Khazar Khaganate

The Khazars are a semi-nomadic Turkic people who establish one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus (Circassia, Dagestan), parts of Georgia, the Crimea, and northeastern Turkey.

Khazar inscriptions are mainly in an eastern Turkish runic script.

Khazar Correspondence is one of the very few primary sources on history of Khazars.A successor state of the Western Turks, Khazar Khaganate (simply Khazaria) is a polyethnic-multifaith state with a population of Turkic, Uralic, Slavic, and Paleo-Caucasian peoples.

Khazaria is the first feudal state to be established in Eastern Europe.

Khazaria is one of the major arteries of commerce between northern Europe and southwestern Asia, as well as a connection to the Silk Road.

The name "Khazar" is found in numerous languages and seems to be tied to a Turkic verb form meaning "wandering" (Modern Turkish: Gezer).

Because of their jurisdiction over the area in the past, Turkic people today still call the Caspian Sea the Khazar Sea.

Pax Khazarica is a term used by historians to refer to the period during which the Khazaria dominate the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus Mountains.The period when the Khazars have their greatest power corresponds with the European Dark Ages, and takes place at a very important time for the creation of capitalism.

Its strategic importance between China on one side and the Middle East and Europe on the other, temporarily gives all of Eurasia incredible riches.

In medieval (9th-11th centuries) Byzantine sources written in Greek, Khazaria is referred to as Eastern Tourkia (Τουρκία), whereas the Principality of Hungary is referred to as Western Tourkia.

Khazaria has an ongoing entente with Byzantium.

Serving their partner in wars against the Abbasid Caliphate, Khazars aid the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (reigned 610–641) by sending an army of 40,000 soldiers[14] in their campaign against the Persians in the Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628.

In 775, Leo (son of Tzitzak) is crowned as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

Sarkel (a Turkish word meaning White Fortress) is built in the 830s by a joint team of Greek and Khazar architects to protect the north-western border of the Khazar state.

The chief engineer during the construction of Sarkel is Petronas Kamateros, who later becomes the governor of Cherson.Khazars play a role in the balance of powers and destiny of world civilization.

After Kubrat's Great Bulgaria is destroyed by the Khazars, some of the Bulgars flee to the west and found a new Bulgar state (present day Bulgaria) near the Danubian Plain, under the command of Khan Asparukh.

The majority of the Bulgars flee to the north of the Volga River region and establish Volga Bulgaria (present day Chuvashia).

The eldest son of Kubrat, Bat-Bayan Bezmer allies his Kara-Bulgars (Black Bulgars) with the Khazars, and becomes the forefather of the Hungarian Royal House of Árpád via Almysh.

Kara-Bulgars are descendent of the tribes from Attila's right wing, the Kutrigurs.By serving as a buffer state between Christians and Muslims, the Khazars help to block the western spread of Islam in Europe.

The Khazars for years venture southward, raiding the Muslim countries south of the Caucasus.

Islamic armies conquered part of Persia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Armenia, and what is now the modern-day post-Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan and surround the Byzantine heartland (present-day Turkey) in a pincer movement that extends from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus and the southern shores of the Caspian.

This is the beginning of the long series of Khazar-Arab Wars, which largely end with Arab defeats, with a fairly well-known commander, Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah, perishing in one instance.

The Arab armies' inability to traverse the Caucasus plays a role in preventing them from succeeding in their siege of the Byzantine capital, Constantinople.

Coupled with the military barrier presented by the Khazars themselves, this protects Europe from more direct and intensive assaults by the forces of Islam.After fighting the Arabs to a standstill in the North Caucasus, Khazars become increasingly interested in replacing their Tengriism with a state religion that will give them equal religious standing with their Abrahamic neighbors.

During the 8th century, the Khazar royalty and much of the aristocracy converts to Judaism.

Yitzhak ha-Sangari is the name of the rabbi who converts the Khazars to Judaism according to Jewish sources.Khazars are judged according to Tōra (orders of the Khagan; coming from the root Tōr meaning customs; unwritten law of people in Old Turkic) (Modern Turkish: Töre), while the other tribes are judged according to their own laws.

Being a surprisingly tolerant and pluralistic society, even its army incorporates Jews, Christians, Muslims and Pagans at a time when religious warfare is the order of the day around the Mediterranean and in Western Europe.

By welcoming educated and worldly Jews from both Christian Europe and the Islamic Middle East, Khazars rapidly absorb many of the arts and technologies of civilization.

As a direct result of this cultural infusion, they become one of the very few Asian steppe tribal societies that successfully makes the transition from nomad to urbanite.

Settling in their newly created towns and cities between the Caspian Sea and the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea, they become literate and multi-lingual agriculturalists, manufacturers and international traders.

Between 965 and 969, Khazar sovereignty was broken by Kievan Rus.

Sviatoslav I of Kiev defeated them in 965 by conquering the Khazar fortress of Sarkel.

Two years later, Sviatoslav conquered Atil, after which he campaigned in the Balkans.

Medieval Ruthenian epic poems mention Ruthenian warriors fighting the Jewish Giant (Богатырь Жидовин).

[23] The Rus and the Hungarians both adopted the dual-kingship system of the Khazars (The kingship is divided between the khagan and the Bek.

The Khagan was purely a spiritual ruler or figurehead with limited powers, while the Bek was responsible for administration and military affairs).

The Rus princes even borrowed Turkic words like Khagan and Bogatyr.

Many artifacts from the Khazars, exhibiting their artistic and industrial talents, have survived to the present da

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