The powerful medieval Khazar state disappeared almost without a trace. For a long time it was generally considered semi-mythical.
The 500-year history of the vast and powerful state in the south of modern Russia is little known. Surprisingly enough, but scientists know more about the Khazars from the numerous references to them in the chronicles of neighboring peoples and even very distant states, such as Spain. But in Soviet school textbooks Khazaria was almost never mentioned. Why?
The first surviving references to the state of the people of the Khazars date back to 650. The country, which was ruled by the ruler-Kagan, spread over vast territories between the Volga and the Dnieper. Khazars had large fortified cities, were actively engaged in agriculture, trade and crafts. According to some scientists, even the mother of Russian cities Kiev was founded as a settlement of Khazar merchants. In the VIII-IX centuries, Judaism became the state religion of Khazaria. Perhaps it was caused by purely political reasons. Judaism helped Khazaria not to fall under the influence of Christian Byzantium and the Muslim Arab Caliphate of Harun al-Rashid, who attempted on its independence. It was the adoption of the Jewish faith by the Khazars that gave grounds for Pushkin to consider them «unreasonable» a millennium later.
Tribute of the Slavs to the Khazars. Miniature from the Radziwill Chronicle, 15th century. Source: Pinterest
The existence of an independent Jewish state was of keen interest to the Jews scattered throughout Europe and the Middle East. From them, rumors about Khazaria reached the governments trying to establish diplomatic relations with the mighty power. One of the most valuable written sources about the Khazar Kaganate is the correspondence between a dignitary at the court of the Spanish Umayyad Caliphate Hasdai ibn Shafrut and the Khazar king-Kagan, dated in the middle of the X century. On inquiries of an inquisitive Arab ruler of Khazaria answered in detail: «I inform you that I live at the river named Itil, at the end of the river G-r-gan … At this river there are numerous peoples in villages and towns, some in open areas, and others in walled cities … All of them serve me and pay tribute. From there the border turns on the way to Huverezm (Khorezm), reaching G-r-gan. All those living on the shore of this sea for one month’s journey, all pay tribute to me. Also on the southern side is Samandar at the end of the country… and it is situated on the shore of the sea. From there the border turns to the mountains. These peoples are as numerous as the sand… All of them serve me and pay me tribute. The place of their location and their dwelling place extends for four months’ journey. Know and understand that I live at the mouth of the river with the help of the Almighty. I guard the mouth of the river and do not allow the Rus… to go to the Ishmaelites and similarly their enemies (Ishmaelites) on land to come to the Gate. I am at war with them. If I were to leave them alone for one hour, they would destroy the whole country of the Ishmaltans as far as Baghdad…..
You also asked me where I live. Know that I live by this river, by the help of the Almighty, and there are three cities on it. In one lives the queen; it is the city in which I was born. It is large, having 50 by 50 farsakhs in length (and breadth). In the second city live Jews, Christians and Ismaltans… It is of medium size, being 8 by 8 farsakhs long and 8 wide. In the third city live myself, my princes, slaves and servants and cupbearers close to me. It is located in the form of a circle, has a length and width of 3 by 3 farsakhs. A river stretches between these walls. This is my stay during the days of winter.
From the month of Nisan we leave the city and go each to his vineyard and his field and to his field work. Each of our clans still has a hereditary possession received from their ancestors, the place where they are located… And I, my princes and slaves go and move along 20 farsakhs of the way until we reach the great river called W-d-shan, and from there we go around our country until we come to its end….
Such are the dimensions of our region and the places of our camps. The country (ours) does not receive much rain. It has many rivers in which many fish are raised. We also have many springs in it. The country is fertile and fat, consisting of fields, vineyards, gardens and parks. All of them are irrigated from our river…..
A seal found during excavations. Source: Pinterest
I further inform you of the extent of the limits of my country… Toward the east it extends 20 farsakhs of the way to the sea of G-r-gan; toward the south 30 farsakhs of the way to the great river named Ug-ru, toward the west 30 farsakhs to the river named Buzan and the slope of the river to the sea of G-r-gan… I live inside the island, my fields and vineyards and everything I need are on the islet. With the help of God Almighty, I live peacefully.»
In this letter, written in Hebrew, the most mysterious is the term «farsakh». If it is a measure of length, similar to the Arabic firsakh (about 13 kilometers), then the cities mentioned are too large, and the country itself is small. If it is a rather specific measure of the effort required to cover a distance, like the Tajik chakrim (which depends on the mountainous or flat landscape), then things get confusing. However, at the time of writing this letter, Khazaria did not have long to stay within these boundaries.
A Khazar warrior with a captive. Source: Pinterest
In the second half of the 10th century, Khazaria was raided by Russian princes who ravaged its capital Itil, and fell into decline. A significant part of it became the Russian principality of Tmutarakan. Province of Khazaria Volga Bulgaria separated from the metropolis and flourished as an independent state. The invasion of nomadic Polovtsy finally ruined the country. Destroyed cities disappeared. Destitute Khazars partially converted to Muslimism and mixed with the hordes of later conquerors, and partially emigrated to Eastern European states, where they joined the Jewish communities.
Possessions of the Khaganate. Source: Pinterest
Up until the early 20th century, Khazaria remained a semi-mythical state. It was most often mentioned as a country whose envoys offered the Jewish faith to Prince Vladimir when he was choosing a religion for Russia. Archaeological excavations in the first half of the XX century found several settlements, but there was clearly not enough evidence to identify them with the legendary Itil or Sarkel.
Stalin’s struggle against cosmopolitanism dealt a strong blow to the study of Khazaria. Medieval Khazars were guilty before communist historians that they dared to accept the Jewish faith disliked by Stalin. Interest in studying the history of the Khazar Kaganate on December 12, 1951 was condemned from the pages of Pravda itself. Academician Rybakov created an unproven theory that Khazaria was «a small semi-nomadic parasitic state that existed by collecting duties from passing merchants. In the late 1950s, he began to oppose Lev Gumilev. The dispute on the pages of scientific and popular scientific publications was quite virtual: both sides referred to foreign sources, and evidence of Khazar origin could not demonstrate. Gumilev wittily suggested that most of the territory of the Kaganate was located at the current bottom of the Caspian Sea, which has been changing its water area for centuries. On the pages of «Science and Life» articles about the «Old Russian Atlantis». True, the evidence of his «underwater» theory Gumilev also had no.
Excavations of Sarkel. Source: Pinterest
Only at the beginning of the XXI century Russian archaeologists excavated settlements clearly identified with the Khazar cities. Sarkel, alas, has long been inaccessible to scientists. In 1952, excavated before the war ruins were at the bottom of the Tsimlyanskoye reservoir. But in 2008 archaeologists proved that Samosdelskoye settlement in the lower reaches of the Volga is the Khazar capital Itil. Today the outlines of the Khazar Kaganate are known — it controlled the territory of the Pre-Caucasus, Lower and Middle Volga, modern North-Western Kazakhstan, the Azov region, the eastern part of the Crimea, as well as the steppes and forest-steppes of Ukraine up to the Dnieper. It is funny that these places were considered their lands by the Don, Kuban, Orenburg, Zaporozhye and other Cossacks, who traditionally did not treat their Jewish predecessors very kindly.