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Khazaria
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, and Kazakhstan. They created what for its duration was the most powerful polity to emerge from the break-up of the Western Turkic Khaganate. Astride a major artery of commerce between Eastern Europe and Southwestern Asia, Khazaria became one of the foremost trading empires of the early medieval world, commanding the western marches of the Silk Road and playing a key commercial role as a crossroad between China, the Middle East and Kievan Rus'. For some three centuries (c. 650–965) the Khazars dominated the vast area extending from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern Crimea and the northern Caucasus. Khazaria long served as a buffer state between the Byzanti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sviatoslav I Of Kiev
; (943 – 26 March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was Grand Prince of Kiev famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazars, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He conquered numerous East Slavs, East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgaria, Volga Bulgars, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Hungarian people, Magyars (Hungarians). His decade-long reign over the Kievan Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe, and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital in 969 from Kiev (modern-day Ukraine) to Pereyaslavets (identified as the modern village of Nufăru, Romania) on the Danube. In contrast with his mother's conversion to History of Christianity#High Middle Ages (800–1299), Christianity, Sviatosl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atil
Atil (also Itil) , was the capital of the Khazar Khaganate from the middle of the 8th century until the end of the 10th century. Known to have been situated on the Silk Road in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, its precise location has long been unknown. In 2008, a site at Samosdelka, a village in the Volga Delta some 30 km south-west of Astrakhan has been identified as the site of Atil. The name ''Atil'' is from Turkic phrase meaning "great river", a name of the Volga River. History Atil was located along the Volga delta at the northwestern corner of the Caspian Sea. Following the defeat of the Khazars in the Second Arab-Khazar War, Atil became the capital of Khazaria. Ibn Khordadbeh, writing in ca. 870, names ''Khamlij'' as the capital of the Khazars. This is presumably a rendition of Turkic ''khaganbaligh'' "city of the khan" and refers to the city later (in the 10th century) named as ''Atil'' in Arab historiography. At its height, the city was a major center o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph (Khazar)
Joseph ben Aaron was king of the Khazars during the 950s and 960s. Joseph was the son of Aaron II, a Khazar ruler who defeated a Byzantine-inspired war against Khazaria on numerous fronts. Joseph's wife (or probably, one of many wives) was the daughter of the king of the Alans. Whether Joseph was the Khagan or the Bek of the Khazars is contested among historians. He describes leading Khazar armies which seems to imply the role of the Bek. However, as he does not refer to a co-ruler in his writings, it is possible that by his time the two-king system had been abandoned altogether. (see Khazar Kingship). Joseph actively sought contact with Jews elsewhere in the diaspora. He corresponded with Hasdai ibn Shaprut, a rabbi in Cordoba, and invited him to settle in Khazaria. He is also mentioned in the Schechter Letter. Joseph was involved in wars against the Kievan Rus and the Pechenegs, as well as sporadic fighting with the Byzantines in the Crimea. He reported that he was allie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bulan (Khazar)
Bulan was a Khazar king who led the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism. His name means "elk" or " hart" in Old Turkic. The date of his reign is unknown, as the date of the conversion is hotly disputed, though it is certain that Bulan reigned some time between the mid-8th and the mid-9th centuries. Nor is it settled whether Bulan was the Bek or the Khagan of the Khazars. The renowned scholar D. M. Dunlop was certain that Bulan was a Khagan; however, more recent works, such as ''The Jews of Khazaria'' by business studies student and amateur researcher Kevin Brook, assume that he was the Bek due to references to him leading military campaigns. Khazar tradition held that before his own conversion, Bulan was religiously unaffiliated. In his quest to discover which of the three Abrahamic religions would shape his own religious beliefs, he invited representatives from each to explain their fundamental tenets. In the end, he chose Judaism. In the Khazar Correspondence, King Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balanjar
Balanjar (''Baranjar'', ''Belenjer'', ''Belendzher'', ''Bülünjar'') was a medieval city located in the North Caucasus region, between the cities of Derbent and Samandar, probably on the lower Sulak River. It flourished between the seventh and tenth centuries. The legendary founder of Balanjar, according to the Arab chroniclers Ibn al-Faqih and Abu al-Fida, was named Balanjar ibn Yafith. In the 630s Balanjar was a capital of the Baranjar state. Some scholars speculate that the name derives from the Turkic root "Bala" or "Great", and the clan-name "Endzhar". With the rest of the Baranjar domains the city became part of the Khazar Khaganate around 650; until the early 720s, Balanjar served as the capital of Khazaria. During the First Arab-Khazar War in the 650s, a Muslim army under Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah was defeated outside the town (see Battle of Balanjar). Around 722 or 723, Umayyad soldiers under Al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah crossed the Caucasus Mountains and attacked Balanj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin (Khazar)
A Khazar ruler (probably the bek), mentioned in the Schechter Text and the Khazar Correspondence, Benjamin was the son of the Khazar ruler Menahem and probably reigned in the late ninth and early tenth centuries CE. The only extant account of Benjamin's reign comes from the Schechter Text, whose anonymous author reported a war between Benjamin's Khazars and a coalition of five nations: 'SY, TWRQY, 'BM, and PYYNYL, who were instigated and aided by MQDWN. "MQDWN", or Macedon, is used in medieval Jewish documents to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantino ..., particularly under its Macedonian dynasty (867-1025). "TWRQY" can be identified with the Oghuz Turks, Oghuz on Khazaria's eastern flank. The other three entities are less easily identif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aaron II (Khazar)
A Khazar ruler during the early 10th century CE, Aaron ben Benjamin was the son of the Khazar king Benjamin. Whether Aaron, like the rest of the Bulanids, was a Khagan or a Bek is an unresolved issue. According to the anonymous author of the Schechter Letter, during Aaron's reign a war was launched against Khazaria by a Byzantine-inspired coalition led by the Alans, who had been allies of Aaron's father Benjamin. Aaron defeated his enemies with the help of Oghuz mercenaries and captured the king of the Alans. Rather than execute his captive, he demanded an oath of fealty and spared his life. The Alan king's daughter married Aaron's son Joseph. In ''Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century'', Omeljan Pritsak dated this war to the early reign of Romanos I (i.e., the early 920s CE). External links and Sources * Brook, Kevin Alan. ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006. *Dunlop, Douglas M. ''The History of the Jewish Khazars,'' Princeton, N. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tengrism
Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is an ethnic and old state Turko- Mongolic religion originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on folk shamanism, animism and generally centered around the titular sky god Tengri. Tengri was not considered a deity in the usual sense, but a personification of the universe. The purpose of life is, according to the Tengris view, to live in harmony with the universe. It was the prevailing religion of the Turks, Mongols, Bulgars, Xiongnu, Huns and possibly the Hungarians, and the state religion of several medieval states: First Turkic Khaganate, Western Turkic Khaganate, Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Old Great Bulgaria, First Bulgarian Empire, Volga Bulgaria, and Eastern Tourkia (Khazaria), Mongol Empire. In '' Irk Bitig'', a ninth century manuscript on divination, Tengri is mentioned as (God of Turks). According to many academics, Tengrism was a predominantly polytheistic religion based on shamanistic concept of an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samandar (city)
Samandar (also Semender) was a city in (and briefly capital of) Khazaria, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, in what is now Dagestan. At some later date, it may have been moved inland to some areas near present-day village of Shelkovskaya in the modern Russia's Chechen Republic. Location The exact location of the city is unknown. Medieval Arabic sources report simply that it was midway between Derbent and Atil, near the shore of the Caspian Sea. Modern scholars have variously identified Samandar with Kizlyar on the Terek River, or with Tarki further south on the Caspian coast. Tarki corresponds more closely to medieval sources, as the 10th-century '' Hudud al-'Alam'' reports that Samandar was on the coast, and archaeological finds from the Khazar period, including fortifications, have been found there. The city might possibly had been moved at some later date to the hill fort corresponding to the present day location of the village of Shelkovskaya on the Terek. History The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Khazar Rulers
The following is a list of Khazar rulers. Early Khazar rulers Khazar Khagans (Ashina dynasty) The Khagans were supreme chiefs of the people, holding positions of much influence and spiritual authority, but with little day-to-day command. Khazar Beks The Khagan Beks were war chiefs, military commanders who exercised considerable day-to-day authority, and were sometimes regarded by outsiders as the supreme lords of the Khazar nation. Conversion to Judaism Hazer Tarkhan's army was annihilated at Itil in 737 AD, and the Umayyad Caliphate imposed Islam upon the Khazars. Nevertheless, the Caliphs could not adequately garrison Khazaria, and within a few years the Khazars were once again independent. The famous conversion to Judaism seems to have occurred about this time. The date of the actual conversion to Judaism is a matter of some controversy. According to Yehuda Halevi in ''Kuzari'', it occurred around 740 AD, though some Arab sources point to a date closer to the end of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obadiah (Khazar)
Obadiah was the name of a Khazar ruler of the late eighth or early ninth century. He is described as coming from among "the sons of the sons" of Bulan, but whether this should be taken literally to mean that he was Bulan's grandson, or figuratively to imply a more remote descent, is unclear. He was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. Sources *Kevin Alan Brook. ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006. * Douglas M. Dunlop, ''The History of the Jewish Khazars,'' Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954. *Norman Golb and Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Har ..., ''Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century.'' Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1982. Turkic rulers Khazar rulers 9th-century rulers in Europe Jewish m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgius Tzul
Georgius Tzul (also ''Georgios''; el, Γεώργιος Τζούλης) was a Khazar warlord against whom the Byzantine Empire and Mstislav of Tmutarakan launched a joint expedition in 1016. He appears only in the account of the Byzantine court historians Kedrenos and John Skylitzes, who place him at Kerch and calls him "khagan" (the title of the Khazar emperors). Kedrenos states that he was captured by the expeditionary force but does not relate his ultimate fate. Inscriptions and other references exist referring to a Tzul or Tsal clan in Crimea during this period; presumably he was a member although the relationship of that family to the original ruling dynasty of Khazaria is unknown. Almost nothing else about him, including the extent of his holdings, is known. Despite the fact that earlier writers maintained that the Khazar khagan was required to adhere to Judaism, Georgius is a Christian name. Whether Georgius Tzul was himself a Christian, a Jew or Shamanist with an unus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
