670)05. Kaban Kagan
690-71506. Ibuzir Glavan
issue:
a. Barjik
715-73107. Barjik
issue:
a. Bulan Sabriel
b. Bihar [Bizar]
(740)08. Bulan Sabriel
issue:
a. Bagatur
(750)09. Bihar [Bizar]
issue:
a. Tzitzak [Chichak] [Irene], wife of Constantine V, Byzantine Emperor
(760)10. Bagatur
issue:
a. Obadiah
b. Hanukkah
c. Zebulun
786-80911. Obadiah
issue:
a. Hezekiah
809-?12. Hezekiah
issue:
a. Manasseh I
XXX13. Manasseh I
XXX14. Hanukkah
issue:
a. Yitzchak
XXX15. Yitzchak
issue:
a. Manasseh II
XXX16. Zebulun
issue:
a. son [name], father of Zachary, rival king
XXX17. Manasseh II
issue:
a. Nisi
(860)X. Zachary, rival king
XXX18. Nisi
issue:
a. Aaron I
(900)19. Aaron I
issue:
a. Menahem
b. Benjamin
(910)20. Menahem
(925)21. Benjamin
issue:
a. Aaron II
(940)22. Aaron II
issue:
a. Hakan Yusuf [Joseph]
945-96523. Hakan Yusuf [Joseph]
issue:
a. David
965-96924. David, dep by Russians, d in exile at Taman 986/8
issue:
a. George Tzula
(986/8)25. George Tzula, anti-king at Kerch, defeated in battle,
captured, and taken prisoner by Russians 1016 [last one]
---------------------------------------------------------
CUMAN KINGS/KHANS
01. Torak Han [Turug] (28B), King of Turks 641-4 dep (d656), id. with
same name in Ottoman pedigree
02. Ay Kutlug (29B), King of Turks 644 dep (d685)
03. Qimin Tor (35B), King of Turks 667-671 dep (d724)
04. Yasak (d768)
05. Tur Temur (790)
06. Kara Khan (820)
07. Sungur (d865)
08. Bulgay (d906)
09. Turac Ortuk (d947)
10. Bulshi Khan (d974)
11. Sharu, whose bro Sakur (d991), was an ancestor of the Turkish
Ottoman Sultans
12. Kurkulu
issue:
a. Skal Khan
b. Asep Khan (below)
13. Asep Khan (d1082), bro of Skal Khan (d1060)
14. Tugor (d1096)
15. Bonyak (d1111)
16. Otrok
17. Aepak (d1120)
issue:
a. Sotan (1140)
b. Begluk (1150)(below)
c. Kozel (1160)
18. Begluk
19. Kobyak (d1183)
20. Konchak
21. Kotyan [Kuthen] (d1223)
issue:
a. Bachma
b. Elizabet (dau), wife of King Stephen V of Hungary, ancestors of
EUROPEAN & BRITISH ROYALTY
22. Bachma (d1237), ancestor of Pulad Beg, King of Cumans (1389),
father of Tasha Timur, King of Cumans 1406-7 dep
PART 1: TURKISH CHIEFS
00. Liu Tsugu (d398)
issue:
a. Ashinha
398-43301. Ashinha (Ashina), Duke of Liang 396/8; King of Liang 400/6
(d433), eponym of the Assena clan
issue:
a. Apangpu
b. Ichichni Shihtu, father of Asyana Shad, father of Ay Uzhru, 1st
King of Uighurs (487-508)
c. Notuliu
433-46102. Apangpu
issue:
a. Hsien I
b. Pusun
c. Kulapan
d. Liangu
e. Wangu Sun, father of Ahingu, Benatru, & Wangu
f. Duku, father of Duku Tasien
461-490 03. Hsien I
issue:
a. Hsien II
b. Mengen Kaghan
c. Lilipan (dau), wife of Khuganye XIV, Hunnish Emperor of Asia
490-49104. Pusun
491-49605. Kulapan
496-51106. Liangu
511-52107. Hsien II
521-52308. Mengen Kaghan
issue: Tuwu "Tayehu"
523-54609. Tuwu "Tayehu" [T'u-u Mengen Tsugu]
issue:
a. Bumin, reck'd "1st" king (below)
b. Istami
c. Dardo
---------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 2: TURKISH KINGS/KHANS
546-55301. Bumin (Tumen) Khan, reck'd "1st" King of Turks 552
= Changlo, dau of Xi-Wei Wen-Ti, Emperor of China (535-552)
issue:
a. Kholo (Kara Kola)
b. Kushu Mukan
c. Toubo (Tapo Khan)
XXX 55302. Kholo (Kelou) (Kara Kola) (Qara Khan) [Kok-Khan]
issue:
a. Yandu Muchu Kagan
b. Bagha Yshbar Khan
c. Cur Bagha
d. Kiuli Tegin, father of Assena Jabghu, father of Yasir Bulsa Kapan,
father of Chuja Jabgu (d644), father of Khuli Chuja, the ancestor of
Li-Chin Chung (d808), father of Khehi (d847), father of Shih-Hsin
[Li-Kwoh Chang] (d878), father of Kieh Yong, "Blon" of East Turks 878,
Prince of Ch'in [China] 894 (d908), father of Huang Tsung, 109th
Emperor of China 923-926
e. Angsu Tegin [Yang-Su Tu-Liu], father of (a) Nivar Kagan, (b)
Zhangar, & (c) Basyu Tegin
553-57203. Kushu Mukan (Mugan; Myhan) Khan [Djigin]
issue:
a. Apa Qapan
b. dau, 3rd wife of Khusru I (Khosroe), Shah of Persia (d579)
c. dau, wife of Kao-Tsu Wu-Ti Pei-Chou, Emperor of China (d578)
572-57304. Istami Khan [Silizibul; Sinjibul] [Irksi Khan] [Iski Khan]
issue:
a. Taspar Arslan Khan
b. Shetu Efu Yabgu [Shapolo I]
c. [K]Hulagu Khan
d. Anghis Yabghu (d590)
e. Tardu[sh] [II] Khan
f. dau, 1st wife of Khusru I (Khosroe), Shah of Persia (d579)
XXX 57305. Yandu Muchu Kagan
573-5766A. Toubo (Tapo Khan) (To-Pei)
issue:
a. Amrak Jotan Kagan
573-5766B. Dardo [Sukhaili] (Tardu)
issue:
a. Tarruk Khan
b. Togrul, father of (x) Qara Khoran Turk, father of (a) Nishu Kutlo,
(b) Khilash Kagan [Shaporo V], (c) Irbis Kagan, (d) Bagadur [II], (e)
Ilviro Shaporo Khagan
XXX 57607. Amrak Jotan Kagan [Amro Khan]
576-57808. Taspar Arslan
578-58109. Apa Qapan (Apoukia Kagan) [Dizabul]
issue:
a. Danao Tegin (d638)
b. Assena Tegin, father of Assena Tegin, father of Assena Tegin,
father of Ghora Jabgu [Shapolo VII]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Great-kings [khans] of Eastern Turks
581-58710A Bagha Yshbar Khan
issue:
a. Tunga (Tuhan) Tegin
587-58811A Cur Bagha
588-59012A Tunga [Tuhan] Tegin
issue:
a. Qimin Qagan
590-59713A Nivar Kagan [Neri Khan]
= [name], Khazarite princess, descended from Karadach, Khazar-King
(450), descended from Khozarig, 1st Khazar-King (date)
issue:
a. Pio-She Tegin, kld 589
b. Nikul Chula
c. Shifkwi [II] (Shih-Kuei)
d. Tong Yabghu Khan, aka Ziebel, Khazar-King
e. Moho Shad
---------------------------------------------------------------------
issue of Moho Shad (above):
a. Yshbar Tolis Shad
b. Shapolo V [Tongngo]
c. Nichu Kapan [Hilipi Khan]
d. Kian Shad, father of (a) Pihotu Khan & (b) Irbis Shegui Khan
e. Kieyue Khan [Puli Shad], Khazar King (640)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
issue of Kieyue Khan [Puli Shad] (above):
a. Ashena Holo [Shapolo VI]
b. Khalge Kaghan [Harbis II], Khazar-King (650)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
597-59914A Zhangar
issue:
a. Bagatur [I] Kiuliuq
599-60315A Nikul Chula
issue:
a. Nipo Taman Khan [Hsien III]
b. Kiue Tatu [Kwuope Kaghan]
XXX 60316A Basyu Tegin [Boshir Teguin]
603-60917A Qimin Qagan [Chi-Min] [Koran Kagan]
609-61518A Nipo Taman Khan [Hsien III], dep (d618)
615-61819A Shifkwi II [Shih-Kuei] Qagan
618-62720A Tong Yabghu Khan, aka Zeibel, King of Khazars, founds
another Khazarite dynasty
XXX 62721A Bagatur [I] Kiuliuq
issue:
a. Ilvi Shifkwi Khan
627-63222A Ilvi Khan [Tili Khan] [Ipipolo] [Shaporo IV]
a. Symo Khan
632-63923A Kiue Tatu [Kwoupe Khan], King of Third-Part Turks
632-63923C Yiwu Khan, King of Third-Part Turks
632-63923D Yshbar Tolis Shad, King of Third-Part Turks
XXX 63924A Shapolo V [Tongngo] Khan
issue:
a. Ikilishe [Mohotu]
639-64025A Nichu Kagan [Hilipi Khan], dep (d653)
XXX 64026A Ikilishe [Mohotu] Khan
640-64127A Pihotu Khan
641-64428A Symo Khan
XXX 64429A Shifkwi III (Shekwei) Khan
644-64730A Irbis Shegui Khan
647-65131A Ashena Holo [Shapolo VI] Khan
651-65332A Ilvi Shifkwi Khan
653-65733A Ghora Jabgu [Shaporo VII], dep
issue:
a. Mishe
--------------------------------------------------------------------
see 34C (below)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
anti-kings:
657-66434A Mishe, anti-king [in exile]
issue:
a. Yong Khan
664-67735A Tiyun Shehu
677-69336A Yong Khan, anti-king [in exile]
issue:
a. Suizi
693-69437A Suizi, anti-king [in exile], dep
---------------------------------------------------------------------
great-kings [khans] of Western Turks
581-58710B Shabolo [I] Khan [Shetu Efu Wabgu]
issue:
a. Rudan [Buli Khan]
XXX 58711B Rudan [Buli Khan]
587-58812B [K]Hulagu [Chulo Khan]
issue:
a. Tulan
b. Tateu
588-59813B Tulan [Dolan Khan] [Yong Yulu] [Tidin]
= Yang-Ling, dau of Sui-Wenti, Emperor of China
issue:
a. Shipi
b. Chulo
c. Xieli
598-59914B Tardu[sh] [II]
599-60315B Tateu [Datou Khan] [Bogiu Tardush Kagan], dep
issue:
a. Duli I [Tuli] Khan
XXX 60316B Nili Khan
603-60917B Duli I [Tuli] Khan
609-61918B Shipi [Shih-Pi] [Dugi Shibir Khan]
issue:
a. Duli II [Tuli]
b. Sirin (dau), wife of Khusru II [Khosroe], Shah of Persia (d627/8)
619-62019B Chulo [Tchu-Lo] [Hesan] Kagan, dep & ex
issue:
a. Oghuz Ghuzz [Ochir Tegin], father of (a) Wen Tchuen Assete, (b)
Nichofu, & (c) Baz Kagan
620-62920B Xieli (Khieli) [Hsieh-Li] [Kat Il-Khan Tugbir]
issue:
a. Tupi Khan
b. Bilghe [Szelipi] Khan
c. Hopo Khan
XXX 62921B Tupi Khan
629-63022B Schehu Khan
grandson of (10C) Tarruk Khan (below)
630-63123B Duli II [Toli] Khan
issue:
a. Dudu Ghologur Khan
631-63324B Telige Tegin [Irbis Bolun Yabgu Kagan]
grandson of 10C (below)
issue:
a. Kari Khan, father of (1) Mizif, 1st King of Turkish Khanate of
Tu'chueh [now China's Xinjiang province] 657-679, father of (2) Yuan
Chin Khan, King 679-697
b. Aldo Yabghu Khan (d645), father of (3) Buchin, King 697-?, father
of (4) Khusere Khan, King ?-703
c. Kayi, father of Ochir, father of (5) Wuchile [Utuhele] Khan, King
703-706, father of (6) Sokho, King 706-711, & (7) Mecho, King 711-716,
father of (8) Sughlu, King 716-738, father of (9) Tu-Ho Khan, King
738-739, & (10) Mo-Ho Khan, King 739-744, deposed by the Chinese.
XXX 63325B Nishu Kutlo
great-grandson of 6B (above)
son of Qara Khoran Turk, son of Togrul, bro of (10C) Tarruk Khan, the
sons of (6B) Dardo (Tardu)
633-63926B Dude Ghologur Khan, King of Third Turks, dep
633-63926W Khilash [Shaporo V], King of Western Turks
633-63926E Bagadur [II] [Khu-Moe-Khe], King of Eastern Turks
639-64127W Irbis Kagan [Huo Hsien], King of Western Turks
issue:
a. Torak Han [Turug]
639-64127E Ilviro Shaporo [VI] Kagan [Yasbar Jabghu], King of Eastern
Turks
issue:
a. Sirba (640/1), father of (34B) Buzhe
641-64428B Torak Han (Turuk), dep (d656)
issue:
a. Ay Kutluq
XXX 64429B Ay Kutlug Khan, dep (d685)
issue:
a. Qimin Tur
644-64630B Bilghe [Szelipi] Khan
issue:
a. Hollyg Yshbar
b. Jenchu Suibir
646-64831B Hollyg Yshbar
648-65332B Jenchu Suibir
653-66433B Hopo [Ho-Pei] (Chebi; Khepi) Khan
-----------------------------------------------------------
see 34C (below)
----------------------------------------------------------
descent-line to Osman, who gave name to the Turkish Ottomon Dynasty
01. Torak Han [Turug] (28B), King of Turks 641-4 dep (d656), id. with
same name in Ottoman pedigree
02. Ay Kutlug (29B), King of Turks 644 dep (d685)
03. Qimin Tor (35B), King of Turks 667-671 dep (d724)
04. Yasak (d768)
05. Tur Temur (790)
06. Kara Khan (820)
07. Sungur (d865)
08. Bulgay (d906)
09. Turac Ortuk (d947)
10. Bulshi Khan (d974)
11. Sakur (d991), whose bro Sharu was ancestor of the kings of the
European Cumans
12. Kara Batur (d1012)
13. Togrul Khan (d1058)
14. Ay Kutluq (d1097)
15. Beg Temur (d1165)
16. Kizil Bughe (d1183)
17. Qia Alp (d1212) [ancestor of another Turkish dynasty]
18. Suleyman Sah (d1236)
19. Ertugrul (d1281)
20. Osman (d1326), who gave the dynasty its name "Ottoman"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
anti-kings:
664-66734B Buzhe
issue:
a. Duzhi [II]
667-67135B Qimin Tur [Cemen Dur], dep (d724)
issue:
a. Yasak [Isaac] (d768), father of Tur Temur, father of (a) Gazi Neli
Khan, (b) Bilge Kul, & (c) Kara Khan
671-67936B Duzhi [II]
issue:
a. Hushelo
679-68237B Hushelo
issue:
a. Kibu Chur
682-XXX38B Kibu Chur
-------------------------------------------------------------
great-kings [khans] of Third Turks
581-59810C Tarruk Khan
son of Dardo [Tardu], bro of Istami & Bumin
issue:
a. Shabolo II
b. Saba (d598), father of (22B) Schehu Khan & (24B) Telige Khan
XXX 59811C Shabolo [II]
598-59912C Shifkwi [I]
--------------------------------------------------------------
Turkish Khanate re-united: Turkestan
657/664-679 34C Wen Tchuen Assete, King of Turkestan
son of Oghuz Ghuzz [Ochir Tegin], son of (19B) Chulo Hesan Kagan
(above)
issue:
a. Qutlugh Khan
b. Bakor Kapagan Khan
c. Zieghu
679-68135C Nichofu [Nishu Beg]
issue:
a. Funian
681-68236C Funian
XXX 68237C Baz Kagan
issue:
a. Toghu Che
XXX 68238C Toghu Che, dep (d715)
XXX 68239C Pisutu, queen
682-69140C Qutluq [Kutlugh Teris] [Ilteres Idat] Khan
issue:
a. Bilghe [Mogilian] Khan
b. Yollug Khan
c. Tengri Kul
691-71641C Bakor Kapagan Khan [Mercho]
issue:
a. Fugiyu Bogi [Inal Khan]
XXX 71642C Fugiyu Bogi [Inal Khan]
716-73143C Bilghe Khan [Mogilian]
= Khatun
issue:
a. Igen Khan
b. Duzhi [Tengri] Khan
c. Koto Khan
d. Teih Shih [Kiethi Khan]
e. Ozmis Khan
f. Talo (dau), wife of [unsure]
731-73544C Igen Khan
735-73945C Yollug Khan
739-74246C Tengri Kul [Kul Tegin] [Kull Khan]
XXX 74247C Duzhi Khan [Tengri II]
issue:
a. Yuchu (dau), wife of (53C) Ghora Kagan (below)
742-74348C Koto [Ku-Tu] [Siuan] Khan
issue:
a. dau, wife of [unsure]
XXX 74349C Tieh Shih [Kiethi Khan]
743-74450C Ozmis[h] Khan
= Priset, regent 744-745, dau of Hazer, King of Beks (d737), son of
Tarmach, King of Beks (725), son of Alp, King of Beks (700)
issue:
a. Pomei
744-74551C Pomei [Pei-Mei] (Baimei) Khan, dep
745-74852C Etimis [El-Itmish Qutlugh Bilge] Khan, in exile
745-74852D Basmil Khan, rebel king
son of Utibeg, son of Zieghu, bro of (39C) Qutluq Khan & (40C) Bakor
Kapagan Khan
issue:
a. Ghora Kagan
748-77053C Ghora Kagan, dep, in exile [last one]
[note: his 6th great-grandson was Seljuk]
= Yuchu, dau of (46C) Duzhi (above), or his bro (47C) Siuan [Koto
Khan]
issue:
a. Elterish, Prince of Basmils (770)
b. Kerekuci Hoci
-------------------------------------
descent-line to Seljuk, who gave name to the Turkish Seljuk Dynasty:
30. Ghora Kagan, (53C) King of Turks (above)
31. Kerekuci Hoci, bro of Elterish, Prince of Basmils (770)
32. Toksurmu Ilci
33. Lokman Ucoko
34. Bayindir [Ertugrul] Khan, King of Turks
35. Qiniq Qagan [Kiniq Khagan], bro of Kamgu Kagan & Kazan Yabgu
36. Shaghri Beg [Tschaghri "Bek"]
37. Duqaq [Tuquq] "Iron-Bow"
38. Seljuk [Sarjuq], founded new Turkish dynasty (985)
------------------------------------------------------
KHAZAR KINGS/KHANS
618-62701. Ziebel, founded new Khazar dynasty, id. with Turkish Khan
Tong Yabghu Khan
issue:
a. Harbis [I]
627-?02. Harbis [I] [Irbis]
= Epiphania, dau of Heraclius, Byzantine Emperor
issue:
a. Anastasia (dau)
= Khalge Kagan [Harbis II]
(640)03. Kieyue Khan
issue:
a. Khalge Kagan
b. Ashena Holo, father of Kaban Kagan, Khazar King
(650)04. Khalge Kagan [Harbis II]
= Anastasia, dau of Harbis [I], Khazar King (above)
issue:
a. Ibuzir Glavan
b. Theodora (dau)
= Justinian II, Byzantine Emperor
(670)05. Kaban Kagan
690-71506. Ibuzir Glavan
issue:
a. Barjik
715-73107. Barjik
issue:
a. Bulan Sabriel
b. Bihar [Bizar]
(740)08. Bulan Sabriel
issue:
a. Bagatur
(750)09. Bihar [Bizar]
issue:
a. Tzitzak [Chichak] [Irene], wife of Constantine V, Byzantine Emperor
(760)10. Bagatur
issue:
a. Obadiah
b. Hanukkah
c. Zebulun
786-80911. Obadiah
issue:
a. Hezekiah
809-?12. Hezekiah
issue:
a. Manasseh I
XXX13. Manasseh I
XXX14. Hanukkah
issue:
a. Yitzchak
XXX15. Yitzchak
issue:
a. Manasseh II
XXX16. Zebulun
issue:
a. son [name], father of Zachary, rival king
XXX17. Manasseh II
issue:
a. Nisi
(860)X. Zachary, rival king
XXX18. Nisi
issue:
a. Aaron I
(900)19. Aaron I
issue:
a. Menahem
b. Benjamin
(910)20. Menahem
(925)21. Benjamin
issue:
a. Aaron II
(940)22. Aaron II
issue:
a. Hakan Yusuf [Joseph]
945-96523. Hakan Yusuf [Joseph]
issue:
a. David
965-96924. David, dep by Russians, d in exile at Taman 986/8
issue:
a. George Tzula
(986/8)25. George Tzula, anti-king at Kerch, defeated in battle,
captured, and taken prisoner by Russians 1016 [last one]
---------------------------------------------------------
CUMAN KINGS/KHANS
01. Torak Han [Turug] (28B), King of Turks 641-4 dep (d656), id. with
same name in Ottoman pedigree
02. Ay Kutlug (29B), King of Turks 644 dep (d685)
03. Qimin Tor (35B), King of Turks 667-671 dep (d724)
04. Yasak (d768)
05. Tur Temur (790)
06. Kara Khan (820)
07. Sungur (d865)
08. Bulgay (d906)
09. Turac Ortuk (d947)
10. Bulshi Khan (d974)
11. Sharu, whose bro Sakur (d991), was an ancestor of the Turkish
Ottoman Sultans
12. Kurkulu
issue:
a. Skal Khan
b. Asep Khan (below)
13. Asep Khan (d1082), bro of Skal Khan (d1060)
14. Tugor (d1096)
15. Bonyak (d1111)
16. Otrok
17. Aepak (d1120)
issue:
a. Sotan (1140)
b. Begluk (1150)(below)
c. Kozel (1160)
18. Begluk
19. Kobyak (d1183)
20. Konchak
21. Kotyan [Kuthen] (d1223)
issue:
a. Bachma
b. Elizabet (dau), wife of King Stephen V of Hungary, ancestors of
EUROPEAN & BRITISH ROYALTY
22. Bachma (d1237), ancestor of Pulad Beg, King of Cumans (1389),
father of Tasha Timur, King of Cumans 1406-7 dep
