The Khazar Kaganate was a significant phenomenon in Turkic and world history. But the history of this state is often described as a background or context for the history of other peoples. It is still not included in the system of common Turkic civilization and statehood of the Tatar people, although there are many signs and criteria (common historical origin, language, way of life, etc.) that allow us to consider Khazaria as an important component of the Turkic civilization and Tatar subculture.
Creation of the Khazar Khaganate
The Khazar Khaganate (from the 7th to the 10th centuries) became the first early feudal state in eastern Europe, which arose by the middle of the 7th century. in the Caspian steppes as a result of the collapse of the Western Turkic Kaganate.
Turkic-speaking Khazars - nomads and cattle breeders - appeared here after the Hunnic “throw” into Europe. According to the Syrian historian Zacharias of Mytilene, at the turn of the 5th - 6th centuries. 13 Turkic-speaking tribes settled in the northwestern Caspian region, including Savirs, Avars, Bulgarians, and Khazars. The Khazars, together with the Savirs, showed themselves as a noticeable military force, making campaigns against the Byzantine and Iranian possessions in Transcaucasia.
In the 560-570s. Khazar tribes fell under the influence of the Turkic Khaganate. Together with the main Turkic groups of the Kaganate, which entered into an alliance with Byzantium, the Khazars took part in campaigns against Iran. After the weakening and collapse of the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Khazars turned out to be one of the largest and most influential tribes in the North Caucasus, creating a new union of tribes - the Khazar Khaganate. The Turkic (Turkut) Ashina dynasty retained power in the Kaganate.
Tribes of the Khazar Khaganate
In the second half of the 7th century. The Khazars, taking advantage of the division of Great Bulgaria between the sons of Khan Kubrat, subjugated part of the Bulgarian tribes. The Khazar Kaganate also included Savirs, Barsils, Belengers, Alans and other local tribes.
Territory of the Khazar Khaganate
At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th century. The Khazars were able to subjugate the nearby East Slavic tribes and imposed tribute on them. As a result of the military confrontation with the Byzantine Empire at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries. The Khazars captured the Taman Peninsula, the Bosporus, and most of the Crimean Peninsula, with the exception of Chersonesos.
At the time of its greatest prosperity at the beginning of the 8th century. The Khazar Kaganate included vast territories of the North Caucasus, the entire Azov region, most of the Crimea, and controlled the steppe and forest-steppe expanses up to the Dnieper. Despite the strengthening of the Khazar presence in the Black Sea region, Byzantium, alarmed by the Arab campaigns, established allied relations with Khazaria.
VII - VIII centuries were a period of explosive expansion of the Arab civilization, which created a huge empire - stretching from the Indus River in Asia to the Pyrenees Mountains in Europe. Already during the first military campaigns, the Arabs pushed back the powerful powers of that time - the Byzantine Empire and Sasanian Iran, weakened by internal contradictions and eternal mutual struggle.
In the middle of the 7th century. The Arab conquest of Iran ended, and at the beginning of the 8th century. Transcaucasia and part of Central Asia became part of the Arab state. Baghdad became the center of a prosperous caliphate.
The Khazars made several campaigns in the Arab-controlled lands of Transcaucasia. In response, the Arabs in 735, having overcome the Caucasus Mountains, defeated the Khazars. The Khazar Kagan and his entourage adopted Islam from the Arabs, which they then spread among part of the population of the Kaganate. This is the result of Arab civilizational influence, the penetration of Arab preachers and Muslim merchants into the country.
Capital of the Khazar Khaganate
After the Arab campaigns, the center of the Kaganate moved north. The capital of the Kaganate was first the ancient city of Semender in the North Caucasus Caspian region, and then the city of Itil on the Lower Volga (not far from modern Astrakhan). The city was located on both banks of the Volga and on a small island where the Kagan’s residence was located. It was surrounded by walls and had a good fortification system.
In the eastern part of the city (Khazaran) there was a craft trade center with large fairgrounds, caravanserais, workshops, and the western part was inhabited by the official and military aristocracy, administrative buildings and the khan's palace were also located here.
The population of the capital, like the entire Kaganate, was ethnically diverse: in addition to the Khazars, Bulgarians and Alans, Turks and Slavs, Arabs and Khorezmians, Jews and Byzantines lived here. Many visiting merchants stayed in Khazaria for a long time. Muslims had mosques, Christian churches, Jews had synagogues, and pagans had pagan temples and places of prayer.
According to contemporaries, there were at least 30 mosques, parish schools and schools in the city. Residential buildings consisted of wooden houses or tents, felt yurts and half-dugouts. Itil existed until 965, when it was destroyed by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich.
Economy of the Khazar Khaganate
The main economic occupation of the population of Khazaria remained semi-nomadic cattle breeding, but agriculture, gardening and viticulture were actively developing. Many grains, vegetable and garden crops came to the farmers of the Khazar Kaganate from Central and Central Asia, from the Middle East, from Southern and Central Europe. The proximity of the Caspian and Azov seas, the Volga, Don and other rivers made fishing habitual for the population of Khazaria.
In the summer, many pastoralists went on temporary nomadic camps, and in the winter they lived in settlements and cities. The craft developed rapidly, adopting the most progressive techniques and technologies of various civilizations and peoples.
Trade of the Khazar Khaganate
Trade played a special role in the formation of the Khazar Kaganate and the expansion of its international relations.
The Kaganate found itself at the intersection of traditional trade routes from east to west () and from the Baltic to the Caspian and Black Seas (Great Volga Route).
From the north came furs, cattle, honey and wax, beluga glue, from the south they brought Arab steel and jewelry, from the east - spices, precious stones, from the west - weapons, metal products, fabrics. The Kaganate was a transit route in the slave trade, but slavery did not become noticeably widespread here and was close in type to patriarchal slavery.
Sarkel fortress of the Khazar Khaganate
The largest city in Khazaria was the city of Sarkel (from the Khazar “white house”), built in the 9th century. at the intersection of several trade caravan routes with the waterway. In 834, the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus, at the request of the Khazar Kagan, sent an architect to the Don to build a stone fortress, which was erected by local craftsmen. The fortress protected the neighboring trading city and was separated from it by a moat. In the interior of the fortress, which had thick brick walls and towers, there was a citadel with two watchtowers.
Sarkel grew quickly and soon became the largest city in the Azov region with a multilingual population, a significant part of which were Bulgarians. Subsequently, the city was severely destroyed by the warriors of Prince Svyatoslav, but existed as a southern Russian stronghold called Belaya Vezha until the middle of the 12th century.
Byzantium and the Khazar Khaganate
Khazaria, finding itself in the zone of geopolitical competition between the largest empires and civilizations (Byzantium, the Arab Caliphate), was drawn not only into their military rivalry and politics, but also became the cause of cultural and religious confrontation. In connection with this role of the Khazar Kaganate in the Caspian-Black Sea region, the issue of state religion acquired key importance. Initially, the pagan Bulgarians and Khazars were influenced by Muslim Arabs, and the Byzantines introduced Christianity, creating a metropolis with seven local dioceses on the territory of the Kaganate in the 8th century.
Almost simultaneously with the adoption of Islam, part of the Khazars of Northern Dagestan began to profess Judaism, which was brought to the Caucasus by Jews expelled first from Sasanian Iran and then from Byzantium.
Judaism in the Khazar Khaganate
The Khazars showed significant religious tolerance, as evidenced by many contemporaries. This is probably why attempts to declare one of the religions the state did not encounter resistance in society. This happened when, at the turn of the 8th-9th centuries. Kagan Obadiah displaced the former Turkic dynasty and declared Judaism the state religion.
The Kagan's entourage adopted Judaism, and most of the population continued to profess paganism, Islam and Christianity. A split occurred among the local feudal lords, the Khazar princes - opponents of the new Kagan - decided to rely on the help of the Hungarians, who were wandering across the Volga at that time, and Obadiah hired Turkic detachments of the Pechenegs and Ghuzes (Oghuzs). An internecine struggle began, as a result of which the losers went to the Danube, and some of them, most likely, migrated to the Middle Volga region.
Defeat of the Khazar Khaganate
At the end of the 9th century. The banks of the Don and the Black Sea steppes are filled with new Turkic nomads - the Pechenegs, who seriously hampered Khazar foreign trade. An even more dangerous threat to the hegemony of the Khazar Khaganate and Khazar trade was posed by Kievan Rus, which also sought to bring under its control the transit trade of eastern Europe: the Great Silk Road and the Baltic-Black Sea-Caspian route. As a result of numerous Russian campaigns, the main life-supporting centers of the cities of Itil, Semender and Sarkel were weakened. It turned out to be impossible to restore the Khaganate.
The tribes and peoples of the Kaganate moved or were assimilated by other ethnic groups, mainly with the Pechenegs, and then with. The ethnonym “Khazars” still existed for some time in the Crimea, which Italian sources continued to call Khazaria until the 16th century.
In all likelihood, the distant descendants of the Khazars can be considered the small Turkic-speaking people of the Karaites, professing the Karaite version of Judaism, who lived in Crimea in the Middle Ages and partially moved in the 14th century to Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine.
Rus' and Kaganate
On the third of July 968, Prince Svyatoslav put an end to the existence of the Khazar Kaganate
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The capital of Khazaria was Godod Edel (יטל), most often transcribed in modern literature as Itil. This word is translated from Hebrew as myt - customs duty on passing ships and caravans. The former name of Itil was Khamlykh. Khalmykh became Itil only after the Khazar capital was moved to it, which took place after the Arabs captured the city of Semender. Itil was located in the Volga delta on the site of the modern village of Samosdelka in the Astrakhan region, where excavations of the former Khazar capital are currently underway. The main, central part of the settlement was located on an island stretched along the old, now dry bed of the Volga.
Khazaria did not create wealth, but only appropriated someone else's. The Khazars fed and clothed themselves at the expense of neighboring peoples, exhausting them with tributes, bandit raids, and trade duties. Trade routes crossed in the city of Itil, and the Khazars themselves had nothing to offer foreign merchants except slaves and beluga glue. From China to Europe, through which silk was imported into Europe in exchange for gold and European goods. A section of the Great Silk Road ran along the Black Sea and Don, supplying silk, spices and luxury goods from China to Byzantium. In the markets of Itil they traded Bulgarian sables, Russian beavers and foxes, Mordovian honey, Khorezm fabrics, Persian dishes, and Byzantine weapons. Silver coins with inscriptions incomprehensible to the Khazars passed from hand to hand.
From Biarmia (Great Perm) to the Baghdad Caliphate through the Volga and Caspian Sea, along which furs were exchanged for silver.
From the Germans, the Khazars purchased Slavic slaves captured in the Slavic lands they conquered, with subsequent resale to Muslim countries. The route “from the Germans to the Khazars” through Regensburg, Prague, Krakow and Kyiv provided the Khazars with access to the markets of Western Europe.
Only three times a year did the Kagan break his solitude. On a white horse he rode through the streets and squares of the capital, and Nokhchi guards followed in even rows. It was forbidden to look at the Kagan. Those who violated this ban were immediately pierced by the Chechens with spears.
However, by the time of the fall of the Kaganate, a system of dual rule had developed in Khazaria, in which military power was exercised by the beks, and the kagans retained priestly functions and nominal supremacy. Executive power was exercised by the infantry king. The last king of the Khaganate was Joseph ben Aaron. Joseph allowed Byzantine Jews to move to Khazaria when persecution began against them under Emperor Roman.
However, few people are familiar with the fact that for some time Rus' was under the yoke of Khazaria, and the activities of the Kyiv prince were controlled by the Khazar tudun. No, the Khazars did not conquer Rus'. Simply, the Kyiv merchants owed money to the Khazar moneylenders, and forced the prince to pay for them with the independence of the state. Kyiv paid tribute to the Khazars not only in money, but also tribute with swords, that is, warriors. The Slavs supplied the Khazars with fairly large military units, and if they suffered defeats, the soldiers were executed.
The Tuduns were the actual rulers of Kyiv, just as in Khazaria itself, on behalf of the nominal Turkic-speaking kagan and the power was exercised by the Jews kagal, in the person of a person called in Turkic beck , and in Hebrew ha-melech . The first tudun was the Khazar governor Almus in 839.
One of these tuduns was the famous Dir, who was killed by the Prophetic Oleg along with Prince Askold during the capture of Kyiv in 882. After this, Oleg fought with the Khazars for another two years and until 939 he saved Rus' from their power.
However, in that very year 939, the Khazar governor Pesach ambushed a Russian army returning from a campaign, defeated it, after which it ravaged Kyiv and restored Khazar rule in Rus'. The princes again became tributaries of the Kaganate. It was in order to pay tribute to the Kaganate that Igor organized a polyudye - he collected tribute from the Slavic tribes subject to Kyiv.
And then the autumn of 945 arrived. Prince Igor had just paid another tribute to the Khazars, but this time the Khazars considered the size of the tribute insufficient. Igor had to go among the people again and re-extract honey and skins for the Khazar tribute. So he again appeared in the land of the Drevlyans, where he was killed.
There is another version of this event. According to this version, the Drevlyans killed Igor at the instigation of the Khazars. The fact is that a year before, Igor, who fought with Byzantium from 941 to 944 at the request of the Kaganate, unexpectedly made peace with the Empire and concluded a non-aggression pact with it. This pact was supplemented by a secret protocol on the division between Russia and the Empire of Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region.
At that time, Prince Mal ruled in the Drevlyan land. Most likely, this is a Slavic corruption of the Hebrew name Malchus, meaning “king”. The word has the same root as the one already mentioned ha-melechom. Probably his mother was a Khazar woman. It was this same Malchus who lured Igor’s squad into an ambush.
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Kaganate Warrior |
The ancient Slavs had this custom: if someone kills a prince, he becomes a prince. This is what Malchus hoped to do. Having killed the prince, he intended to take possession of everything that he had, including Igor’s wife Olga, but she did not intend to become the wife of some Malchus, the man who killed her husband. Therefore, having played a comedy with a wedding, Olga killed all these Drevlyans along with their prince.
Subsequently, Olga tried to enlist the support of Byzantium in the fight against the Kaganate, but the Greeks made baptism a condition. Olga accepted him. She also advised Svyatoslav to accept Orthodoxy, but he answered her: “Why do I want to accept one law? And my squad will start laughing at this.” Translated into modern language, it sounds like this: “What are you doing, mother, my boys are pinning me.”
Despite Olga's baptism, help never came from Byzantium, and the matured Svyatoslav had to rely only on his own strength.
In the end, on July 3, 968, Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich defeated the Khazar army and razed Itil, Semender and other Khazar cities from the face of the earth, and all the Khazar gold was dumped into the Volga, since Svyatoslav’s warriors were, as they say, incapable of taking wealth for themselves, made from human trafficking. The expression “money doesn’t smell” was, apparently, still unknown to our ancestors in those days.
After the defeat of Khazaria by our glorious ancestors, one of its fragments was formed with the center in the first capital of Khazaria, Semender, next to the current village of Shelkovskaya, now located in Chechnya. Another fragment of Jewish Khazaria - the Khazar principality with its center in Kerch was conquered in 1016 in a joint campaign of Byzantine and Russian troops.
A small political entity in the Lower Volga region, dependent on Khorezm, centered in Saksin, located on the site of Itil, underwent Islamization.
The Khazar state (650-969) was a major medieval power. It was formed by an alliance of tribes in southeastern Europe. The Khazar Kaganate was considered the most dangerous Jewish power in history. He controlled the territory of the Middle and Lower Volga region, the Northern Caucasus, the Azov region, the current northwestern part of Kazakhstan, the northern region of Crimea, as well as all of Eastern Europe to the Dnieper.
Khazar Khaganate. Story
This tribal union emerged from the Western Turkic union. Initially, the core of the Khazar state was located in the northern region of present-day Dagestan. Subsequently it moved (under the pressure of the Arabs) to the lower reaches of the Volga. The political dominance of the Khazars extended at one time to some
It should be noted that the origins of the people themselves have not been fully studied. It is believed that after adopting Judaism, the Khazars perceived themselves as descendants of Kozar, who was the son of Togarmekh. According to the Bible, the latter was the son of Japheth.
According to some historians, the Khazar Khaganate has some connection with the lost Israelite tribes. At the same time, most researchers are inclined to believe that the nationality still has Turkic roots.
The rise of the Khazar people is associated with the development with the rulers of which the first (presumably) had In 552, the Altai Turks formed a huge empire. Soon it was divided into two parts.
By the second half of the 6th century, the Turks extended their power to the Caspian-Black Sea steppes. During the Iranian-Byzantine War (602-628), the first evidence of the existence of the Khazars appeared. Then they were the main part of the army.
In 626, the Khazars invaded the territory of modern Azerbaijan. Having plundered Caucasian Alania and united with the Byzantines, they stormed Tbilisi.
By the end of the 7th century, most of the Crimea, the North Caucasus and the Azov region were under the control of the Khazars. There is no exact information about how far their power extended east of the Volga. However, there is no doubt that the Khazar Kaganate, spreading its influence, stopped the flow of nomads who followed to Europe from Asia. This, in turn, created favorable conditions for the development of settled Slavic peoples and Western European countries.
The Khazar Kaganate controlled the territory in which quite a lot of Jewish communities lived. Around 740, Bulan (one of the princes) converted to Judaism. Apparently, this contributed to the strengthening of his clan. At the same time, the ruling pagan dynasty of the Khazars began to lose authority.
A descendant of Prince Bulan, Obadiah, took the second post in the empire at the beginning of the ninth century, concentrating real power in his hands. From that moment on, a dual government system was formed. Nominally, representatives of the royal family remained the main ones in the country, however, in reality, the rule on their behalf was carried out by the beks of the Bulanid family.
After the establishment of a new administrative order, the Khazar Kaganate began to develop international transit trade, reorienting itself from aggressive campaigns.
In the 9th century, due to a new wave, new nomadic tribes began to cross the Volga.
The Old Russian state became the new enemy of the Khazars. The Varangian squads that came to Eastern Europe began to successfully challenge power over the Slavs. Thus, the Radimichi in 885, the northerners in 884 and the Polyana in 864 were freed from Khazar rule.
During the period from the end of the 9th to the first half of the 10th century, Khazaria weakened, but continued to be a very influential empire. To a large extent, this became possible thanks to skillful diplomacy and a well-trained army.
In the death of the Khazar Kaganate, the decisive role belonged to the Old Russian state. Svyatoslav freed the Vyatichi (the last dependent tribe) in 964. The following year, the prince defeated the Khazar army. A few years later (in 968-969), the prince defeated Semender and Itil (the capitals of the Khazar empire in different periods). This moment is considered the official end of independent Khazaria.
The Khazar Kaganate is an early feudal state formation that arose in the mid-7th century. in the territory of the Lower Volga region and the eastern part of the North Caucasus as a result of the collapse of the Western Turkic Kaganate. The capital of the Khazar Kaganate until the beginning of the 8th century. there was the city of Semender in Dagestan, and then the city of Itil on the Lower Volga. In the 2nd half of the 7th century. the Khazars subjugated part of the Azov Bulgarians, as well as the Savirs in coastal Dagestan; Caucasian Albania became a tributary of the Kaganate. By the beginning of the 8th century. The Khazars owned the Northern Caucasus, the entire Azov region, most of the Crimea, as well as the steppe and forest-steppe territories of Eastern Europe to the Dnieper.
The topic of this work is “Khazar Kaganate-state structure, economy, spiritual culture and significance in the history of Eastern Europe”
The main goal of the work is to analyze the emergence, existence and collapse of the Khazar Kaganate as a state that arose in the middle of the 7th century.
To achieve the goal, we identified the following tasks:
– consider the history of the emergence of the Khazar Kaganate;
– describe the features of the socio-political and economic-cultural system of the Kaganate;
Consider the history of the collapse of Khazaria and draw conclusions.
To achieve the goal, I used a variety of sources, starting from the famous textbook by R. Fakhrutdinov and ending with the works of L. Gumilyov. Also, great attention was paid to the study of this issue by such authors as Artamonov M.I. in “History of the Khazars”, Koestler A. in his work “The Thirteenth Tribe: The Collapse of the Khazar Empire and its Legacy”, Magomedov M.G. “The formation of the Khazar Kaganate”, Novoseltsev A.P. - “The Khazar state and its role in the history of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, etc.
I consider the main source to be the famous work of M. Artamonov “History of the Khazars.” Despite the fact that this work was written in the 60s of the twentieth century, it still remains one of the most complete studies on the history of the Khazar Kaganate.
In addition to the main works of Artamonov M.I., M.G. Khudyakova, Magomedova M.G., I also relied on works that, one way or another, related to the history of the Tatar people: individual articles by modern authors.
Currently, interest in the ancient history of the Tatar people echoes the problems of ethnogenesis of modern Tatars. Therefore, the relevance of the topic is undeniable.
The Khazar Kaganate, and subsequently the Khazar Tatars, remain the main successors of the traditions and culture of the Volga Bulgaria, and their history requires more and more in-depth study. As M.G. wrote Khudyakov: “The history of the Khazar Kaganate is of outstanding interest for many reasons. In addition to the general right to attention, as the history of a single state, it has special significance for historians of general, eastern and Russian culture. The state organism, which arose through the grafting of strong military power onto the basis of local, ancient culture, immediately emerged fully armed with its power and, having every chance of long existence, but the further economic development of Eastern Europe did not turn out in its favor.”
1.1 State structure of the Khazar Kaganate
In 1953, in the journal “Soviet Archeology”, academician, director of two research institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences - both archeology and history - B. A. Rybakov, in an instructive article “On the question of the role of the Khazar Kaganate in the history of Rus',” characterized the Great Khazar Kaganate absolutely derogatory :
“A primitive state of the Khazar nomads, which existed for a long time only thanks to the fact that it turned into a huge customs outpost, blocking the routes along the Northern Donets, Don, Kerch Strait and Volga.”
In Gumilyov’s book, the Khazar theme occupied an incomparably more important place: it was linked to his theory of “ethnogenesis” and introduced new elements into this theory. According to Gumilyov, the combination of ethnic groups can lead to the emergence of super-ethnic groups, and can also give rise to “chimerical anti-systems.” Such a “chimerical anti-system,” according to the author, was the Jewish Khazaria. The newly arrived Jews, according to him, did not mix with the Khazars, for “they loved themselves, their affairs and their offspring in this world. For the sake of the triumph of their ethnic group, they used secrets, weapons... and lies, but only in relation to the goyim and Akum.” As a result, a special “chimerical” state arose, hostile to its main Turkic population and neighboring peoples.
Within the framework of the topic we are considering and adhering to the point of view of N. Gumilyov, we will definitely say that the relevance and thoroughness of studying the history of the national statehood of the Tatars in the form of the Khazar Kaganate is indisputable, we will try to substantiate this in this work: let's start with the state structure of the Kaganate.
The homeland of the Khazars was, obviously, the Caspian steppes. From the second half of the 4th century. they came under the rule of the Huns, and after the collapse of the Hunnic state in the middle of the 5th century. gained a foothold in the North Caucasus. By the 6th century. they occupied the country of the Alans - Bersilia (modern Dagestan) and entered into a powerful tribal union led by the Savirs; they fought in its composition in the first half of the 6th century. with Sasanian Iran. After the defeat inflicted on the alliance by the Iranian Shah Khosrow I in the mid-6th century, the Savirs lost their leading role in it, and it passed to the Khazars. However, in 567-571 the Khazars were conquered by Sinjib (Istemi) from the Ashina clan, the ruler of the Turkic power that arose in 552 (Turkic Khaganate). During the internecine war that broke out in the Kaganate in 581-593, the Khazars temporarily gained independence, but at the beginning of the 7th century. again fell under the rule of the Turks. It is known that their troops actively participated in the raids of the Turkic Khagan on Iran in 626-630.
Initially, Khazaria was a typical nomadic khanate. She inherited political traditions and titles from the Turkic Kaganate.
At the head of the Kaganate was the Kagan - the supreme ruler. This title was hereditary in the Ashina clan and was passed down through the male line from father to son. Formally, he had full military and administrative power, but did not have an apparatus to impose his decisions. His power was considered to be established by heaven. Only a member of one royal family could become a kagan, power in which was transferred according to the ladder system adopted by the Turks from the older brother to the younger. In the absence of direct heirs, it passed to the brothers of the deceased and their offspring. In the pagan period (7th-8th centuries), the Kagan was a sacred figure and was considered a bearer of supernatural power. Before being elevated to the rank, he underwent a special ritual: he was strangled with a silk cord, brought to a semi-conscious state and forced to answer the question of how many years he was destined to reign - the answer was considered as the “voice of the gods.” According to the beliefs of the Khazars, the supernatural power of the Kagan was the key to the power of their state, but it did not remain with him constantly; therefore, when the kagan grew old or if troubles befell the country (drought, military defeats, epidemics), he was killed and replaced with a new one. The position of the Khagans depended, first of all, on the ability to successfully obtain military booty and distribute it among the nobility. Another important pillar of their power was sacralization. The Kagan was the head of a pagan cult and was endowed with supernatural abilities in the eyes of his subjects. It is sometimes believed in retrospect that the Khazars were ruled by the Turkic Ashina dynasty. By the middle of the 10th century, the Kagan family was on the verge of degeneration, and one of its representatives, according to sources, traded at the bazaar.
The actions of the kagan and the subjects associated with him were taboo; The numerous prohibitions imposed on him limited his political opportunities and contacts with his subjects to the maximum. This made the power of the Kagan purely representative.
In the pre-Jewish period, the Kagan dynasty firmly controlled the army and therefore easily avoided sacred restrictions. However, after the rise of another Khazar clan that professed Judaism, the real power ended up with the second person in the state - the bek (in Russian-language literature the name “tsar” was assigned to him). In Hebrew he was called “melech” - king, the Arabs conveyed his position as “califa” - literally “deputy” or “malik” - ruler. Power within the new dynasty, obviously under the influence of Judaism, began to be transferred strictly from father to son. In the new system, the kagan retained sacred functions (formally more significant), and all earthly affairs were led by the bek. At the same time, the bek provided ritual honors to the kagan, bordering on humiliation. Entering him, he knelt down and held a burning branch in his hands. The Kagan lived in isolation in his palace, usually leaving only once a year at the head of a solemn procession or in the event of disasters befalling the country. Recognized by neighboring pagan peoples and having unshakable authority among ordinary Khazars, the Khagans served as an important stabilizing factor until the very end of the Khazar state.
The highest class in the state were the Tarkhans - the tribal aristocracy. Among it, the highest stratum was made up of relatives of the royal family, and the Eltebers, the rulers of the vassal peoples, were of a lower rank. The early Khazar state did not have a specific bureaucracy, but it began to take shape as the Khazars became familiar with the structure of neighboring highly developed states. In Transcaucasia, the Khazars adopted Sasanian tax practices and installed overseers to monitor artisans and traders. In the Crimean cities, where Khazar control in a number of cases coexisted with Byzantine control, the kagan's governors are known - tuduns, who performed supervisory functions under the local administration. During the Jewish period, significant progress was made in the field of government. There were outposts at key trade routes where special officials collected duties. The capital of the country, Itil, had a developed judicial system: there were seven judges for each religion (two for monotheistic religions, one for pagans). The judges were subordinate to an appointed royal official. The population of the capital region bore taxes in kind, and foreign-ethnic artisans and merchants were subject to an annual tax.
The territory of Khazaria consisted of several regions, varying in the degree of control by the central government. The core of the country was the Lower Volga region. The Khazars themselves lived here. The migrations of the king and the Khazar nobility passed through this territory. The ruler made an annual tour of the central region, starting in April and ending in September.
Strategic points were controlled directly by the center. They housed Khazar garrisons. Of these, two are the most famous: Sarkel - an outpost on the Don and Samkerts - near the Kerch Strait. The old Khazar capital Semender in Primorsky Dagestan occupied a special position. The city was inhabited by the Khazars, but was not directly part of the capital region. According to some sources, it had its own ruler, according to others - a relative of the Khazar king - a Jew.
Most of the territory was governed without administrative intervention. Subordinate peoples: Alans, Bulgarians, Burtases, Hungarians, Slavs, etc. retained their own socio-political structure. They had their own rulers, who were obliged to collect and send tribute to Khazaria, give their daughters to the Kagan's harem and field an army. It is known that the Volga Bulgars paid a fur skin per house, and the Slavic tribe of Vyatichi paid a shlyag (silver coin) per plow.
An extremely important factor for the history of the Khazar Kaganate was that a large number of Jewish communities lived in the territory it controlled, including in the homeland of the Khazars - in Dagestan. Around 740, one of the Khazar military leaders, Bulan, converted to Judaism. Apparently, this strengthened the position of his clan, while the position of the ruling pagan dynasty began to deteriorate due to a reduction in military spoils and the inability to continue the traditional policy of conquest. In the beginning. 9th century a descendant of Bulan, Obadiah, took the second post in the state after the Kagan and concentrated real power in his hands. From that moment on, a system of dual rule was established in Khazaria, in which the country continued to be nominally headed by kagans from the old royal family, but real governance was carried out on their behalf by beks from the Bulanid clan. It is very likely that the establishment of a new order was accompanied by internecine clashes. Part of the Khazars, known as Kavars, rebelled against the ruling dynasty and, after the suppression of the rebellion, went over to the Hungarians. The son of Obadiah, Hezekiah, and the grandson, Manasseh, ruled short enough to have time to transfer the throne to Obadiah's brother, Chanukah, behind whose line it remained until the fall of the Khaganate.
1.2 Economy of the Khazar Khaganate
Considering, according to the topic under study, the issues of the state structure of Khazaria, one cannot help but dwell on the economy of this state, its cultural and spiritual values, without this information, in my opinion, the picture will not be complete.
The first form of settled settlement of the Khazars were unfortified winter camps. In the steppe zone, most of the winter huts date back to the 6th-7th centuries. evolved into small fortresses: round or oval in plan, they were surrounded by walls made of adobe bricks; Each such fortress was inhabited by a separate aristocratic family. In the fertile valleys of mountain rivers, on the shores of the Caspian Sea and lakes, at the intersection of caravan routes, trade and craft settlements arose - both fortified and unfortified. Some of them grew into cities - Semender, Azar-kala on the river. Yaryksu (tributary of Aktash), etc.; their population was multi-ethnic (Khazars, Bulgarians, Alans). A whole complex of cities was formed along the Sulak River - the Belenzher “multi-city”. The area of the cities reached several thousand square meters. m. They were protected by deep ditches and powerful walls (up to 10 m thick), which were made of stone or adobe brick with a reed layer and were equipped with semicircular towers. The dwellings were yurts and small wooden or adobe houses on a stone foundation; Huge pits were dug next to them to store food. An unfortified settlement was sometimes adjacent to the city; Around it there were agricultural plots and cemeteries. Three forms of burial were used - simple pit burials, catacomb without mounds and catacomb mounds; The burial chambers looked like tents with whitewashed walls; the entrance to them was closed with a stone slab or walled up with adobe bricks.
For the VIII-IX centuries. characterized by the overgrowth of aristocratic castles with trade and craft settlements; It was in this way that most cities of that time were formed. The cities of that time were distinguished by their large population and large size: for example, Itil stretched for 6 km along the right bank of the Volga, and about 10 thousand people lived in it. The cities were built up without any plan and were a chaotic series of public buildings (baths, trade and religious buildings) and private dwellings located at a considerable distance from each other and surrounded by gardens.
The population of the Kaganate was divided into “white” (free) and “black” (tax-paying) Khazars. The top of the “whites” was formed by the clan aristocracy (owners of large herds). There was a complex hierarchy within it, since the Khazars did not destroy the nobility of the conquered tribes, but included them through a system of vassal relations into the ruling elite. Nomadic transhumance was of dominant importance: in winter the herds grazed in the steppe, and in the spring they were driven to the mountain meadows until autumn. In winter, the Khazars lived in camps (wintering huts), and in the summer they roamed with their herds. The pastures were divided among noble families and were in their hereditary possession. The largest was the personal nomadic camp of the Kagan, which occupied in the 8th-9th centuries. a huge territory (90 thousand sq. km.) between the Volga, Don, Manych and the Caspian Sea. The kagan's winter home at that time was Itil (the capital); it also served as the winter quarters of all his confidants, whose nomadic camps were adjacent to the nomadic camps of their master.
Even in the early period (VI-VII centuries), a certain part of the population, excluded from the sphere of cattle breeding (poor people, old people), turned to agriculture in search of a means of subsistence; gardening and viticulture arose. The beginnings of a craft appeared; The Khazars began to enter into trade relations with their neighbors. Traditional routes for driving cattle began to be used by foreign merchants, primarily from Transcaucasia.
The Khazar religion before the adoption of Judaism was polytheistic in nature. The objects of veneration were natural phenomena and celestial bodies. At the head of the pantheon was Tengri Khan - the god of sky and light, the ruler of the universe, and, at the same time, a hero with enormous strength and gigantic size. Horses were sacrificed to him at the sacred oak trees: their blood was poured on the roots, and the skin was hung on the branches. The cult included a large element of shamanism: participants in religious rituals brought themselves into a state of ecstasy, performing wild dances and staging naked sword competitions.
Continuing the topic of government, I consider it appropriate to talk about the army of the Kaganate, because the people were considered militant, as Russian chronicles clearly demonstrate:
During the era of the Arab-Khazar wars, the main force of Khazar power was the militia. At the request of the Khazars, the dependent peoples deployed military contingents. The number of troops could reach 100-300 thousand people. The backbone of the army was the cavalry. Military tactics were typical for nomads: part of the army hid in ambush and entered the battle at a convenient moment. The Khazars knew how to take cities using siege engines. The army of the Kaganate turned out to be capable of confronting the regular Arab army, under the command of the best commanders of the Caliphate.
In IX-X the situation changed. The government, having abandoned major campaigns of conquest, began to rely on forces of other ethnicities, not bound by local tribal interests. The core of the Khazar army was the heavy horse guard, consisting of the Larisi, a Muslim tribe of Khorezmian origin, which settled in Itil and served the bek under special conditions. The guard had its own vizier and stipulated the right not to fight with fellow believers (most of the Khazars' opponents during this period were pagans). The soldiers received a salary. The number of guards reached, according to various sources, from 7 to 12 thousand people. An annually replaced garrison of 300 soldiers served in Sarkel.
Essentially, the Khazar army became professional, and this allowed the Kaganate to hold out for 150 years in the fight against opponents many times superior in number. The Guard was very influential, but not the only military force in the country. The Khazar kings had at their disposal mercenary contingents of Slavs and Rus (also stationed in the capital). The Khazar forces themselves consisted of horsemen, whom noble nobles were obliged to supply in accordance with their position. Dependent peoples (Burtas, Bulgars) continued to field militia.
The Khazars did not have a fleet, although they knew how to make small boats that they used for communication along the Volga.
Military operations were carried out personally by the Kagan and his closest relatives, or by commanders from among the Khazar nobility. After the removal of the Khagans, the function of commanding the army passed to the Bek. .
Thus, concluding the chapter, let's summarize:
Initially, the Khazars were one of the many nomadic tribes that moved from Asia during the Great Migration. They spoke one of the early Turkic languages and, as can be judged from indirect evidence, apparently belonged to the tribes of the Oghuz group. The first reliable mention of the Khazars appears in the list of tribes in 555. The Bersilia region, localized in the flat part of modern Dagestan, appears in the sources as their European homeland.
In the 1st half of the 6th century. The Khazars were influenced by the unification of the Savirs, and as part of their troops they carried out successful raids into Transcaucasia. In 562, the Savirs were defeated and, together with part of the Khazars, resettled in Transcaucasia. A fragment of the Savir union continued to exist in Dagestan, where it was later known as the “Huns”.
The rise of the Khazars is associated with the history of the Turkic Khaganate, with whose rulers the Khazar rulers were probably related. The Altai Turks, led by the Khagans from the Ashina clan, created a huge empire in 552, which was soon divided into eastern and western parts. In the 2nd half of the 6th century. The orbit of the Western Turkic Kaganate reached the Caspian-Black Sea steppes, and all local associations recognized its supremacy.
Concluding the work, let’s summarize and draw the appropriate conclusion:
The Khazars were Turkic-Tatars by origin. Remaining semi-nomads, they still had large cities for that time and conducted extensive trade with all their neighbors. Trade in “manpower”, i.e. slaves, was their main specialty. To replenish supplies, the Khazars often had to raid Slavic tribes and steal captives for sale. In the seventh and eighth centuries AD, Judaism, through the rabbis of Constantinople, began to penetrate into Khazaria, first into the upper classes of the population, and then spread among the people. It is interesting to note that in Russian epics the “Great Zhidovin” is sometimes mentioned, with whom Russian heroes had battles in the “Wild Field”. It goes without saying that this “Zhidovin” was not a Palestinian Semitic Jew, but was a dashing Khazar horseman who plundered Slavic villages. Tolerant of other faiths, the Khagans provided refuge to thousands of Jews from Asia Minor and the Byzantine Empire, as well as Muslims and Christians. These three religious groups competed with each other to convert the Khazars who practiced their traditional religion. In the middle of the 8th century. The Kagan and his entourage converted to Islam, but at the beginning of the 9th century. Kagan Bulan declared Judaism the state religion.
The economic basis of the existence of the Khazar Kaganate was trade with the peoples of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Transcaucasia, etc. In the 2nd half of the first millennium AD. In the vast Euro-Afro-Asian region, a situation was created that radically changed both the geography of international trade and its significance. The impetus for this was the emergence in Arabia in the 7th century of a new religion called Islam and the subsequent Arab expansion. Which ultimately interrupted the trade communications connecting Europe with the Near, Middle and Far East and traditionally passing through the Mediterranean. As a result of Arab expansion, the center of gravity of the economic life of the Frankish Empire shifted from the southern regions to the North Sea coast. From the 8th century, Franco-Frisian cities began minting their own coins, while experiencing an acute need for silver, which was associated with the general decline of mining during the era of the Great Migration and was aggravated by the Arab capture of the Iberian Peninsula, from where Europe received the bulk of gold and silver.
In the 9th century, southeastern Slavic tribes paid tribute to the Khazars. After the capture of Kyiv by Oleg in 882 and the formation of the Old Russian state, of which it became the center, the Khazars were consistently forced out of the lands of the northerners and Radimichi.
In the time period we are considering in the 7th-10th centuries, relations between Rus' and the Khazars were determined by trade rivalry. The Khazar Khaganate controlled the beginning of the “silver path” up to the Middle Volga, while the remaining part of it, overlooking the Baltic, was under the rule of Rus'. By the middle of the 9th century, the city of Bulgar grew into the largest trading center in the Middle Volga, becoming the capital of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria.
1. Artamonov M.I. History of the Khazars. - L., 1962. 2nd Ed. St. Petersburg, 2001.
2. Bakhtin A.T. Peoples of the Middle Volga region - Kazan: Tatar Book Publishing House, 1980.P. 50-51.
3. Golden P. B. State and statehood among the Khazars: the power of the Khazar Khagans. - In the book: The phenomenon of eastern despotism: the structure of control and power. M., 1993
4. Gumilev L.N. Discovery of Khazaria // Gumilyov’s World. Vol. 6. Discovery of Khazaria. M., 1996. pp. 122-125.
5. Imamov V. The hidden history of the Tatars. – Nab. Chelny: KamAZ publishing house, 1994.
7. Koestler A. The Thirteenth Tribe: The Collapse of the Khazar Empire and Its Legacy. - St. Petersburg, 2001.
8. Magomedov M.G. Formation of the Khazar Kaganate: Based on archaeological research and written data. - M., 1983.
9. Novoseltsev A.P. The Khazar state and its role in the history of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. - M., 1990.
10. Pletneva S. A. Khazars - M., 1976.
11. Fakhrutdinov R. T. Essays on the history of Volga Bulgaria. – Kazan: Tatar Book Publishing House, 1984.
12. Fakhrutdinov R.G. History of the Tatar people and Tatarstan (Antiquity and the Middle Ages): Textbook. for secondary schools, gymnasiums, lyceums. – Kazan: Magarif, 2000. – 255 p.
13. Khudyakov M.G. Essays on the history of the Khazar Kaganate. – M.: Insan, 1991. – 320 p.
Dynastic information is extremely scarce due to the lack of actual Khazar monuments of the 7th-9th centuries. In messages from foreign language chronicles, instead of names, heavily distorted titles usually appear. The names of the three kagans who ruled in the 8th century are reliably known. One ruler is known for the 7th century (during the period when the Khazars had not yet separated from the Turks) and the 9th century (his reliability raises questions). Relatively recently, in two Turkic memorial monuments in Mongolia, a mention of the leader Kadir Kasar was discovered, who with a high degree of probability can be recognized as the ruler of the Khazars in the pre-Kaganate period.
Pre-Kaganate period
Khazar (in the Byzantine version Khazarig) - Mythical progenitor of the Khazars
Kadir Kasar (Assumption), according to the inscription on the Terkhin stele, a contemporary of the Turkic kagan Bumyn, 2nd half. VI century
Dzhebukagan (in the Byzantine version Zievil) - leader of the Khazars during the Iranian-Byzantine War, 626-630. Perhaps the Kagan of the Western Turks, Ton Yabgu, is hiding under this name.
Khagans
Bardzhil, the son of the Kagan, commanded the army in the campaign of 721/722 and the famous campaign of 730/731. Prince Bulan, the founder of the future bek dynasty, took part in the same campaign, according to the Jewish-Khazar Correspondence.
Virkhor -According to the Armenian edition of the life of Stephen of Sourozh, the name of the kagan, whose daughter Chichak in 732 married the future emperor Constantine V. Ruled until the 50s. VIII century
Bagatur ruled during the campaign of 763/764. His daughter had married the Arab governor of Armenia a few years earlier.
Zechariah (?) -According to the life of Constantine, Kagan during the embassy of Constantine in 861.
Becky
In Russian-language literature, beks are usually called kings. From Joseph's letter to Hasdai ibn Shaprut, a list of 10 generations of the dynasty, starting with Obadiah, is known. More detailed information about the activities of the last three kings is given in the Letter of an unknown Khazar Jew. There, the first ruler who converted to Judaism (it is unclear Bulan or Obadiah) is named by the Hebrew name Sabriel. Arab author of the 9th century. al-Ya kubi (before 891) apparently names the first (Turkic) name of the deputy kagan ruling at that time - Yazid Bulash. And in the History of Derbent, the distorted name of the malik who ruled in 901 - K-sa ibn Buljan - has been preserved.
Obadiah - presumably a contemporary of the Arab caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809)
Manasseh I
Manasseh II
Veniamin 880s-900s
Aaron II 900s-930s
Joseph after 932-960 - wrote a letter to Hasdai ibn Shaprut no later than 961.
History of national statehood in Tatarstan: Textbook. Kazan University Publishing House, 1982.
The Savirs were defeated and, together with part of the Khazars, resettled in Transcaucasia. A fragment of the Savir union continued to exist in Dagestan, where it was later known as the “Huns”.
The rise of the Khazars is associated with history, with the rulers of which the Khazar rulers were probably related. The Altai Turks created a huge empire, which was soon divided into two parts. In the 2nd half. The orbit of the Western Turkic Kaganate reached the Caspian-Black Sea steppes.
The Khazars as a significant military force were first mentioned in connection with the Iranian-Byzantine war of 602-628, in which the Khazar ruler Dzhebukagan became the main conductor of the Turkic-Byzantine alliance directed against. The Khazar army plundered (the territory of modern) and, uniting with the Byzantines, took it by storm.
However, the resources of the opposing sides were not comparable. The Arab commander Merwan ibn Muhammad (the future caliph), at the head of an army of 120 thousand, suddenly invaded Khazaria simultaneously through Derbent and Daryal. Troops stormed the Khazar capital of Semender. The Kagan fled into the depths of his possessions. The Arabs, pursuing him, went further north than ever before: all the way to the “Slavic River,” apparently, or the Volga. As a result, the Khazar army was defeated, and the Kagan was forced to ask for peace. In exchange for retaining the throne, he promised to convert to Islam, but this procedure appears to have been nominal.
The Arabs did not gain a foothold in the North Caucasus, and after their departure, Khazaria remained an independent state. Soon, turmoil arose again in the Caliphate, as a result of which the Abassid dynasty came to power, refusing further expansion to the north. In the 2nd half. VIII century after a twenty-five-year break, the Khazars launched two more raids into Transcaucasia, in 762-764 and 799. After which their interference in the affairs of the region ceased. Thus, the Khazar Kaganate played the role of a barrier, which, firstly, physically stopped the Arab advance into Eastern Europe, and secondly, helped Byzantium survive.
Full article: Arab-Khazar wars
The geopolitical consequence of the Arab onslaught was the movement of the population of Khazaria from the dangerous Caucasian borderland to the interior regions - the Don region, where Alan tribes settled, and. A new Khazar capital arose in the lower reaches of the Volga, which soon turned into a large trading center. Dagestan with its old capital turned from a central region into the southern outskirts of Khazaria. Probably, in line with these same processes, the appearance of Bulgarians and Savirs occurred in the Middle Volga region and, where in the middle. arose . The establishment of Khazar dependence over the region is often associated with a reorientation of attention to the north, although there is no news about the exact date of this event.
The proximity to the Byzantine possessions on the Crimean Peninsula led to the participation of the Khazars in the politics of the Empire. OK. The deposed emperor, who was in exile in Russia, turned to the kagan for help. Kagan gave him his daughter as his wife and promised help. However, then representatives of the current emperor persuaded the Kagan to change his decision and kill Justinian. The disgraced emperor, having learned about the conspiracy, fled to the Danube Bulgarians and, with their help, returned to power. Fearing his wrath, the inhabitants of Kherson voluntarily came under the protection of the Khazars, and a Khazar governor appeared in the city, while maintaining self-government. As a result, Justinian was again overthrown, and the Kherson exile, Vardan Phillipik, became emperor with the support of the Khazars. The allied relationship between the two powers was sealed by the marriage between the heir to the Byzantine throne (the future Constantine V) and the Kagan's daughter, the princess, named Irina at baptism. The Khazars suppressed the uprising in Gothia (the region of the Crimean Mountains), putting its instigator - the local bishop - in prison. Khazarian control over Eastern Crimea remained until about the middle. ., and over Taman () until the fall of the Kaganate.
An extremely important factor for the history of the Khazar Kaganate was that a large number of communities lived in the territory it controlled, including the homeland of the Khazars, Dagestan. Approximately one of the Khazar princes - moved to. Apparently, this strengthened the position of his clan, while the position of the ruling pagan dynasty began to deteriorate due to a reduction in military spoils and the inability to continue the traditional policy of conquest. In the beginning. . a descendant of Bulan - took the second post in the state after the Kagan and concentrated real power in his hands. From that moment on, a system of dual rule was established in Khazaria, in which the country continued to be nominally headed by kagans from the old royal family, but real governance was carried out on their behalf by beks from the clan. It is very likely that the establishment of a new order was accompanied by internecine clashes. Part of the Khazars, known as the Kavars, rebelled against the ruling dynasty, and after the suppression of the rebellion they went over to. The son of Obadiah, Hezekiah, and the grandson, Manasseh, ruled short enough to have time to transfer the throne to Obadiah’s brother, Chanukah, behind whose line he remained until the fall of the Kaganate.
Full article: Adoption of Judaism by the Khazars
From that moment on, Khazaria's policy reoriented from aggressive campaigns to the development of international transit trade. However, the foreign policy situation for the Kaganate was unfavorable. A new wave began, and new Asian nomads began to cross the Volga. The first to be pushed out were . In they occupied the Black Sea region. It is unknown to what extent the Khazars’ position in this process was voluntary or forced, but the Hungarians recognized their suzerainty. The Hungarian leader Levedia was confirmed by the Khazar kagan and married a noble Khazar woman. After this, the Hungarians took part in the Khazar wars. The Hungarians were forced to withdraw under attack, who in turn were pressed by the Guzes, and those by them. As a result, the Khazars lost control over the Black Sea steppes for the first time, and communication with the Crimean possessions became difficult. It is known that the Khazar kings periodically made campaigns against the Pechenegs.
A new enemy appeared among the Khazars with the formation of. The question of the so-called, which was first mentioned in the sources under. The title of Kagan was later borne by the princes of Kyiv, and his reign is usually regarded as a claim to equality with the Khazars. Be that as it may, the squads that penetrated into Eastern Europe began to successfully challenge the hegemony of the Khazars over the Slavic tribes. (), () and () were freed from the Khazars.
Full article: Russian-Khazar relations
Responding to the challenges that arose, the Khazars, with the help of Byzantium, built a series of fortresses on the northeastern borders. The kagan and bek turned to the emperor with a request for help in the construction of the fortress. The fortress was located on the left bank of the Don and became the main stronghold of the Khazars in the region. In addition to Sarkel, as archaeological data indicate, a network of similar fortifications was created along the tributaries of the Don.
Until a certain time, the aggression of Russian squads was successfully redirected by the Khazars to Transcaucasia. For a share of the spoils, the Khazars allowed the Russian fleet into the Caspian Sea, and when the thinned army returned, they attacked and killed it. In the 30s one of the Russian leaders Helgu (possibly prince or), at the instigation of Byzantium, attacked the Khazar outpost on the Taman Peninsula. The Khazar army under the command of a Jew defeated the Rus and plundered the Byzantine possessions in the Crimea. After this defeat, the Rus turned their arms towards Byzantium (). And then they again made a raid in Transcaucasia (). Unlike the previous raid, which was accompanied by simple robbery, this time the Russians moved on to the systematic conquest of the territory, but were unable to gain a foothold for long.
Full article: Campaigns of the Rus in Transcaucasia
An unfavorable situation developed for Khazaria on the southern border, where independent Islamic ones arose in place of the Caliphate. To the beginning V. the entire Southern Caspian region was united as part of the Samanid state. The new power became an active promoter of Islam. Under her influence, the religion of Muhammad began to spread among the Ghuz and Karluks in Central Asia, and then in Volga Bulgaria. Khazaria found itself surrounded by Islam, which was doubly dangerous due to the presence of a strong Islamic party at the court of the beks. In -, the Khazars, in alliance with local Dagestan associations, made several campaigns against Derbent. Relations with the Muslim world formally remained peaceful until the fall of the Kaganate, and then the Samanid vassal subjugated Khazaria for some time.
The dynamically developing Volga Bulgaria also sought to free itself from Khazar domination. Its rulers converted to Islam, counting on the help of their fellow believers. The ambassador of the Caliph of Baghdad visited this country.
On the eve of its death, the Khazar Kaganate managed to establish relations with the Cordoba Caliphate. The latter's minister and the Khazar king Joseph exchanged letters. From the surviving letter of Joseph (c.) it is clear that he did not consider the situation of his country catastrophic and still considered himself as the ruler of a vast territory from Khorezm to the Don.
The Old Russian state played a decisive role in the death of Khazaria. The prince freed the last dependent Slavic tribe and next defeated the Khazar army led by the Kagan and captured it. Then, in 965 or, according to other sources, in 968/969, the Rus, in alliance with the Guz, defeated Itil and Semender. This moment is considered the end of the independent Khazar state.
For some time the Rus, apparently, dominated the lower reaches of the Volga. The royal court at this time was hiding somewhere on the islands of the Caspian Sea. After the departure of the Rus, in the Khazar ruler received help from Khorezm (according to other sources) and returned to Itil. In exchange for support, most of the Khazars converted to Islam, and later (after another help) the king himself did this. Prince Vladimir made a new campaign against Khazaria and imposed tribute on it. Below it is reported about the embassy of the Khazar Jews to Vladimir with an offer to accept their faith.
The further history of Khazaria is not clearly traced and develops in isolation in the center and former provinces. The Khazars of the Volga region were finally swept away, apparently, in the middle. during the invasion of a new nomadic wave - and. On the site of Itil in the lower reaches of the Volga in - centuries. There was a city called Saksin, inhabited by Guz. In Dagestan, sources do not mention any significant role of the Khazars. Several hundred Khazar families were resettled beyond Derbent on the initiative of local rulers. The Khazars of the Don region (Sarkela) and the Black Sea region fell under Russian rule. Khazar troops were part of the army during his battle with his brother Yaroslav. The last time the Khazars were mentioned in the Russian chronicle was in connection with the actions of the prince, whom they captured and handed over to Byzantium. There is some evidence of the migration of the Khazar Jews to the countries of Central Europe, where they became part of the Jews.
After the fall of the Kaganate, the South Russian steppes fell under the undivided domination of nomads. In the Volga region, the dominant role passed to Volga Bulgaria, and in the North Caucasus - to Alania. Once again under one authority, this territory was united as part of the Golden Horde.
Full article: Fall of the Khazar Khaganate
State structure
Initially, Khazaria was a typical nomadic khanate. She inherited political traditions and titles from the Turkic Kaganate. He was at the head of the state. Formally, he had full military and administrative power, but did not have an apparatus to impose his decisions. The position of the Khagans depended, first of all, on the ability to successfully obtain military booty and distribute it among the nobility. Another important pillar of their power was sacralization. The Kagan was the head of a pagan cult and was endowed with supernatural abilities in the eyes of his subjects. His power was considered established by Heaven. Only a member of one royal family could become a kagan, power in which was transferred according to the ladder system adopted by the Turks from the older brother to the younger. It is sometimes believed in retrospect that the Khazars were ruled by the Turkic family of Ashina. K ser. The Kagan family was on the verge of degeneration, and one of its representatives, according to sources, traded at the bazaar.
Belief in the divine power of the ruler led to the fact that in the event of misfortune occurring in the country, he could be blamed for failures and removed. His life was subject to strict regulation; in fact, it could be turned into complete prohibitions. During his enthronement, the Kagan was strangled with a silk cord, and in a semi-conscious state he had to name the number of years of his reign. After this period, he was killed. In the pre-Jewish period, the Kagan dynasty firmly controlled the army and therefore easily avoided sacred restrictions. However, after the rise of another Khazar clan that professed Judaism, the real power came from the second person in the state - the bek. He was called “melech” - king, the Arabs passed on his position as “califa” - literally “deputy” or “malik” - ruler. Power within the new dynasty, obviously under the influence of Judaism, began to be transferred strictly from father to son. In the new system, the kagan retained sacred functions (formally more significant), and all earthly affairs were led by the bek. At the same time, the bek provided ritual honors to the kagan, bordering on humiliation. Entering him, he knelt down and held a burning branch in his hands. The Kagan lived in isolation in his palace, usually leaving only once a year at the head of a solemn procession or in the event of disasters befalling the country. Recognized by neighboring pagan peoples and having unshakable authority among ordinary Khazars, the Khagans served as an important stabilizing factor until the very end of the Khazar state.
Full article: Dual power in Khazaria
The highest class in the state were the Tarkhans - the tribal aristocracy. Among it, the highest stratum was made up of relatives of the royal family, and the rulers of the vassal peoples stood lower in rank. The early Khazar state did not have a specific bureaucracy, but it began to take shape as the Khazars became familiar with the structure of neighboring highly developed states. In Transcaucasia, the Khazars adopted Sasanian tax practices and installed overseers to monitor artisans and traders. In the Crimean cities, where Khazar control in a number of cases coexisted with Byzantine control, the kagan's governors are known - tuduns, who performed supervisory functions under the local administration. During the Jewish period, significant progress was made in the field of government. There were outposts at key trade routes where special officials collected duties. The capital of the country had a developed judicial system: there were seven judges for each religion (two for monotheistic religions, one for pagans). The judges were subordinate to an appointed royal official. The population of the capital region bore taxes in kind, and foreign-ethnic artisans and merchants were subject to an annual tax.
The territory of Khazaria consisted of several regions, varying in the degree of control by the central government. The core of the country was the Lower Volga region. The Khazars themselves lived here. The migrations of the king and the Khazar nobility passed through this territory. The ruler made an annual tour of the central region, starting in April and ending in September.
Strategic points were controlled directly by the center. They housed Khazar garrisons. Of these, two are the most famous: - the outpost on the Don and - near the Kerch Strait. The old Khazar capital in Primorsky Dagestan occupied a special position. The city was inhabited by the Khazars, but was not directly part of the capital region. According to some sources, it had its own ruler, according to others - a relative of the Khazar king - a Jew.
Most of the territory was governed without any administrative intervention. Subordinate peoples: , and others retained their own socio-political structure. They had their own rulers, who were obliged to collect and send tribute to Khazaria, give their daughters to the Kagan's harem and field an army. It is known that the Volga Bulgarians paid a fur skin per house, and the Slavic tribe of Vyatichi paid a shchelyag (silver coin) per plow.
Army
During the era of the Arab-Khazar wars, the main force of Khazar power was the militia. At the request of the Khazars, the dependent peoples deployed military contingents. The number of troops could reach 100-300 thousand people. The backbone of the army was the cavalry. Military tactics were typical for nomads: part of the army hid in ambush and entered the battle at a convenient moment. The Khazars knew how to take cities using siege engines. The army of the Kaganate turned out to be capable of confronting the regular Arab army, under the command of the best commanders of the Caliphate.
Economy
In the early period, the economy was based on nomadic pastoralism and military robbery of neighboring countries, later more on agriculture and especially trade. The ancient settled center of Khazaria was Dagestan, where viticulture developed. In - in the coastal regions of Crimea, Taman, in the lower reaches of the Kuban and Don, an important consequence of Khazar domination was the process of settling of nomads on the land.
On a global scale in the 2nd half. - beginning international trade began to rise. Several international trade routes passed through Khazaria. In Eastern Europe, the Volga became the main trade artery, the lower and middle reaches of which were under Khazar control. The Volga route went from the mouth to the Don (via Perevoloka), then to the lands of the Slavs and the countries adjacent to. This path is marked by numerous treasures of Arabic dirhams. From a certain time on, the Russians began to play a key role. From the mouth of the Volga, where Itil was located, merchants entered the Caspian Sea and, landing on its southern shores, could travel overland to Baghdad or Central Asia. Archaeological research has discovered the existence of land routes: a chain of caravanserais from Khorezm to the Lower Volga region. Through the port cities of Crimea, Khazaria also participated in the Black Sea trade with Byzantium.
Control over important transit routes led to the fact that the main (but not the only) source of income for Khazaria began to be trade duties. turned into the largest trading point. At the same time, the Khazars themselves retained their traditional nomadic way of life and did not engage in international trade. It was in the hands of the Jewish and Muslim communities. Khazaria was famous as a large market for the resale of slaves. Its own exports included fish glue and sheep.
Khazaria minted its own coins, although the question of the regularity of this process remains open. On the territory of the Khazar Don region, a series of imitations of Arab dirhams with the inscription “land of the Khazars” was discovered. Several coins belong to the 2nd floor. - beginning centuries, the rest - by the 30s. V. A dirham found on the island of Gotland dates back to the same time. On it, instead of the inscription “messenger of God,” there is “messenger of God.”
Religion
Initially, the Khazars adhered to traditional Turkic beliefs. The main place in the pantheon was occupied by the god of the sky. Sacrifices were made to him in sacred groves. Kagan was considered the embodiment of his patronage. He possessed kut - a special vital force that ensured the happiness of the people. The pagan cult of the ruler ultimately turned the kagan into an inactive, super-sacralized demigod.
However, the location at the junction of both worlds, as well as the exclusive influence of Jewish communities, led to the formation of a unique confessional situation in Khazaria: the penetration and coexistence of three monetistic religions. There are known positive responses about Khazaria from representatives of all these faiths. According to sources, Christians, Muslims, Jews and pagans lived peacefully in Itil.
Chronologically, it was the first to penetrate the borders of Khazaria. This was facilitated both by the proximity of Byzantium and the acquaintance of the Khazars with the Christian states of Transcaucasia. Already in The emergence of Christian churches is recorded in Dagestan. As one of the Khazar vassals, the prince of the Dagestan Huns Alp-Ilitver was baptized and accepted the Armenian catalycos Viro, who destroyed the pagan shrine - the sacred oak. In traditionally Christian Crimea, during the rule of the Khazars, the construction of temples continued. Byzantium attached serious importance to missionary activity, which prompted it to establish a military institution. V. a special metropolis, the center of which was in the Crimean city, and the territory covered the possessions of the Khazars. A large Christian community existed in Semender. Of the Khazar vassals, the largest newly converted territory was Caucasian Alania, although among its elite there was also a Jewish party.
Migrations of Jews to Khazaria came from two sources: from the Middle East and Byzantium. Within Dagestan, Jewish communities found themselves in VI as a result of the Mazdakit uprising in Iran. Sources have preserved the legend of a religious dispute, which was arranged at the request of the Khazar king between preachers of three religions. Judaism was chosen because its provisions were accepted by both Islam and Christianity. The uniqueness of the situation lies in the fact that Judaism does not involve the conversion of non-Jews. Modern scientists among the reasons for the Khazar choice cite the desire to maintain independence from both Byzantium and the Caliphate or point to the connections of the Jews with part of the Khazar nobility.
According to the surviving data, the process of Judaization was long and, apparently, Judaism did not immediately become the ruling religion. The establishment of Orthodox (rabbinic) Judaism is associated with the activities of King Obadiah, who built synagogues and introduced and. Jews from other countries began to move to Khazaria. Migration during the reign was especially massive when Jewish persecution began in Byzantium. The Khazar king responded by persecuting Christians. In scientific literature, the adoption of Judaism is often groundlessly associated with the decline of the Khaganate (in fact, the crisis began about 100 years later). And this topic is often the subject of unscrupulous speculation. As for the prevalence of this religion in Khazaria, the views of researchers vary greatly. More balanced estimates, naming only the upper layer of the ruling class, are based on archaeological sources, where traces of the Jewish cult are negligible. Apparently, there was simply not enough time for Khazar Judaism to penetrate deeper.
List of Khazar rulers
Khagans
Dynastic information is extremely scarce due to the lack of actual Khazar monuments - c. In messages from foreign language chronicles, instead of names, heavily distorted titles usually appear. There are only a few cases where we can speak with confidence about individual kagans.
- Dzhebukagan Zievil
- Leader of the Khazars during the Iranian-Byzantine War. Had a son Shad, -
-
- Kagan during the exile of Justinian II, (-).
- Barjeel
- The son of the Kagan, he commanded the army in the campaign / and the famous campaign /. In the same campaign, according to the “Jewish-Khazar Correspondence,” the prince, the founder of the future bek dynasty, took part.
- Parsbit
- According to the information of the Armenian author, the regent for the young heir in /.
-
- According to the Armenian edition of the life of Stephen of Sourozh, the name of the kagan, whose daughter married the future Emperor Constantine V.
- Bagatur
- Kagan during the campaign /. His daughter had married the Arab governor of Armenia a few years earlier.
- Zechariah (?)
- According to the life of the Kagan during the embassy of Constantine in .
Becky
In Russian-language literature, beks are usually called kings. From the Jewish-Khazar correspondence, a list of 10 generations of the dynasty, starting with Obadiah, is known. Different versions differ somewhat in details. In a more complete version there is one more name - Aaron I between Nissi and Menachem. More detailed information about the activities of the last three kings is given in the Letter of an unknown Khazar Jew. In the same letter, the first ruler who converted to Judaism (it is unclear Bulan or Obadiah) is called by a Jewish name. The Arabic author al-Ya "kubi (do) names, apparently, the first (Turkic) name of the deputy kagan ruling at that time - Yazid Bulash. And in the History of Derbent the distorted name of the malik who ruled in - K-sa ibn Buljan.
- Obadiah is supposedly a contemporary of the Arab caliph Harun al-Rashid (-)
- Hezekiah
- Manasseh I
- Chanukah
- Isaac
- Zebulun
- Manasseh II
- Nissi
- Aaron I
- Menachem
- Benjamin -
- Aaron II -
- Joseph wrote a letter to Hasdai ibn Shaprut no later than .
main sources
The history of the Khazars is reflected in various written sources. Most of the information was left by the peoples neighboring the Khazars, who had a stable written tradition. Coverage of Khazar history is not uniform. The Khazars are practically unknown to sources, since at that time they were in the shadow of more powerful peoples. In later chronicles, there is information about the Khazars in relation to this era, but they are often anachronistic. During the period -., when the Khazar power was at the peak of power, information related to the Khazar conquests predominates. Much of this data was recorded later, not earlier than ser. In the 2nd half. with the formation of Arab geographical science, descriptions of the internal structure of Khazaria appeared. The most informative in terms of source studies is, since from him came, firstly, the original Khazar monuments, and secondly, several works written by contemporaries of the events and specifically devoted to the description of foreign states, including Khazaria (,).
- Khazar sources
No texts in the Khazar language have been found, although some Khazar chronicles may have existed. However, their own Khazar monuments exist. They are represented by the so-called. Jewish-Khazar correspondence, including two letters to, one of which was written by the Khazar king Joseph (c.), and the other by his subject - an anonymous Jew (c.). Both documents provide information about the origin of the Khazars, the circumstances of their adoption of Judaism, the ruling kings and their activities, as well as the geography of Khazaria. Recently, another source of Jewish-Khazar origin was discovered - an autograph from the Jewish community of Kyiv (10th century). Some of its signatories, along with Jewish ones, bore Khazar (Turkic) names, which confirmed the practice of proselytism in the Kaganate. The last phrase in the letter is written in the . Similar inscriptions (very brief) were discovered during archaeological research. It is not yet possible to decipher them.
- Arab-Persian sources
The largest and most diverse array of information, both quantitatively and qualitatively, is contained in sources from the countries of the Caliphate. They are represented by two genre groups: historical and geographical works, which respectively reflect two types of contacts between Khazaria and the Islamic world. Historical works focus on the Khazar-Persian and Khazar-Arab conflicts, while geographical works focus on peaceful interactions based on trade. In the first case, we are talking about the era - ., when the Arabs clashed with the Khazars in the battles for Transcaucasia, in the second - about - ser. ., when trade was established through Khazaria and a Muslim community arose in Itil. For an earlier period (), the Arabs drew information from the Sasanian chronicles, which have not survived to this day. Among the authors, historians include Belazuri, al-Yakubi, at-Tabari, al-Kufi and others. The regional historiography of the Caspian regions bordering Khazaria is poorly preserved. chronicles of Derbent and neighboring regions partially survived as part of the work of the Turkish author Munadzhi-Bashi. It contains information about the role of the Khazars in the Caucasus during the decline of the Kaganate.
Many issues of Khazar history would be impossible to reconstruct without geographical works. This group of sources has exceptional source study value, since the works, firstly, were created by contemporaries of the events, and secondly, were specifically devoted to describing the internal structure of foreign peoples, which was not in Christian historiography. These works have survived to this day in later and abridged editions, thanks to the fact that each generation of geographers reproduced the information of their predecessors in modern works. According to the Arabs, Khazaria was located in the penultimate of the inhabited regions - the sixth climate of the Earth. Its territory was initially presented as a country of demonic peoples, but as contacts developed, the fantastic view was replaced by the real. It is from Arab geography that the details of the Khazar dual power are known (about the kagan and bek deprived of power), some circumstances of the Judaization of the Khazars and the extent of the spread of Judaism, descriptions of the Khazar cities are known, of which the capital is described in more detail. Direct and indirect indications about the ethnicity of the Khazars are of great importance. Among geographical works, books of routes and countries devoted to the description of trade routes are of greatest importance. The first surviving work of this kind is work (). Information from Ibn-Rust goes back to this time. The situation is reflected in the so-called geographers. "classical school": , Muqaddisi). This circle includes the works of famous travelers - and Mas'udi, who visited the borders of Khazaria. (The first visited Volga Bulgaria, and the second visited the Southern Caspian region).
- Byzantine sources
Greek news about the Khazars is relatively sparse, since Byzantine historiography of this time was in decline. For the first period of the history of the Kaganate, the Chronicle of Theophanes, written in the beginning, is significant. and “Breviary” (Brief History) of Patriarch Nicephorus, created a little earlier. The Byzantines retained the clearest definition of the moment of the rise of the Khazars, which they associated with the defeat of Great Bulgaria. This view (supported by Khazar tradition in Joseph's letter) has passed into modern science. We owe information about late Khazaria to the emperor. B - he wrote a treatise “On the Management of an Empire” as an instruction for his son Roman. The work tells about the peoples surrounding Byzantium and gives frank advice on how to deal with them. Among the reports about Khazaria there is confirmation of Arab data about the Judaization of the Khazars and dual power, and unique evidence about the construction of Sarkel, Khazar-Hungarian, Khazar-Pecheneg and Khazar-Alan relations, as well as perhaps the only mention of some kind of unrest in the Kaganate in connection with the Kavar rebellion.
Another important source of information is represented by hagiographic literature, the heroes of which, despite the specifics of the genre, act in a real political situation. The monuments have been preserved in both Greek and Slavic editions. Khazaria is mentioned in the Life (for events), Life (.) and, especially, the Life of Constantine-Cyril (lengthy edition), which describes the visit of a missionary to Khazaria in - and provides a Christian version of the Khazar controversy.
- Transcaucasian sources
Sources in ancient Armenian and ancient Georgian languages are important. They reflect the period of the 7th-8th centuries, when the Khazars, who were called here “northern barbarians,” ruled Transcaucasia. Armenian historiography abandoned the earliest descriptions of the Khazars, but Armenian authors were inclined to transfer the activities of the Khazars to the first centuries of the new era. An indispensable source on the initial Khazar history is the work of Movses Kalankatvatsi “The History of the Country of Agvan”, dedicated to the history of Caucasian Albania. It contains unique information about the life and religion of the Khazars. It is also worth noting Levond’s “History,” where the Arab-Khazar wars are described from the position of an independent observer. From Georgian sources there is valuable information about Khazar events in the 2nd half. VIII century contained in the Chronicle of Kartli and in the hagiographic work “The Martyrdom of St. Abo of Tbilisi.
- Syrian sources
It is believed that the first indisputably reliable news about the Khazars is contained in the Syrian chronicle, 2nd half. VI century The eventful history of the Khazars was reflected in the works of the later authors Michael of Syria (XI century) and Bar Gebrey (XII century).
- Russian sources
There is little evidence of Khazars of East Slavic origin. This is due to the fact that ancient Russian chronicles began after the fall of the Kaganate. The main source is where data about the Khazars came, partly from Byzantine literature, and in its original part, probably from oral tradition. From the point of view of the characteristics of Russian-Khazar relations, the information is extremely laconic, but it sheds important light on the system of relations between the Khazars and dependent peoples. And such data themselves are very rare. After the year in which the defeat of the Khazar army by Svyatoslav is dated in the chronicle, the embassy of the Khazar Jews to Vladimir is mentioned, and then the Khazars appear only in connection with the events in the Tmutarakan principality. Another ancient Russian source mentioning the Khazars is “Memory and Praise to Prince Vladimir” by Jacob Mnich (second half of the 11th century), which provides details of Vladimir’s Khazar policy unknown in the chronicle. In ancient Russian literature there is a story, preserved in the Hellenic chronicler of the 15th century, “About Tsar Kozarin and his wife,” which is a version of the Byzantine work about Justinian II, who married a Khazar princess.
- Jewish sources
Jewish authors have separate references to the Khazars. Among his contemporaries - the Spaniard Eldad ha-Dani, who is believed to have visited Khazaria in the 2nd half. 9th century and in the letters of the head of the Babylonian diaspora -, as well as in the Italian chronograph (10th century). Of the later sources, the largest in volume is the book “Kuzari”, which has as its plot a religious polemic during the conversion of the Khazars. The author sought to prove the triumph of Judaism, and constructed the narrative in the form of fictitious dialogues between the Khazar king and a Jewish preacher. Halevi refers to Khazar chronicles and gives the date of the Khazar conversion.
- Western European sources
Works created in Christian Europe contain practically no original news about the Khazars, but they are of some interest from the point of view of confirming some facts and help to understand how information about the Khazars spread in the outside world. For the first time in Latin-language writings, the Khazars are mentioned c.
