The ancient and medieval history of mankind holds many mysteries. Even with the current level of technology, there are still white spots in the study of most issues.
Who were the Khazars? This is one such task without an exact answer. We know a little about them, but even if we collect all the existing references to this people, even more questions arise.
Let's get to know this interesting people closer.
Who are the Khazars
This tribe - the Khazars - was first mentioned in Chinese sources as part of the population of the great Hun Empire. Researchers present several hypotheses regarding the origin of the ethnonym and ancestral home of the Khazars.
Let's first deal with the name. The root of “goats” in many Central Asian languages ​​means a number of words related to nomadism. This version seems most plausible, because the rest look like this. In Farsi, “Khazar” means “thousand,” the Romans called Caesar the emperor, and Turks understand oppression by this word.
They try to identify the ancestral homeland from the earliest records in which the Khazars are mentioned. Where did their ancestors live, who were the closest neighbors? There are no definite answers so far.
There are three equivalent theories. The first considers them to be the ancestors of the Uigurs, the second - the Hunnic tribe of the Akatsirs, and the third is inclined to the version that the Khazars are descendants of the tribal union of the Ogurs and Savirs.
Whether it is so or not, it is difficult to answer. Only one thing is clear. The origin of the Khazars and the beginning of their expansion to the west is connected with the land, which they called Barsilia.
Mention in written sources
If you analyze information from notes of contemporaries, you also get confusion.
On the one hand, existing sources say that the Khazar Khaganate was a powerful empire. On the other hand, the fragmentary information contained in travelers' notes cannot illustrate anything at all.
The most complete source that reflects the state of affairs in the country is the correspondence of the kagan with the Spanish dignitary Hassday ibn Shaprut. They communicated in writing on the subject of Judaism. The Spaniard was a diplomat who was interested in the Jewish empire, which, according to merchants, existed near the Caspian Sea.
Three letters contain a legend about where the ancient Khazars came from - brief information about the cities, political, social and economic situation.
Other sources, such as Russian chronicles, Arabic, Persian and other references, mainly describe only the causes, course and results of local military conflicts at the borders.
Geography of Khazaria
Kagan Joseph in his letter tells where the Khazars came from, where these tribes lived, what they did. Let's study its description in more detail.
So, the empire spread during its heyday from the Southern Bug to the Aral Sea and from the Caucasus Mountains to the Volga in the latitude region of the city of Murom.
Numerous tribes lived on this territory. In the forest and forest-steppe regions the sedentary method of farming was widespread, in the steppe - nomadic. In addition, there were a lot of vineyards near the Caspian Sea.
The largest cities that the kagan mentions in his letter were as follows. The capital - Itil, was located in the lower Volga. Sarkel (Rusich called it White Vezhej) was located on the Don, and Semender and Belenger - located on the coast of the Caspian Sea.
The rise of the kaganate begins after the death of the Turkic empire, in the middle of the seventh century AD. By this time, the ancestors of the Khazars lived in the area of ​​modern Derbent, in the lowland Dagestan. Hence the expansion to the north, west and south.
After the capture of the Crimea, the Khazars settled in this territory. She was identified with this ethnonym for a very long time. Even in the sixteenth century, the Genoese mentioned the peninsula as "Gasaria".
Thus, the Khazars are an association of Turkic tribes that were able to create the most durable state of nomads in history.
Beliefs in the Kaganate
Due to the fact that the empire was at the crossroads of trade routes, cultures and religions, it became the likeness of medieval Babylon.
Since the Turkic peoples were the main population of the Kaganate, the majority worshiped Tengri Khan. This belief is still preserved in Central Asia.
Judaism adopted the Kaganate, therefore it is still believed that the Khazars are Jews. However, this is not entirely true, because only a very small stratum of the population professed this religion.
Also in the state Christians and Muslims were represented. Due to unsuccessful campaigns against the Arab caliphs in the last decades of the existence of the kaganate, Islam receives great freedom in the empire.
But why stubbornly believe that the Khazars are Jews? The most likely reason is the legend described by Joseph in the letter. He tells Hasday that when choosing the state religion, Orthodox and Catholic priests and a rabbi were invited. The latter managed to argue everyone and convince the kagan and his retinue of their innocence.
War with neighbors
Campaigns to the Khazars are most fully described in Russian chronicles and Arab military records. The Caliphate fought for influence in the Caucasus, and the Slavs, on the one hand, opposed the southern slave traders who plundered villages, and on the other, strengthened their eastern borders.
The first prince who fought with the Khazar Khaganate was Prophetic Oleg. He was able to recapture some lands and forced them to pay tribute to himself, and not to the Khazars.
More interesting information about the campaigns of Svyatoslav, the son of Olga and Igor. He, being a skilled warrior and wise commander, took advantage of the weakness of the empire and dealt a crushing blow to it.
The troops gathered by him went down the Volga and took Itil. Then Sarkel on the Don and Semender on the Caspian coast were captured. This sudden and powerful expansion destroyed the once powerful empire.
After this, Svyatoslav began to gain a foothold in this territory. The fortress Belaya Vezha was built on the site of Sarkel, imposed a tribute to the Vyatichi - a tribe bordering Russia on one side and Khazaria on the other.
An interesting fact is that, with all the seeming feuds and wars in Kiev, a detachment of Khazar mercenaries stood for a long time. In the "Tale of Bygone Years" the tract Kozara is mentioned in the capital of Russia. It was near the confluence of Pochayna in the Dnieper River.
Where did the whole nation go
The conquests, of course, affect the population, but it is noteworthy that after the Slavs defeated the main cities of the Kaganate, information about these people disappears. They are no longer mentioned in a single word, in any record.
The most plausible solution to this issue, researchers believe the following. Being a Turkic-speaking ethnic group, the Khazars were able to assimilate with their neighbors in the territory of the Caspian region.
Today, scientists believe that the bulk has disappeared in this region, some have remained in the Crimea, and most noble Khazars have moved to Central Europe. There they were able to unite with Jewish communities living in the territory of modern Poland, Hungary, Western Ukraine.
Thus, some families with Jewish roots and ancestors in these lands may call themselves “descendants of the Khazars” to some extent.
Footprints in archeology
Archaeologists unequivocally say that the Khazars are a Salt-Mayak culture. Gauthier singled it out in 1927. Since that time, active excavations and studies have been ongoing.
The name culture got as a result of the similarity of finds on two sites.
The first is the ancient settlement in Verkhny Saltov, Kharkov region, and the second is the Mayatsky ancient settlement in the Voronezh region.
In principle, the finds correlate with the Alan ethnos, who lived in this territory from the eighth to tenth centuries. However, the roots of this people are in the North Caucasus, therefore, it is associated directly with the Khazar Khaganate.
Researchers divide the findings into two types of burials. The forest version is Alanian, and the steppe one is Bulgarian, which includes the Khazars.
Possible descendants
The descendants of the Khazars are another white spot in the study of the people. The difficulty is that it is almost impossible to trace the continuity.
The Saltovo-Mayatsky culture as such accurately reflects the life of the Alans and Bulgar. The Khazars are listed there conditionally, since it is their monuments that are very few. In fact, they are random. Written sources are "silent" after the campaign of Svyatoslav. Therefore, one has to rely on the joint hypotheses of archaeologists, linguists and ethnographers.
To date, the most likely descendants of the Khazars are the Kumyks. This is the Turkic-speaking people of the North Caucasus. This also includes partially Karaites, Krymchaks and Judaized hill tribes of the Caucasus.
Dry residue
Thus, in this article we talked about the fate of such an interesting people as the Khazars. This is not just another ethnic group, but, in fact, a mysterious white spot in the medieval history of the Caspian lands.
They are mentioned in many sources of Russians, Armenians, Arabs, Byzantines. Kagan is in correspondence with the Cordoba Caliphate. Everyone understands the power and strength of this empire ...
And suddenly - the lightning expedition of Prince Svyatoslav and the death of this state.
It turns out that an entire empire may not just disappear within a short period of time, but may sink into oblivion, leaving only guesses to descendants.