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The Khazars became the object of Oleg's revenge. Who does not remember this from the school bench? But were they really "unreasonable"? What do we know about this people?

2026 Author: Angel Austin | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-23 12:19:36 As they say, "Prophetic Oleg is going to take revenge on the unreasonable Khazars." Were they really below the Slavs in terms of development? What do we even know about this people? Let's get answers to these questions together. The Mystery of the Disappeared People Thanks to mentions in written sources of the period of Kievan Rus, we know that Prince Svyatoslav destroyed the main cities of the Khazar Khaganate. Sarkel, Semender and Itil were destroyed, and the position of the state was undermined. After the 12th century, nothing is said about them at all. The last available information indicates that they were captured and subjugated by the Mongols. Until that time - from the 7th century - Khazaria is spoken of in Arabic, Persian, Christian sources. Its kings have great influence in the territories of the North Caucasus and the Caspian steppes near the mouth of the Volga. Many neighbors paid tribute to the Khazars. Until now, this nation is shrouded in mystery, and much of the information does not converge. Researchers struggle to navigate nationally specific eyewitness accounts. The Arabs have some measures of distance and time, the Turks have completely different ones, add here the Byzantine, Jewish, Slavic and actually Khazar concepts. City names are often givenin one paragraph in an Islamic manner, in another in Hebrew or Turkic. That is, it is quite possible that there were more or less cities, since it has not yet been possible to fully compare the ethnonyms. As well as discovering the remains of all major settlements. Judging by the correspondence, it turns out to be a complete confusion and nonsense. In the descriptions of the king, the cities are huge, 500 kilometers each, and the provinces are tiny. Perhaps, again, this is a feature of the nomadic measure of distances. The Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians counted the journey in days, and distinguished the length of the road in the mountains and on the plain. How was it really? Let's sort it out step by step. Hypotheses about the origin In the middle of the 7th century, in the expanses of flat Dagestan, in the Eastern Ciscaucasia, a hitherto unknown, but very strong people appeared - the Khazars. Who is this? Khazars who is They call themselves "Kazars". The word, according to most researchers, comes from the common Turkic root "kaz", denoting the process of "nomadism". That is, they can simply call themselves nomads. Other theories concern Persian ("Khazar" - "thousand"), Latin (Caesar) and Turkic ("enslave") languages. In fact, it is not known for certain, so we add this question to the list of open ones. The origin of the people themselves is also shrouded in mystery. Today, most consider it still Turkic. What tribes claim to be the progenitors? According to the first theory, these are the heirs of the Akatsir tribe, one part of the once great empire of the Huns. The second option is that they are considered settlers from Khorasan. These hypotheses have little evidence. But the next two are quite strong and are confirmed by some facts. The only question is which sources are more accurate. So, the third theory refers the Khazars to the descendants of the Uighurs. The Chinese in their chronicles mention them as "the people of Ko-sa". During the collapse of the Hun empire, taking advantage of the weakening of the Avars, part of the Oguzes went to the west. The self-names of the groups are translated as "10 tribes", "30 tribes", "white tribes", and so on. Were there Khazars among them? Who can confirm this? It is believed that this people was among them. In the process of resettlement, they find themselves in the Northern Caspian and Kuban. Later, with the growth of influence, they settled in the Crimea and near the mouth of the Volga. The Crimean peninsula for a very long time in medieval sources was referred to as "Guzaria". In addition, even in Kyiv there was a detachment of mercenaries from this country. A similar fact can be judged thanks to the preserved toponym “Kozary tract”. Russia and the Khazars Political structure Initially, the nomadic people in the process of settling gained more and more influence and subjugated new tribes. A hierarchy adopted in the Turkic empires is being established. The head of the state was a "kagan", in Jewish references - "melech", in Arabic - "malik" or "caliph". He was a protege of God on earth and combined spiritual and secular functions. In fact, this title made it possible to rule, but not manage. Something similar to the modern position of the Britishqueens. When ascending the throne, the Khazars had an interesting tradition. In the room with the supreme council of tribes, the new kagan was strangled to death with a silk cord. They then asked how many years he intended to rule. At the end of the term, by the way, he was killed. If the applicant was cunning and called a large number, they still de alt with him after th...

Khazars - who are they? Khazars, Pechenegs and Cumans - History