Khazaria.com - History of Jewish Khazars, Turkic Khazarian Jews in the Khazar Kaganate and Empire in Medieval Southern Russia

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American Center of Khazar Studies]

A Resource for Turkic and Jewish History in Russia and Ukraine

Last Updated: May 12, 2025

Read about The Jews of Khazaria - the best general-interest book about the Khazars in English

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The sequel is The Maternal Genetic Lineages of Ashkenazic Jews (October 2022)

A new candidate for Atil's location has emerged! It's Semibugry, a large Khazar-era city that was discovered in 2019 by researchers from Astrakhan, including Damir Solovyov. They continued to dig in the summers of 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. I added what we know so far about Semibugry's remains to my Atil page.

My comment on proposals for Jewish ethnic categories for the 2030 U.S. Census

Medieval Kingdom of Khazaria, 652-969

Over a thousand years ago, the far east of Europe was ruled by Jewish kings who presided over numerous tribes, including their own tribe: the Turkic Khazars. After their conversion, the Khazar people used Jewish personal names, spoke and wrote in Hebrew, were circumcised, had synagogues and rabbis, studied the Torah and Talmud, and observed Hanukkah, Pesach, and the Sabbath. The Khazars were an advanced civilization with one of the most tolerant societies of the medieval period. It hosted merchants from all over Asia and Europe. On these pages it is hoped that you may learn more about this fascinating culture.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF KHAZARIA: Essays summarizing the history of the Khazars, their principal cities, their culture, and their conversion to Judaism in the 9th century.
An Introduction to the History of Khazaria
Current Issues in Khazar Studies
Los Khazares: un experimento europeo de construcción de un estado Judío - in Spanish
Histoire des Khazars: la nation juive de Russie et d'Ukraine - in French
Znakomstvo s Istoriey Xazarii - in Russian
Hazar Türkleri tarihine giriş - in Turkish
ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF KHAZAR ARTIFACTS: The first gallery includes images of Turkic runes, Turkic tribe symbols, a Khazar metal disc with an engraving of a shamanistic 6-pointed star, Khazar-Saltovo amulets, depictions of an epic motif, Khazarian battle and hunting scenes, Khazar silver belts, a pot with images of a menorah and a cross, and a map of Khazaria. The second link presents the display on 8th-9th century Khazar objects (including arms and armor) from the northwestern Caucasus from the March-September 2003 exhibit "Horse and Rider" at the State Historical Museum in Moscow.
Khazaria Image Gallery
Horse and Rider: Khazaria Exhibit
THE KHAZAR CAPITAL CITY OF ATIL: Atil was the third capital city of Khazaria until it was conquered in 969. Archaeologists may have located the remains of Atil.
The Khazar Capital City of Atil
THE KHAZAR FORTRESS OF SARKEL: Sarkel's fortress was one of Khazaria's most important, serving both as a defensive structure and a trading caravan stopover. Includes images of the layout of the fortress, a bronze warrior figurine, pottery, jewelry, bricks, and other objects.
The Khazar Fortress of Sarkel
AN EXPLORATION OF KHAZARIAN SHAMANISM: The original religion of the Khazars was Tengri Shamanism.
An Exploration of Khazarian Shamanism
MEDIEVAL QUOTES ABOUT KHAZAR JUDAISM: Judaism was practiced widely among Khazars, as these authentic quotes from medieval chroniclers demonstrate.
Medieval Quotes About Khazar Judaism
DESCENDANTS OF THE KHAZARS IN EUROPE: What happened to the Khazars after the fall of their kingdom? This remains one of the most controversial questions in Khazar studies. Some new answers emerged from new discoveries. The first essay summarizes evidence and opinions surrounding the issue. The second essay explains how we know that Eastern European Jews descend from non-Khazar Jews. The third page gathers available evidence on genetics and shows that Ashkenazic Jews have substantial roots in the Middle East as well as some ancestry from Italy, Southern China, North Africa, and the Slavic lands. The fourth page queries whether Jews who live in the Caucasus today descend from Khazar converts.
Are Russian Jews Descended from the Khazars?
Are Russian Jews Descended from the German and Bohemian Jews?
Jewish Genetics: Abstracts and Summaries including East/Northeast Asian Admixture in Ashkenazic Jews
Are Mountain Jews Descended from the Khazars?
Contested Origins of Eastern European Jewry: Clues from History, Linguistics, and Onomastics by Alexander Beider in the Summer 2017 issue of Avotaynu includes discussions of theories of Khazarian and Slavic contributions to Ashkenazic populations.
KHAZARIAN NAMES: A list of personal names that the Khazars used in their own country, including Turkic, Hebrew, and Slavic names.
Khazarian Names
EXCAVATION REPORTS FROM CHASTIYE KURGANY AND GOLDEN HILLS: Excavation reports with photographs of Khazarian graves and objects.
Khazar Burial Mounds at Chastiye Kurgany
Khazar-Era Fortress of Golden Hills (Zolotiye Gorki)
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF KHAZAR STUDIES: The largest database of references of books and articles about Khazarian history, including works in English, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Russian, Swedish, and other languages.
Bibliography of Khazar Studies (1901-Present)
KHAZAR FICTION: A guide to conventionally-published novels, short stories, and poems about Khazaria.
Fictional Literature about the Khazars
THE KUZARI AND ITS AUTHOR: Yehudah ha-Levi was one of the greatest Spanish Jewish poets. He was born circa 1080 in Toledo, Spain, while it was under Islamic rule. He was a prolific writer of both Arabic and Hebrew poetry. From 1120 to 1140, ha-Levi wrote the famous 5-chapter book known as The Kuzari, which bases its storyline upon the Khazars' conversion to Judaism.
The Kuzari's References to the Khazar Conversion to Judaism
The Poetry and Prose of Yehudah ha-Levi
RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE HISTORIES OF KHAZARIA: This is a wonderfully illustrated guide to the history of the Khazars, compiled by staff at Rostov State University. The only unfortunate thing in the site is that Khazar Judaism is wrongly accused of causing strife and a civil war.
Khazarskiy Kaganat
THE KHAZAR CORRESPONDENCE: The Jews of Spain were introduced to facts about the Khazar kingdom largely through the efforts of Hasdai ibn Shaprut, vizier and physician to the Spanish caliphs, who wrote a letter to King Joseph of the Khazars.
Excerpts from the Letters of Hasdai ibn Shaprut and King Joseph
THE GENETICS OF THE PEOPLES OF KHAZARIA: Tatiana Tatarinova, Tatiana Faleeva, Gennady Afanasiev, and their colleagues have studied the DNA of the Khazars and their subjects and published their results. Take a look at our summary.
The Genetics of the Medieval Khazars
HISTORY OF THE PROTO-BULGARIANS: This book, translated from Bulgarian into English, chronicles the history and archaeology of the Khazars, Bulgars, North Caucasian Huns, and Alans. There are sections discussing the Khazar cities Sarkel and Balanjar. Includes maps, photographs, footnotes, quotes from historical sources.
History of the Proto-Bulgarians North and West of the Black Sea
OTHER ESSAYS ABOUT THE KHAZARS: Selected essays about Khazar history in English and Russian.
Khazars, by Roman K. Kovalev (from Encyclopedia of Russian History)
Khazaria, by Peter B. Golden (from The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe)
Khazars, by Dan Shapira (from Encyclopaedia Iranica Online)
So, Who Were the Khazars? by Dan Shapira (Tablet, January 29, 2021)
The Story of the Medieval European Jewish State – The Khazar Khaganate, by David Matsievich (History is Now Magazine, July 28, 2021)
Khazaria (586-1083 AD), by Dennis Leventhal
The Khazars, by Peter Wolfe and Jeff Zolitor
The Khazars, by Steven Lowe
The Khazar Kingdom: A Jewish Empire in the Middle Ages, by Rivka Shpak-Lissak
Khazar Khaganate, by Tristan Dugdale-Pointon (from Military History Encyclopedia on the Web)
The Most Prosperous Ancient Nation You've Never Heard Of, by Lawrence W. Reed (Foundation for Economic Education, July 18, 2020) (Spanish translation)
Khazari: Il popolo dimenticato che difese l'Europa, by Lawrence M.F. Sudbury
Der erste Judenstaat Europas
Xazarskiy kostyum VII-X vv., by Aleksey (Kutluk) Tselikovskiy - about Khazarian and North Caucasian costumes
"Russkie xazary", with Svetlana Pletnyova and Vladimir Petrukhin
Khazary, by Svetlana A. Pletnyova
Khazary, by "Oleg Ivik" (the collective pseudonym of Olga Kolobova and Valeriy Ivanov) and Vladimir Klyutchnikov
"Xazary. Xazarskii kaganat. Prinyatie iudaizma. Rastsvet i gibel' Xazarii." (Chapter 2) and "Xazary i slavyane. Evrey i Kievskaya Rus'. Nashestvie mongolov." (Chapter 3) in Ocherki vremen i sobytii, by Feliks S. Kandel'
Iudeo-xazarskoye tsarstvo v drevnyaya Rus', by Grigorii Vinogradov
Khozars'kyy Kahanat, by O. V. Komar (from Entsyklopediya istoriyi Ukrayiny)
Khazariya, by Menashe Goldelman in World ORT's Elektronnaya Yevreyskaya Entsiklopediya, originally in volume 9 of Kratkaya Yevreyskaya Entsiklopediya in 1999
K Istorii Yevreyskikh Obshchin Severnogo Kavkaza, by E. A. Rabaev
Novye materialy k probleme izucheniya slavyano-xazarskix otnosheniy (po pamyatnikam Severskogo Dontsa), by V. V. Koloda - about apparent coexistence and synchretism between certain groups of Khazars and Slavs
Issledovaniya v Verxnem Saltove v 1996 godu, by V. V. Koloda - discusses Khazarian/Saltovo burials, one of which contained a well-conserved felt boot
Krupneyshey punkt (gorod) Khazarii, by A. V. Kryganov - discusses the more than 30 Khazarian cities, some of which (particularly Atil) have not yet been located
Vooruzhenie i voennoe delo Khazarskogo kaganata, by A. V. Komar and Oleg Sukhobokov
Rannie khazary v Severnom Prichernomorye (Postanovka problemy), by A. V. Komar
Xazary, Xazarskiy kaganat - includes Mikhael Gorelik's illustration of Khazar kagan's palace in Atil
Rusi i Bizantiya, by Igor Godovich Semyonov
600 Lyet Vmeste i 50 Lyet Lzhi, by Semyon Charny, in Lekhaim, March 2003
V Storonu Khazarii, by Denis Sobolev, in Zhurnal "22" No. 103, pp. 114 ff. - brief history of Khazars
Vozvrashchenie v Khazariyu, by Denis Sobolev, in Zhurnal "22" No. 108, pp. 162 ff. - about controversy of descendants of Khazars and origins of Russian Jews
Tsarskie imenovaniya v drevnerusskom tezauruse problemi interpretatsii, by Dmitrii Kudryavtsev
Hazāru kaganāts, by Artis Buks (from Nacionālā enciklopēdija) - in Latvian
The founding family of Kyivan-Rus': Sviatoslav the Conqueror, Part I, by Ingert Kuzych

"The Khazars originated from the distant East... In the seventh and eighth centuries, this new empire halted Arab expansionism, established contact with Byzantium, and became a decisive force between the Caspian Sea and the River Don up to the middle of the tenth century. Land cultivation, animal husbandry and handicrafts flourished in the empire. Merchants traded not only with Byzantium, but also with the Arab-Persian world and the distant East. The kagans did not prohibit the activities of Christian and Moslem missionaries. Both religions maintained places or worship and schools on Khazar land. Out of political considerations, however, the kagans and their retinues embraced a third great monotheist religion, Judaism."
- The Magyars: The Birth of a European Nation by György Balázs, page 8.

"The khaganate of the Khazars was of the upmost strategic importance for the Byzantines for several reasons. First of all, it controlled the routes to the southern Caucasus, thus playing a central role in the geopolitics of the area. ... Secondly, the Byzantine possessions in Crimea... were bordered by the Khazars, who represented a major piece in the puzzle of nations who competed for domination of the region. ... Finally, the Khazar Empire lay at a crossing of trading routes linking the Russian steppes with Central Asia..."
- The Emperor Theophilos and the East, 829-842 by Juan Signes Codoñer, "Section V: The Khazar Flank", page 335.

Current Publications for Sale
THE JEWS OF KHAZARIA
by Kevin Alan Brook
This book discusses all major issues surrounding the Khazar Empire, including diplomacy, trade, culture, military affairs, Khazarian Judaism, and migrations. The book draws from major primary and secondary sources, and includes a concise timeline and glossary towards the end. This was the first English-language book on the Khazars to contain a substantial amount of archaeological data. The third edition was the first book on the Khazars to contain genetic data from Khazaria.
THE KHAZARS
by Mikhail Zhirohov and David Nicolle
An illustrated guide to Khazar history, focusing on military affairs including Khazaria's wars with Arabs and the Rus', their weapons such as spears, battleaxes, and swords, their helmets and armor, and their fortifications made from stone and timber.

THE KUZARI: IN DEFENSE OF THE DESPISED FAITH
translated and annotated by Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin
In this classic philosophical work by Yehuda HaLevi, a Jewish sage explains the principles of Judaism to an inquisitive Khazar king. As a special bonus, the historical communications exchanged between Khazar King Joseph and the Spanish Jewish diplomat Hasdai ibn Shaprut are included in this volume.
More books about Khazars
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