The Khazars (Hebrew RTL He כוזרים in , tr Turkish Hazarlar in , Russian Ru Хазары in , tt Xäzärlär in Tatar, crh Hazarlar in Tatar of the Crimea, el Greek Χάζαροι in , rear RTL خزر in Arab, Persian RTL F خزر in , Latin Cosri in ) were people semi Turkish Nomade of Central Asia; their existence is attested between after J. - C. the name Khazar seems to derive from a Turkish word meaning wandering, wandering ( gezer in modern Turkish). At the 7th century Khazars were established in Ciscaucasie with the accesses of the Caspian Sea where they founded to them Khaganat; a part of them converted then with the Judaïsme which became religion of State. With their apogee, Khazars, like their vassal, controlled a vast territory which could correspond so that are today the south of the Russia, the Western Kazakhstan, the Eastern Ukraine, the the Crimea, is Carpates, like several other areas of Transcaucasie the such Azerbaïdjan and the Georgia.

Khazars gained several series of military successes over the Sassanides, then on the Califat, establishes in on this side Cicscaucasie, thus preventing any invasion arabo - ic Islam of the south of Russia. They were combined with the Byzantine Empire against the Sassanides and the Rus' of Kiev. When Khaganat became one of the principal regional powers, the Byzantines broke their alliance and adopted Rus' and Petchenègues against Khazars. Towards the end of the 10th century, the Khazar Empire died out gradually and became one of the subjects of the Russia kiévienne. Followed from there displacements of populations rates/rhythms by the successive invasions of Rus', the Coumans and probably of the Mongolian Horde of Gold . Khazars disappeared then from the history being mentioned in any historical account.

Origins and expansion

The origins of Khazars are prone to multiple theories.

Those of the royal caste of Khazars, which proclaimed downward Kozar, one of wire of Togarma, grandson of Japhet according to the Table of the nations of the first chapters of the Livre of the Genesis, is probably due to its conversion with the Judaism. It however gave rise to many speculations; according to one of them, consigned in one of the manuscripts of the Gueniza of Cairo studied by Solomon Schechter, Khazars went down for a part at least of the lost tribes from Israel. Some historians, whose Yair Davidiy, subscribe to this thesis.

The majority consensus in the academic mediums is however to regard Khazars as Peuples Turkish having migrated towards the west. Their name even siginifie “wandering” in Turkish language. The academics Soviet S regarded Khazars as people Indigène of Ciscaucasie. Bonds with the Turkish-speaking Ouïghours people of the Xinjiang (China) were raised by Douglas Mr. Dunlop, being pressed on texts dating from VIIe century, while others underline resemblances to the hunnic language, similar to that of the proto-Bulgarian , which lets suppose bonds with origins related to the Huns.
Il was recently supposed by Dmitri Vasiliev that Khazars would have joined the pontic steppes only at the beginning of 6th century, and would have resided before in the Transoxiane.

Khazares tribes

The tribal organization of Khazars seems complex. They would have been divided between “Khazars white” (or “fair”) and “Khazars blacks” (or “brown”). The medieval Persan geographer Istakhri had established a difference racial between these two castes (white with the russet-red hair for the “Khazars white”, and sheepskin of the Indian type for the “Khazars blacks”), but nothing does not seem to corroborate this thesis.

Apogee

Formation of the State Khazar

History of Khazars and related to the empire Göktürk (or Köktürk), formed after the defeat of the Ruanruan by the Ashina clan into 552.

When the Göktürk empire crumbles follows to internal conflicts in the middle of the 6th century, it divides in proto-Bulgarian and Khazars carried out by the Ashina clan.

Towards 650, Khazars founded a kingdom independent in north of the the Caucasus to the accesses of the Volga, in particular with the detriment of theBulgarian ones, which they drove out towards the North-West. This badly known “State” is indifferently called “empire khazar”, “kingdom khazar”, or “Khazarie”.

Sign importance which the kingdom acquires, the Khagan (leader) Khazar, Tong Yabghu Khagan (Ashima dynasty), also called Ziebel, sends troops (carried out by its nephew, Buri-sad) to the Byzantine Empereur, Héraclius, to help it to pass the Georgia. Besides this last projects to offer to Khagan his/her daughter in marriage as a sign of recognition, but reconsiders its decision finally.

The expansion of Khazars during VIIe and VIIIe century ran up then against the conquests of the Omeyyades of the Arab Califat on the the Caucasus and the Transoxiane. In 650, the Arab army of rear-Rahman Abd ibn Rabiah is beaten by Khazars with Balanjar. According to the historian Arab of the time, each camp would have made use of catapults. Khagan of the time would have been Irbis. Other attacks took place at the same place with Arabic.

Khazars and Byzance

In VIIe century, Khazars seize the the Crimea, Byzantine territory, but occupied by the Goths.

The domination khazare on the various populations Slaves or Turkish of banks of the Caspian Sea knew its greater expansion at the 9th century, its fortune being related to its strategic importance on the trade of the Silk route. Initially in the Caucasus, their capital was transferred towards 750 to Itil or Atil, with the mouth of the the Volga.

Religion and strategy

Khazars are in particular known to have adopted the Judaïsme like official religion, under the reign of the bek Bulan in 838, perhaps in contact with the Jews persecuted by the Byzantine emperors.

The Byzantines spared the empire khazar which protected them from the invaders Viking S and Arab, so that their emperor Constantin V married a princess khazare, whose son Leon IV was called Leon Khazar.

One found a correspondence between Hasdaï Ben Shatprut, Jewish vizier of the Caliph of Cordoue Abd Al-Rahman III, and Joseph, sovereign of Khazars.

Initially pagan of chamanic tradition , the noble sovereigns and the khazars would have initially come into contact with the Judaïsme, and would have converted there, by the means of the populations of the Crimea. It is thought that this choice was eminently strategic, due for a share to the need for having a religion monotheist to be made accept tributary populations and in addition, with the need for opposing an original religion to the pressure which exerted at the same time the Christian occident (the Byzantine Empire) and the East Musulman.

By adopting the Judaism, Khazars remained very tolerant on the religious level, and let their Slavic subjects profess the Christianisme or the Islam with complete freedom. Although the official religion was the Judaism, their large prince ( khâgan ) and their king held a council which brought together the representatives of the three great religions monotheists.

Their armies were reinforced during the 8th century and 9th century by nomads of the steppe, in particular of the Pétchenègues. Those became more powerful than Khazars, which could not prevent them crossing the the Volga and from settling in 889 between the Don and the Dniepr; then, in 895 to conquer the Magyar kingdom of the Atelkosou.

In a general way, Khazars protected Byzance and their prone populations against forwardings from plundering of the Varègue S, launched along the large rivers, and against Arab forwardings which tried to circumvent the Caspian Sea.

Perhaps Khazars founded the town of Kiev, in Ukraine of today, and are indirectly at the origin of the foundation of the Moscovie, the current Russia, which was built starting from the Rus' of Kiev following the invasion of Khazarie by the barbarians Ruthènes (rusyns) come from north.

End of the Empire khazar

The Russ , plunderers of churches, ended up converting with the Christianisme and consequently, supported by the orthodoxe Église, obtained the tender of the Slavic natives, their old victims, which were turned over against their former Khazars guards and took, they also the Russian names.

In 965, the Russian prince Sviatoslav Ier took the fortress of Sarkel: in the years which followed, the incipient Russia carried a fatal blow to the empire of Khazars. An independent State still remained during a few decades until the beginning of the 11th century. Certains Khazars joined the Byzantine Jewish communities then, others the Hungary, and others the Poland.

Finally, the end of the Empire khazar proved to be a bad policy option for the Russians: Khazars, indeed, had protected them from the Petchenègues which nomadisaient in the south of Russia.

Khazars could build a civilization evolved/moved on the plans technique and policy. In particular, they struck Monnaie and had the technology of the Papier, inherited their neighbors Chinese. Their religious particularism and the ignorance of their history were worth to them to be in the center of a whole of legends to character esoteric and erroneous designs on their civilization.

Certain researchers think that the first large Jewish establishments of Eastern Europe were consisted of Khazars, following the fall of their empire between. Today, certain historians studying the question estimate that the communities Ashkénaze S of Eastern Europe are the fruit of the meeting between Khazars and the Jewish emigrants of the Rhineland.

Hundreds of years after its collapse, many accounts and assumptions continue to feed the epopee of these people. Nevertheless, a flourishing empire which lived cannot disappear completely without leaving traces. At the present time, in addition to its contribution with the culture Ashkénaze, and some words passed in the French language like Hussard or Cossack , the majority of the traces of this empire remain related on the history and the Russian and Hungarian culture. Last significant vestige of the existence of civilization khazare, the Caspian Sea is always called the " sea of Khazars".

Khazars-Ashkénazes problems

Authors, for example Arthur Koestler or Benjamin Freedman, known for its opinions Antisioniste S, suggested that the Jews Ashkénaze S went down in great majority if not entirely from Khazars. However, the community ashkénaze representing the majority of the current world Jewish community, this postulate tends to cancel that of the “return to Sion,” promoted by these same Jews ashkénazes, since they would not have a blood tie with old the Hebrew, and consequently no right nor claim to their establishment in Palestine. Pushed to the extreme, this postulate would discredit the state of current Israel.

Studies Genetic S undertaken by, inter alia, Doron Behar and Michael Hammer, proved that the Y chromosomes of a strongly significant proportion of Jews ashkénazes differ from those of the European populations among which they resided, and on the other hand are divided by populations of the the Middle East. A similar result was found for more than 40% of the mitochondriaux chromosomes. Moreover research reveals that only 5% of the Jews ashkénazes have Y chromosomes of the Haplotype “Q”, frequent in the tribes Asiatique S, of which Khazars. However, the presence of DNA mitochondrial European or different in significant proportions would tend to suggest, according to the detractors of these studies, a posterior Métissage.

Sources and bibliography

Historical works

• Isaac Acqris, Kol Mevasser , Constantinople 1577, handwritten in Oxford.

• Abraham NR. Poliak, the Conversion of Khazars to the Judaism , 1941.
• Abraham NR. Poliak, Kazarie: History of a Jewish kingdom in Europe , Tel Aviv, 1951.
• D.M. Dunlop, The history off the Jewish Khazars , Princeton, 1954.
• Arthur Koestler, the Thirteenth tribe , Paris, Calmann-Levy, 1976.
• Encyclopædia Universalis, Dictionary of the Judaism , p. 447, Paris, Albin Michel, 1998.
• Jacques Sapir, Jacques Piatigorsky (to dir), the Empire khazar. 11th century, the enigma of riding people , Paris, Otherwise, coll Reports, 2005 (ISBN 2-7467-0633-4)
• Kevin Alan Brook, The Jews off Khazaria , 2nd edition, Lanham, MANDELEVIUM: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006.
• Marek Halter, Wind of Khazars , Robert Laffont, 2001
• Marc Ferro, Taboos of the History , the Nile, Paris, 2002 (chapter: Jews: all the Semites? )

Works of evocation

• Juda Halevi (1080-1140), Sefer ha Kuzari (the book of Khazar: Dialog between king Khazar and a wise Jew), Cordoue, 1140.

• Marek Halter, the Wind of Khazars (historical novel), ED. Robert Laffont, 2001.
• Milorad Pavić, Hazarski recnik. Novel-leksikon U 100.000 reci (the dictionary khazar, a novel-lexicon in 100.000 words), ED. Memory of the Book, translated Serbo-Croat by Maria Bezanovska, 2002 (first publication in 1984). Novel-lexicon with the characteristic to be published in male and female version (with a small difference between the two), then republished in version androgyne.

External bonds and references

• Site on Khazars and Khazarie de Kevin Alan Brook.

• a reflection: ashkénazes are descendants of Khazars?
• Problematic Khazars-Ashkenazes