View source for Khazars


{{Short description|Historical semi-nomadic Turkic ethnic group}}
{{Redirect2|Khazar|Kazar}}
{{Distinguish|Hazaras|}}
{{lead too long|date=January 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Khazar Khaganate
| common_name            = Khazaria
| era                    = Middle Ages
| status                 = [[Khaganate]]
| year_start             = {{c.}} 650
| year_end               = 969
| p1                     = Western Turkic Khaganate
| p2                     = Old Great Bulgaria
| s1                     = Cumania
| s2                     = Pechenegs
| s3                     = Kievan Rus'
| s4                     = Durdzuks
| s5                     = Volga Bulgaria
| s6                     = Alania
| event_pre              = 
| date_pre               = 
| event_start            = 
| date_start             = 
| event_end              = [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Sviatoslav]]'s [[Caspian expeditions of the Rus'#Destruction of Khazaria|sacking and razing of Atil]]
| date_end               = 
| image_flag             = 
| image_coat             = 
| symbol_type_article    = 
| symbol_type            = 
| image_map              = Chasaren.jpg
| image_map_caption      = Khazar Khaganate, 650–850
| capital                = {{Plainlist|
* [[Balanjar]] ({{circa}} 650 – {{circa}} 720)
* [[Samandar (city)|Samandar]] (720–750)
* [[Atil]] (750 – c. 965–969)
 }}
| national_motto         = 
| national_anthem        = 
| common_languages       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Oghuric languages|Oghuric]]{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=91}} (''lingua franca'')
* [[Old Turkic]]{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=91}} (dynastic, spoken)
* [[Scythian languages#Classification|Alanian]]{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=91}} (spoken)
 }}
| religion               = {{Plainlist|
* [[Judaism]]{{sfn|Wexler|1996|p=50}}
* [[Tengrism]]
* [[Christianity]]
* [[Islam]]
* [[Paganism]]
* [[Syncretism|Religious syncretism]]{{sfn|Brook|2010|p=107}}
 }}
| currency               = [[Yarmaq]]
| leader1                = [[Irbis (Khazar)|Irbis]]
| year_leader1           = {{circa}} 650
| leader2                = [[Bulan (Khazar)|Bulan]]
| year_leader2           = 8th century
| leader3                = [[Obadiah (Khazar)|Obadiah]]
| year_leader3           = 9th century
| leader4                = [[Zachariah (Khazar)|Zachariah]]
| year_leader4           = 9th century
| leader5                = [[Manasseh I|Manasseh]]
| year_leader5           = 9th century
| leader6                = [[Benjamin (Khazar)|Benjamin]]
| year_leader6           = 9th century
| leader7                = [[Aaron II (Khazar)|Aaron]]
| year_leader7           = 10th century
| leader8                = [[Joseph (Khazar)|Joseph]]
| year_leader8           = 10th century
| leader9                = [[David of Taman|David]]
| year_leader9           = 10th century
| leader10               = [[Georgius Tzul|Georgios]]
| year_leader10          = 11th century
| title_leader           = [[List of Khazar rulers|Qaghan]]
| stat_year1             = 850 est.
| stat_area1             = 3000000
| ref_area1              = {{sfn|Turchin|Adams|Hall|2006|p=222}}
| stat_year2             = 900 est.
| stat_area2             = 1000000
| ref_area2              = {{sfn|Taagepera|1997|p=496}}
}}
{{History of the Turkic peoples pre-14th century}}The '''Khazars'''{{efn|{{langx|el|Χάζαροι}} {{grc-transl|Χάζαροι}}; {{langx|he|כּוּזָרִים|Kūzārīm}};{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|p=152}} {{langx|orv|коꙁаре|kozare}}; {{langx|cu|коꙁари|kozari}};{{efn|group=note|name=Gazari}} {{langx|la|Gazari}},{{sfn|Meserve|2009|p=294, n. 164}}{{efn|group=note|name=Gazari|"The ''Gazari'' are, presumably, the Khazars, although this term or the ''Kozary'' of the perhaps near contemporary ''Vita Constantini'' ... could have reflected any of a number of peoples within Khazaria." {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=139}}}} or {{lang|la|Gasani}};{{efn|group=note|"Somewhat later, however, in a letter to the Byzantine Emperor Basil I, dated to 871, Louis the German, clearly taking exception to what had apparently become Byzantine usage, declares that 'we have not found that the leader of the Avars, or Khazars (''Gasanorum'')'..." {{harv|Golden|2001a|p=33}}}}{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=255}} {{lang-zh|突厥曷薩}} {{lang|zh-Latn|Tūjué Hésà}}; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', {{lit|Türk Khazar}}{{sfn|Golden|2018|p=294}}}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|x|ɑː|z|ɑːr|z}}) were a semi-[[Nomadic empire|nomadic]] [[Turkic people]] who established a major commercial empire in the late 6th century CE spanning modern [[European Russia|southeastern Russia]], [[southern Ukraine]], and western [[Kazakhstan]].{{sfn|Encyclopedia Britannica: Khazar|2020}} It was the most powerful [[polity]] to emerge from the break-up of the [[Western Turkic Khaganate]].{{sfn|Sneath|2007|p=25}} Astride a major artery of commerce between [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Western Asia|Southwestern Asia]], Khazaria became one of the foremost trading empires of the [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] world, commanding the western [[March (territory)|marches]] of the [[Silk Road]] and playing a key commercial role as a crossroad between [[China]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Kievan Rus']].{{sfn|Noonan|1999|p=493}}{{sfn|Golden|2011a|p=65}} For some three centuries ({{circa|650}}–965), the Khazars dominated the vast area extending from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern [[Crimea]] and the northern [[Caucasus]].{{sfn|Noonan|1999|p=498}}

Although they were a [[confederation]] of different [[Turkic languages|Turkic-speaking]] peoples,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Khazar {{!}} Origin, History, Religion, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khazar |access-date=2025-09-08 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> the precise origins and nature of the Khazars are uncertain, since there is no surviving record in the Khazar language and the state was [[polyglot|multilingual]] and [[polyethnicity|polyethnic]]. Their native religion is thought to have been [[Tengrism]], like that of the [[North Caucasian Huns]] and other [[Turkic peoples]], {{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=131}} although their multiethnic population seems to have included [[Paganism|pagans]], [[Judaism|Jews]], [[Christians]], and [[Muslims]].{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=28}} Although there is evidence that the ruling elite of the Khazars had converted to [[Rabbinic Judaism]] in the 8th century,{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=149}} the scope of the [[conversion to Judaism]] within the khanate remains uncertain.{{sfn|Behar|Metspalu|Baran|Kopelman|2013|pp=859–900}}

== Effects ==
 
The Khazars are variably believed to have contributed to the [[ethnogenesis]] of numerous peoples, including the [[Hazaras]], [[Hungarians]], [[Kazakhs]], the [[Don Cossacks|Don]] and [[Zaporozhian Cossacks|Zaporozhian]] [[Cossacks]], [[Kumyks]], [[Krymchaks]], [[Crimean Karaites]], [[Csangos|Csángós]], [[Mountain Jews]], and [[Subbotniks]].{{sfn|Kizilov|2009|p=335}}{{sfn|Patai|Patai|1989|p=73}}{{sfn|Wexler|1987|p=70}} The late 19th century saw the emergence of the [[Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry#History|Khazar myth]], the theory that the core of today's [[Ashkenazi Jews]] are descended from a hypothetical Khazarian Jewish diaspora that migrated westward into France and Germany. Linguistic and genetic studies have not supported the theory, and despite occasional support, most scholars view it with considerable skepticism.{{sfn|Wexler|2002|p=536}}{{sfn|Behar|Metspalu|Baran|Kopelman|2013|pp=859–900}} The theory is sometimes associated with [[antisemitism]].{{sfn|Davies|1992|p=242}}

In [[Oghuz languages|Oghuz Turkic languages]], the [[Caspian Sea]] is still named the "[[Caspian Sea#Etymology|Khazar Sea]]", reflecting the enduring legacy of the medieval Khazar state.

== Etymology ==
[[Gyula Németh (linguist)|Gyula Németh]], following [[Zoltán Gombocz]], derived ''Khazar'' from a hypothetical *Qasar reflecting a Turkic [[root (linguistics)|root]] ''qaz-'' ("to ramble, to roam") being an hypothetical [[Relative articulation#Advanced and retracted|retracted variant]] of [[Turkic languages|Common Turkic]] ''kez-'';{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=15}} however, [[András Róna-Tas]] objected that *''qaz-'' is a [[ghost word]].{{sfn|Zimonyi|1990|p=58}} In the fragmentary [[Tariat inscriptions|Tes and Terkhin inscriptions]] of the [[Uyghur Khaganate|Uyğur empire (744–840)]] the form ''Qasar'' is attested, although uncertainty remains whether this represents a personal or tribal name, gradually other hypotheses emerged. [[Louis Bazin]] derived it from Turkic ''qas-'' ("tyrannize, oppress, terrorize") on the basis of its phonetic similarity to the Uyğur tribal name, Qasar.{{efn|group=note|{{harvnb|Golden|2007a|p=16 and n.38}} citing L. Bazin, {{lang|fr|"Pour une nouvelle hypothèse sur l'origine des Khazar"}}, in ''Materialia Turcica,'' 7/8 (1981–1982): 51–71.}} Róna-Tas connects ''qasar'' with ''Kesar'', the [[Middle Persian|Pahlavi]] transcription of the [[Caesar (title)|Roman title Caesar]].{{efn|group=note|Compare [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]] ''dru-gu Ge-sar'' (the Turk Gesar){{harv|Golden|2007a|p=16}} or ''Phrom Ge-sar'', who was possibly inspired by [[Fromo Kesaro]] (拂菻罽娑 [[standard Chinese]]: ''Fúlǐn Jìsuō'' < [[Middle Chinese]]: *''pʰɨut̚ -liɪm<sup>X</sup> kˠiᴇi<sup>H</sup>-sɑ''), a king of the [[Turk Shahis]] of mixed [[Hephthalite]]-[[Western Turkic Khaganate|Western Turkic]] origins ({{harvnb|Rezakhani|2017}}, {{harvnb|Kim|2016|pp=58–59}}, {{harvnb|Inaba|Balogh|2020|p=106}}, {{harvnb|Kordosis|2017|pp=183–192}}).}}

[[Douglas Morton Dunlop|D. M. Dunlop]] tried to link the Chinese term for "Khazars" to one of the tribal names of the Uyğur, or [[Toquz Oghuz|Toquz Oğuz]], namely the ''Qasar'' ([[Chinese language|Ch.]] 葛薩 ''Gésà'').{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|pp=34–40}}{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=16}} The objections are that Uyğur 葛薩 ''Gésà''/''Qasar'' was not a tribal name but rather the surname of the chief of the 思结 ''Sijie'' tribe ([[Sogdian language|Sogdian]]: ''Sikari'') of the Toquz Oğuz (Ch. 九姓 ''jĭu xìng''),{{efn|group=note|''Sijie'' 思結 (also 斯結{{sfn|Wei Zheng, vol. 84}}{{sfn|Golden|1992}}) was mentioned as a 鐵勒 [[Tiele people|Tiele]], later Toquz Oghuz tribe, and distinguished from 突厥 ''Tujue'' in Chinese sources such as [[Old Book of Tang]],{{sfn|Jiu Tangshu, Vol. 199b Tiele}} [[New Book of Tang]]{{sfn|Xin Tangshu, vol 217a Huihe}} or [[Tang Huiyao]].{{sfn|Wang Pu, vol 98}} However, in other sources ''Sijie'' were also associated with ''Tujue'' ([[Saka language|Saka]] ''Ttrūka''): [[Zizhi Tongjian]] mentioned the ''Tujue Sijie'' 突厥思結{{sfn|Sima Guang, vol. 196}} and Tang Huiyao also counted 思結 ''Sijie'' (rendered as 恩結 ''Enjie'') among the [[Eastern Turkic Khaganate|Eastern Turkic tribes]] living south of the [[Gobi desert]].{{sfn|Wang Pu, vol. 72}}{{sfn|Dobrovits|2004|p=259}} A ''saikairä ttūrkä chārä'' (< *''sïqïr türk čor'') was also mentioned in a Khotanese Saka text about Turks in [[Zhangye|Ganzhou]].{{sfn|Bailey|1949|p=50}}{{sfn|Bailey|1951|p=19}}}} and that in [[Middle Chinese]] the ethnonym "Khazars" was always prefaced with ''Tūjué'', then still reserved for [[Göktürks]] and their splinter groups,{{sfn|Lee|2016|pp=103–105}} (''Tūjué Kěsà bù'':突厥可薩部; ''Tūjué Hésà'':突厥曷薩) and "Khazar's" first syllable is transcribed with different characters (可 and 曷) than 葛, which is used to render the syllable ''Qa-'' in the Uyğur word ''Qasar''.{{efn|group=note|Kěsà (可薩) would have been pronounced something like ''k<sup>h</sup>a'sat'' in both [[Middle Chinese|Early Middle Chinese/EMC]] and [[Middle Chinese|Late Middle Chinese/LMC]], while Hésà 葛 (曷薩) would yield ''ɣat-sat'' in ([[Middle Chinese|EMC]]) and ''xɦat sat'' ([[Middle Chinese|LMC]]) respectively, where final "t" often transcribes –r- in foreign words. Thus, while these Chinese forms could transcribe a foreign word of the type *Kasar/*Kazar, *Ġatsar, *Ġazar, *Ġasar, there is a problem phonetically with assimilating these to the Uyğur word ''Qasar'' 葛薩 ([[Standard Chinese]] ''Gesa'' < EMC/LMC *''Kat-sat''{{=}} *''Kar sar''{{=}} *''Kasar'').{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=17}}}}{{sfn|Shirota|2005|pp=235, 248}}{{sfn|Brook|2010|p=5}} While it is far from given that the Khazars are not signifying a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual cluster of peoples and clans, some more nomadic, some less, it doesn't exclude that some clans, or splintergroups, or even rulers has identified with the name(s) of the Khazars, in the variety of ways it has been expressed.

After their conversion it is reported that they adopted the Hebrew script,{{efn|group=note|[[Ibn al-Nadim|Ibn al-Nadīm]] commenting on script systems in 987–88 recorded that the Khazars wrote in [[Hebrew letters|Hebrew]] {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=148}}.}} and it is likely that, although speaking a Turkic language, the Khazar [[chancery (medieval office)|chancellery]] under Judaism probably corresponded in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]].{{efn|group=note|"The chancellery of the Jewish state of the Khazars is therefore also likely to have used Hebrew writing even if the official language was a Turkic one." {{harv|Erdal|2007|pp=98–99}}}}

== Linguistics ==
{{Main|Khazar language}}

Determining the origins and nature of the Khazars is closely bound with theories of [[Turkic languages|their languages]], but analysis of their languages' origins is difficult, since no indigenous records in the Khazar language survive, and the state was [[polyglot]] and [[Polyethnicity|polyethnic]].{{efn|group=note|"there must have been many different ethnic groups within the Khazar realm&nbsp;... These groups spoke different languages, some of them no doubt belonging to the Indo-European or different Caucasian language families." {{harv|Erdal|2007|p=75, n.2}}}}{{efn|group=note|The high chancery official of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] under [[Al-Wathiq]], Sallām the interpreter (''Sallam al-tardjuman''), famous for his reputed mastery of thirty languages, might have been both Jewish and a Khazar {{harvnb|Wasserstein|2007|pp=376, and n.2}}, referring to {{harvnb|Dunlop|1954|pp=190–193}}.}} Whereas the royal or ruling elite probably spoke an eastern variety of the [[Common Turkic languages|Common Turkic]], the subject tribes appear to have spoken varieties of [[Oghuric languages]], a language variously identified with the [[Bulgar language|Bulgar]], [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]], and the [[Hunnic language]].

The latter based upon the assertion of the Persian historian [[Istakhri]], the Khazar language was different from any other known tongue. Alano-As was also widely spoken. Eastern Common Turkic, the language of the royal house and its core tribes, in all likelihood remained the language of the ruling elite in the same way that Mongol continued to be used by the rulers of the Golden Horde, alongside of the [[Kipchak languages]] spoken by the bulk of the Turkic tribesmen that constituted the military force of this part of the [[Borjigin#Post-Mongol Empire|Činggisid]] empire. Similarity, Oğuric, like Qipčaq Turkic in the Jočid realm, functioned as one of the languages of government.{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=91}}{{efn|group=note|al-Iṣṭakhrī's account however then contradicts itself by likening the language to [[Bulgars|Bulğaric]] {{harv|Golden|2007a|pp=13–14, 14 n.28}}.}} One method for tracing their origins consists in the analysis of the possible etymologies behind the [[ethnonym]] "Khazar".

== History ==
For most of its history, Khazaria served as a [[buffer state]] between the [[Byzantine Empire]], the nomads of the northern steppes, and the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] and [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] Caliphates, having previously been Byzantium's [[Proxy war|proxy]] against the rival [[Sasanian Empire]]. Around 900, the Byzantines began encouraging the [[Alans]] to attack Khazaria; this move aimed to weaken Khazar control over Crimea and the Caucasus and facilitate imperial diplomacy and [[Proselytism|proselytizing]] towards the powerful [[Kievan Rus’|Kievan Rus']] in the north.{{sfn|Noonan|1999|pp=499, 502–503}} By 969, [[Sviatoslav I]] of Kiev, the ruler of Kievan Rus', along with his allies, conquered the Khazar capital of [[Atil]], ushering the decline and disintegration of Khazaria by the mid 11th century.

=== Tribal origins and early history ===
The tribes{{efn|group=note|"The word ''tribe'' is as troublesome as the term ''clan''. It is commonly held to denote a group, like the clan, claiming descent from a common (in some culture zones eponymous) ancestor, possessing a common territory, economy, language, culture, religion, and sense of identity. In reality, tribes were often highly fluid sociopolitical structures, arising as 'ad hoc responses to ephemeral situations of competition,' as Morton H. Fried has noted." {{harv|Golden|2001b|p=78}}}} that were to comprise the Khazar empire were not an ethnic union, but a congeries of steppe nomads and peoples who came to be subordinated, and subscribed to a core Turkic leadership.{{sfn|Whittow|1996|pp=220–223}} Many Turkic groups, such as [[Oghuric languages|Oghuric speakers]], including the [[Saragurs]], Oğurs, [[Onogurs]], and [[Bulgars]], who earlier formed part of the [[Tiele people|Tiele (Tiělè) confederation]], are attested quite early, having been driven west by the [[Sabir people|Sabirs]], who in turn fled the [[Pannonian Avars]], and began to flow into the [[Volga Region|Volga]]–[[Caspian Depression|Caspian]]–[[Pontus (region)|Pontic]] zone from as early as the 4th century and are recorded by [[Priscus]] to reside in the western [[Eurasian Steppe]] as early as 463.{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=14}}{{sfn|Szádeczky-Kardoss|1994|p=206}} They appear to stem from Mongolia and South Siberia in the aftermath of the fall of the [[Huns|Hunnic]]-[[Xiongnu|Xiōngnú]] nomadic polities. A variegated tribal federation led by these Turks, probably comprising a complex assortment of [[Iranian peoples]],{{efn|group=note|Dieter Ludwig, in his doctoral thesis {{lang|de|Struktur und Gesellschaft des Chazaren-Reiches im Licht der schriftlichen Quellen}}, (Münster, 1982) suggested that the Khazars were Turkic members of the [[Hephthalite Empire]], where the lingua franca was a variety of Iranian ({{harvnb|Golden|2007a|pp=40–41}}; {{harvnb|Brook|2010|p=4}}).}} [[proto-Mongols]], [[Uralic languages|Uralic speakers]], and [[Paleo-Siberian languages|Paleosiberian peoples]] vanquished the [[Rouran Khaganate]] of the hegemonic Pannonian Avars in 552 who swept westwards, taking in their train other steppe nomads and peoples from [[Sogdia]].{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=86}}

The ruling family of this confederation may have hailed from the [[Ashina tribe]] of the [[Western Turkic Khaganate]],{{sfn|Pritsak|1978|p=261}}{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=53}}{{sfn|Golden|2007c|p=165}} although [[Constantin Zuckerman]] regards Ashina and their pivotal role in the formation of the Khazars with scepticism.{{efn|group=note|"The reader should be warned that the A-shih-na link of the Khazar dynasty, an old phantom of ... Khazarology, will ... lose its last claim to reality" {{harv|Zuckerman|2007|p=404}}.}} Golden notes that Chinese and Arabic reports are almost identical, making the connection a strong one, and conjectures that their leader may have been [[Irbis Seguy]], who lost power or was killed around 651.{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=89}} Moving west, the confederation reached the land of the [[Akatziri]],{{efn|group=note|In this view, the name Khazar would derive from a hypothetical *Aq Qasar {{harv|Golden|2006|pp=89–90}}: e.g. Pritsak (1978) links ''Ak-Katzirs'' (< {{lang|grc|Άκατζίροι}}) to the name [[Khazar]], though he explains that the polity was named Khazar because the Ashina-ruled [[Western Turkic Khaganate|Western Turks]], after [[Conquest of the Western Turks|losing their territories to Tang Chinese]], took over the territory formerly occupied by the Akatziri ({{harvnb|Pritsak|1978|p=261}}). However, the hypothesized link between the Akatizoi and the Khazars was not solid, being based on mere phonetic resemblance ({{harvnb|Golden|2011b|p=136}}, {{harvnb|Brook|2006|p=10}}).}} who had been important allies of Byzantium in fighting off [[Attila]]'s army.

=== Rise of the Khazar state ===
{{Continental Asia in 800 CE|right|The Khazar Khaganate and contemporary polities circa 800.}}
An embryonic state of Khazaria began to form sometime after 630,{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|p=143, n.115}}{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=127–136, 234–237}} when it emerged from the breakdown of the larger [[First Turkic Khaganate]] of the [[Göktürks]]. Göktürk armies had penetrated the Volga by 549, ejecting the Avars, who were then forced to flee to the sanctuary of the [[Pannonian Basin]]. The Ashina clan appeared on the scene by 552, when they overthrew the Rourans and established the First Turkic Khaganate, whose self designation was ''Tür(ü)k''.{{efn|group=note|Whittow states that the word Türk had no strict ethnic meaning at the time: "Throughout the early middle ages on the Eurasian steppes, the term 'Turk' may or may not imply membership of the ethnic group of Turkic peoples, but it does always mean at least some awareness and acceptance of the traditions and ideology of the Gök Türk empire, and a share, however distant, in the political and cultural inheritance of that state." {{harv|Whittow|1996|p=221}}}} By 568, these Göktürks were probing for an alliance with Byzantium to attack the [[Sasanian Empire]]. An [[civil war|internecine war]] broke out between the senior eastern Göktürks and the junior [[Western Turkic Khaganate]] some decades later, when on the death of [[Taspar Qaghan]], a [[war of succession|succession dispute led to a dynastic crisis]] between Taspar's chosen heir, the [[Apa Qaghan]], and the ruler appointed by the tribal high council, Āshǐnà Shètú, the [[Ishbara Qaghan]].

By the first decades of the 7th century, the Ashina [[Tong Yabghu Qaghan]] managed to stabilise the Western division. Upon his death, after providing crucial military assistance to Byzantium in routing the Sasanian army in the Persian heartland,{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|pp=154–186}}{{sfn|Whittow|1996|p=222}} the Western Turkic Qağanate dissolved under pressure from the [[Tang Dynasty in Inner Asia|encroaching Tang dynasty armies]] and split into two competing federations, each consisting of five tribes, collectively known as the "Ten Arrows" (''On Oq''). Both briefly challenged Tang hegemony in eastern Turkestan. To the West, two new nomadic states arose in the meantime: [[Old Great Bulgaria]] under [[Kubrat]], the Duōlù clan leader, and the Nǔshībì subconfederation, also comprising five tribes.{{efn|group=note|The [[Dulo clan|Duōlù (咄陆)]] were the left wing of the ''On Oq'', the [[Nushibi|Nǔshībì (弩失畢: *''Nu Šad(a)pit'')]], and together they were registered in Chinese sources as the "ten names" (shí míng:十名) {{harv|Golden|2010|pp=54–55}}.}} The Duōlù challenged the Avars in the [[Kuban River]]-[[Sea of Azov]] area while the Khazar Khaghanate consolidated further westwards, led apparently by an Ashina dynasty. With a resounding victory over the tribes in 657, engineered by General [[Su Dingfang]], Chinese overlordship was imposed to their East after a final mop-up operation in 659, but the two confederations of Bulğars and Khazars fought for supremacy on the western steppeland, and with the ascendency of the latter, the former either succumbed to Khazar rule or, as under [[Asparukh of Bulgaria]], Kubrat's son, shifted even further west across the Danube to lay the foundations of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] in the Balkans ({{circa|679}}).{{sfn|Golden|2001b|pp=94–95}}{{sfn|Somogyi|2008|p=128}}

The Khazar Khaghanate thus took shape from the ruins of this nomadic empire, which broke up under pressure from the armies of the Tang dynasty to the east sometime between 630 and 650.{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=89}} After their conquest of the lower Volga region to the East and an area westwards between the [[Danube]] and the [[Dniepr]], and their subjugation of the [[Onogurs|Onoghur]]-[[Bulgars|Bulghar]] union, sometime around 670, a properly constituted Khazar Khaghanate emerges,{{sfn|Zuckerman|2007|p=417}} becoming the westernmost [[successor state]] of the formidable Göktürk Khaghanate after its disintegration. According to [[Omeljan Pritsak]], the language of the Onoghur-Bulghar federation was to become the [[lingua franca]] of Khazaria{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=90}} as it developed into what [[Lev Gumilev]] called a "steppe Atlantis" (''stepnaja Atlantida''/ Степная Атлантида).{{sfn|Golden|2007a|pp=11–13}} Historians have often referred to this period of Khazar domination as the [[Pax Khazarica]] because the state became an international trading hub that permitted Western Eurasian merchants safe passage across it to conduct business without interference.{{sfn|Noonan|2001|p=91}} The high status soon to be accorded this empire to the north is attested by the ''[[Fars-Nama]]'' (c. 1100), which relates that the Sasanian emperor, [[Khosrau I]], placed three thrones by his own, one for the King of China, a second for the King of Byzantium, and a third for the King of the Khazars. Although anachronistic in retrodating the Khazars to this period, the legend, by placing the Khazar khagan on a throne of equal status to the rulers of the other two superpowers, attests to the reputation the Khazars had long enjoyed.{{sfn|Golden|2007a|pp=7–8}}{{sfn|Golden|2001b|p=73}}

=== Khazar state: culture and institutions ===
==== Royal Diarchy with sacral Qağanate ====
Khazaria developed a [[diarchy]] (dual leadership) typical among Turkic nomads, consisting of a [[Khagan Bek|khagan-bek]] and a [[khagan]].{{sfn|Noonan|1999|p=500}} The emergence of this system may be deeply entwined with the conversion to Judaism.{{sfn|Olsson|2013|p=496}} According to [[Arabic]] sources, the khagan-bek was called an ʾīšā and the greater a khagan ({{langx|ar|خاقان|ḫāqān}}); the former managed and commanded the military, while the greater king's role was primarily sacral, less concerned with daily affairs.{{efn|group=note|Several scholars connect it to Judaization, with [[Mikhail Artamonov (historian)|Mikhail Artamonov]] linking its introduction to [[Obadiah]]'s reforms and the imposition of full Rabbinic Judaism and Pritsak to the same period (799–833), arguing that the [[Bey|Beg]], a majordomo from the Iranian *''Barč/Warâ Bolčan'' clan, identified with Obadiah, compelled the Qağanal clan to convert, an event which putatively caused the Qabar revolt. Golden comments: "There is nothing but conjecture to connect it with the reforms of Obadiyah, the further evolution of Khazar Judaism or the [[Kabar|Qabars]]&nbsp;... The fact is we do not know when, precisely, the Khazar system of dual kingship emerged. It could not have come ''ex nihilo''. It was not present in the early stages of Khazar history. Given the Old Türk traditions of the Khazar state&nbsp;... and the overall institutional conservation of steppe society, one must exercise great caution here. Clear evidence for it is relatively late (the latter part of the ninth century perhaps and more probably the tenth century)- although it was probably present by the first third of the ninth century. Iranian influences via the [[Ors]] guard of the Qağans may have also been a factor" {{harv|Golden|2007b|pp=155–156}}}}

The greater king was recruited from the Khazar house of notables (''ahl bayt maʿrūfīn'') and, in an initiation ritual, was nearly strangled until he declared the number of years he wished to reign, on the expiration of which he would be [[human sacrifice|ritually killed by the nobles]]. Similarly, [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]] wrote that there was a maximum limit on the number of years of a king's reign. If a khagan had reigned for at least forty years, his courtiers and subjects felt his ability to reason would become impaired by old age. They would then execute him.{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|pp=97, 112}}{{sfn|Noonan|2001|p=77}}{{sfn|Golden|2006|pp=81–82}}{{efn|group=note|Petrukhin notes that ibn Fadlan's description of a [[Kievan Rus']] prince (''[[malik]]'') and his lieutenant (''[[khalifa]]'') mirrored the Khazarian diarchy, but the comparison was flawed, as there was no sacral kingship among the Rus' {{harv|Petrukhin|2007|pp=256–257}}.}} The deputy ruler would enter the presence of the reclusive greater king only with great ceremony, approaching him barefoot to prostrate himself in the dust and then light a piece of wood as a purifying fire, while waiting humbly and calmly to be summoned.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|pp=133–134}}

Particularly elaborate rituals accompanied a royal burial. At one period, travellers had to dismount, bow before the ruler's tomb, and then walk away on foot.{{sfn|Shingiray|2012|p=212}} Subsequently, the charismatic sovereign's burial place was hidden from view, with a palatial structure ("Paradise") constructed and then [[buried treasure|hidden]] under rerouted riverwater to avoid disturbance by evil spirits and later generations. Such a ''qoruq'' '[[taboo]]' royal burial ground is typical of inner Asian peoples.{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|p=181}}

Both the ʾīšā and the ḫāqān converted to [[Rabbinic Judaism]] sometime in the 8th century, while the rest, according to the Persian traveller [[Ahmad ibn Rustah]], probably continued to follow traditional religion.{{sfn|Golden|2006|pp=79–81}}{{efn|group=note|"the rest of the Khazars profess a religion similar to that of the Turks." {{harv|Golden|2007b|pp=130–131}}}}

==== Ruling elite ====
The ruling stratum, like that of the later [[Borjigin|Činggisids]] within the [[Golden Horde]], was a relatively small group that differed ethnically and linguistically from its subject peoples, meaning the [[Alans|Alano-As]] and Oğuric Turkic tribes, who were numerically superior within Khazaria.{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=88}} The Khazar Qağans, while taking wives and concubines from the subject populations, were protected by a [[Khwarazm]]ian guard corps, or ''[[Comitatus (warband)|comitatus]]'' 'warband' called the [[Arsiyah]].{{efn|group=note|This regiment was exempt from campaigning against fellow Muslims, evidence that non-Judaic beliefs were no obstacle to access to the highest levels of government. They had abandoned their homeland and sought service with the Khazars in exchange for the right to exercise their religious freedom, according to al-Masudi {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=138}}.}}{{efn|group=note|Olsson writes that there is no evidence for this Islamic guard for the 9th century, but that its existence is attested for 913 {{harv|Olsson|2013|p=507}}.}} But unlike many other local polities, they hired mercenary soldiers (the ''junūd murtazīqa'' in [[al-Masudi]]).{{sfn|Golden|2006|pp=79–80, 88}}

At the peak of their empire, the Khazars ran a centralised fiscal administration, with a standing army of some 7–12,000 men, which could, at need, be multiplied two or three times that number by inducting reserves from noble retinues.{{sfn|Olsson|2013|p=495}}{{efn|group=note|Noonan gives the lower figure for the Muslim contingents, but adds that the army could draw on other mercenaries stationed in the capital, Rūs, [[Saqaliba|Ṣaqāliba]] and pagans. Olsson's 10,000 refers to the spring-summer horsemen in the nomadic king's retinue {{harv|Noonan|2007|pp=211, 217}}.}} Other figures for the permanent standing army indicate that it numbered as many as one hundred thousand. They controlled and exacted tribute from 25 to 30 different nations and tribes inhabiting the vast territories between the Caucasus, the Aral Sea, the Ural Mountains, and the Ukrainian steppes.{{sfn|Koestler|1977|p=18}} Khazar armies were led by the khagan-bek and commanded by subordinate [[officer (armed forces)|officers]] known as [[tarkhan]]s. When the bek sent out a body of troops, they would not retreat under any circumstances. If they were defeated, survivors were executed.{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|p=113}}

Settlements were governed by administrative officials known as [[tudun]]s. In some cases, such as the Byzantine settlements in southern [[Crimea]], a ''tudun'' would be appointed for a town nominally within another polity's [[sphere of influence]]. Other officials in the Khazar government included dignitaries referred to by ibn Fadlan as [[jawashighar|jāwashīghar]] and [[kündür]], but their responsibilities are unknown.

==== Demographics ====
It has been estimated that 25 to 28 distinct ethnic groups made up the population of the Khazar Qağanate, aside from the ethnic elite. The ruling elite seems to have been constituted out of nine tribes/clans, themselves ethnically heterogeneous, spread over perhaps nine provinces or principalities, each of which would have been allocated to a clan.{{sfn|Noonan|2001|p=77}} In terms of caste or class, some evidence suggests that there was a distinction, whether racial or social is unclear, between "White Khazars" (ak-Khazars) and "Black Khazars" (qara-Khazars).{{sfn|Noonan|2001|p=77}} The 10th-century Muslim geographer [[Istakhri|al-Iṣṭakhrī]] claimed that the White Khazars were strikingly handsome with reddish hair, white skin, and blue eyes, while the Black Khazars were swarthy, verging on deep black as if they were "some kind of [[India]]n".{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|p=96}} Many Turkic nations had a similar (political, not racial) division between a "white" ruling warrior caste and a "black" class of commoners; the consensus among mainstream scholars is that Istakhri was confused by the names given to the two groups.{{sfn|Brook|2010|pp=3–4}} However, Khazars are generally described by early Arab sources as having a white complexion, blue eyes, and reddish hair.{{sfn|Patai|Patai|1989|p=70}}{{sfn|Brook|2010|p=3}} The ethnonym in the Tang Chinese annals, Ashina, often accorded a key role in the Khazar leadership, may reflect an Eastern Iranian or [[Tocharian languages|Tokharian]] word ([[Saka language|Khotanese Saka]] ''âşşeina-āššsena'' "blue"): [[Middle Persian]] ''axšaêna'' ("dark-coloured"): [[Tocharian languages#Tocharian A and B|Tokharian A]] ''âśna'' ("blue", "dark").{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|p=152}} The distinction appears to have survived the collapse of the Khazarian empire. Later Russian chronicles, commenting on the role of the Khazars in the magyarisation of Hungary, refer to them as "White [[Oghur (tribe)|Oghurs]]" and [[Magyars]] as "[[Black Hungarians|Black Oghurs]]".{{sfn|Oppenheim|1994|p=312}} Studies of the physical remains, such as skulls at [[Sarkel]], have revealed individuals belonging to the Slavic, other European, and a few Mongolian types.{{sfn|Brook|2010|pp=3–4}}

==== Economy ====
The import and export of foreign wares, and the revenues derived from taxing their transit, was a hallmark of the Khazar economy, although it is said also to have produced [[isinglass]].{{sfn|Barthold|1993|p=936}} Distinctively among the nomadic steppe polities, the Khazar Qağanate developed a self-sufficient domestic [[Saltovo-Mayaki|Saltovo]]{{sfn|Zhivkov|2015|p=173}} economy, a combination of traditional pastoralism – allowing sheep and cattle to be exported – extensive agriculture, abundant use of the Volga's rich fishing stocks, together with craft manufacture, with diversification in lucrative returns from taxing international trade given its pivotal control of major trade routes.

The [[Khazar slave trade]] constituted one of the two great furnishers of slaves to [[history of slavery in the Muslim world|the Muslim market]] to [[slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate]] (the other being the [[Samanid slave trade|Iranian Sâmânid amîrs]]), supplying it with captured Slavs and tribesmen from the Eurasian northlands.{{sfn|Golden|2011a|p=64}} It profited from the latter which enabled it to maintain a standing army of Khwarezm Muslim troops. The capital Atil reflected the division: Kharazān on the western bank where the king and his Khazar elite, with a retinue of some 4,000 attendants, dwelt, and Itil proper to the East, inhabited by Jews, Christians, Muslims and slaves and by craftsmen and foreign merchants.{{efn|group=note|A third division may have contained the dwellings of the tsarina. The dimensions of the western part were 3x3, as opposed to the eastern part's 8 x 8 ''farsakhs'' {{harv|Noonan|2007|pp=208–209, 216–219}}.}}

The Khazar Khaghanate played a key role in the trade between Europe and the Muslim world in the early Middle Ages. People taken captive during the Viking raids in Europe, such as Ireland, could be transported to [[Hedeby]] or [[Brännö]] in Scandinavia and from there via the [[Volga trade route]] to Russia, where slaves and furs were sold to Muslim merchants in exchange for Arab silver ''[[dirham]]'' and [[silk]], which have been found in [[Birka]], [[Wolin|Wollin]] and [[Dublin]];{{sfn|Reuter|1999|p=91}} during the 8th- and 9th-century this trade route between Europe and the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] passed via the Khazar Kaghanate,{{sfn|Noonan|2007|p=232}}  until it was supplanted in the 10th-century by the route of [[Volga Bulgarian slave trade|Volga Bulgaria]], [[Khwarazm]], and the [[Samanid slave trade]].{{sfn|Reuter|1999|p=504}}

The ruling elite wintered in the city and spent from spring to late autumn in their fields. A large irrigated greenbelt, drawing on channels from the Volga river, lay outside the capital, where meadows and vineyards extended for some 20 ''farsakhs'' (c. 60 miles).{{sfn|Noonan|2007|p=214}} While customs duties were imposed on traders, and tribute and tithes were exacted from 25 to 30 tribes, with a levy of one sable skin, squirrel pelt, sword, dirham per hearth or ploughshare, or hides, wax, honey and livestock, depending on the zone. Trade disputes were handled by a commercial tribunal in Atil consisting of seven judges, two for each of the monotheistic inhabitants (Jews, Muslims, Christians) and one for the pagans.{{efn|group=note|Outside Muslim traders were under the jurisdiction of a special royal official (''ghulām'') {{harv|Noonan|2007|pp=211–214}}.}}

=== Khazars and Byzantium ===
{{see also|Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|Third Perso-Turkic War}}
Byzantine diplomatic policy towards the steppe peoples generally consisted of encouraging them to fight among themselves. The [[Pechenegs]] provided great assistance to the Byzantines in the 9th century in exchange for regular payments.{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|p=52}} Byzantium also sought alliances with the [[Göktürks]] against common enemies: in the early 7th century, one such alliance was brokered with the Western Tűrks against the Persian [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanians]] in the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]]. The Byzantines called Khazaria ''Tourkía'', and by the 9th century referred to the Khazars as "Turks".{{efn|group=note|[[Theophanes the Confessor]] around 813 defined them as ''Eastern Turks''. The designation is complex and Róna-Tas writes: "The ''Georgian Chronicle'' refers to the Khazars in 626–628 as the 'West Turks' who were then opposed to the East Turks of Central Asia. Shortly after 679 the ''Armenian Geography'' mentions the Turks together with the Khazars; this may be the first record of the Magyars. Around 813, Theophanes uses – alongside the generic name ''Turk'' – 'East Turk' for the designation of the Khazars, and in context, the 'West Turks' may actually have meant the Magyars. We know that Nicholas Misticus referred to the Magyars as 'West Turks' in 924/925. In the 9th century the name ''Turk'' was mainly used to designate the Khazars." {{harv|Róna-Tas|1999|p=282}}}} During the period leading up to and after the [[Siege of Constantinople (626)|siege of Constantinople]] in 626, [[Heraclius]] sought help via emissaries, and eventually personally, from a Göktürk chieftain{{efn|group=note|Many sources identify the Göktürks in this alliance as Khazars--for example, Beckwith writes recently: "The alliance sealed by Heraclius with the Khazars in 627 was of seminal importance to the Byzantine Empire through the Early Middle Ages, and helped assure its long-term survival."{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|pp=120, 122}} Early sources such as the almost contemporary [[Armenian language|Armenian]] history, ''Patmutʿiwn Ałuanicʿ Ašxarhi'', attributed to Movsēs Dasxurancʿ, and the Chronicle attributed to Theophanes identify these Turks as Khazars (Theophanes has: "Turks, who are called Khazars"). Both Zuckerman and Golden reject the identification.{{sfn|Zuckerman|2007|pp=403–404}}}} of the Western Turkic Khaganate, [[Tong Yabghu Qaghan|Tong Yabghu Qağan]], in [[Tiflis]], plying him with gifts and the promise of marriage to his daughter, [[Eudoxia Epiphania|Epiphania]].{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|pp=143–145}} Tong Yabghu responded by sending a large force to ravage the Persian empire, marking the start of the [[Third Perso-Turkic War]].{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=230}} A joint Byzantine-Tűrk operation breached the [[Gates of Alexander|Caspian gates]] and sacked [[Derbent]] in 627. Together they then besieged [[Tiflis]], where the Byzantines may have deployed an early variety of [[Trebuchet#Traction trebuchet|traction trebuchets]] ([[Helepolis|ἑλέπόλεις]]) to breach the walls. After the campaign, Tong Yabghu is reported, perhaps with some exaggeration, to have left some 40,000 troops behind with Heraclius.{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|p=145}} Although occasionally identified with Khazars, the Göktürk identification is more probable since the Khazars only emerged from that group after the fragmentation of the former sometime after 630.{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|p=143, n.115}}{{sfn|Golden|1992|pp=127–136, 234–237}} Some scholars argued that Sasanian Persia never recovered from the devastating defeat wrought by this invasion.{{efn|group=note|Scholars dismiss Chinese annals which, reporting the events from Turkic sources, attribute the destruction of Persia and its leader [[Khosrau II|Shah Khusrau II]] personally to Tong Yabghu. Zuckerman argues instead that the account is correct in its essentials {{harv|Zuckerman|2007|p=417}}.}}

[[File:Khazar map1.PNG|thumb|Khazar Khaganate and surrounding states, c. 820 (area of direct Khazar control in dark blue, sphere of influence in purple).]]
Once the Khazars emerged as a power, the Byzantines also began to form alliances with them, dynastic and military. In 695, the last [[Byzantine Empire under the Heraclian dynasty|Heraclian emperor]], [[Justinian II]], nicknamed "the slit-nosed" (ὁ ῥινότμητος) after he was mutilated and deposed, was exiled to [[Chersonesus (Crimea)|Cherson]] in the [[Crimea]], where a Khazar governor (''tudun'') presided. He escaped into Khazar territory in 704 or 705 and was given asylum by khagan [[Busir|Busir Glavan]] (Ἰβουζῆρος Γλιαβάνος), who gave him his sister in marriage, perhaps in response to an offer by Justinian, who may have thought a dynastic marriage would seal by kinship a powerful tribal support for his attempts to regain the throne.{{sfn|Bauer|2010|p=341}} The Khazarian spouse thereupon changed her name to [[Theodora of Khazaria|Theodora]].{{sfn|Ostrogorski|1969|pp=124–126}} Busir was offered a bribe by the Byzantine usurper, [[Tiberius III]], to kill Justinian. Warned by Theodora, Justinian escaped, murdering two Khazar officials in the process. He fled to Bulgaria, whose Khan [[Tervel]] helped him regain the throne. Upon his reinstalment, and despite Busir's treachery during his exile, he sent for Theodora; Busir complied, and she was crowned as Augusta, suggesting that both prized the alliance.{{sfn|Cameron|Herrin|1984|p=212}}{{sfn|Bauer|2010|pp=341–342}}

Decades later, [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]] (ruled 717–741) made a similar alliance to co-ordinate strategy against a common enemy, the [[Muslim Arabs]]. He sent an embassy to the Khazar khagan [[Bihar (Khazar)|Bihar]] and married his son, the future [[Constantine V]] (ruled 741–775), to Bihar's daughter, a princess referred to as [[Tzitzak]], in 732. On converting to Christianity, she took the name Irene. Constantine and Irene had a son, the future [[Leo IV the Khazar|Leo IV (775–780)]], who thereafter bore the sobriquet, "the Khazar".{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|pp=137–138}}{{sfn|Piltz|2004|p=42}} Leo died in mysterious circumstances after his Athenian wife bore him a son, [[Constantine VI]], who on his majority co-ruled with his mother, the dowager. He proved unpopular, and his death ended the dynastic link of the Khazars to the Byzantine throne.{{sfn|Schwartzwald|2015|p=26}}{{sfn|Luttwak|2009|pp=137–138}} By the 8th century, Khazars [[Pax Khazarica|dominated the Crimea]] (650–c. 950), and even extended their influence into the Byzantine peninsula of Cherson until it was wrested back in the 10th century.{{sfn|Noonan|2007|p=220}} Khazar and [[Fergana|Farghânian (Φάργανοι)]] mercenaries constituted part of the imperial Byzantine ''[[Hetaireia]]'' bodyguard after its formation in 840, a position that could openly be purchased by a payment of seven pounds of gold.{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=392, n.22}}{{sfn|Heath|1979|p=14}}

=== {{anchor|Second Khazar-Arab war}}Arab–Khazar wars ===
{{Main|Arab–Khazar wars}}

During the 7th and 8th centuries, the Khazars fought a series of wars against the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] and its [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] successor. The First Arab-Khazar War began during the first phase of [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim expansion]]. By 640, Muslim forces had reached Armenia; in 642 they launched their first raid across the Caucasus under [[Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah]]. In 652 Arab forces advanced on the Khazar capital, [[Balanjar]], but were [[Battle of Balanjar (650s)|defeated]], suffering heavy losses; according to Persian historians such as [[Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari|al-Tabari]], both sides in the battle used [[catapult]]s against the opposing troops. A number of Russian sources give the name of a Khazar khagan from this period as [[List of Khazar rulers|Irbis]] and describe him as a scion of the Göktürk royal house, the Ashina. Whether Irbis ever existed is open to debate, as is whether he can be identified with one of the many Göktürk rulers of the same name.

Due to the outbreak of the [[First Fitna|First Muslim Civil War]] and other priorities, the Arabs refrained from repeating an attack on the Khazars until the early 8th century.{{sfn|Mako|2010|p=45}} The Khazars launched a few raids into Transcaucasian principalities under Muslim dominion, including a large-scale raid in 683–685 during the [[Second Fitna|Second Muslim Civil War]] that rendered much booty and many prisoners.{{sfn|Brook|2010|pp=126–127}} There is evidence from the account of al-Tabari that the Khazars formed a united front with the remnants of the Göktürks in Transoxiana.

[[File:Map of the Caucasus, 740 CE.svg|thumb|300px|{{center|Caucasus region, c. 740}}]]
The Second Arab-Khazar War began with a series of raids across the Caucasus in the early 8th century. The Umayyads tightened their grip on Armenia in 705 after suppressing a large-scale rebellion. In 713 or 714, the Umayyad general [[Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik|Maslamah]] conquered Derbent and drove deeper into Khazar territory. The Khazars launched raids in response into [[Caucasian Albania|Albania]] and [[Iranian Azerbaijan]] but were driven back by the Arabs under [[Hasan ibn al-Nu'man]].{{sfn|Brook|2010|p=127}} The conflict escalated in 722 with an invasion by 30,000 Khazars into Armenia inflicting a crushing defeat. Caliph [[Yazid II]] responded, sending 25,000 Arab troops north, swiftly driving the Khazars back across the Caucasus, recovering Derbent, and advancing on Balanjar. The Arabs [[Battle of Balanjar (723)|broke through the Khazar defence]] and stormed the city; most of its inhabitants were killed or enslaved, but a few of them managed to flee north.{{sfn|Brook|2010|pp=126–127}} Despite their success, the Arabs had not yet defeated the Khazar army, and they retreated south of the Caucasus.

In 724, the Arab general [[al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami]] inflicted a crushing defeat on the Khazars in a long battle between the rivers [[Cyrus (river)|Cyrus]] and [[Aras (river)|Araxes]], then moved on to capture [[Tiflis]], bringing [[Principality of Iberia|Caucasian Iberia]] under Muslim suzerainty. The Khazars struck back in 726, led by a prince named [[Barjik]], launching a major invasion of Albania and Azerbaijan; by 729, the Arabs had lost control of northeastern Transcaucasia and were thrust again into the defensive. In 730, Barjik invaded Iranian Azerbaijan and [[Battle of Ardabil|defeated]] Arab forces at [[Ardabil]], killing the general [[al-Djarrah al-Hakami]] and briefly occupying the town. Barjik was defeated and killed the next year at [[Mosul]], where he directed Khazar forces from a throne mounted with al-Djarrah's severed head {{citation needed|date=November 2016}}. In 737, Marwan Ibn Muhammad entered Khazar territory under the guise of seeking a truce. He then launched a surprise attack in which The Qaghan fled north and the Khazars surrendered.{{sfn|Golden|1980|p=64}} The Arabs did not have enough resources to influence the affairs of Transcaucasia.{{sfn|Golden|1980|p=64}} The Qağan was forced to accept terms involving his conversion to Islam, and subject himself to the rule of the Caliphate, but the accommodation was short-lived because a combination of internal instability among the Umayyads and Byzantine support undid the agreement within three years, and the Khazars re-asserted their independence.{{sfn|Wasserstein|2007|pp=375–376}} The suggestion that the Khazars adopted [[Judaism]] as early as 740 is based on the idea that, in part, it was, a re-assertion of their independence from the rule of both regional powers, Byzantium and the Caliphate, while it also conformed to a general Eurasian trend to embrace a [[World religions|world religion]].{{efn|group=note|"The Khazars, the close allies of the Byzantines, adopted Judaism, as their official religion, apparently by 740, three years after an invasion by the Arabs under Marwan ibn Muhammad. Marwan had used treachery against a Khazar envoy in order to gain peaceful entrance into Khazar territory. He then declared his dishonourable intentions and pressed deep into Khazar territory, subsequently, he released the envoy. The Arabs devastated the horse herds, seized many Khazars and others as captives, and forced much of the population to flee into the Ural Mountains. Marwan's terms dictated that the kaghan and his Khazars should convert to Islam. Having no choice, the kaghan accepted Marwan's terms, and the Arabs returned home in triumph. As soon as the Arabs were gone, the kaghan renounced Islam – with, one may assume, great vehemence. The Khazar Dynasty's conversion to Judaism is best explained by this specific historical background, together with the fact that the mid-eighth century was an age in which the major Eurasian states proclaimed their adherence to distinctive world religions. Adopting Judaism also was politically astute: it meant that the Khazars did not have to accept the overlordship (however theoretical) of the Arab caliph or the Byzantine emperor." {{harv|Beckwith|2011|p=149}}}}

Whatever the impact of Marwan's campaigns was, warfare between the Khazars and the Arabs ceased for more than two decades after 737. Arab raids continued to occur until 741, but their control of the region was limited because maintaining a large garrison at Derbent further depleted their already overstretched army. A [[Third Fitna|third Muslim civil war]] soon broke out, leading to the Abbasid Revolution and the fall of the Umayyad dynasty in 750.

In 758, the [[Abbasid]] [[Caliph]] [[al-Mansur]] attempted to strengthen diplomatic ties with the Khazars, ordering [[Yazid ibn Usayd al-Sulami]], one of his nobles and the [[Ostikanate of Arminiya|military governor of Armenia]], to take a royal Khazar bride.{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|p=179}} Yazid married a daughter of Khazar Khagan [[Baghatur]], but she died inexplicably, possibly during childbirth. Her attendants returned home, convinced that some members of another Arab faction had poisoned her, and her father was enraged. The Khazar general [[Ras Tarkhan]] invaded regions which were located south of the Caucasus in 762–764, devastating Albania, Armenia, and Iberia, and capturing Tiflis.{{sfn|Brook|2018|p=115}} Thereafter, relations between the Khazars and the Abbasids became increasingly cordial, because the foreign policies of the Abbasids were generally less expansionist than the foreign policies of the Umayyads, relations between the Khazars and the Abbasids were ultimately broken by a series of raids which occurred in 799, the raids occurred after another marriage alliance failed.{{sfn|Brook|2018|p=115}}

After the Khazars assumed control of [[Transcaucasia]], at some time they set up towns including Samiran, Samsakly, Sambalut, Samakha, and Samkalak - with the common fragment "Sam" meaning "top" or "high" or "main".{{sfn|Brutzkus|1944|p=112}}

=== Khazars and Hungarians ===
Around 830, a rebellion broke out in the Khazar khaganate. As a result, three [[Kabar]] tribes{{sfn|Makkai|1994|p=11}} of the Khazars (probably the majority of ethnic Khazars) joined the Hungarians and moved through [[Levedia]] to what the Hungarians call the [[Etelköz]], the territory between the [[Carpathian Mountains|Carpathians]] and the [[Dnieper River]]. The Hungarians faced their first attack by the [[Pechenegs]] around 854,{{sfn|Country Study: Hungary|1989}} though other sources state that an attack by Pechenegs was the reason for their departure to Etelköz. The new neighbours of the Hungarians were the [[Varangians]] and the eastern [[Slavs]]. From 862 onwards, the Hungarians (already referred to as the ''Ungri'') along with their allies, the Kabars, started a series of raids from the Etelköz into the Carpathian Basin, mostly against the [[East Francia|Eastern Frankish Empire]] (Germany) and [[Great Moravia]], but also against the [[Pannonian Slavs#Principality|Lower Pannonian principality]] and [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]]. Then they together ended up at the outer slopes of Carpathians, and settled there.

=== Rise of the Rus' and the collapse of the Khazarian state ===
[[File:Varangian routes.png|thumb|300px|Trade routes of the Black Sea region, 8th–11th centuries]]

By the 9th century, groups of [[Varangians|Varangian Rus']], developing a powerful warrior-merchant system, began probing south down the waterways controlled by the Khazars and their protectorate, the [[Volga Bulgaria]]ns, partially in pursuit of the Arab silver that flowed north for hoarding through the Khazarian-Volga Bulgarian trading zones,{{efn|group=note|Over 520 separate hoards of such silver have been uncovered in Sweden and [[Gotland]] {{harv|Moss|2002|p=16}}.}} partially to trade in furs and ironwork.{{efn|group=note|The Volga Bulgarian state was converted to Islam in the 10th century, and wrested liberty from its Khazarian suzerains when [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Svyatislav]] razed Atil {{harv|Abulafia|1987|pp=419, 480–483}}.}} Northern mercantile fleets passing Atil were tithed, as they were at Byzantine [[Cherson (theme)|Cherson]].{{sfn|Shepard|2006|p=19}} Their presence may have prompted the formation of a Rus' state by convincing the [[Slavic peoples|Slavs]], [[Volga Finns|Merja]] and the [[Chud]]' to unite to protect common interests against Khazarian exactions of tribute. It is often argued that a [[Rus' Khaganate]] modelled on the Khazarian state had formed to the east and that the Varangian chieftain of the coalition appropriated the title of khagan as early as the 830s: the title survived to denote the princes of [[Kievan Rus']], whose capital, [[Kiev]], is often associated with a Khazarian foundation.{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=245}}{{sfn|Noonan|2001|p=81}}{{efn|group=note|Whittow argues however that: "The title of qaghan, with its claims to lordship over the steppe world, is likely to be no more than ideological booty from the 965 victory." {{harv|Whittow|1996|pp=243–252}}}}{{efn|group=note|Korobkin citing Golb & Pritsak notes that Khazars have often been connected with Kiev's foundations.{{sfn|Korobkin|1998|p=xxvii}} Pritsak and Golb state that children in [[Kiev]] were being given a mixture of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] names by c. 930.{{sfn|Golb|Pritsak|1982|p=15}} Toch on the other hand is sceptical, and argues that "a significant Jewish presence in early medieval Kiev or indeed in Russia at large remains much in doubt".{{sfn|Toch|2012|p=166}}}} The construction of the [[Sarkel|Sarkel fortress]], with technical assistance from Khazaria's Byzantine ally at the time, together with the minting of an autonomous Khazar coinage around the 830s, may have been a defensive measure against emerging threats from Varangians to the north and from the [[Magyars]] on the eastern steppe.{{efn|group=note|The ''[[yarmaq]]'' based on the Arab ''[[dirhem]]'' was perhaps issued in reaction to fall-off in Muslim minting in the 820s, and to a felt need in the turbulent upheavals of the 830s to assert a new religious profile, with the Jewish legends stamped on them {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=156}}.}}{{efn|group=note|Scholars are divided as to whether the fortification of Sarkel represents a defensive bulwark against a growing Magyar or Varangian threat {{harv|Petrukhin|2007|pp=247, and n.1}}.}} By 860, the Rus' had penetrated as far as Kiev and, via the [[Dnieper]], [[Constantinople]].{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=257}}

[[File:Sarkel.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Site of the Khazar fortress at Sarkel (aerial photo from excavations conducted by [[Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov|Mikhail Artamonov]] in the 1950s).]]
Alliances often shifted. Byzantium, threatened by Varangian Rus' raiders, would assist Khazaria, and Khazaria at times allowed the northerners to pass through their territory in exchange for a portion of the booty.{{sfn|Kohen|2007|p=107}} From the beginning of the 10th century, the Khazars found themselves fighting on multiple fronts as nomadic incursions were exacerbated by uprisings by former clients and invasions from former allies. The [[pax Khazarica]] was caught in a pincer movement between steppe Pechenegs and the strengthening of an emergent Rus' power to the north, both undermining Khazaria's tributary empire.{{sfn|Noonan|1999|pp=502–503}} According to the [[Schechter Text]], the Khazar ruler [[Benjamin (Khazar)|King Benjamin]] (ca.880–890) fought a battle against the allied forces of five lands whose moves were perhaps encouraged by Byzantium.{{efn|group=note|''MQDWN'' or the [[Macedonian dynasty|Macedon dynasty of Byzantium]]; ''SY'', perhaps a central Volga statelet, [[Burtas]], Asya; ''PYYNYL'' denoting the [[Pechenegs|Danube-Don Pechnegs]]; ''BM'', perhaps indicating the [[Volga Bulgars]], and ''TWRQY'' or [[Oghuz Turks]]. The provisory identifications are those of Pritsak {{harv|Kohen|2007|p=106}}.}} Although Benjamin was victorious, his son [[Aaron II (Khazar)|Aaron II]] faced another invasion, this time led by the [[Alans]], whose leader had converted to Christianity and entered into an alliance with Byzantium, which, under [[Leo VI the Wise]], encouraged them to fight against the Khazars.

By the 880s, Khazar control of the Middle [[Dnieper]] from Kiev, where they collected tribute from Eastern Slavic tribes, began to wane as [[Oleg of Novgorod]] wrested control of the city from the Varangian warlords [[Askold and Dir]], and embarked on what was to prove to be the foundation of a Rus' empire.{{sfn|Noonan|1999|p=508}} The Khazars had initially allowed the Rus' to use the [[Volga trade route|trade route]] along the Volga River, and raid southwards. See [[Caspian expeditions of the Rus']]. According to [[Al Masudi|Al-Mas'udi]], the khagan is said to have given his assent on the condition that the Rus' give him half of the booty.{{sfn|Kohen|2007|p=107}} In 913, however, two years after Byzantium concluded a peace treaty with the Rus' in 911, a [[Varangians|Varangian]] foray, with Khazar connivance, through Arab lands led to a request to the Khazar throne by the Khwârazmian Islamic guard for permission to retaliate against the large Rus' contingent on its return. The purpose was to revenge the violence the Rus' [[Looting|razzias]] had inflicted on their fellow Muslim believers.{{efn|group=note|Al-Mas'udi says the king secretly tipped off the Rus' of the attack but was unable to oppose the request of his guards {{harv|Olsson|2013|p=507}}.}} The Rus' force was thoroughly routed and massacred.{{sfn|Kohen|2007|p=107}} The Khazar rulers closed the passage down the Volga to the Rus', sparking a war. In the early 960s, Khazar ruler [[Joseph (Khazar)|Joseph]] wrote to [[Hasdai ibn Shaprut]] about the deterioration of Khazar relations with the Rus': "I protect the mouth of the river (Itil-Volga) and prevent the Rus arriving in their ships from setting off by sea against the [[Arabs|Ishmaelites]] and (equally) all (their) enemies from setting off by land to [[Derbent|Bab]]."{{efn|group=note|The letter continues: "I wage war with them. If I left them (in peace) for a single hour they would crush the whole land of the Ishmaelites up to [[Baghdad]]." {{harv|Petrukhin|2007|p=257}}}}

[[File:Lebedev Svyatoslavs meeting with Emperor John.jpg|thumb|[[Sviatoslav I of Kiev]] (in boat), destroyer of the Khazar Khaganate.{{efn|group=note|From Klavdiy Lebedev (1852–1916), ''Svyatoslav's meeting with [[John I Tzimisces|Emperor John]], as described by Leo the Deacon.''}}]]
The Rus' warlords launched several wars against the Khazar Qağanate, and raided down to [[Caspian expeditions of the Rus'|the Caspian sea]]. The [[Schechter Letter]] relates the story of a campaign against Khazaria by ''HLGW'' (recently identified as Oleg of Chernigov) around 941 in which Oleg was defeated by the Khazar general [[Pesakh (Khazar)|Pesakh]].{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=259}} The Khazar alliance with the Byzantine empire began to collapse in the early 10th century. Byzantine and Khazar forces may have clashed in the Crimea, and by the 940s emperor [[Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus]] was speculating in ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' about ways in which the Khazars could be isolated and attacked. The Byzantines during the same period began to attempt alliances with the Pechenegs and the Rus', with varying degrees of success. A further factor undermining the Khazar Qağanate was a shift in Islamic routes at this time, as Muslims in Khwarazmia forged trade links with the recently converted Volga Bulgarian Muslims, a move which may have caused a drastic drop, perhaps up to 80%, in the revenue base of Khazaria, and consequently, a crisis in its ability to pay for its defence.{{sfn|Feldman|2022a|pp=75–84}}

[[Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Sviatoslav I]] finally succeeded in destroying Khazar imperial power in the 960s, in a circular sweep that overwhelmed Khazar fortresses like [[Sarkel]] and [[Tmutarakan|Tamatarkha]], and reached as far as the Caucasian Kassogians/[[Circassians]]{{efn|group=note|[[Henry Hoyle Howorth|H. H. Howorth]] argued that the Khazars were the ancestors of contemporary Circassians {{harv|Howorth|1870|pp=182–192}}.}} and then back to Kiev.{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=262}} Sarkel fell in 965, with the capital city of [[Atil]] following, c. 968 or 969.

In the Russian chronicle, the vanquishing of the Khazar traditions is associated with Vladimir's conversion in 986.{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|pp=262–263}} According to the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', in 986, Khazar Jews were present at [[Vladimir I of Kiev|Vladimir]]'s [[disputation]] to decide on the prospective religion of the Kievan Rus'.{{sfn|''Russian Primary Chronicle''}} Whether these were Jews who had settled in Kiev or emissaries from some Jewish Khazar remnant state is unclear. Conversion to one of the faiths of the people of Scripture was a precondition to any peace treaty with the Arabs, whose Bulgar envoys had arrived in Kiev after 985.{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=263}}

A visitor to Atil wrote soon after the sacking of the city that its vineyards and garden had been razed, that not a grape or raisin remained in the land, and not even alms for the poor were available.{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|p=242}} An attempt to rebuild may have been undertaken, since [[Ibn Hawqal]] and [[al-Muqaddasi]] refer to it after that date, but by [[Al-Biruni]]'s time (1048) it was in ruins.{{efn|group=note|Dunlop thought the later city of [[Saqsin]] lay on or near Atil {{harv|Dunlop|1954|p=248}}.}}

=== Aftermath: impact, decline and dispersion ===
Although Poliak argued that the Khazar kingdom did not wholly succumb to Sviatoslav's campaign, but lingered on until 1224, when the [[Mongol invasion of Rus'|Mongols invaded Rus']],{{sfn|Gow|1995|p=31, n.28}}{{sfn|Sand|2010|p=229}} by most accounts, the Rus'-Oghuz campaigns left Khazaria devastated, with perhaps many Khazarian Jews in flight,{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=148}} and leaving behind at best a minor [[rump state]]. It left little trace, except for some placenames,{{efn|group=note|The [[Caspian Sea]] is still known to Arabs, and many peoples of the region, as the "Khazar Sea" (Arabic ''Bahr ul-Khazar'') {{harv|Brook|2010|p=156}}}} and much of its population was undoubtedly absorbed in successor hordes.{{sfn|Noonan|1999|p=503}} [[Al-Muqaddasi]], writing ca.985, mentions Khazar beyond the Caspian sea as a district of "woe and squalor", with honey, many sheep and Jews.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|pp=147–148}} [[Kedrenos]] mentions a joint Rus'-Byzantine attack on Khazaria in 1016, which defeated its ruler [[Georgius Tzul]]. The name suggests Christian affiliations. The account concludes by saying, that after Tzul's defeat, the Khazar ruler of "upper Media", Senaccherib, had to sue for peace and submission.{{sfn|Kohen|2007|p=109}} In 1024 [[Mstislav of Chernigov]] (one of Vladimir's sons) marched against his brother Yaroslav with an army that included "Khazars and Kassogians" in a repulsed attempt to restore a kind of "Khazarian"-type dominion over Kiev.{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=262}} [[Ibn al-Athir]]'s mention of a "raid of Faḍlūn the Kurd against the Khazars" in 1030&nbsp;CE, in which 10,000 of his men were vanquished by the latter, has been taken as a reference to such a Khazar remnant, but [[Vasily Bartold|Barthold]] identified this Faḍlūn as [[al-Fadhl ibn Muhammad|Faḍl ibn Muḥammad]] and the "Khazars" as either [[Georgian people|Georgians]] or [[Abkhaz people|Abkhazians]].{{sfn|Shapira|2007a|p=305}}{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|p=253}} A Kievian prince named [[Oleg I of Chernigov|Oleg, grandson of Jaroslav]] was reportedly kidnapped by "Khazars" in 1079 and shipped off to [[Constantinople]], although most scholars believe that this is a reference to the [[Cumans]]-[[Kipchaks]] or other steppe peoples then dominant in the Pontic region. Upon his conquest of [[Tmutarakan]] in the 1080s Oleg gave himself the title "[[archon]] of Khazaria".{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=262}} In 1083 Oleg is said to have exacted revenge on the Khazars after his brother Roman was killed by their allies, the [[Polovtsi]]. After one more conflict with these Polovtsi in 1106, the Khazars fade from history.{{sfn|Kohen|2007|p=109}} By the 13th century they survived in Russian folklore only as "Jewish heroes" in the "land of the Jews". (''zemlya Jidovskaya'').{{sfn|Falk|2017|p=102}}

By the end of the 12th century, [[Petachiah of Ratisbon]] reported travelling through what he called "Khazaria", and had little to remark on other than describing its ''minim'' (sectaries) living amidst desolation in perpetual mourning.{{sfn|Sand|2010|p=227}} The reference seems to be to Karaites.{{sfn|Dubnov|1980|p=792}} The Franciscan missionary [[William of Rubruck]] likewise found only impoverished pastures in the lower Volga area where Ital once lay.{{sfn|Noonan|2007|p=214}} [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine]], the papal legate to the court of the [[Mongol]] Khan [[Güyük Khan|Guyuk]] at that time, mentioned an otherwise unattested Jewish tribe, the [[Brutakhi]], perhaps in the Volga region. Although connections are made to the Khazars, the link is based merely on a common attribution of Judaism.{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=45, n.157}}

[[File:Khazarfall1.png|thumb|The [[Pontic steppe]]s, c. 1015 (areas in blue possibly still under Khazar control).]]
The 10th century [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] [[Denkard|Dênkart]] registered the collapse of Khazar power in attributing its eclipse to the enfeebling effects of "false" religion.{{efn|group=note|"thus it is clear that the false doctrine of Yišô in Rome (Hrôm) and that of Môsê among the Khazars and that of Mânî in Turkistan took away their might and the valor that they once possessed and made them feeble and decadent among their rivals" {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=130}}.}} The decline was contemporary to that suffered by the [[Transoxiana]] [[Samanids|Sāmānid]] empire to the east, both events paving the way for the rise of the [[Great Seljuq Empire]], whose founding traditions mention Khazar connections.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=159}}{{efn|group=note|Some sources claim that the father of [[Seljuk (warlord)|Seljuk]], the eponymous progenitor of the [[Seljuk Turks]], namely Toqaq Temür Yalığ, began his career as an Oghuz soldier in Khazar service in the early and mid-10th century, and rose to high rank before he fell out with the Khazar rulers and departed for [[Khwarazm]]. Seljuk's sons, significantly, all bear names from the [[Tanakh|Jewish scriptures]]: Mîkâ"il, Isrâ"îl, Mûsâ, Yûnus. Peacock argues that early traditions attesting a Seljuk origin within the Khazar empire when it was powerful, were later rewritten, after Khazaria fell from power in the 11th century, to blank out the connection {{harv|Peacock|2010|pp=27–35}}.}} Whatever successor entity survived, it could no longer function as a bulwark against the pressure east and south of nomad expansions. By 1043, [[Kimek tribe|Kimeks]] and [[Kipchaks|Qipchaqs]], thrusting westwards, pressured the [[Oghuz Turks|Oğuz]], who in turn pushed the [[Pechenegs]] west towards Byzantium's Balkan provinces.{{sfn|Peacock|2010|p=35}}

Khazaria nonetheless left its mark on the rising states and some of their traditions and institutions. Much earlier, [[Tzitzak]], the Khazar wife of [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]], introduced into the Byzantine court the distinctive kaftan or riding habit of the nomadic Khazars, the tzitzakion (τζιτζάκιον), and this was adopted as a solemn element of imperial dress.{{efn|group=note|Tzitzak is often treated as her original [[proper name]], with a Turkic etymology ''čiček'' ("flower"). Erdal, however, citing the Byzantine work on court ceremony [[De Ceremoniis]], authored by [[Constantine VII|Constantine Porphyrogennetos]], argues that the word referred only to the dress Irene wore at court, perhaps denoting its colourfulness, and compares it to the Hebrew ''[[Tzitzit|ciciot]]'', the knotted fringes of a ceremonial shawl, or [[tallit]] ({{harvnb|Erdal|2007|p=80, n.22}}; {{harvnb|Wexler|1987|p=72}}).}} The orderly hierarchical system of succession by "scales" (''lestvichnaia sistema'':лествичная система) to the [[Kievan Rus'|Grand Principate of Kiev]] was arguably modelled on Khazar institutions, via the example of the [[Rus' Khaganate]].{{sfn|Golden|2001a|pp=28–29, 37}}

The proto-Hungarian Pontic tribe, while perhaps threatening Khazaria as early as 839 (Sarkel), practiced their institutional model, such as the dual rule of a ceremonial ''kende-kündü'' and a ''gyula'' administering practical and military administration, as tributaries of the Khazars. A dissident group of Khazars, the [[Kabar|Qabars]], joined the Hungarians in their migration westwards as they moved into [[Pannonia]]. Elements within the Hungarian population can be viewed as perpetuating Khazar traditions as a successor state. Byzantine sources refer to Hungary as [[Principality of Hungary|Western Tourkia]] in contrast to Khazaria, Eastern Tourkia. The gyula line produced the kings of medieval Hungary through descent from [[Árpád]], while the Qabars retained their traditions longer, and were known as "black Hungarians" (''fekete magyarság''). Some archaeological evidence from [[Čelarevo]] suggests the Qabars practised Judaism{{sfn|Golden|1994b|pp=247–248}}{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=56}}{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=33}} since warrior graves with Jewish symbols were found there, including [[Menorah (Temple)|menorahs]], [[shofar]]s, [[etrog]]s, [[lulav]]s, candlesnuffers, ash collectors, inscriptions in Hebrew, and a six-pointed star identical to the [[Star of David]].{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=150}}{{sfn|Brook|2010|p=167}}
[[File:Davestar.jpg|thumb|right|Seal discovered in excavations at Khazar sites. However, rather than having been made by Jews, these appear to be shamanistic sun discs.{{efn|group=note|"Engravings that resemble the six-pointed Star of David were found on circular Khazar relics and bronze mirrors from Sarkel and Khazarian grave fields in Upper Saltov. However, rather than having been made by Jews, these appear to be shamanistic sun discs." {{harv|Brook|2010|pp=113, 122–123 n.148}}}}]]

The Khazar state was not the only Jewish state to rise between the [[Second Temple Judaism|fall of the Second Temple]] (67–70&nbsp;CE) and the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|establishment of Israel]] (1948). A [[Himyarite Kingdom#Jewish monarchy|state in Yemen]] also adopted Judaism in the 4th century, lasting until the rise of Islam.{{sfn|Bowersock|2013|pp=85ff.}}

The Khazar kingdom is said to have stimulated messianic aspirations for a return to Israel as early as [[Judah Halevi]].{{sfn|Schweid|2007|p=286}} In the time of the Egyptian vizier [[Al-Afdal Shahanshah]] (d. 1121), one Solomon ben Duji, often identified as a Khazarian Jew,{{efn|group=note|Brook says this thesis was developed by Jacob Mann, based on a reading of the word "Khazaria" in the Cairo Geniza fragment. Bernard Lewis, he adds, challenged the assumption by noting that the original text reads ''Hakkâri'' and refers to the Kurds of the [[Hakkâri Province|Hakkâri mountains]] in south-east Turkey {{harv|Brook|2010|pp=191–192, n.72}}.}} attempted to advocate for a messianic effort for the liberation of, and return of all Jews to, Palestine. He wrote to many Jewish communities to enlist support. He eventually moved to [[Kurdistan]] where his son [[David Alroy|Menachem]] some decades later assumed the title of [[Messiah]] and, raising an army for this purpose, took the fortress of [[Amadiya]] north of [[Mosul]]. His project was opposed by the rabbinical authorities and he was poisoned in his sleep. One theory maintains that the Star of David, until then a decorative motif or magical emblem, began to assume its national value in late Jewish tradition from its earlier symbolic use by Menachem.{{sfn|Baron|1957|pp=202–204 [204]}}

The word Khazar, as an ethnonym, was last used in the 13th century by people in the North Caucasus believed to practice Judaism.{{sfn|Wexler|2002|p=514}} The nature of a hypothetical Khazar [[diaspora]], Jewish or otherwise, is disputed. [[Avraham ibn Daud]] mentions encountering rabbinical students descended from Khazars as far away as [[Toledo, Spain]] in the 1160s.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=149}} Khazar communities persisted here and there. Many Khazar mercenaries served in the armies of the Islamic Caliphates and other states. Documents from medieval Constantinople attest to a Khazar community mingled with the Jews of the suburb of [[Galata|Pera]].{{sfn|Brook|2010|pp=177–178}} Khazar merchants were active in both Constantinople and Alexandria in the 12th century.{{sfn|Noonan|2007|p=229}}

== Religion ==
=== Tengrism ===
{{Main|Tengrism}}

Direct sources for the Khazar religion are not many, but in all likelihood they originally engaged in a traditional Turkic form of religious practices known as [[Tengrism]], which focused on the [[sky god]] [[Tengri]]. Something of its nature may be deduced from what we know of the rites and beliefs of contiguous tribes, such as the North Caucasian Huns. [[Horse sacrifice]]s were made to this supreme deity. Rites involved offerings to fire, water, and the moon, to remarkable creatures, and to "gods of the road" (cf. Old Türk ''yol tengri'', perhaps a god of fortune). Sun amulets were widespread as cultic ornaments. A tree cult was also maintained. Whatever was struck by lightning, man or object, was considered a sacrifice to the high god of heaven. The afterlife, to judge from excavations of aristocratic tumuli, was much a continuation of life on earth, warriors being interred with their weapons, horses, and sometimes with human sacrifices: the funeral of one ''tudrun'' in 711-12 saw 300 soldiers killed to accompany him to the otherworld. [[Ancestor worship]] was observed. The key religious figure appears to have been a [[shamanism|shaman]]-like ''qam'',{{sfn|Golden|2007b|pp=131–133}} and it was these (''qozmím'') that were, according to the Khazar Hebrew conversion stories, driven out.

Many sources suggest, and a notable number of scholars have argued, that the charismatic Ashina clan played a germinal role in the early Khazar state, although Zuckerman dismisses the widespread notion of their pivotal role as a "phantom". The Ashina were closely associated with the Tengri cult, whose practices involved rites performed to assure a tribe of heaven's protective providence.{{sfn|Whittow|1996|p=220}} The khagan was deemed to rule by virtue of [[Kut (mythology)|''qut'']], "the heavenly mandate/good fortune to rule."{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=133}}{{efn|group=note|Whittow notes that this native institution, given the constant, lengthy, military and acculturating pressures on the tribes from China to the East, was influenced also by the [[Sinocentrism|sinocentric]] doctrine of the [[Mandate of Heaven|Mandate of Heaven (Tiānmìng:天命)]], which signaled legitimacy of rule {{harv|Whittow|1996|p=220}}.}}

=== Christianity ===
Khazaria long served as a [[buffer state]] between the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine empire]] and both the nomads of the northern steppes and the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad empire]], after serving as Byzantium's proxy against the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian Persian empire]]. The alliance was dropped around 900. Byzantium began to encourage the [[Alans]] to attack Khazaria and weaken its hold on Crimea and the Caucasus, while seeking to obtain an entente with the rising Rus' power to the north, which it aspired to convert to Christianity.{{sfn|Noonan|1999|pp=499, 502–503}}

On Khazaria's southern flank, both Islam and Byzantine Christianity were proselytising great powers. Byzantine success in the north was sporadic, although Armenian and Albanian missions from [[Derbend]] built churches extensively in maritime [[Daghestan]], then a Khazar district.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|pp=124, 135}} [[Buddhism]] also had exercised an attraction on leaders of both the Eastern (552–742) and Western Qağanates (552–659), the latter being the progenitor of the Khazar state.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=125}} In 682, according to the Armenian chronicle of [[Movses Kaghankatvatsi|Movsês Dasxuranc'i]], the king of [[Caucasian Albania]], [[Varaz Trdat]], dispatched a bishop, Israyêl, to convert Caucasian "Huns" who were subject to the Khazars, and managed to convince Alp Ilut'uêr, a son-in-law of the Khazar khagan, and his army, to abandon their shamanising cults and join the Christian fold.{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|pp=292–293}}{{efn|group=note|Alp Ilut'uêr is a Turkish subordinate title {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=124}}.}}

The Arab Georgian martyr [[Abo of Tiflis|St Abo]], who converted to Christianity within the Khazar kingdom around 779–80, describes local Khazars as irreligious.{{efn|group=note|Golden and Shapira thinks the evidence from such Georgian sources renders suspect a conversion prior to this date ({{harvnb|Golden|2007b|pp=135–136}}; {{harvnb|Shapira|2007b|pp=347–348}}).}} Some reports register a Christian majority at [[Samandar (city)|Samandar]],{{efn|group=note|{{harvnb|Golden|2007b|pp=135–136}}, reporting on [[al-Muqaddasi]].}} or Muslim majorities.{{efn|group=note|During Islamic invasions, some groups of Khazars who suffered defeat, including a khagan, were converted to Islam {{harv|DeWeese|1994|p=73}}.}}

=== Judaism ===
{{See also|Gerim|Conversion to Judaism}}
[[File:Mosemyntet high contrast.png|thumb| The Khazar "Moses coin" from the [[Spillings Hoard]] is an example of a dirham motif dated to c. 837/8 CE (223 [[Hijri year|AH]]) based on comparison with a different motif explicitly naming its origin in a Khazar workshop—as coins of this motif commonly imitate coins from different Abbasid mints down to the year. Its reverse replaces the standard Muslim legend "Muhammad is a [[Prophets and messengers in Islam#Terminology|messenger]] of God" with an expanded inscription: "Muhammad is a messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace; the [[Al-Mahdi|Caliph al-Mahdi]]; Moses is a messenger of God."{{sfn|Kovalev|2005|pp=226–228, 252}}{{sfn|Kovalev|2004|p=114}}]]
Conversion to Judaism is mentioned in the [[Khazar Correspondence]] and medieval external sources. The authenticity of the former was long doubted and challenged,{{efn|group=note|[[Johannes Buxtorf]] first published the letters around 1660. Controversy arose over their authenticity; it was even argued that the letters represented "no more than Jewish self-consolation and fantasmagory over the lost dreams of statehood" {{harv|Kohen|2007|p=112}}.}} but the documents are now widely accepted by specialists as either authentic or as reflecting internal Khazar traditions.{{efn|group=note|"If anyone thinks that the Khazar correspondence was first composed in 1577 and published in ''Qol Mebasser'', the onus of proof is certainly on him. He must show that a number of ancient manuscripts, which appear to contain references to the correspondence, have all been interpolated since the end of the sixteenth century. This will prove a very difficult or rather an impossible task." {{harv|Dunlop|1954|p=130}}}}{{efn|group=note|"The issue of the authenticity of the Correspondence has a long and mottled history which need not detain us here. Dunlop and most recently Golb have demonstrated that Hasdai's letter, Joseph's response (dating perhaps from the 950s) and the 'Cambridge Document' are, indeed, authentic." {{harv|Golden|2007b|pp=145–146}}}}{{efn|group=note|"(a court debate on conversion) appears in accounts of Khazar Judaism in two Hebrew accounts, as well as in one eleventh-century Arabic account. These widespread and evidently independent attestations would seem to support the historicity of some kind of court debate, but, more important, clearly suggest the currency of tales recounting the conversion and originating among the Khazar Jewish community itself" ... "the 'authenticity' of the Khazar correspondence is hardly relevant"{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|p=171}} "The wider issue of the 'authenticity' of the 'Khazar correspondence', and of the significance of this tale's parallels with the equally controversial Cambridge document /Schechter text, has been discussed extensively in the literature on Khazar Judaism; much of the debate loses significance if, as Pritsak has recently suggested, the accounts are approached as 'epic' narratives rather than evaluated from the standpoint of their 'historicity'."{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|p=305}}}}{{sfn|Szpiech|2012|p=102}} Archaeological evidence for conversion, on the other hand, remains elusive,{{efn|group=note|"Of the intensive archaeological study of Khazar sites (over a thousand burial sites have been investigated!), not one has yet yielded finds that yet fit in some way the material legacy of antique European or Middle Eastern Jewry." {{harv|Toch|2012|pp=162–163}}}}{{efn|group=note|Shingiray noting the widespread lack of artifacts of wealth in Khazar burials, arguing that nomads used few materials to express their personal attributes: "The SMC assemblages-even if they were not entirely missing from the Khazar imperial center - presented an outstanding instance of archaeological material minimalism in this region." {{harv|Shingiray|2012|pp=209–211}}}} and may reflect either the incompleteness of excavations, or that the stratum of actual adherents was thin.{{efn|group=note|"But, one must ask, are we to expect much religious paraphernalia in a recently converted steppe society? Do the Oğuz, in the century or so after their Islamization, present much physical evidence in the steppe for their new faith? These conclusions must be considered preliminary." {{harv|Golden|2007b|pp=150–151, and note 137}}}} Conversion of steppe or peripheral tribes to a [[Universalism|universal religion]] is a fairly well attested phenomenon,{{efn|group=note|{{harvnb|Golden|2007b|pp=128–129}} compares [[Ulfilas]]'s conversions of the [[Goths]] to [[Arianism]]; Al-Masudi records a conversion of the [[Alans]] to Christianity during the Abbasid period; the Volga Bulğars adopted Islam after their leader converted in the 10th century; the Uyğur Qağan accepted Manichaeism in 762.}} and the Khazar conversion to Judaism, although unusual, would not have been without precedent.{{efn|group=note|Golden takes exception to [[J. B. Bury]]'s claim (1912) that it was "unique in history".{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=123}}{{sfn|Koestler|1977|p=52}} Golden also cites from Jewish history the conversion of [[Edom|Idumeans]] under [[John Hyrcanus]]; of the [[Iturea]]ns under [[Aristobulus I]]; of the kingdom of [[Adiabene]] under [[Helena of Adiabene|Queen Helena]]; the [[Himyarite Kingdom|Ḥimyârî kings in Yemen]], and [[Berber people|Berber]] assimilations into North African Jewry.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=153}}}}

Jews from both the Islamic world and Byzantium are known to have migrated to Khazaria during periods of persecution under [[Heraclius]], [[Justinian II]], [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]], and [[Romanos I Lekapenos|Romanus Lakapēnos]].{{sfn|Golden|2007b|pp=141–145, 161}}{{sfn|Noonan|2001|pp=77–78}} For [[Simon Schama]], Jewish communities from the Balkans and the Bosphoran Crimea, especially from [[Panticapaeum]], began migrating to the more hospitable climate of pagan Khazaria in the wake of these persecutions, and were joined there by Jews from Armenia. The [[Cairo Geniza|Geniza fragments]], he argues, make it clear the Judaising reforms sent roots down into the whole of the population.{{sfn|Schama|2013|p=266}} The pattern is one of an elite conversion preceding large-scale adoption of the new religion by the general population, which often resisted the imposition.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=125}} One important condition for mass conversion was a settled urban state, where churches, synagogues or mosques provided a focus for religion, as opposed to the free nomadic lifestyle of life on the open steppes.{{efn|group=note|"The [[Sufism|Șûfî]] wandering out into the steppe was far more effective in bringing Islam to the Turkic nomads than the learned [[ulama|'ulamâ]] of the cities." {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=126}}}} A tradition of the Iranian [[Mountain Jews|Judeo-Tats]] claims that their ancestors were responsible for the Khazar conversion.{{sfn|Wexler|1987|p=61}} A legend traceable to the 16th-century Italian rabbi [[Judah Moscato]] attributed it to [[Yitzhak ha-Sangari]].{{sfn|Szyszman|1980|pp=71, 73}}{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|pp=122–124}}{{sfn|Brook|2010|pp=95, 117 n.51,52}}

Both the date of the conversion, and the extent of its influence beyond the elite,{{efn|group=note|"the Khazars (most of whom did not convert to Judaism, but remained animists, or adopted Islam and Christianity)" {{harv|Wexler|2002|p=514}}}} often minimised in some scholarship,{{efn|group=note|"In much of the literature on conversions of Inner Asian peoples, attempts are made, 'to minimize the impact' ... This has certainly been true of some of the scholarship regarding the Khazars." {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=127}}}} are a matter of dispute,{{efn|group=note|"scholars who have contributed to the subject of the Khazars' conversion, have based their arguments on a limited corpus of textual, and more recently, numismatic evidence ... Taken together these sources offer a cacophony of distortions, contradictions, vested interests, and anomalies in some areas, and nothing but silence in others." {{harv|Olsson|2013|p=496}}}} but at some point between 740 and 920&nbsp;CE, the Khazar [[royal family|royalty]] and [[nobility]] appear to have converted to [[Judaism]], in part, it is argued, perhaps to deflect competing pressures from Arabs and Byzantines to accept either Islam or Christianity.{{efn|group=note|"Judaism was apparently chosen because it was a religion of the book without being the faith of a neighbouring state which had designs on Khazar lands." {{harv|Noonan|1999|p=502}}}}{{efn|group=note|"Their conversion to Judaism was the equivalent of a declaration of neutrality between the two rival powers." {{harv|Baron|1957|p=198}}}}

The conversion of the Khazars to Judaism is an emotionally charged topic in Israel,{{efn|group=note|"in Israel, emotions are still high when it comes to the history of the Khazars, as I witnessed in a symposium on the issue at the Israeli Academy of Sciences in Jerusalem (May 24, 2011). Whereas Prof. Shaul Stampfer believed the story of the Khazars' conversion to Judaism was a collection of stories or legends that have no historical foundation, (and insisted that the Ashkenazi of Eastern Europe of today stem from Jews in Central Europe who emigrated eastwards), Prof. Dan Shapiro believed that the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism was part of the history of Russia at the time it established itself as a kingdom." {{harv|Falk|2017|p=101, n. 9}}}} and two scholars, [[Moshe Gil]] (2011) and [[Shaul Stampfer]], (2013) have challenged the authenticity of the medieval Hebrew documents and argue that the conversion of the Khazar elite to Judaism never happened.{{sfn|Stampfer|2013|pp=1–72}}{{sfn|Gil|2011|pp=429–441}} [[Alex M. Feldman]] is critical of Stampfer and Gil's dismissal of "overwhelming textual and archaeological evidence" of Khazarian Judaism, though agrees it is unlikely that Ashkenazim are descended from Khazarian Jews, he posits "a middle ground which can simultaneously accept Khazarian Judaism and doubt the Khazar-Ashkenazi descent theory advanced in dubious genetic studies."{{sfn|Feldman|2022b|pp=193–205}}

==== History of discussions about Khazar Jewishness ====
The earliest surviving Arabic text that refers to Khazar Jewishness appears to be that which was written by [[Ahmad ibn Rustah|ibn Rustah]], a Persian scholar who wrote an encyclopedic work on geography in the early tenth century.{{sfn|Stampfer|2013|p=17}} It is believed that ibn Rustah derived much of his information from the works of his contemporary [[Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Jayhani|Abu al Jayhani]] based in Central Asia.

[[File:Signature Kiev letter.gif|right|thumb|250px|The 10th century [[Kievian Letter]] has [[Old Turkic alphabet|Old Turkic]] (Orkhon) inscription word-phrase ''OKHQURÜM'', "I read (this or it)".]]
[[Christian of Stavelot]] in his [[Expositio in Matthaeum Evangelistam]] (c. 860–870s) refers to ''Gazari'', presumably Khazars, as living in the lands of [[Gog and Magog]], who were circumcised and ''omnem Judaismum observat''—observing all the laws of Judaism.{{efn|group=note|"We are not aware of any nation under the sky that would not have Christians among them. For even in Gog and Magog, the Hunnic people who call themselves Gazari, those whom Alexander confined, there was a tribe more brave than the others. This tribe had already been circumcised and they profess all dogmata of Judaism (''omnem Judaismum observat'')." {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=139}}}} New numismatic evidence of coins dated 837/8 bearing the inscriptions ''arḍ al-ḫazar'' "Land of the Khazars", or ''Mûsâ rasûl Allâh'' "[[Moses in Islam|Moses is the messenger of God]]", in imitation of the Islamic coin phrase "[[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] is the messenger of God") suggest to many the conversion took place in that decade.{{efn|group=note|The idea of a forced general conversion imposed on the khaganal dynasty in the 830s was advanced by Omeljian Pritsak, and is now supported by Roman Kovalev and Peter Golden {{harv|Olsson|2013|p=497}}.}} Olsson argues that the 837/8 evidence marks only the beginning of a long and difficult official [[Judaization]] that concluded some decades later.{{efn|group=note|Olsson identifies this with the onset of Magyar invasions of the Pontic steppe in the 830s, the construction of Sarkel, and the Schechter letter's reference to Bulan, converted to his Jewish wife Serakh's faith, wresting power, in a period of famine, elements which undermined the khagan, and allowed the creation of the royal diarchy {{harv|Olsson|2013|pp=507, 513ff}}.}} A 9th-century Jewish traveller, [[Eldad ha-Dani]], is said to have informed Spanish Jews in 883 that there was a Jewish polity in the East, and that fragments of the legendary [[Ten Lost Tribes]], part of the line of [[Tribe of Simeon|Simeon]] and half-line of [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]], dwelt in "the land of the Khazars", receiving tribute from some 25 to 28 kingdoms.{{sfn|Brook|2018|p=6}}{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|pp=140–142}}{{sfn|Zhivkov|2015|p=42}} Another view holds that by the 10th century, while the royal clan officially claimed Judaism, a non-normative variety of Islamisation took place among the majority of Khazars.{{sfn|Shingiray|2012|pp=212–214}}

By the 10th century, the [[Khazar Correspondence|letter of King Joseph]] asserts that, after the royal conversion, "Israel returned (''yashuvu yisra'el'') with the people of Qazaria (to Judaism) in complete repentance (''bi-teshuvah shelemah'')."{{sfn|Szpiech|2012|pp=92–117 [104]}} [[Persians|Persian historian]] [[Ibn al-Faqih|Ibn al-Faqîh]] wrote that "all the Khazars are Jews, but they have been Judaized recently". [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan|Ibn Fadlân]], based on his Caliphal mission (921–922) to the Volga Bulğars, also reported that "the core element of the state, the Khazars, were Judaized",{{efn|group=note|''wa al-ḥazarwa malikuhum kulluhum yahûd'' ("The Khazars and their king are all Jews") {{harv|Golden|2007b|pp=143, 159}}}} something underwritten by the [[Karaite Judaism|Qaraite]] scholar [[Jacob Qirqisani|Ya'kub Qirqisânî]] around 937.{{efn|group=note|Golden, citing his comment on [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 9:27: "some other commentators are of the opinion that this verse alludes to the Khazars who accepted Judaism", with Golden's comment: "Certainly, by this time, the association of Khazaria and Judaism in the Jewish world was an established fact" {{harv|Golden|2007b|p=143}}.}} The conversion appears to have occurred against a background of frictions arising from both an intensification of Byzantine missionary activity from the Crimea to the Caucasus, and Arab attempts to wrest control over the latter in the 8th century CE,{{sfn|Golden|2007b|pp=137–138}} and a revolt, put down, by the [[Kabar|Khavars]] around the mid-9th century is often invoked as in part influenced by their refusal to accept Judaism.{{sfn|Spinei|2009|p=50}} Modern scholars generally{{efn|group=note|Shapira and Zuckerman disagree, positing only one stage and placing it later. Shapira takes stage 1 as a Jewish-Khazar reinterpretation of the Tengri-cult in terms of a monotheism similar to Judaism's; Zuckerman thinks Judaisation took place, just once, after 861 ({{harvnb|Shapira|2007b|pp=349, and n.178}}; {{harvnb|Zuckerman|1995|p=250}}).}} see the conversion as a slow process through three stages, which accords with Richard Eaton's model of syncretic ''inclusion'', gradual ''identification'' and, finally, ''displacement'' of the older tradition.{{efn|group=note|Dunlop thought the first stage occurred with the king's conversion c. 740; the second with the installation of Rabbinical Judaism c. 800 ({{harvnb|Golden|2007b|pp=127–128, 151–153}}; {{harvnb|Dunlop|1954|p=170}}).}}{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|pp=300–308}}

Sometime between 954 and 961, [[Hasdai ibn Shaprut|Ḥasdai ibn Shaprūṭ]], from [[al-Andalus]] (Muslim Spain), wrote a letter of inquiry addressed to the ruler of Khazaria, and received a reply from [[Joseph (Khazar)|Joseph of Khazaria]]. The exchanges of this [[Khazar Correspondence]], together with the [[Schechter Letter]] discovered in the [[Cairo Geniza]] and the famous [[plato]] nizing dialogue{{sfn|Melamed|2003|pp=24–26}} by [[Judah Halevi]], ''[[Kuzari|Sefer ha-Kuzari]]'' ("Book (of) The Khazari"), which plausibly drew on such sources,{{efn|group=note|Arabic original: ''Kitâb al-ḥuyya wa'l-dalîl fi naṣr al-din al-dhalîl'' (Book of the Argument and Demonstration in Aid of the Despised Faith) {{harv|Schweid|2007|p=279}}.}} provide us with the only direct evidence of the indigenous traditions{{efn|group=note|Brook mentions also a letter in Hebrew, the [[Mandgelis Document|Mejelis document]], dated 985–986, which refers to "our lord David, the Khazar prince" who lived in [[Taman Peninsula|Taman]]. As Brook notes, both [[D. M. Dunlop]] and Dan Shapira dismiss it as a forgery {{harv|Brook|2010|pp=30; 41, n.75}}.}} concerning the conversion. [[Bulan (Khazar)|King Bulan]]{{efn|group=note|The name is commonly etymologized as meaning "elk" in Türkic. Shapira identifies him with the Sabriel of the Schechter letter, and suggests, since Sabriel is unattested as a Jewish name, although the root is "hope, believe, find out, understand" that it is a calque on the Oğuz Türkic ''bulan'' (one who finds out) or ''bilen'' (one who knows) {{harv|Shapira|2009|p=1102}}.}} is said to have driven out the sorcerers,{{efn|group=note|Szpiech, citing the [[Khazar Correspondence|Letter of King Joseph]]: ''et ha-qosmim ve-et'ovdei avodah zarah'' ("expelled the wizards and idolators") {{harv|Szpiech|2012|pp=93–117 [102]}}.}} and to have received angelic visitations exhorting him to find the true religion, upon which, accompanied by his vizier, he travelled to desert mountains of Warsān on a seashore, where he came across a cave rising from the plain of Tiyul in which Jews used to celebrate the Sabbath. Here he was circumcised.{{efn|group=note|This detail is in Halevi's ''Sefer Ha-Kusari''.{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|p=302}} Golden has identified Warsān as Transcaucasian Varaˇc'an.{{sfn|Olsson|2013|p=512}} Ḥasdai ibn Shaprūṭ's letter also mentions a legend that the Chaldaeans, under persecution, hid the Scriptures in a cave, and taught their sons to pray there, which they did until their descendants forgot the custom. Much later, a tradition has it, a man of Israel entered the cave and, retrieving the books, taught the descendants how to learn the Law.{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|pp=304–305}}}} Bulan is then said to have convened a royal debate between exponents of the three [[Abrahamic religions]]. He decided to convert when he was convinced of Judaism's superiority. Many scholars situate this c. 740, a date supported by Halevi's own account.{{sfn|Korobkin|1998|p=352, n.8}}{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|p=170}} The details are both Judaic{{efn|group=note|The Schechter document has officers during the religious debate speak of a cave in a certain plain (''TYZWL'') where books are to be retrieved. They turn out to be the books of the [[Torah]] ({{harvnb|DeWeese|1994|p=303}}; {{harvnb|Golb|Pritsak|1982|p=111}}).}} and Türkic: a Türkic ethnogonic myth speaks of an ancestral cave in which the Ashina were conceived from the mating of their human ancestor and a wolf ancestress.{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=157}}{{efn|group=note|The original ancestral cavern of the Türks, according to Chinese sources, was called ''Ötüken'', and the tribal leaders would travel there annually to conduct sacrificial rites {{harv|DeWeese|1994|pp=276, 300–304}}.}}{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|pp=117–118}} These accounts suggest that there was a rationalising syncretism of native pagan traditions with Jewish law, by melding through the motif of the cave, a site of ancestral ritual and repository of forgotten sacred texts, Türkic myths of origin and Jewish notions of redemption of Israel's fallen people.{{sfn|DeWeese|1994|pp=304–305}} It is generally agreed they adopted Rabbinical rather than [[Karaite Judaism|Qaraite Judaism]].{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=232}}

[[Ibn Fadlan]] reports that the settlement of disputes in Khazaria was adjudicated by judges hailing each from his community, be it Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Pagan.{{sfn|Maroney|2010|p=72}} Some evidence suggests that the Khazar king saw himself as a defender of Jews even beyond the kingdom's frontiers, retaliating against Muslim or Christian interests in Khazaria in the wake of Islamic and Byzantine persecutions of Jews abroad.{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=34}}{{efn|group=note|Kohen refers to Khazar killings of Christians or the uncircumcized in retaliation for persecutions of Jews in Byzantium, and Khazar reprisals against Muslims for persecutions of Jews in [[Caucasian Albania]], perhaps under Emir Nasr {{harv|Kohen|2007|pp=107–108}}.}} Ibn Fadlan recounts specifically an incident in which the king of Khazaria destroyed the minaret of a mosque in Atil as revenge for the destruction of a synagogue in Dâr al-Bâbûnaj, and allegedly said he would have done worse were it not for a fear that the Muslims might retaliate in turn against Jews.{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=232}}{{sfn|Golden|2007b|p=161}} Ḥasdai ibn Shaprūṭ sought information on Khazaria in the hope he might discover "a place on this earth where harassed Israel can rule itself" and wrote that, were it to prove true that Khazaria had such a king, he would not hesitate to forsake his high office and his family in order to emigrate there.{{efn|group=note|"If indeed I could learn that this was the case, then, despising all my glory, abandoning my high estate, leaving my family, I would go over mountains and hills, through seas and lands, till I should arrive at the place where my Lord the King resides, that I might see not only his glory and magnificence, and that of his servants and ministers, but also the tranquillity of the Israelites. On beholding this my eyes would brighten, my reins would exult, my lips would pour forth praises to God, who has not withdrawn his favour from his afflicted ones." ({{harvnb|Koestler|1977|p=63}}; {{harvnb|Leviant|2008|pp=159–162}})}}

[[Abraham Harkavy|Albert Harkavy]] noted in 1877 that an [[Arabic]] commentary on [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah 48:14]]
ascribed to [[Saadia Gaon]] or to the Karaite scholar [[Benjamin Nahawandi|Benjamin Nahâwandî]], interpreted "The Lord hath loved him" as a reference "to the Khazars, who will go and destroy [[Babylon|Babel]]" (i.e., [[Babylon]]ia), a name used to designate the country of the Arabs. This has been taken as an indication of hopes by Jews that the Khazars might succeed in destroying the [[Caliphate]].{{sfn|Szyszman|1980|pp=71, 73}}

=== Islam ===
In 965, as the Qağanate was struggling against the victorious campaign of the Rus' prince Sviatoslav, the Islamic historian [[Ibn al-Athir|Ibn al-Athîr]] mentions that Khazaria, attacked by [[Oghuz Turks|the Oğuz]], sought help from [[Khwarazm|Khwarezm]], but their appeal was rejected because they were regarded as "infidels" (''al-kuffâr''; pagans). Save for the king, the Khazarians are said to have converted to Islam in order to secure an alliance, and the Turks were, with Khwarezm's military assistance, repelled. It was this that, according to Ibn al-Athîr, led the Jewish king of Khazar to convert to Islam.{{sfn|Petrukhin|2007|p=263}}

== Genetics ==
Nine skeletons dating to the 7th–9th centuries excavated from elite military burial mounds of the Khazar Khaganate (in the modern [[Rostov Oblast|Rostov]] region) were analyzed in two genetic studies (from 2019 and 2021). According to the 2019 study, the results "confirm the Turkic roots of the Khazars, but also highlight their ethnic diversity and some integration of conquered populations". The samples did not show a genetic connection to Ashkenazi Jews, and the results do not support the hypothesis of Ashkenazi Jews being descendants of the Khazars.{{sfn|Mikheyev|Qiu|Zarubin|Moshkov|2019}} In the 2021 study the results showed both European and East Asian paternal haplogroups in the samples: three individuals carried [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a]] Y-haplogroup, two had [[Haplogroup C-M217|C2b]], and the rest carried haplogroups [[Haplogroup G2a|G2a]], [[Haplogroup N-M231|N1a]], [[Haplogroup Q-M242|Q]], and [[Haplogroup R1b|R1b]], respectively. According to the authors, "The Y-chromosome data are consistent with the results of the craniological study and genome-wide analysis of the same individuals in the sense that they show mixed genetic origins for the early medieval Khazar nobility".{{sfn|Kornienko|Faleeva|Schurr|Aramova|2021|pp=477–488}} Their facial features were of mix of East Asian and European, with East Asian type dominating (70%) in the early Khazars.{{sfn|Kornienko|Faleeva|Schurr|Aramova|2021|p=478}}

== Claims of Khazar ancestry ==
Claims of Khazar origins of peoples, or suggestions that the Khazars were absorbed by them, have been made with regard to the [[Kazakhs]], the [[Hungarians]], the [[Judaizers|Judaizing]] [[Slavs|Slavic]] [[Subbotniks]], the Muslim [[Karachays]], the [[Kumyks]], the [[Avars (Caucasus)|Avars]], the [[Don Cossacks|Cossacks of the Don]] and the [[Ukrainian Cossacks]] (see [[Khazar hypothesis of Cossack ancestry]]), the Turkic-speaking [[Krymchaks]] and their Crimean neighbours the [[Crimean Karaites|Karaites]], [[Mishar Tatars]],{{sfn|Who are the Mishars?|2016}} the Moldavian [[Csángós]] and others.{{sfn|Kizilov|2009|p=335}}{{sfn|Brook|2018|pp=145, 149–151, 162–163, 164}}{{sfn|Patai|Patai|1989|p=73}}{{sfn|Wexler|1987|p=70}} [[Turkic languages|Turkic]]-speaking [[Crimean Karaites]] (known in the [[Crimean Tatar language]] as ''Qaraylar''), some of whom migrated in the 19th century from the [[Crimea]] to Poland and Lithuania have claimed Khazar origins. Specialists in Khazar history question the connection.{{sfn|Brook|2018|pp=210–216}}{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=9}}{{efn|group=note|name=Rabinnic|Rabbinic Judaism rather than Qaraism was the form adopted. Small [[Karaite Judaism|Karaim]] communities may have existed, but the linguistic and historical evidence suggests that the [[Crimean Karaites|Turkic-speaking Karaim Jews]] in Poland and Lithuania, of which one branch also existed in the Crimea, descend from the Khazars. "At most, it is conceivable that the smaller Karaite community which lived in Khazaria gained the Kipchak type Turkic language, that they speak today, through an exchange of language." Khazars probably converted to [[Rabbinic Judaism]], whereas in [[Karaism]] only the [[Torah]] is accepted, the [[Talmud]] being ignored {{harv|Róna-Tas|1999|p=232}}.}} Scholarship is likewise sceptical of claims that the [[Crimean Tatar language|Tatar-speaking Krymchak Jews]] of the Crimea descend from Khazars.{{sfn|Brook|2018|pp=208–209}}

=== Crimean Karaites and Krymchaks ===
{{Main|Crimean Karaites|Krymchaks}}

In 1839, the [[Crimean Karaites|Karaim]] scholar [[Abraham Firkovich]] was appointed by the Russian government as a researcher into the origins of the Jewish sect known as the [[Karaite Judaism|Karaites]].{{sfn|Goldstein|2011|p=9}} In 1846, one of his acquaintances, the Russian orientalist Vasilii Vasil'evich Grigor'ev (1816–1881), theorised that the Crimean Karaites were of Khazar stock. Firkovich vehemently rejected the idea,{{sfn|Shapira|2006|p=166}} a position seconded by Firkovich,{{clarify|reason=He seconded his own position?|date=October 2024}} who hoped that by "proving" his people were of Turkic origin, he would secure them exception from Russian anti-Jewish laws, since they bore no responsibility for Christ's crucifixion.{{sfnp|Blady|2000|p=125}} This idea has a notable impact in Crimean Karaite circles.{{efn|group=note|"At a time when Russia masked imperialist goals by pretending to be the protector of Slavic peoples and the Orthodox faith, Crimean Karism was exercising its own version of cultural imperialism. It is clear that the Crimean Karaites intended to expand their dominion to include Cairo, Jerusalem, and Damascus, basing their pre-eminence on the claim that Karaism, an ancient, pre-Talmudic form of Judaism, had been brought to the Middle East by the Khazars. Such an allegation would, however, have been much more difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.{{pb}}To summarize the Khazar-Karaite nexus commonly accepted in the Russian Empire during the last century: the Khazars, who were of pagan Turkic origin, were supposedly brought to Judaism by Karaites, descendants of Jews who had lived in the Black Sea areas since biblical times and whose Judaism was, therefore, pre-Talmudic and nonrabbinic. As a result, the Khazars' Judaism was Karaite, and later Karaites, who spoken a Turkic language, must have descended from the Khazars, with whom the ancient Jews had assimilated. The circularity of the argument aside, modern historians have concluded that the Khazars were converted by Rabbanite Jews and that they and their descendants observed rabbinic law and traditions. Indeed, recent scholarship has demonstrated that Khazaria was altogether unrepresented in the Karaite literature of the ninth and early tenth centuries, as well as that written during its Golden Age – when Karaism had a militant and missionary influence."{{sfn|Miller|1993|pp=7–9}}}} It is now believed that he forged much of this material on Khazars and Karaites.{{sfn|Weinryb|1973a|pp=21–22}} Specialists in Khazar history also question the connection.{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=9}}{{efn|group=note|name=Rabinnic}} A genetic study of European Karaites by [[Kevin Alan Brook]] found no evidence of a Khazar or Turkic origin for any uniparental lineage but did reveal the European Karaites' links to Egyptian Karaites and to Rabbinical Jewish communities.{{sfn|Brook|2018|pp=213–215}}{{sfn|Brook|2014|pp=69–84}}

Another Turkic Crimean group, the [[Krymchaks]] had retained very simple Jewish traditions, mostly devoid of [[halakha|halakhic content]], and very much taken with magical superstitions which, in the wake of the enduring educational efforts of the great Sephardi scholar [[Chaim Hezekiah Medini]], came to conform with traditional Judaism.{{sfnp|Blady|2000|p=122}}

Though the assertion they were not of Jewish stock enabled many Crimean Karaites to survive the Holocaust, which led to the murder of 6,000 Krymchaks, after the war, many of the latter, somewhat indifferent to their Jewish heritage, took a cue from the Crimean Karaites, and denied this connection in order to avoid the antisemitic effects of the stigma attached to Jews.{{sfnp|Blady|2000|p=126}}

=== Ashkenazi-Khazar theories ===
{{Main|Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry}}

Several scholars have suggested that instead of disappearing after the dissolution of their Empire, the Khazars migrated westward and eventually, they formed part of the core of the later [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi Jewish]] population of Europe. This hypothesis is greeted with scepticism or caution by most scholars.{{efn|group=note|"Most scholars are skeptical of the hypothesis".{{sfn|Wexler|2002|p=536}} Wexler, who proposes a variation of the idea, argues that a combination of three reasons accounts for scholarly aversion to the concept: a desire not to get mixed up in controversy, ideological insecurities, and the incompetence of much earlier work in favor of that hypothesis.}}{{efn|group=note|"Methodologically, Wexler has opened up some new areas, taking elements of folk culture into account. I think that his conclusions have gone well beyond the evidence. Nonetheless, these are themes that should be pursued further." {{harv|Golden|2007a|p=56}}}}{{efn|group=note|"[[Arthur Koestler]]'s book ''[[The Thirteenth Tribe]]'' which claimed that the converted Khazars were the progenitors of today's [[Ashkenazi Jews]], has largely been rejected by serious scholars. However, the disputed theory that the stereotypical European Jew is descended from an [[Eastern Europe]]an nation of Jewish converts, has been sufficiently unwelcome as to render study of the Khazars an area of research largely off limits for Jewish as well as Russian archaeologists, the Russians being unhappy with the prospect that their empire was initially ruled by Jewish kings, and the Jews being unhappy with the prospect that the Ashkenazim might not have a genetic connection to the freed slaves who met with God at Sinai." {{harv|Mariner|1999|pp=95–96}}}}

The German Orientalist [[Karl Friedrich Neumann|Karl Neumann]], in the context of an earlier controversy about possible connections between the Khazars and the ancestors of the [[Slavs|Slavic peoples]], suggested as early as 1847 that emigrant Khazars might have influenced the core population of Eastern European Jews.{{efn|group=note|{{harvnb|Kizilov|2014|p=389}} citing [[Karl Friedrich Neumann|Karl Neumann]], [https://archive.org/details/dievlkerdessdli00neumgoog ''Die Völker des südlichen Russlands in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung,''] (1847) 2nd ed. Teubner 1855 pp. 125–126.}}

The theory was then taken up by [[Abraham Harkavy|Albert Harkavi]] in 1869, when he also claimed that a possible link existed between the Khazars and the Ashkenazim,{{efn|group=note|{{harvnb|Rossman|2002|p=98}}: Abraham Harkavy, ''O yazykye evreyev, zhivshikh v drevneye vremya na Rusi i o slavianskikh slovakh, vstrechaiuschikhsia u evreiskikh pisatelei,'' St. Petersburg.}} but the theory that Khazar converts formed a major proportion of the Ashkenazim was first proposed to the Western public in a lecture which was delivered by [[Ernest Renan]] in 1883.{{efn|group=note|{{harvnb|Barkun|1997|p=137}}: Ernest Renan, "Judaism as a Race and as Religion." Delivered on 27 January 1883.}}{{sfn|Rossman|2002|p=98}} Occasional suggestions that there was a small Khazar component in East European Jews emerged in works by [[Joseph Jacobs]] (1886), [[Henri Jean Baptiste Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu|Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu]], a critic of antisemitism (1893),<ref>{{harvnb|Singerman|2004|pp=3–4}}, ''Israël chez les nations'' (1893)</ref> [[Maksymilian Ernest Gumplowicz]],{{efn|group=note|The source is Maksymilian Ernest Gumplowicz, ''Początki religii żydowskiej w Polsce,'' Warsaw: E. Wende i S-ka, 1903 {{harv|Polonsky|Basista|Link-Lenczowski|1993|p=120}}}} and by the Russian-Jewish anthropologist [[Samuel Weissenberg]].{{efn|group=note|Goldstein writes "The theory that Eastern European Jews are descended from the Khazars was originally proposed by Samuel Weissenberg in an attempt to show that Jews were deeply rooted on Russian soil and the cradle of [[Jewish culture|Jewish civilization]] was the Caucasus".{{sfn|Goldstein|2006|p=131}} Weissenberg's book ''Die Südrussischen Juden'', was published in 1895.}} In 1909, [[Hugo von Kutschera]] developed the notion into a book-length study,{{sfn|Koestler|1977|pp=134, 150}}{{sfn|von Kutschera|1909}} arguing that the Khazars formed the foundational core of the modern Ashkenazim.{{sfn|Koestler|1977|pp=134, 150}} [[Maurice Fishberg]] introduced the notion to American audiences in 1911.{{sfn|Goldstein|2006|p=131}}{{sfn|Fishberg|1911}} The idea was also taken up by the Polish-Jewish economic historian and [[General Zionists|General Zionist]] [[Yitzhak Schipper]] in 1918.{{efn|group=note|Schipper's first monograph on this was published in the ''Almanach Žydowski'' (Vienna) in 1918. While in the [[Warsaw ghetto]] before falling victim to the Holocaust at [[Majdanek]], Schipper (1884–1943) was working on the Khazar hypothesis {{harv|Litman|1984|pp=85–110 [109]}}.}}{{sfn|Brook|2010|p=210}} [[Israel Bartal]] has suggested that from the [[Haskalah]] onwards, polemical pamphlets against the Khazars were inspired by [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]] organizations which opposed the Khazaro-Ashkenazim.{{sfn|Falk|2017|p=101, n.9}}

Scholarly anthropologists, such as [[Roland Burrage Dixon|Roland B. Dixon]] (1923), and writers such as [[H. G. Wells]] (1920) used it to argue that "The main part of Jewry never was in [[Judea]]",{{efn|group=note|"There were Arab tribes who were Jews in the time of Muhammad, and a Turkic people who were mainly Jews in South Russia in the ninth century. Judaism is indeed the reconstructed political ideal of many shattered peoples-mainly semitic. As a result of these coalescences and assimilations, almost everywhere in the towns throughout the [[Roman Empire]], and far beyond it in the east, Jewish communities traded and flourished, and they were kept in touch through the [[Bible]], and through a religious and educational organization. The main part of Jewry never was in Judea and it had never come out of Judea." {{harv|Wells|1920|p=570}}}}{{sfn|Singerman|2004|p=4}} a thesis that was to have a political echo in later opinion.{{efn|group=note|[[John Bagot Glubb]] held that Russian Jews "have considerably less Middle Eastern blood, consisting largely of pagan Slav proselytes or of Khazar Turks." For Glubb, they were not "descendants of the Judeans ...The Arabs of Palestine are probably more closely related to the Judeans (genetically) than are modern Russian or German Jews.... Of course, an anti-Zionist (as well as an anti-Semitic) point is being made here: The Palestinians have a greater political right to Palestine than the Jews do, as they, not the modern-day Jews, are the true descendants of the land's Jewish inhabitants/owners" {{harv|Morris|2003|p=22}}.}}{{sfn|Burrage Dixon|1923}}{{sfn|Wells|1920|p=?}}

In 1932, [[Samuel Krauss]] ventured the theory that the biblical Ashkenaz referred to northern [[Asia Minor]], and he identified it as the ancestral homeland of the Khazars, a position which was immediately disputed by [[Jacob Mann]].{{sfn|Malkiel|2008|p=263, n.1}} Ten years later, in 1942, [[Abraham Polak|Abraham N. Polak]] (sometimes referred to as ''Poliak''), later professor for the history of the Middle Ages at [[Tel Aviv University]], published a Hebrew monograph in which he concluded that the East European Jews came from Khazaria.{{efn|group=note|First written as an article in 1941 – "The Khazars' Conversion to Judaism", then written as a monograph (1943), it was revised twice, first, it was revised in 1944, and in 1951, it was revised again and it was also retitled ''Kazariyah: Toldot mamlacha yehudit'' be'Eropa (Khazaria: History of a Jewish Kingdom in Europe) Mosad Bialik, Tel Aviv, 1951.}}{{efn|group=note|"Poliak sought the origins of Eastern European Jewry in Khazaria" {{harv|Golden|2007a|p=29}}.}}{{sfn|Sand|2010|p=234}} [[D.M. Dunlop]], writing in 1954, thought that very little evidence supported what he considered a mere assumption, and he also argued that the Ashkenazi-Khazar descent theory went far beyond what "our imperfect records" permit.{{sfn|Dunlop|1954|pp=261, 263}} In 1955, [[Léon Poliakov]], who assumed that the Jews of Western Europe resulted from a "panmixia" in the first millennium, asserted that it was widely assumed that Europe's Eastern Jews were descended from a mixture of Khazarian and German Jews.{{efn|group=note|"As for the Jews of Eastern Europe (Poles, Russians, etc.), it has always been assumed that they descended from an amalgamation of Jews of Khazar stock from southern Russia and German Jews (the latter having imposed their superior culture)." {{harv|Poliakov|2005|p=285}}}} Poliak's work found some support in [[Salo Wittmayer Baron]] and [[Ben-Zion Dinur]],{{efn|group=note|Sand{{sfn|Sand|2010|pp=241–242}} cites [[Salo Wittmayer Baron]], "before and after the Mongol upheaval the Khazars sent many offshoots into the unsubdued Slavonic lands, helping ultimately to build up the great Jewish center of Eastern Europe";{{sfn|Baron|1957|pp=196–206 [206]}} as well as [[Ben-Zion Dinur]]: "The Russian conquests did not destroy the Khazar kingdom entirely, but they broke it up and diminished it. And this kingdom, which had absorbed Jewish immigration and refugees from many exiles, must itself have become a diaspora mother, the mother of one of the greatest of the diasporas (''Em-galuyot, em akhat hagaluyot hagdolot'')-of Israel in Russia, Lithuania and Poland."{{sfn|Dinur|1961|pp=2, 5}}}}{{efn|group=note|"Salo Baron, who incorrectly viewed them as Finno-Ugrians, believed that the Khazars 'sent many offshoots into the unsubdued Slavonic lands, helping ultimately to build up the great Jewish centers of eastern Europe'" {{harv|Golden|2007a|p=55}}}} but was dismissed by Bernard Weinryb as a fiction (1962).{{efn|group=note|"dismissed&nbsp;... rather airily" {{harv|Golden|2007a|p=55}}.}} [[Bernard Lewis]] was of the opinion that the word in [[Cairo Geniza]] interpreted as Khazaria is actually [[Hakkari (historical region)|Hakkari]] and therefore it relates to the [[Kurds]] of the Hakkari mountains in southeast [[Turkey]].{{sfn|Brook|2006|p=192}}

The Khazar-Ashkenazi hypothesis came to the attention of a much wider public with the publication of [[Arthur Koestler]]'s ''[[The Thirteenth Tribe]]'' in 1976,{{sfn|Sand|2010|p=240}} which was both positively reviewed and dismissed as a fantasy, and a somewhat dangerous one. Israeli historian Zvi Ankori argued that Koestler had allowed his literary imagination to espouse Poliak's thesis, which most historians dismissed as speculative.{{sfn|Falk|2017|p=102}} Israel's ambassador to Britain branded it "an anti-Semitic action financed by the [[Palestinians]]", while [[Bernard Lewis]] claimed that the idea was not supported by any evidence whatsoever, and it had been abandoned by all serious scholars.{{sfn|Sand|2010|p=240}}{{efn|group=note|"Some limit this denial to European Jews and make use of the theory that the Jews of Europe are not of Israelite descent at all but are the offspring of a tribe of Central Asian Turks converted to Judaism, called the Khazars. This theory, first put forward by an Austrian anthropologist in the early years of this century, is supported by no evidence whatsoever. It has long since been abandoned by all serious scholars in the field, including those in Arab countries, where Khazar theory is little used except in occasional political polemics."{{sfn|Lewis|1987|p=48}} Assertions of this kind have been challenged by Paul Wexler{{sfn|Wexler|2002|p=538}} who also notes that the arguments on this issue are riven by contrasting ideological investments: "Most writers who have supported the Ashkenazi-Khazar hypothesis have not argued their claims in a convincing manner ... The opponents of the Khazar-Ashkenazi nexus are no less guilty of empty polemics and unconvincing arguments."{{sfn|Wexler|2002|p=537}}}} [[Raphael Patai]], however, registered some support for the idea that Khazar remnants had played a role in the growth of Eastern European Jewish communities,{{efn|group=note|"it is assumed by all historians that those Jewish Khazars who survived the last fateful decades sought and found refuge in the bosom of Jewish communities in the Christian countries to the west, and especially in Russia and Poland, on the one hand, and in the Muslim countries to the east and the south, on the other. Some historians and anthropologists go so far as to consider the modern Jews of East Europe, and more particularly of Poland, the descendants of the medieval Khazars." {{harv|Patai|Patai|1989|p=71}}}} and several amateur researchers, such as [[Boris Altschüler]] (1994),{{sfn|Golden|2007a|p=9}} kept the thesis in the public eye. The theory has been occasionally manipulated to deny Jewish nationhood.{{sfn|Sand|2010|p=240}}{{sfn|Toch|2012|p=155, n.4}} Recently, a variety of approaches, from linguistics ([[Paul Wexler (linguist)|Paul Wexler]]){{sfn|Wexler|2007|pp=387–398}} to historiography ([[Shlomo Sand]]){{sfn|Sand|2010|pp=190–249}} and [[population genetics]] ([[Eran Elhaik]], a geneticist from the [[University of Sheffield]]){{sfn|Elhaik|2012|pp=61–74}} have emerged to keep the theory alive.{{sfn|Spolsky|2014|pp=174–177}} In a broad academic perspective, both the idea that the Khazars converted ''en masse'' to Judaism and the suggestion they emigrated to form the core population of Ashkenazi Jewry, remain highly polemical issues.{{sfn|Golden|2007a|pp=9–10}} One thesis held that the Khazar Jewish population went into a northern diaspora and had a significant impact on the rise of [[Ashkenazi Jews]]. Connected to this thesis is the theory, expounded by Paul Wexler, dissenting from the majority of Yiddish linguists, that the grammar of [[Yiddish]] contains a Khazar substrate.{{sfn|Wexler|2002|pp=513–541}}

==== Use in antisemitic polemic ====
According to [[Michael Barkun]], while the Khazar hypothesis generally never played any major role in the development of [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitism]],{{sfn|Barkun|1997|pp=136–137}} it has exercised a noticeable influence on American antisemites since the [[Immigration Act of 1924|restrictions on immigration were imposed in the 1920s]].{{efn|group=note|"The Khazar theory never figured as a major component of antisemitism. The connection receives only scant attention in [[Léon Poliakov]]'s monumental history of the subject. It did however come to exercise a particular attraction for advocates of immigration restriction in America." {{harv|Barkun|1997|pp=136–137}}}}{{efn|group=note|"Although the Khazar theory gets surprisingly little attention in scholarly histories of anti-Semitism, it has been an influential theme among American anti-Semites since the immigration restrictionists of the 1920s" {{harv|Barkun|2012|p=165}}.}} Maurice Fishberg and Roland B. Dixon's works were later exploited in [[Racism|racist]] and religious polemical literature, particularly in literature which advocated [[British Israelism]], both in Britain and the United States.{{sfn|Goldstein|2006|p=131}}{{efn|group=note|"By the 1960s, when [[Christian identity]] was established as a force on the [[Radical right (United States)|extreme right]], the Khazar ancestry of the Jews was a firm article of faith. Two books, written in this milieu and widely read, came to exercise a strong influence in this regard. John Beaty's ''Iron Curtain over America'' (1951) and Wilmot Robertson's ''Dispossessed Majority'' (1972) repeated the Khazar thesis of Stoddard. Christian identity teachings readily seized on this negative reference to Russian Jewry, however, it backdated the history of intermarriage between Jews and Khazars to biblical times. In ''A Short History of Esau-Edom in Jewry'' (1948), the Vancouver-based writer C.F. Parker claimed that a tiny remnant of 'true Judah' was pitted against a large group of Idumean-Hittites who masqueraded as the true seed of Abraham and sought to expel the descendants of Jacob. These Esau-Hittites are the Ashkenazim, concentrated in Eastern and Central Europe and America." {{harv|Goodrick-Clarke|2003|p=237}}}} Particularly after the publication of [[Burton J. Hendrick]]'s ''The Jews in America'', (1923){{sfn|Singerman|2004|pp=4–5}} it began to enjoy a vogue among advocates of immigration restriction in the 1920s; racial theorists{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|2003|p=237}} such as [[Lothrop Stoddard]]; antisemitic conspiracy-theorists such as the [[Ku Klux Klan]]'s [[Hiram Wesley Evans]]; and some anti-communist polemicists such as [[John O. Beaty]]{{efn|group=note|Beaty was an antisemitic, [[McCarthyism|McCarthyite]] professor of Old English at [[Southern Methodist University|SMU]], author of ''The Iron Curtain over America'' (Dallas 1952). According to him, "the Khazar Jews ... were responsible for all of America's – and the world's ills, beginning with World War 1." The book "had little impact" until the former Wall Street broker and oil tycoon J. Russell Maguire promoted it ({{harvnb|Boller|1992|pp=2, 6–7}}; {{harvnb|Barkun|1997|pp=141–142}}).}} and [[Wilmot Robertson]], whose views influenced [[David Duke]].<ref>{{harvnb|Barkun|1997|pp=140–141}}. Cf. Wilmot Robertson ''Dispossessed Majority''(1972)</ref>
According to [[Yehoshafat Harkabi]] (1968) and others,{{efn|group=note|{{harvnb|Wexler|2002|p=514}} has a more detailed bibliography.}} it played a role in Arab [[Anti-Zionism|anti-Zionist]] polemics, and took on an antisemitic edge. [[Bernard Lewis]], noting in 1987 that Arab scholars had dropped it, remarked that it only occasionally emerged in Arab political discourse.{{efn|group=note|"Arab anti-Semitism might have been expected to be free from the idea of racial odium, since Jews and Arabs are both regarded by race theory as Semites, but the odium is directed, not against the Semitic race, but against the Jews as a historical group. The main idea is that the Jews, racially, are a mongrel community, most of them being not Semites, but of Khazar and European origin."{{sfn|Harkabi|1987|p=424}} This essay was translated from Harkabi Hebrew text "Arab Antisemitism" in Shmuel Ettinger, ''Continuity and Discontinuity in Antisemitism,'' (Hebrew) 1968 (p.50).}} It has also played some role in Soviet antisemitic [[chauvinism]]{{efn|group=note|"in the very late 1980s Russian nationalists were fixated on the 'Khazar episode.' For them the Khazar issue seemed to be a crucial one. They treated it as the first historically documented case of the imposition of a foreign yoke on the Slavs, ... In this context the term 'Khazars' became popular as a euphemism for the so-called 'Jewish occupation regime'." {{harv|Shnirelman|2007|pp=353–372}}}} and Slavic Eurasian historiography; particularly, in the works of scholars like [[Lev Gumilev]],{{sfn|Rossman|2007|pp=121–188}} it came to be exploited by the [[white supremacy|white supremacist]] [[Christian Identity|Christian Identity movement]]{{sfn|Barkun|1997|pp=142–144}} and even by terrorist esoteric cults like [[Aum Shinrikyo|Aum Shinrikyō]].{{sfn|Goodman|Miyazawa|2000|pp=263–264}} The Kazar hypothesis was further exploited by esoteric fascists such as [[Miguel Serrano]], referring to a lost ''[[Palestinabuch]]'' by the German Nazi-scholar [[Herman Wirth]], who claimed to have proven that the Jews descended from a prehistoric migrant group parasiting on the Great Civilizations.{{sfn|Serrano|2011|pp=79, 295}} The phrase "Khazar kaghanate" gained new traction in 2000s among antisemitic nationalists in Russia, such as [[Yan Petrovsky]].{{sfn|Meduza|2022}} In online conspiracy videos, Khazarians are often portrayed connected with [[Rothschild family]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allington |first1=Daniel |last2=Buarque |first2=Beatriz L |last3=Barker Flores |first3=Daniel |date=2021-02-01 |title=Antisemitic conspiracy fantasy in the age of digital media: Three 'conspiracy theorists' and their YouTube audiences |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0963947020971997 |journal=Language and Literature |language=EN |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=78–102 |doi=10.1177/0963947020971997 |issn=0963-9470}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Palmacci |first=Cinzia |title=Russia and Ukraina. Nothing is as it seems: What no one will tell you about the true origins motivating the crisis between Russia and Ukraine |date=2024-03-20 |publisher=Cinzia Palmacci |isbn=978-1-4461-0674-7 |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Mustafa |first1=Raza Ul |title=Monitoring the evolution of antisemitic discourse on extremist social media using BERT |date=2024-02-06 |arxiv=2403.05548 |last2=Japkowicz |first2=Nathalie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Washington |first=Ellis |date=2023 |title=The Deconstruction of American Law and the Apotheosis of President Donald J. Trump |url=https://www.elliswashingtonreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Ellis-Washington-Law-Manuscript-Apotheosis-of-Donald-Trump.pdf |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4386464 |issn=1556-5068}}</ref>

==== Genetic studies ====
{{See also|Ashkenazi Jews#Genetic origins|Genetic studies on Jews|Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry#Genetics and the Khazar theory}}

The hypothesis of Khazarian ancestry in Ashkenazi has also been a subject of vehement disagreements in the field of [[population genetics]],{{efn|group=note|"The Khazar king and part of his court allegedly adopted the Jewish religion ... The truth of such a conversion and its extent has been the topic of many discussions, and the topic of vehement disagreements in our age of genomic DNA analyses." {{harv|Falk|2017|p=100}}}} wherein claims have been made concerning evidence both for and against it. Eran Elhaik argued in 2012 for a significant Khazar component in the admixture of Ashkenazi Jews using Caucasian populations—Georgians, Armenians and [[Azerbaijani Jews]]—as proxies.{{efn|group=note|"Strong evidence for the Khazarian hypothesis is the clustering of European Jews with the populations that reside on opposite ends of ancient Khazaria: Armenians, Georgians, and Azerbaijani Jews" {{harv|Elhaik|2012|pp=61–74}}.}} The evidence from historians he used has been criticised by [[Shaul Stampfer]]{{sfn|Stampfer|2013}} and the technical response to such a position from geneticists is mostly dismissive, arguing that, if traces of descent from Khazars exist in the Ashkenazi gene pool, the contribution would be quite minor,{{sfn|Ostrer|2012|pp=24–27, 93–95, 124–125}}{{sfn|Nebel|Filon|Brinkmann|2001|pp=1095–1112}}{{sfn|Behar|Thomas|Skorecki|Hammer|2003|pp=769–779}}{{sfn|Nebel|Filon|Faerman|2005|pp=388–391}}{{efn|group=note|"During Greco-Roman times, recorded mass conversions led to 6&nbsp;million people practicing Judaism in Roman times or up to 10% of the population of the Roman Empire. Thus, the genetic proximity of these European/Syrian Jewish populations, including Ashkenazi Jews, to each other and to French, Northern Italian, and Sardinian populations favors the idea of non-Semitic Mediterranean ancestry in the formation of the European/Syrian Jewish groups and is incompatible with theories that Ashkenazi Jews are for the most part the direct lineal descendants of converted Khazars or Slavs. The genetic proximity of Ashkenazi Jews to southern European populations has been observed in several other recent studies.. Admixture with local populations, including Khazars and Slavs, may have occurred subsequently during the 1000 year (2nd millennium) history of the European Jews. Based on analysis of Y chromosomal polymorphisms, Hammer estimated that the rate might have been as high as 0.5% per generation or 12.5% cumulatively (a figure derived from Motulsky), although this calculation might have underestimated the influx of European Y chromosomes during the initial formation of European Jewry. Notably, up to 50% of Ashkenazi Jewish Y chromosomal haplogroups (E3b, G, J1, and Q) are of Middle Eastern origin, whereas the other prevalent haplogroups (J2, R1a1, R1b) may be representative of the early European admixture. The 7.5% prevalence of the R1a1 haplogroup among Ashkenazi Jews has been interpreted as a possible marker for Slavic or Khazar admixture because this haplogroup is very common among Ukrainians (where it was thought to have originated), Russians, and Sorbs, as well as among Central Asian populations, although the admixture may have occurred with Ukrainians, Poles, or Russians, rather than Khazars." {{harv|Atzmon|Ostrer|2010|pp=850–859}}}} or insignificant.{{sfn|Costa|Pereira|Richards|2013|pp=1–10}}{{sfn|Behar|Metspalu|Baran|Kopelman|2013}} One geneticist, [[Raphael Falk (geneticist)|Raphael Falk]], has argued that "national and ethnic prejudices play a central role in the controversy."{{efn|group=note|"The extent to which the Khazars contributed to the Jewish gene-pool, and more specifically to the Ashkenazi ethnic-group(s), has become a charged issue among expert scientists as well as nonprofessionals. National and ethnic prejudices play a central role in the controversy." {{harv|Falk|2017|p=100}}}}
According to [[Nadia Abu El-Haj]], the issues of origins are generally complicated by the difficulties of writing history via genome studies and the biases of emotional investments in different narratives, depending on whether the emphasis lies on direct descent or on conversion within Jewish history. At the time of her writing, the lack of Khazar DNA samples that might allow verification also presented difficulties.{{efn|group=note|"if the genome does not prove Sand wrong, neither can it prove him right. It is the wrong kind of evidence and the wrong style of reasoning for the task at hand."{{sfn|Abu El-Haj|2012|p=28}} "They (researchers) will never be able to prove descent from Khazars: there are no 'verification' samples."{{sfn|Abu El-Haj|2012|p=133}}}}

== In literature ==
The ''[[Kuzari]]'' is an influential work written by the medieval [[Spain|Spanish]] [[Jew]]ish philosopher and poet Rabbi [[Yehuda Halevi]] (c. 1075–1141). Divided into five essays (''ma'amarim''), it takes the form of a fictional dialogue between the pagan king of the Khazars and a [[Jew]] who was invited to instruct him in the tenets of the [[Judaism|Jewish religion]]. The intent of the work, although based on Ḥasdai ibn Shaprūṭ's correspondence with the Khazar king, was not historical, but rather to defend Judaism as a revealed religion, written in the context, firstly of Karaite challenges to the Spanish rabbinical intelligentsia, and then against temptations to adapt [[Aristotelianism]] and Islamic philosophy to the Jewish faith.{{sfn|Lobel|2000|pp=2–4}} Originally written in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], it was translated into Hebrew by [[Judah ibn Tibbon]].{{sfn|Melamed|2003|pp=24–26}}

[[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s early novel ''Alroy'' (1833) draws on Menachem ben Solomon's story.{{sfn|Baron|1957|p=204}} The question of mass religious conversion and the indeterminability of the truth of stories about identity and conversion are central themes of [[Milorad Pavić (writer)|Milorad Pavić]]'s best-selling mystery story ''[[Dictionary of the Khazars]]''.{{sfn|Wachtel|1998|pp=210–215}}

[[H.N. Turteltaub]]'s ''Justinian'', [[Marek Halter]]'s ''Book of Abraham'' and ''Wind of the Khazars'', and [[Michael Chabon]]'s ''[[Gentlemen of the Road]]'' allude to or feature elements of Khazar history or create fictional Khazar characters.{{sfn|Cokal|2007}}

== Cities associated with the Khazars ==
Cities associated with the Khazars include [[Atil]], [[Khazaran]], [[Samandar (city)|Samandar]]; in the [[Caucasus (geographic region)|Caucasus]], [[Balanjar]] and [[Kazarki]]; in [[Crimea]] and the [[Taman Peninsula|Taman]] region, [[Kerch]], [[Feodosiya|Theodosia]], [[Yevpatoria]] ([[Yevpatoria|Güzliev]]), [[Samkarsh]] (also called [[Tmutarakan]], Tamatarkha), and [[Sudak]]; and in the [[Don River, Russia|Don]] valley, [[Sarkel]]. A number of Khazar settlements have been discovered in the [[Mayaki-Saltovo]] region. Some scholars suppose that the Khazar settlement of Sambat on the [[Dnieper]] refers to the later [[Kiev]].{{efn|group=note|"Kiev in Khazar is Sambat, the same as the Hungarian word ''szombat'', 'Saturday', which is likely to have been derived from the Khazar Jews living in Kyiv." {{harv|Róna-Tas|1999|p=152}}}}

== See also ==
{{colbegin}}
* [[List of Khazar rulers]]
* [[Hormizd IV]]{{snd}}his mother was a Khazar princess
* [[Leo IV the Khazar]]{{snd}}his mother was a Khazar princess
* [[List of Jewish states and dynasties]]
* [[Rus' conquest of Khazar Khaganate]]
{{colend}}

== Notes ==
=== Footnotes ===
{{notelist}}

=== Resource notes ===
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist|22em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book| title = The Genealogical Science: The Search for Jewish Origins and the Politics of Epistemology
 | last = Abu El-Haj | first = Nadia | year = 2012
 | author-link = Nadia Abu El-Haj
 | publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]] | location = Chicago, IL
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8DDXi4kWW4cC&pg=26 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-226-20142-9
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = Asia, Africa and the Trade of Medieval Europe
 | last = Abulafia | first = David | year = 1987
 | author-link = David Abulafia
 | orig-year = First published 1952
 | title = The Cambridge Economic History of Europe: Trade and industry in the Middle Ages
 | editor1-last = Postan | editor1-first = Michael Moïssey | editor1-link = Michael Postan
 | editor2-last = Habakkuk | editor2-first = H.J. | editor2-link = John Habakkuk
 | editor3-last = Miller | editor3-first = Edward | editor3-link = Edward Miller (historian)
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | volume = 2 | pages = 402–473
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cHRvtwTLcMAC&pg=PA421
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-521-08709-4
}}
*{{cite book| title = Geheimbericht aus der Grossen Steppe. Die Wahrheit über das Reich der Russen
 | trans-title = Secret report from the Great Steppe. The truth about the empire of the Russians
 | last = Altschüler | first = Boris | year = 1994
 | publisher = Altschüler | location = Saarbrücken
 | language = de
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G2DZAQAACAAJ&q=Altsch%C3%BCler%2BGeheimbericht+auf+der+Grossen+Steppe
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-3-9803917-0-2
}}
*{{cite journal | title = Abraham's children in the genome era: major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry
 | vauthors = Atzmon G, Hao L, Pe'er I, Velez C, Pearlman A, Palamara PF, Morrow B, Friedman E, Oddoux C, Burns E, Ostrer H
 | journal = [[American Journal of Human Genetics]]
 | date = June 2010 | volume = 86 | issue = 6 | pages = 850–859
 | doi = 10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015 | pmc = 3032072 | pmid = 20560205
 | ref = {{harvid|Atzmon|Ostrer|2010}}
}}
*{{cite journal | title = A Khotanese text concerning the Turks in Kanṭṣou
 | last = Bailey | first = H.W.
 | journal = [[Asia Major (journal)|Asia Major]]
 | year = 1949 | pages = 28–52
 | series = New Series 1.1
 | url = https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1335WFtDneU.pdf | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210126063237/https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1335WFtDneU.pdf
 | archive-date = 26 January 2021
}}
*{{cite journal | title = The Staël-Holstein Miscellany
 | last = Bailey | first = H.W.
 | journal = [[Asia Major (journal)|Asia Major]]
 | year = 1951 | pages = 1–45
 | series = New Series 2.1
 | url = https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1355ixUQunJ.pdf | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210126060310/https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1355ixUQunJ.pdf
 | archive-date = 26 January 2021
}}
*{{cite book| title = Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement
 | last = Barkun | first = Michael | year = 1997
 | author-link = Michael Barkun
 | publisher = [[University of North Carolina Press]]
 | url = https://archive.org/details/religionracistri0000bark | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/religionracistri0000bark/page/141 141]
 | isbn = 978-0-8078-4638-4
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = Anti-Semitism from Outer Space: The Protocols in the UFO Subculture
 | last = Barkun | first = Michael | year = 2012
 | author-link = Michael Barkun
 | title = The Paranoid Apocalypse: A Hundred-year Retrospective on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
 | editor1-last = Landes | editor1-first = Richard Allen | editor1-link = Richard Landes
 | editor2-last = Katz | editor2-first = Steven T. | editor2-link = Steven T. Katz
 | publisher = [[New York University Press]]
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DV1S9dpW2aQC&pg=PA163
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 163–171
 | isbn = 978-0-8147-4945-6
}}
*{{cite book| title = A Social and Religious History of the Jews
 | last = Baron | first = Salo Wittmayer | year = 1957
 | author-link = Salo Wittmayer Baron
 | publisher = [[Columbia University Press]]
 | volume = 3
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tPwuH_KLAScC | via = [[Google Books]]
}}
*{{cite encyclopedia| title = Khazar
 | last = Barthold | first = Vasili | year = 1993
 | author-link = Vasili Barthold
 | orig-year = First published 1936
 | encyclopedia = First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913–1936
 | editor1-last = Houtsma | editor1-first = Martijn Theodoor | editor1-link = Martijn Theodoor Houtsma
 | editor2-last = Bosworth | editor2-first = C.E. | editor2-link = Clifford Edmund Bosworth
 | editor3-last = van Donzel | editor3-first = E.
 | editor4-last = Heinrichs | editor4-first = W.P.
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]] | via = [[Google Books]]
 | volume = 4 | pages = 935–937
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7CP7fYghBFQC&pg=PA936
 | isbn = 978-90-04-09790-2
}}
*{{cite book| title = The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
 | last = Bauer | first = Susan Wise | year = 2010
 | author-link = Susan Wise Bauer
 | publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]] | location = New York, NY
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1u2oP2RihIgC&pg=PA341 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-393-07817-6
}}
*{{cite book| title = Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present
 | last = Beckwith | first = Christopher I. | year = 2011
 | author-link = Christopher I. Beckwith
 | orig-year = First published 2009
 | publisher = [[Princeton University Press]] | location = Princeton, NJ
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5jG1eHe3y4EC&pg=PA149 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-691-15034-5
}}
*{{cite journal | title = No Evidence of a Khazar origin for the Ashkenazi Jews
 | last1 = Behar | first1 = D. M.
 | last2 = Metspalu | first2 = M.
 | last3 = Baran | first3 = Y.
 | last4 = Kopelman | first4 = N. M.
 | last5 = Yunusbayev | first5 = B.
 | last6 = Gladstein | first6 = A.
 | last7 = Tzur | first7 = S.
 | last8 = Sahakyan | first8 = H.
 | last9 = Bahmanimehr | first9 = A.
 | last10 = Yepiskoposyan | first10 = L.
 | last11 = Tambets | first11 = K.
 | last12 = Khusnutdinova | first12 = E. K.
 | last13 = Kushniarevich | first13 = A.
 | last14 = Balanovsky | first14 = O.
 | last15 = Balanovsky | first15 = E.
 | last16 = Kovacevic | first16 = L.
 | last17 = Marjanovic | first17 = D.
 | last18 = Mihailov | first18 = E.
 | last19 = Kouvatsi | first19 = A.
 | last20 = Triantaphyllidis | first20 = C.
 | last21 = King | first21 = R. J.
 | last22 = Semino | first22 = O.
 | last23 = Torroni | first23 = A.
 | last24 = Hammer | first24 = M. F.
 | last25 = Metspalu | first25 = E.
 | last26 = Skorecki | first26 = K.
 | last27 = Rosset | first27 = S.
 | last28 = Halperin | first28 = E.
 | last29 = Villems | first29 = R.
 | last30 = Rosenberg | first30 = N. A.
 | display-authors = 6
 | journal = [[Human Biology (journal)|Human Biology]]
 | year = 2013 | volume = 85 | issue = 6 | pages = 859–900
 | url = http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol85/iss6/9/ | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141014231218/http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol85/iss6/9/
 | archive-date = 14 October 2014
 | doi = 10.3378/027.085.0604 | pmid = 25079123 | s2cid = 2173604
}}
*{{cite journal | title = Multiple Origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y Chromosome Evidence for Both Near Eastern and European Ancestries
 | last1 = Behar | first1 = Doron M
 | last2 = Thomas | first2 = Mark G
 | last3 = Skorecki | first3 = Karl
 | last4 = Hammer | first4 = Michael F
 | display-authors = etal
 | journal = [[American Journal of Human Genetics]]
 | date = October 2003 | volume = 73 | issue = 4 | pages = 768–779
 | doi = 10.1086/378506 | pmc = 1180600 | pmid = 13680527
}}
*{{cite book| title = Jewish Communities in Exotic Places
 | last = Blady | first = Ken | year = 2000
 | publisher = [[Rowman & Littlefield]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yY0KQUVXw2MC&pg=PA124 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-765-76112-5
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Memoirs of an Obscure Professor: And Other Essays
 | last = Boller | first = Paul F. | year = 1992
 | publisher = [[TCU Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ycS5O-p4EzAC&pg=PA6 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-87565-097-5
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam
 | last = Bowersock | first = G.W. | year = 2013
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=X4BoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-199-33384-4
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Jews of Byzantium 1204–1453
 | last1 = Bowman | first1 = Stephen B.
 | last2 = Ankori | first2 = Zvi
 | year = 2001
 | publisher = [[Bloch Publishing Company]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UnRGPQAACAAJ | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8197-0703-1
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Jews of Khazaria
 | last = Brook | first = Kevin Alan | year = 2006
 | publisher = [[Rowman & Littlefield]] | location = Lanham, Maryland
 | page = 192
 | isbn = 978-1-4422-0302-0
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Jews of Khazaria | edition = 2nd
 | last = Brook | first = Kevin Alan | year = 2010
 | orig-year = First published 1999
 | publisher = [[Rowman & Littlefield]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hEuIveNl9kcC | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230417104350/https://books.google.com/books?id=hEuIveNl9kcC
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | access-date = 14 August 2015 | archive-date = 17 April 2023
 | isbn = 978-0-7425-4982-1
}}
*{{cite journal | title = The Genetics of Crimean Karaites
 | last = Brook | first = Kevin Alan
 | journal = Karadeniz Arastirmalari
 | date = Summer 2014 | volume = 11 | issue = 42 | pages = 69–84
 | url = http://www.karam.org.tr/Makaleler/909058854_5-%20Brook.pdf | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190602032408/http://www.karam.org.tr/Makaleler/909058854_5-%20Brook.pdf
 | archive-date = 2 June 2019
 | doi = 10.12787/KARAM859
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Jews of Khazaria | edition = 3rd
 | last = Brook | first = Kevin Alan | year = 2018
 | publisher = [[Rowman & Littlefield]]
 | isbn = 978-1-5381-0342-5
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Maternal Genetic Lineages of Ashkenazic Jews
 | last = Brook | first = Kevin Alan | year = 2022
 | publisher = [[Academic Studies Press]]
 | isbn = 978-1-64469-984-3
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Byzantine Empire | edition = 2nd
 | last = Browning | first = Robert | year = 1992
 | author-link = Robert Browning (Byzantinist) #
 | orig-year = First published 1980
 | publisher = [[Catholic University of America|Catholic University of America Press]]
 | url = https://archive.org/details/byzantineempire0000brow | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/byzantineempire0000brow/page/53 53]
 | isbn = 978-0-8132-0754-4
}}

*{{cite journal | title = The Khazar Origin of Ancient Kiev | edition = 2nd
 | last = Brutzkus | first = J | year = 1944
 | journal = Slavonic and East European Review
 | url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/3020228
 | volume = 3| issue = 1 | pages = 108–124
 | doi = 10.2307/3020228
| jstor = 3020228
 }}

*{{cite book| title = The Racial History of Man
 | last = Burrage Dixon | first = Roland | year = 1923
 | author-link = Roland Burrage Dixon
 | publisher = C. Scribners sons
}}
*{{cite book| title = L'Islam, des origines au début de l'Empire ottoman | edition = 2nd
 | trans-title = Islam, from its origins to the beginning of the Ottoman Empire
 | last = Cahen | first = Claude | year = 2011
 | author-link = Claude Cahen
 | orig-year = First published 1997
 | publisher = [[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette]]
 | language = fr
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OnRrzgAACAAJ&q=claude+cahen%2Bl'islam+des+origines
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-2-8185-0155-9
}}
*{{cite journal | title = Byzantines and Jews: some recent work on early Byzantium
 | last = Cameron | first = Averil
 | author-link = Averil Cameron
 | journal = [[Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies]]
 | year = 1996 | volume = 20 | pages = 249–274
 | doi = 10.1179/byz.1996.20.1.249 | s2cid = 162277927
}}
*{{cite book| title = Constantinople in the Early Eighth Century: The Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary
 | last1 = Cameron | first1 = Averil
 | last2 = Herrin | first2 = Judith
 | author1-link = Averil Cameron
 | year = 1984
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill Archive]]
 | volume = 10 | series = Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZM3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA212 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-07010-3
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages: An Anthology of Documents from the Cairo Geniza
 | last = Cohen | first = Mark R. | year = 2005
 | author-link = Douglas Morton Dunlop
 | publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]
 | series = Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World Series
 | isbn = 978-0-691-09271-3
}}
*{{cite news| title = Jews With Swords
 | last = Cokal | first = Susann
 | author-link = Susann Cokal
 | newspaper = [[The New York Times]]
 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/books/review/Cokal-t.html | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120414180701/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/books/review/Cokal-t.html
 | date = 28 October 2007 | access-date = 5 August 2013 | archive-date = 14 April 2012
}}
*{{cite journal | title = A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages
 | last1 = Costa | first1 = M. D.
 | last2 = Pereira | first2 = Joana B.
 | last3 = Richards | first3 = Martin B.
 | journal = [[Nature Communications]]
 | date = 8 October 2013 | volume = 4 | article-number = 2543
 | bibcode = 2013NatCo...4.2543C | doi = 10.1038/ncomms3543 | pmc = 3806353 | pmid = 24104924
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Russian Primary Chronicle (Laurentian text)
 | translator1-last = Cross | translator1-first = Samuel Hazzard
 | translator2-last = Sherbowitz-Wetzor | translator2-first = Olgerd P.
 | editor1-last = Cross | editor1-first = Samuel Hazzard
 | editor2-last = Sherbowitz-Wetzor | editor2-first = Olgerd P.
 | year = 1953
 | publisher = The Mediaeval Academy of America | location = Cambridge, MA
 | url = http://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/a/a011458.pdf | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131016005423/http://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/a/a011458.pdf
 | archive-date = 16 October 2013
 | ref = {{harvid|''Russian Primary Chronicle''}}
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = The Keegstra Affair
 | last = Davies | first = Alan | year = 1992
 | title = Antisemitism in Canada: History and Interpretation
 | editor-last = Davies | editor-first = Alan
 | publisher = Wilfrid Laurier University Press
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3kLgn7dIEwIC&pg=PA242
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 227–248
 | isbn = 978-0-889-20216-0
}}
*{{cite book| title = Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tükles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition
 | last = DeWeese | first = Devin A. | year = 1994
 | publisher = [[Penn State Press]]
 | series = Hermeneutics, Studies in the History of Religions
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ut77eAbMUHoC | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-271-04445-3
}}
*{{cite book| title = Yisrael ba-gola | edition = 3rd
 | last = Dinur | first = Ben-Zion | year = 1961
 | author-link = Ben-Zion Dinur
 | publisher = Bialik Institute
 | volume = 1
}}
*{{cite journal | title = The Thirty Tribes of the Turks
 | last = Dobrovits | first = M.
 | journal = Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
 | year = 2004 | volume = 57 | issue = 3 | page = 259
 | doi = 10.1556/aorient.57.2004.3.1
}}
*{{cite book| title = History of the Jews: From the Roman Empire to the Early Medieval Period
 | last = Dubnov | first = Simon | year = 1980
 | author-link = Simon Dubnov
 | publisher = [[Associated University Presses]]
 | volume = 2
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ2MwNzB69IC&pg=PA792 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8453-6659-2
}}
*{{cite book| title = History of the Jewish Khazars
 | last = Dunlop | first = Douglas Morton | year = 1954
 | author-link = Douglas Morton Dunlop
 | publisher = [[Schocken Books]] | location = New York, NY
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_YdAAAAAIAAJ&q=Dunlop%2BHistory+of+the+Jewish+Khazars
 | via = [[Google Books]]
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = Early History
 | title = A Country Study: Hungary
 | publisher = Federal Research Division, [[Library of Congress]]
 | series = Library of Congress Country Studies
 | chapter-url = http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+hu0013)
 | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041029114728/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+hu0013%29
 | date = September 1989 | archive-date = 29 October 2004
 | ref = {{harvid|Country Study: Hungary|1989}}
}}
*{{cite journal | title = The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses
 | last = Elhaik | first = Eran
 | journal = Genome Biology and Human Evolution
 | date = December 2012 | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 61–74
 | arxiv = 1208.1092 | bibcode = 2012arXiv1208.1092E | doi = 10.1093/gbe/evs119 | pmc = 3595026 | pmid = 23241444
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = The Khazar Language
 | last = Erdal | first = Marcel | year = 2007
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = BRILL
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 75–108
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PA75
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{cite book| title = Zionism and the Biology of Jews
 | last = Falk | first = Raphael | year = 2017
 | author-link = Raphael Falk (geneticist)
 | publisher = [[Springer Publishing|Springer]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=s4otDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA102 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-3-319-57345-8
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World: Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian
 | last = Feldman | first = Louis H. | year = 1996
 | publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uuJasOSDTW0C&pg=PA413 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-4008-2080-1
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = The Decline and Fall of Khazaria – Might or Money?
 | last = Feldman | first = Alex M.
 | journal = Vostok (Oriens)
 | year = 2022a | issue = 4 | pages = 75–84
 | url = https://vostokoriens.jes.su/s086919080021412-0-1/ | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221013092512/https://vostokoriens.jes.su/s086919080021412-0-1/
 | archive-date = 13 October 2022
 | doi = 10.31857/S086919080021412-0 | s2cid = 253192191
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Monotheisation of Pontic-Caspian Eurasia From the Eighth to the Thirteenth Century 
 | last = Feldman | first = Alex M. | year = 2022b
 | publisher = [[Edinburgh University Press]]
 |access-date=2024-09-23
 |series=Edinburgh Byzantine Studies
 | url = https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/the-monotheisation-of-pontic-caspian-eurasia/9AE71976F642F43F6B982B29C67CADE7
 | isbn = 978-1-474-47810-6
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Jews: A Study of Race and Environment
 | last = Fishberg | first = Maurice | year = 1911
 | publisher = [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner's]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3aB5AAAAMAAJ | via = [[Google Books]]
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen through Contemporary Eyes | edition = 2nd
 | last = Geanakoplos | first = Deno John | year = 1984
 | publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bAfFzCT36ekC&q=Geanakoplos | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-226-28461-3
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Did the Khazars Convert to Judaism?
 | last = Gil | first = Moshe
 | author-link = Moshe Gil
 | journal = [[Revue des Études Juives]]
 | date = July–December 2011 | volume = 170 | issue = 3–4 | pages = 429–441
 | doi = 10.2143/REJ.170.3.2141801
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century
 | last1 = Golb | first1 = Norman
 | last2 = Pritsak | first2 = Omeljan
 | author1-link = Norman Golb
 | author2-link = Omeljan Pritsak
 | year = 1982
 | publisher = [[Cornell University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=h-toAAAAMAAJ | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8014-1221-9
}}
*{{cite journal | title = The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks
 | last = Golden | first = Peter B.
 | journal = The Medieval History Journal
 | date = July 2018 | volume = 21 | issue = 2 | page = 294
 | doi = 10.1177/0971945818775373 | s2cid = 166026934
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Khazar Studies: An Historio-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the Khazars
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 1980
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | publisher = Akademia Kiado | location = Budapest
 | volume = 1,2
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bAfFzCT36ekC&q=Geanakoplos | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-226-28461-3
}}
*{{Cite book| title = An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis And State Formation in the Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 1992
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | publisher = O. Harrassowitz | location = Wiesbaden
 | volume = 9 | series = Turcologica
 | url = https://books.google.com/books/about/An_Introduction_to_the_History_of_the_Tu.html%3Fid%3D5B6xMQEACAAJ&sa
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-3-447-03274-2
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The peoples of the South Russian steppes
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 1994a
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | orig-year = First published 1990
 | title = The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia
 | editor-last = Sinor | editor-first = Denis | editor-link = Denis Sinor
 | publisher = Cambridge University Press
 | volume = 1 | pages = 256–283
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&pg=PA264
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-521-24304-9
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The peoples of the Russian forest belt
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 1994b
 | orig-year = First published 1990
 | title = The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia
 | editor-last = Sinor | editor-first = Denis | editor-link = Denis Sinor
 | publisher = Cambridge University Press
 | volume = 1 | pages = 230–255
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&pg=PA247
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-521-24304-9
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Nomads in the Sedentary World: The Case of Pre-Chinggisid Rus' and Georgia
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2001a
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | title = Nomads in the Sedentary World
 | editor1-last = Khazanov | editor1-first = Anatoly M. | editor1-link = Anatoly Khazanov
 | editor2-last = Wink | editor2-first = Andre
 | publisher = [[Routledge]]
 | series = Curzon-IIAS Asian studies series
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=z96HrZh4_N4C&pg=PA24
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 24–74
 | isbn = 978-0-7007-1369-1
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Nomad and Sedentary societies in Eurasia
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2001b
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | title = Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History
 | editor-last = Adas | editor-first = Michael
 | publisher = [[Temple University Press]]
 | volume = 2 | series = Critical Perspectives on the Past Series. American Historical Association
 | pages = 71–115
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qcSsoJ0IXawC&pg=PA86
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-56639-832-9
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Nomads and their neighbours in the Russian steppe: Turks, Khazars and Qipchaqs
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2003
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | publisher = [[Ashgate Publishing|Ashgate]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books/about/Nomads_and_their_neighbours_in_the_Russi.htm
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-86078-885-0
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Khazar Sacral Kingship
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2006
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | title = Pre-modern Russia and its world: Essays in Honour of Thomas S. Noonan
 | editor1-last = Reyerson | editor1-first = Kathryn Von
 | editor2-last = Stavrou | editor2-first = Theofanis George
 | editor3-last = Tracy | editor3-first = James Donald
 | publisher = [[Otto Harrassowitz|Otto Harrassowitz Verlag]]
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LMwmcqwZUGcC&pg=PA79
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 79–102
 | isbn = 978-3-447-05425-6
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Khazar Studies: Achievements and Perspectives
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2007a
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | encyclopedia = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B.
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]] | via = [[Google Books]]
 | volume = 17 | pages = 7–57
 | series = Handbook of Oriental Studies
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PR2
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = The Conversion of the Khazars to Judaism
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2007b
 | author-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | encyclopedia = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B.
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]] | via = [[Google Books]]
 | volume = 17 | pages = 123–161
 | series = Handbook of Oriental Studies
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PR2
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Irano-Turcica: The Khazar Sacral Kingship Revisited
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin
 | journal = Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae | via = [[ResearchGate]]
 | year = 2007c | volume = 60 | issue = 2 | pages = 161–194
 | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250979819
 | doi = 10.1556/AOrient.60.2007.2.2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Turks and Khazars: Origins, Institutions, and Interactions in Pre-Mongol Eurasia
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2010
 | author-link = Peter B. Golden
 | publisher = [[Ashgate Publishing]]
 | volume = 952 | series = Variorum Collected Studies Series
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AOhIAQAAIAAJ | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-4094-0003-5
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Central Asia in World History
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2011a
 | author-link = Peter B. Golden
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | series = New Oxford World History
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PtT5p-6V5FcC&pg=PA65 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-19-979317-4
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Studies on the Peoples and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppes
 | last = Golden | first = Peter Benjamin | year = 2011b
 | author-link = Peter B. Golden
 | publisher = Editura Academiei Române
 | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227466942 | via = [[ResearchGate]]
 | isbn = 978-973-27-2152-0
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity
 | last = Goldstein | first = Eric L. | year = 2006
 | publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qsvlFZ6rgpkC&pg=PA131 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-691-12105-5
}}
*{{cite book| title = Karaite Exegesis in Medieval Jerusalem
 | last = Goldstein | first = Miriam | year = 2011
 | publisher = Mohr Siebeck
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F9pu1RJKbdkC&q=Abraham+Firkovich+1839&pg=PA9
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | page = 9
 | isbn = 978-3-16-150972-8
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Jews in the Japanese Mind: The History and Uses of a Cultural Stereotype
 | last1 = Goodman | first1 = David G.
 | last2 = Miyazawa | first2 = Masanori
 | year = 2000 | orig-year = First published 1995
 | publisher = [[Lexington Books]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R_PQLj2D1DQC&pg=PA263 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-7391-0167-4
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Black Sun: Aryan cults, esoteric nazism, and the politics of identity
 | last = Goodrick-Clarke | first = Nicholas | year = 2003
 | orig-year = First published 2001
 | publisher = [[NYU Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xaiaM77s6N4C&pg=PA237 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8147-3155-0
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The " Red Jews": Antisemitism in the Apocalyptic Age 1200–1600
 | last = Gow | first = Andrew Colin | year = 1995
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Yp5O_rPI7nsC&pg=PA31 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-10255-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Kuzari: In Defense of the Despised Faith
 | last = HaLevi | first = Yehuda | year = 1998
 | author-link = Judah Halevi
 | editor-last = Korobkin | editor-first = Nissan Daniel
 | publisher = [[Jason Aronson]] | location = Northvale, New Jersey-Jerusalem
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QKzXAAAAMAAJ | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-7657-9970-8
 | ref = {{harvid|Korobkin|1998}}
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Kuzari. In Defense of the Despised Faith | edition = 2nd
 | last = HaLevi | first = Yehudah | year = 2013
 | author-link = Judah Halevi
 | editor-last = Korobkin | editor-first = N. Daniel
 | publisher = [[Feldheim Publishers]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=z7vDoAEACAAJ | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230603045239/https://books.google.com/books?id=z7vDoAEACAAJ
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | access-date = 3 June 2023 | archive-date = 3 June 2023
 | isbn = 978-1-59826-961-1
 | ref = {{harvid|Korobkin|2013}}
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Contemporary Arab Anti-Semitism: its Causes and Roots
 | last = Harkabi | first = Yehoshafat | year = 1987
 | author-link = Yehoshafat Harkabi
 | orig-year = First published 1968
 | title = The Persisting Question: Sociological Perspectives and Social Contexts of Modern Antisemitism
 | editor-last = Fein | editor-first = Helen | editor-link = Helen Fein
 | publisher = [[Walter de Gruyter]]
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uHWG1pDCtNgC&pg=PA424
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 412–427
 | isbn = 978-3-11-010170-6
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Byzantine Armies 886-1118
 | last = Heath | first = Ian | year = 1979
 | publisher = [[Osprey Publishing]]
 | isbn = 978-0-85045306-5
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Demography
 | last = Herlihy | first = David | year = 1984
 | author-link = David Herlihy
 | encyclopedia = Dictionary of the Middle Ages
 | editor-last = Strayer | editor-first = Joseph R. | editor-link = Joseph Strayer
 | publisher = [[Charles Scribner's Sons]]
 | volume = 4 | pages = 136–148
 | isbn = 978-0-684-17024-4
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = On the Westerly Drifting of Nomades, from the Fifth to the Nineteenth Century. Part IV. The Circassians and White Khazars
 | last = Howorth | first = H. H.
 | author-link = Henry Hoyle Howorth
 | journal = [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|The Journal of the Ethnological Society of London]]
 | year = 1870 | volume = 2 | issue = 2 | pages = 182–192
 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/2114761
 | doi = 10.2307/3014425 | jstor = 3014425
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = The legend of Xinnie in the seventh and eighth centuries
 | last1 = Inaba | first1 = Minoru
 | last2 = Balogh | first2 = Dániel
 | year = 2020
 | title = Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History
 | editor-last = Balogh | editor-first = Dániel
 | publisher = Barkhuis
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=frnVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA106
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 103–107
 | isbn = 978-9-493-19401-4
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium | edition = 2nd
 | last = Kaegi | first = Walter Emil | year = 2003
 | author-link = Walter Kaegi
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tlNlFZ_7UhoC&pg=PA142 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-521-81459-1
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Khazar
 | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia Britannica
 | url = https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khazar | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220302083101/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khazar
 | date = 29 March 2020 | access-date = 30 July 2018 | archive-date = 2 March 2022
 | ref = {{harvid|Encyclopedia Britannica: Khazar|2020}}
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Huns
 | last = Kim | first = Hyun Jin | year = 2016
 | publisher = [[Routledge]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mcf4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT61 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-317-34090-4
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Karaites of Galicia: An Ethnoreligious Minority Among the Ashkenazim, the Turks, and the Slavs, 1772–1945
 | last = Kizilov | first = Mikhail | year = 2009
 | author-link = Mikhail Kizilov
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hGILHIgEl7cC&pg=PA335 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16602-8
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = National Inventions: The Imperial Emancipation of the Karaites from Jewishness
 | last = Kizilov | first = Mikhail | year = 2014
 | author-link = Mikhail Kizilov
 | title = An Empire of Others: Creating Ethnographic Knowledge in Imperial Russia and the USSR
 | editor1-last = Cvetkovski | editor1-first = Roland
 | editor2-last = Hofmeister | editor2-first = Alexis
 | publisher = [[Central European University Press]]
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=36t_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA388
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 369–393
 | isbn = 978-6-155-22576-5
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Thirteenth Tribe: The Khazar Empire and Its Heritage
 | last = Koestler | first = Arthur | year = 1977
 | author-link = Arthur Koestler
 | orig-year = First published 1976
 | publisher = [[Pan Books]] | location = London
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IsbslAEACAAJ&q=The+Thirteenth+Tribe%2BKoestler
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-09-125550-3
}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}
*{{Cite book| title = History of the Byzantine Jews: A Microcosmos in the Thousand Year Empire
 | last = Kohen | first = Elli | year = 2007
 | publisher = [[University Press of America]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r-9qJRP20MIC&pg=PA103 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-7618-3623-0
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Barbarian Emperors? Aspects of the Byzantine Perception of the qaghan (chaganos) in the Earlier Middle Ages
 | last = Kolditz | first = Sebastian | year = 2017
 | title = Transcultural Approaches to the Concept of Imperial Rule in the Middle Ages
 | editor1-last = Scholl | editor1-first = Christian
 | editor2-last = Gebhardt | editor2-first = Torben R.
 | editor3-last = Clauß | editor3-first = Jan
 | publisher = [[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]]
 | pages = 41–76
 | chapter-url = https://www.peterlang.com/view/9783631706244/chapter-003.xhtml
 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210421140030/https://www.peterlang.com/view/9783631706244/chapter-003.xhtml
 | archive-date = 21 April 2021
 | isbn = 978-3-631-70624-4
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = The Tibetan Title Dru gu Gesar (Turk Caesar / Caesar of the Turks) in the Northern Branch of the Silk Route and the Role of the Khazars
 | last = Kordosis | first = Stefanos
 | journal = Θησαυρισματα
 | year = 2017 | issue = 47 | pages = 183–192
 | url = https://www.academia.edu/39530827 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211223203830/https://www.academia.edu/39530827
 | archive-date = 23 December 2021
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Y-Chromosome Haplogroup Diversity in Khazar Burials from Southern Russia
 | last1 = Kornienko | first1 = I. V.
 | last2 = Faleeva | first2 = T. G.
 | last3 = Schurr | first3 = T. G.
 | last4 = Aramova | first4 = O. Yu
 | last5 = Ochir-Goryaeva | first5 = M. A.
 | last6 = Batieva | first6 = E. F.
 | last7 = Vdovchenkov | first7 = E. V.
 | last8 = Moshkov | first8 = N. E.
 | last9 = Kukanova | first9 = V. V.
 | last10 = Ivanov | first10 = I. N.
 | last11 = Sidorenko | first11 = Yu S.
 | journal = [[Russian Journal of Genetics]] | via = [[ResearchGate]]
 | date = 1 April 2021 | volume = 57 | issue = 4 | pages = 477–488
 | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351294127
 | doi = 10.1134/S1022795421040049 | issn = 1608-3369 | s2cid = 233479468
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = Creating Khazar Identity through Coins: the Special Issue Dirhams of 837/838
 | last = Kovalev | first = R.K. | year = 2005
 | title = East Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages
 | editor-last = Curta | editor-first = Florin
 | publisher = University of Michigan Press | location = Ann Arbor
 | pages = 220–251
 | isbn = 978-0-472-11498-6
}}
{{cite journal
 |last=Kovalev
 |first=R. K.
 |title=What Does Historical Numismatics Suggest About the Monetary History of Khazaria in the Ninth Century? – Question Revisited
 |journal=Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi
 |volume=13
 |year=2004
 |pages=97–129
 |issn=0724-8822
 |url=https://www.reuffel.de/ebooks/detail/ISBN-9783447093316/Herausgegeben-von-Allsen-Thomas-T/Archivum-Eurasiae-Medii-Aevi-13-2004
}}
*{{cite book| title = Die Chasaren; historische Studie
 | trans-title = Those Khazars; historical Study
 | last = von Kutschera | first = Hugo | year = 1909
 | publisher = A. Holzhauen
 | language = de
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G_zEugEACAAJ | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-274-47307-6
}}
*{{cite journal | title = The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia
 | last = Lee | first = Joo-Yup
 | journal = [[Central Asiatic Journal]]
 | year = 2016 | volume = 59 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 101–132
 | url = https://www.academia.edu/35007944 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211223203830/https://www.academia.edu/35007944
 | archive-date = 23 December 2021
 | doi = 10.13173/centasiaj.59.1-2.0101
}}
*{{cite book| title = Masterpieces of Hebrew Literature: Selections from 2000 Years of Jewish Creativity
 | last = Leviant | first = Curt | year = 2008
 | author-link = Curt Leviant
 | orig-year = First published 1969
 | publisher = [[Jewish Publication Society]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1jT7jD1t8jAC&pg=PA159 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8276-0954-9
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry Into Conflict and Prejudice
 | last = Lewis | first = Bernard | year = 1987
 | author-link = Bernard Lewis
 | orig-year = First published 1986
 | publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]] | location = New York
 | url = https://archive.org/details/semitesantisemit00bern | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | isbn = 978-0-393-30420-6
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Jews of Islam
 | last = Lewis | first = Bernard | year = 2013
 | author-link = Bernard Lewis
 | publisher = [[Routledge]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nmBUKnFfgvcC&pg=PP61 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-135-03021-6
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Economic Role of Jews in Medieval Poland: The Contribution of Yitzhak Schipper
 | last = Litman | first = Jacob | year = 1984
 | publisher = [[University Press of America]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books/about/The_economic_role_of_Jews_in_Medieval_Po.html%3Fid%3DIJ9tAAAAMAAJ
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8191-4244-3
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Between Mysticism and Philosophy: Sufi Language of Religious Experience in Experience in Judah Ha-Levi's Kuzari
 | last = Lobel | first = Diana | year = 2000
 | publisher = [[SUNY Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V8DbnUcf6QUC&pg=PA3 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-7914-4451-1
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Vikings in History | edition = 2nd
 | last = Logan | first = F. Donald | year = 1992
 | orig-year = First published 1983
 | publisher = [[Routledge]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jsp-whocldIC&pg=PA201 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-415-08396-6
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire
 | last = Luttwak | first = Edward N. | year = 2009
 | author-link = Edward N. Luttwak
 | publisher = [[Harvard University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cUVJKJejPY8C&pg=PA448 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-674-03519-5
}}
*{{cite web| title = Magyars
 | website = WebChron: The Web Chronology Project
 | url = http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/EastEurope/Magyars.html | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200411024439/http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/EastEurope/Magyars.html
 | access-date = 22 August 2013 | archive-date = 11 April 2020
 | ref = {{harvid|WebChron: Magyars}}
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Hungarians' Prehistory, Their Conquest of Hungary and their raids to the West
 | last = Makkai | first = László | year = 1994
 | title = A History of Hungary
 | editor1-last = Sugar | editor1-first = Peter F.
 | editor2-last = Hanák | editor2-first = Péter
 | editor3-last = Frank | editor3-first = Tibor | editor3-link = Tibor Frank
 | publisher = [[Indiana University Press]]
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SKwmGQCT0MAC&q=Hungarian+conquest&pg=PA1
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | page = 11
 | isbn = 0-253-35578-8
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = The Possible Reasons for the Arab-Khazar Wars
 | last = Mako | first = Gerald
 | journal = Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi
 | year = 2010 | volume = 17 | pages = 45–57
 | url = https://www.academia.edu/638371 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210823211652/https://www.academia.edu/638371
 | archive-date = 23 August 2021
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Reconstructing Ashkenaz: The Human Face of Franco-German Jewry, 1000–1250
 | last = Malkiel | first = David | year = 2008
 | publisher = [[Stanford University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XNJRKSk6gS4C&pg=PA263 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8047-8684-3
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Oxford History of Byzantium
 | editor-last = Mango | editor-first = Cyril | editor-link = Cyril Mango
 | year = 2002
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | isbn = 978-0-19-814098-6
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Conversion to Judaism: a tale of the good, the bad and the ungrateful
 | last = Mariner | first = Rodney | year = 1999
 | title = Religious Conversion: Contemporary Practices and Controversies
 | editor1-last = Lamb | editor1-first = Christopher
 | editor2-last = Bryant | editor2-first = M. Darroll
 | publisher = A&C Black
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=shdQ-QSZMdIC&pg=PA95
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 89–101
 | isbn = 978-0-826-43713-6
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Other Zions: The Lost Histories of Jewish Nations
 | last = Maroney | first = Eric | year = 2010
 | publisher = [[Rowman & Littlefield]]
 | url = https://archive.org/details/otherzionslosthi0000maro | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/otherzionslosthi0000maro/page/55 55]
 | isbn = 978-1-4422-0045-6
}}
*{{Cite web| script-title = ru:Мы хотим убивать "Медуза" рассказывает, как (и зачем) неонацисты из России отправились "денацифицировать" Украину
 | trans-title = We want to kill "Meduza" tells how (and why) neo-Nazis from Russia set out to "denazify" Ukraine
 | author = ((Meduza))
 | website = Meduza
 | language = ru
 | url = https://meduza.io/feature/2022/07/08/my-hotim-ubivat | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220708054523/https://meduza.io/feature/2022/07/08/my-hotim-ubivat
 | date = 8 July 2022 | access-date = 26 August 2023 | archive-date = 8 July 2022
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Philosopher-King in Medieval and Renaissance Jewish Political Thought
 | last = Melamed | first = Avraham | year = 2003
 | editor-last = Goodman | editor-first = Lenn Evan
 | publisher = [[SUNY Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CarNyTThFqYC&pg=PA24 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-7914-8770-9
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought
 | last = Meserve | first = Margaret | year = 2009
 | publisher = [[Harvard University Press]]
 | volume = 158 | series = Harvard Historical Series
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XDmZXIDiZG8C&pg=PA295 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-674-02656-8
}}
*{{Cite bioRxiv| title = Diverse genetic origins of medieval steppe nomad conquerors
 | last1 = Mikheyev | first1 = Alexander S.
 | last2 = Qiu | first2 = Lijun
 | last3 = Zarubin | first3 = Alexei
 | last4 = Moshkov | first4 = Nikita
 | last5 = Orlov | first5 = Yuri
 | last6 = Chartier | first6 = Duane R.
 | last7 = Kornienko | first7 = Igor V.
 | last8 = Faleeva | first8 = Tatyana G.
 | last9 = Klyuchnikov | first9 = Vladimir
 | last10 = Batieva | first10 = Elena F.
 | last11 = Tatarinova | first11 = Tatiana V.
 | date = 16 December 2019
 | biorxiv = 10.1101/2019.12.15.876912
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Karaite Separatism in Nineteenth-Century Russia: Joseph Solomon Lutski's Epistle of Israel's Deliverance
 | last = Miller | first = Philip E. | year = 1993
 | publisher = [[Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion|Hebrew Union College Press]] | location = Cincinnati
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WPaKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-878-20137-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Road to Jerusalem: Glubb Pasha, Palestine and the Jews
 | last = Morris | first = Benny | year = 2003
 | author-link = Benny Morris
 | orig-year = First published 2002
 | publisher = [[I. B. Tauris]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zL_1icJwNP0C&pg=PA22 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-86064-989-9
}}
*{{Cite book| title = A History of Russia: To 1917
 | last = Moss | first = Walter | year = 2002
 | orig-year = First published 1997
 | publisher = Anthem Press
 | volume = 1 | series = Anthem Russian and Slavonic studies
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BXgNSFIEJ2QC&pg=PA16 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-85728-752-6
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = The Y chromosome pool of Jews as part of the genetic landscape of the Middle East
 | last1 = Nebel | first1 = Almut
 | last2 = Filon | first2 = Dvora
 | last3 = Brinkmann | first3 = B
 | journal = [[American Journal of Human Genetics]]
 | year = 2001 | volume = 69 | issue = 5 | pages = 1095–1112
 | doi = 10.1086/324070 | pmc = 1274378 | pmid = 11573163
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Y chromosome evidence for a founder effect in Ashkenazi Jews
 | last1 = Nebel | first1 = Almut
 | last2 = Filon | first2 = Dvora
 | last3 = Faerman | first3 = Marina
 | journal = [[European Journal of Human Genetics]]
 | date = March 2005 | volume = 13 | issue = 3 | pages = 388–391
 | doi = 10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201319 | pmid = 15523495 | s2cid = 1466556
 | doi-access = free
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = European Russia c500-c1050
 | last = Noonan | first = Thomas S. | year = 1999
 | author-link = Thomas S. Noonan
 | title = The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024
 | editor1-last = Reuter | editor1-first = Timothy | editor1-link = Timothy Reuter
 | editor2-last = McKitterick | editor2-first = Rosamond | editor2-link = Rosamond McKitterick
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | volume = 3 | pages = 485–534
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=u-SsbHs5zTAC&pg=PA508
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-521-36447-8
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Khazar Qaghanate and its impact on the early Rus' state: the Translatio Imperii from Itil to Kiev
 | last = Noonan | first = Thomas S. | year = 2001
 | author-link = Thomas S. Noonan
 | title = Nomads in the Sedentary World
 | editor1-last = Khazanov | editor1-first = Anatoly M. | editor1-link = Anatoly Khazanov
 | editor2-last = Wink | editor2-first = André
 | publisher = [[Routledge]]
 | series = Curzon-IIAS Asian studies series
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=z96HrZh4_N4C&pg=PA76
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 76–102
 | isbn = 978-0-7007-1369-1
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Economy of the Khazar Khaganate
 | last = Noonan | first = Thomas S. | year = 2007
 | author-link = Thomas S. Noonan
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 207–244
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&dq=Noonan%2BThe+Economy+of+the+Khazar+Khaganate&pg=PA207
 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230415164821/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&dq=Noonan+The+Economy+of+the+Khazar+Khaganate&pg=PA207
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | access-date = 19 March 2023 | archive-date = 15 April 2023
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Coup d'état, Coronation and Conversion: Some Reflections on the Adoption of Judaism by the Khazar Khaganate
 | last = Olsson | first = Joshua T.
 | journal = [[Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society]]
 | year = 2013 | volume = 23 | issue = 4 | pages = 495–526
 | doi = 10.1017/S1356186313000266 | s2cid = 161833156
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Jews
 | last = Oppenheim | first = Samuel A | year = 1994
 | dictionary = An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires
 | editor1-last = Olson | editor1-first = James Stuart
 | editor2-last = Pappas | editor2-first = Lee Brigance
 | editor3-last = Pappas | editor3-first = Charles
 | publisher = [[Greenwood Publishing Group]] | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 305–328
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CquTz6ps5YgC&pg=PA310
 | isbn = 978-0-313-27497-8
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People
 | last = Ostrer | first = Harry | year = 2012
 | author-link = Harry Ostrer
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RayZR3V1SFwC&pg=PA26 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-19-997638-6
}}
*{{Cite book| title = History of the Byzantine State
 | last = Ostrogorski | first = George | year = 1969
 | author-link = George Ostrogorski
 | publisher = [[Rutgers University Press]]
 | url = https://archive.org/details/historyofbyzanti00ostr | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8135-0599-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Myth of the Jewish Race
 | last1 = Patai | first1 = Raphael
 | last2 = Patai | first2 = Jennifer
 | author1-link = Raphael Patai
 | year = 1989 | orig-year = First published 1975
 | publisher = [[Wayne State University|Wayne State University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Xt7f6WBEP0EC&pg=PA71 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8143-1948-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Early Seljūq History: A New Interpretation
 | last = Peacock | first = Andrew C.S. | year = 2010
 | publisher = [[Routledge]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xj9haotAapcC&pg=PA27 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-415-54853-3
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Khazaria and Rus': An Examination of their Historical Relations
 | last = Petrukhin | first = Vladimir | year = 2007
 | author-link = Vladimir Petrukhin
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = BRILL
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 245–268
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_of_the_Khazars.html%3Fid%3D3ZzXjdyK-CEC
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Iudaizm v Khazarii po dannym arkheologii
 | script-chapter = ru:Иудаизм в Хазарии по данным археологии
 | trans-chapter = Judaism in Khazaria according to Archaeological Data
 | last1 = Petrukhin | first1 = Vladimir
 | last2 = Flyorov | first2 = Valeriy
 | author1-link = Vladimir Petrukhin
 | year = 2010
 | title = Istoriya yevreyskogo naroda v Rossii. Ot drevnosti do rannego Novogo vremeni
 | script-title = ru:История еврейского народа в России. От древности до раннего Нового времени
 | trans-title = History of Jewish People in Russia. From Antiquity to the Early Modern Period
 | editor1-last = Bartal | editor1-first = Israel
 | editor2-last = Kulik | editor2-first = Alexander
 | publisher = Bridges of Culture; Gerashim | location = Moscow; Jerusalem
 | volume = 1 | pages = 149–161
 | language = ru
 | isbn = 978-5-457-51756-1
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Middle Byzantine Court Costume
 | last = Piltz | first = Elisabeth | year = 2004
 | orig-year = First published 1997
 | title = Byzantine Court Culture from 829 To 1204
 | editor-last = Maguire | editor-first = Henry | editor-link = Martijn Theodoor Houtsma
 | publisher = Dumbarton Oaks
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qjy2d8ExpTAC&pg=PA42
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 39–52
 | isbn = 978-0-88402-308-1
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The History of Anti-semitism: From the time of Christ to the court Jews
 | last = Poliakov | first = Léon | year = 2005
 | author-link = Léon Poliakov
 | orig-year = 1955/1975
 | publisher = [[University of Pennsylvania Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9uyoN09ZsHEC&pg=PA285 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8122-1863-3
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Jews in Old Poland: 1000–1795
 | editor1-last = Polonsky | editor1-first = Antony | editor1-link = Antony Polonsky
 | editor2-last = Basista | editor2-first = Jakub
 | editor3-last = Link-Lenczowski | editor3-first = Andrzej
 | year = 1993
 | publisher = [[I. B. Tauris]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-LltAAAAMAAJ&q=Maksymilian+Gumplowicz+khazars
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-85043-342-2
}}
*{{cite journal | title = The Khazar Kingdom's Conversion to Judaism
 | last = Pritsak | first = Omeljan
 | journal = Harvard Ukrainian Studies
 | date = September 1978 | volume = II | number = 3 | pages = 261–281
 | url = https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/14056/file.pdf | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220111190442/https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/14056/file.pdf
 | archive-date = 11 January 2022
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 3, c.900–c.1024
 | editor-last = Reuter | editor-first = Timothy | editor-link = Timothy Reuter
 | year = 1999
 | publisher = Cambridge University Press
 | doi = 10.1017/CHOL9780521364478 | isbn = 978-1-13905572-7
}}
*{{Cite book| title = ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity
 | last = Rezakhani | first = Khodadad | year = 2017
 | publisher = [[Edinburgh University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VjVYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT233 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-474-40031-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Hungarians & Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History
 | last = Róna-Tas | first = András | year = 1999
 | author-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Central European University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I-RTt0Q6AcYC | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-963-9116-48-1
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Russian Intellectual Antisemitism in the Post-Communist Era
 | last = Rossman | first = Vadim Joseph | year = 2002
 | publisher = [[University of Nebraska Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pF-I25OC5ugC&pg=PA98 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8032-3948-7
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Anti-Semitism in Eurasian Historiography: The Caser of Lev Gumilev
 | last = Rossman | first = Vadim Joseph | year = 2007
 | title = Russia Between East and West: Scholarly Debates on Eurasianism
 | editor-last = Shlapentokh | editor-first = Dmitry
 | publisher = BRILL
 | volume = 102 | series = International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology
 | pages = 121–188
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EnsHyxPZfOIC&pg=PA134
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-15415-5
}}
*{{Cite news| title = 'Jews a Race' Genetic Theory Comes Under Fierce Attack by DNA Expert
 | last = Rubin | first = Rita
 | magazine = [[The Forward]]
 | url = http://forward.com/articles/175912/jews-a-race-genetic-theory-comes-under-fierce-atta/?p=all | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140719154152/http://forward.com/articles/175912/jews-a-race-genetic-theory-comes-under-fierce-atta/?p=all
 | date = 7 May 2013 | access-date = 9 June 2014 | archive-date = 19 July 2014
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Population in Europe
 | last = Russell | first = Josiah C. | year = 1972
 | title = The Fontana Economic History of Europe: The Middle Ages
 | editor-last = Cipolla | editor-first = Carlo M. | editor-link = Carlo M. Cipolla
 | publisher = Collins/Fontana
 | volume = 1 | pages = 25–71
 | chapter-url = http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pop-in-eur.html
 | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141029063430/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pop-in-eur.html
 | archive-date = 29 October 2014
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Invention of the Jewish People
 | last = Sand | first = Shlomo | year = 2010
 | author-link = Shlomo Sand
 | orig-year = First published 2009
 | publisher = [[Verso Books]] | location = London
 | url = https://archive.org/details/inventionofjewi00sand | url-access = registration | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | isbn = 978-1-84467-623-1
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words (1000 BCE – 1492)
 | last = Schama | first = Simon | year = 2013
 | author-link = Simon Schama
 | publisher = [[Random House]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yLdkwBPMLaQC&pg=PA266 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-409-04004-0
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Collapse and Recovery of Europe, AD 476-1648
 | last = Schwartzwald | first = Jack L. | year = 2015
 | publisher = [[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bqgHCwAAQBAJ&dq=Constantine+VI%2Bdowager%2Bunpopular&pg=PA26 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230415192801/https://books.google.com/books?id=bqgHCwAAQBAJ&dq=Constantine+VI+dowager+unpopular&pg=PA26
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | access-date = 19 March 2023 | archive-date = 15 April 2023
 | isbn = 978-1-476-66230-5
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Khazar motif in Judah Halevi's ''Sefer ha-Kuzari''
 | last = Schweid | first = Eliezer | year = 2007
 | author-link = Eliezer Schweid
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 279–290
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yO-vCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA279
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{cite book| title = Adolf Hitler, the Ultimate Avatar
 | last = Serrano | first = Miguel | year = 2011
 | orig-year = First published 1984
 | publisher = Editorial Solar
 | url = https://archive.org/stream/serranomigueladolfhitlertheultimateavatar2000#page/n77/mode/1up
 | via = [[Internet Archive]]
 | pages = 79, 295
 | isbn = <!-- not printed in the book -->
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Jews in Khazaria
 | last = Shapira | first = Dan D. Y. | year = 2009
 | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture
 | editor-last = Ehrlich | editor-first = Mark Avrum
 | publisher = ABC-CLIO | via = [[Google Books]]
 | volume = 3: (Countries, Regions, and Communities) | pages = 1097–1104
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&pg=PA1097
 | isbn = 978-1-85109-873-6
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Remarks on Avraham Firkovicz and the Hebrew Mejelis "Document"
 | last = Shapira | first = Dan D.Y.
 | journal = Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
 | year = 2006 | volume = 59 | issue = 2 | pages = 131–180
 | doi = 10.1556/AOrient.59.2006.2.1
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Iranian Sources on the Khazars
 | last = Shapira | first = Dan D.Y. | year = 2007a
 | encyclopedia = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]] | via = [[Google Books]]
 | volume = 17 | pages = 291–305
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PR2
 | access-date = 13 February 2013
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Armenian and Georgian Sources on the Khazars – A Re-Evaluation
 | last = Shapira | first = Dan D.Y. | year = 2007b
 | encyclopedia = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]] | via = [[Google Books]]
 | volume = 17 | pages = 307–351
 | series = Handbook of Oriental Studies
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PR2
 | access-date = 13 February 2013
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Closer Encounters with the Byzantine World: The Rus at the Straits of Kerch
 | last = Shepard | first = Jonathan | year = 2006
 | title = Pre-modern Russia and its world: Essays in Honour of Thomas S. Noonan
 | editor1-last = Reyerson | editor1-first = Kathryn Von
 | editor2-last = Stavrou | editor2-first = Theofanis George
 | editor3-last = Tracy | editor3-first = James Donald
 | publisher = [[Otto Harrassowitz|Otto Harrassowitz Verlag]]
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LMwmcqwZUGcC&pg=PA35
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 15–77
 | isbn = 978-3-447-05425-6
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Ethos, Materiality and Paradigms of Political Action in Early Medieval Communities of the Northwestern Caspian Region
 | last = Shingiray | first = Irina Lita | year = 2012
 | title = The Archaeology of Power and Politics in Eurasia: Regimes and Revolutions
 | editor1-last = Hartley | editor1-first = Charles W.
 | editor2-last = Yazicioğlu | editor2-first = G. Bike
 | editor3-last = Smith | editor3-first = Adam T.
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UstGrkGNNQcC&pg=PA208
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 188–216
 | isbn = 978-1-107-01652-1
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = The Chinese Chroniclers of the Khazars: Notes on Khazaria in Tang Period Texts
 | last = Shirota | first = Shun (城田俊)
 | editor1-last = Woods | editor1-first = John E.
 | editor2-last = Pfeiffer | editor2-first = Judith
 | editor3-last = Tucker | editor3-first = Ernest
 | journal = Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi
 | year = 2005 | volume = 14 | pages = 231–261
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Story of an Euphemism: The Khazars in Russian Nationalist Literature
 | last = Shnirelman | first = Victor A | year = 2007
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 353–372
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PA360
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = vol. 196
 | author = ((Sima Guang))
 | author-link = Sima Guang
 | display-authors = etal
 | publisher = [[Chinese Text Project]]
 | url = https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=579709 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201113152318/https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=579709
 | archive-date = 13 November 2020
 | ref = {{harvid|Sima Guang, vol. 196}}
}}
*{{Cite web| title = Contemporary Racist and Judeophobic Ideology Discovers the Khazars, or, Who Really Are the Jews?
 | last = Singerman | first = Robert | year = 2004
 | series = Rosaline and Myer Feinstein Lecture Series
 | url = http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Portals/0/AJL_Assets/documents/Feinstein/Robert%20Singerman.pdf | url-status = dead
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140305220540/http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Portals/0/AJL_Assets/documents/Feinstein/Robert%20Singerman.pdf
 | access-date = 1 March 2014 | archive-date = 5 March 2014
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Headless State: Aristocratic Orders, Kinship Society, and Misrepresentations of Nomadic Inner Asia
 | last = Sneath | first = David | year = 2007
 | publisher = [[Columbia University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OR14qaApQbgC&pg=PA25 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-231-51167-4
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = New remarks on the flow of Byzantine coins in Avaria and Walachia during the second half of the seventh century
 | last = Somogyi | first = Péter | year = 2008
 | title = The "Other" Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans
 | editor1-last = Curta | editor1-first = Florin
 | editor2-last = Kovalev | editor2-first = Roman
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | volume = 2 | series = East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450
 | pages = 83–149
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_-G1L-9Zec0C&pg=PA125
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16389-8
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century
 | last = Spinei | first = Victor | year = 2009
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|BRILL]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9KwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-9-004-17536-5
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History
 | last = Spolsky | first = Bernard | year = 2014
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nl72AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-1-107-05544-5
}}
*{{Cite journal | title = Did the Khazars Convert to Judaism?
 | last = Stampfer | first = Shaul
 | author-link = Shaul Stampfer
 | journal = Jewish Social Studies | via = [[Project MUSE]]
 | year = 2013 | volume = 19 | issue = 3 | pages = 1–72
 | url = https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jewish_social_studies/v019/19.3.stampfer.pdf
 | doi = 10.2979/jewisocistud.19.3.1 | s2cid = 161320785
}}
*{{Cite magazine| title = Are We All Khazars Now?
 | last = Stampfer | first = Shaul | year = 2014
 | author-link = Shaul Stampfer
 | magazine = [[Jewish Review of Books]]
 | pages = 1–72
 | url = http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/802/are-we-all-khazars-now/ | url-access = limited | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160501183726/http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/802/are-we-all-khazars-now/
 | access-date = 3 May 2016 | archive-date = 1 May 2016
}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia| title = The Avars
 | last = Szádeczky-Kardoss | first = Samuel | year = 1994
 | orig-year = First published 1990
 | encyclopedia = The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia
 | editor-last = Sinor | editor-first = Denis | editor-link = Denis Sinor
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | via = [[Google Books]]
 | volume = 1 | pages = 206–228
 | series = Handbook of Oriental Studies
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&pg=PR5
 | access-date = 13 February 2013
 | isbn = 978-0-521-24304-9
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Conversion and Narrative: Reading and Religious Authority in Medieval Polemic
 | last = Szpiech | first = Ryan | year = 2012
 | publisher = [[University of Pennsylvania Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JDWq_qDnAqAC&pg=PA102 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8122-0761-3
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Le karaïsme: ses doctrines et son histoire
 | trans-title = Karaism: its doctrines and its history
 | last = Szyszman | first = Simon | year = 1980
 | author-link = :fr:Simon Szyszman
 | publisher = Éditions L'Âge d'Homme
 | language = fr
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1UEavztCkKIC&pg=PA71 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-2-8251-3088-9
}}
*{{cite journal | title = Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia
 | last = Taagepera | first = Rein
 | author-link = Rein Taagepera
 | journal = [[International Studies Quarterly]]
 | date = September 1997 | volume = 41 | issue = 3 | page = 496
 | url = http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181119114740/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807
 | archive-date = 19 November 2018
 | doi = 10.1111/0020-8833.00053 | jstor = 2600793
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Vol. 199b Tiele
 | last1 = Tangshu | first1 = Jiu
 | author1-link = Jiu Tangshu
 | author2 = ((Jiu Tangshu))
 | language = zh
 | url = https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7199%E4%B8%8B#%E9%90%B5%E5%8B%92 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110516124654/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7199%E4%B8%8B#%E9%90%B5%E5%8B%92
 | archive-date = 16 May 2011
 | ref = {{harvid|Jiu Tangshu, Vol. 199b Tiele}}
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Economic History of European Jews: Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
 | last = Toch | first = Michael | year = 2012
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers]] | location = Leiden
 | volume = 56 | series = Études sur le Judaïsme Médiéval
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=M5oNKrvYWZAC&pg=PA155 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-23534-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = [[A Study of History]]
 | last = Toynbee | first = Arnold | year = 1962
 | author-link = Arnold J. Toynbee
 | orig-year = 1934–1961
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | volume = 1–12
}}
*{{cite journal | title = East-West Orientation of Historical Empires
 | last1 = Turchin | first1 = Peter
 | last2 = Adams | first2 = Jonathan M.
 | last3 = Hall | first3 = Thomas D
 | journal = Journal of World-Systems Research
 | date = December 2006 | volume = 12 | issue = 2 | page = 222
 | url = http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190520161830/http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381
 | archive-date = 20 May 2019
 | issn = 1076-156X
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Making a Nation, Breaking a Nation: Literature and Cultural Politics in Yugoslavia
 | last = Wachtel | first = Andrew | year = 1998
 | publisher = [[Stanford University Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cnISZNM6X6EC&pg=PA210 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 210–215
 | isbn = 978-0-8047-3181-2
}}
*{{cite book| title = Tang Huiyao
 | last = Wang | first = Pu
 | display-authors = etal
 | volume = 98
 | language = zh
 | url = https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%94%90%E6%9C%83%E8%A6%81/%E5%8D%B7098 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210119092204/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%94%90%E6%9C%83%E8%A6%81/%E5%8D%B7098
 | archive-date = 19 January 2021
 | ref = {{harvid|Wang Pu, vol 98}}
}}
*{{cite book| title = Tang Huiyao
 | last = Wang | first = Pu
 | display-authors = etal
 | volume = 72
 | language = zh
 | url = https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%94%90%E6%9C%83%E8%A6%81/%E5%8D%B7072 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201104005510/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%94%90%E6%9C%83%E8%A6%81/%E5%8D%B7072
 | archive-date = 4 November 2020
 | ref = {{harvid|Wang Pu, vol. 72}}
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = The Khazars and the World of Islam
 | last = Wasserstein | first = David | year = 2007
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 373–386
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_of_the_Khazars.html%3Fid%3D3ZzXjdyK-CEC
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = vol. 84
 | last = Wei | first = Zheng
 | display-authors = etal
 | title = [[Book of Sui]]
 | language = zh
 | chapter-url = https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%9A%8B%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B784#%E9%90%B5%E5%8B%92
 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221211133548/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%9A%8B%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B784#%E9%90%B5%E5%8B%92
 | archive-date = 11 December 2022
 | ref = {{harvid|Wei Zheng, vol. 84}}
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Jews of Poland: A Social and Economic History of the Jewish Community in Poland from 1100 to 1800
 | last = Weinryb | first = Bernard Dov | year = 1973a
 | publisher = [[Jewish Publication Society]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K2DgBdSCQnsC&q=Abraham+Firkovich+khazars&pg=PA21
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | pages = 21–22
 | isbn = 978-0-8276-0016-4
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Jews of Poland: A Social and Economic History of the Jewish Community in Poland from 1100 to 1800 he non-Jewish origins of the Sephardic Jews
 | last = Weinryb | first = Bernard Dov | year = 1973b
 | publisher = [[Jewish Publication Society]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K2DgBdSCQnsC&pg=PA20 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-8276-0016-4
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind
 | last = Wells | first = H. G. | year = 1920
 | author-link = Herbert George Wells
 | publisher = [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]
 | volume = 1
 | url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_Outline_of_History_Vol_1.djvu/594 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200713075456/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_Outline_of_History_Vol_1.djvu/594
 | archive-date = 13 July 2020
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Explorations in Judeo-Slavic Linguistics
 | last = Wexler | first = Paul | year = 1987
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill Archive]]
 | volume = 2 | series = Contributions to the sociology of Jewish languages
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FfYUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA72 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-07656-3
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The non-Jewish origins of the Sephardic Jews
 | last = Wexler | first = Paul | year = 1996
 | publisher = [[State University of New York|SUNY]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XZwO2TX8EOcC&pg=PA25 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231117073550/https://books.google.com/books?id=XZwO2TX8EOcC&pg=PA25
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | access-date = 12 December 2015 | archive-date = 17 November 2023
 | isbn = 978-1-4384-2393-7
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Two-Tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect
 | last = Wexler | first = Paul | year = 2002
 | publisher = [[Walter de Gruyter]]
 | volume = 136 | series = Trends in linguistics / Studies and monographs: Studies and monographs
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JL7CY2MW63gC&pg=PA537 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231117073549/https://books.google.com/books?id=JL7CY2MW63gC&pg=PA537
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | access-date = 14 August 2015 | archive-date = 17 November 2023
 | isbn = 978-3-11-017258-4
}}
*{{Cite book| chapter = Yiddish Evidence for the Khazar Component in the Ashkenazic ethnogenesis
 | last = Wexler | first = Paul | year = 2007
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 387–398
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PA387
 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231117073542/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZzXjdyK-CEC&pg=PA387
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | access-date = 14 August 2015 | archive-date = 17 November 2023
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{Cite book| title = The Making of Byzantium, 600–1025
 | last = Whittow | first = David | year = 1996
 | publisher = [[University of California Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=22NNIjrpd20C&pg=PA226 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-0-520-20496-6
}}
*{{cite book| title = New Book of Tang
 | last = Xin | first = Tangshu
 | volume = 217a Huihe
 | language = zh
 | url = https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7217%E4%B8%8A | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190504083529/https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7217%E4%B8%8A
 | archive-date = 4 May 2019
 | ref = {{harvid|Xin Tangshu, vol 217a Huihe}}
}}
*{{Cite book| title = Khazaria in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries
 | last = Zhivkov | first = Boris | year = 2015
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|BRILL]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7Du2CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-9-004-29448-6
}}
*{{cite book| title = The Origins of the Volga Bulghars
 | last = Zimonyi | first = István | year = 1990
 | editor-last = Szõnyi-Sándor | editor-first = Klára
 | series = Studia Uralo-Altaica, 32
 | isbn = 978-963-481-839-7
}}
*{{cite journal | title = On the date of the Khazars' Conversion to Judaism and the Chronology of the Kings of the Rus' Oleg and Igor
 | last = Zuckerman | first = Constantine
 | journal = [[Revue des études byzantines]]
 | year = 1995 | volume = 53 | pages = 237–270
 | url = https://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_1995_num_53_1_1906 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221129134425/https://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_1995_num_53_1_1906
 | archive-date = 29 November 2022
 | doi = 10.3406/rebyz.1995.1906
}}
*{{cite book| chapter = The Khazars and Byzantium –The First Encounter
 | last = Zuckerman | first = Constantine | year = 2007
 | title = The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives
 | editor1-last = Golden | editor1-first = Peter B. | editor1-link = Peter Benjamin Golden
 | editor2-last = Ben-Shammai | editor2-first = Haggai
 | editor3-last = Róna-Tas | editor3-first = András | editor3-link = András Róna-Tas
 | publisher = [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]
 | volume = 17 | series = Handbuch der Orientalistik: Handbook of Uralic studies
 | pages = 399–431
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_of_the_Khazars.html%3Fid%3D3ZzXjdyK-CEC
 | via = [[Google Books]]
 | isbn = 978-90-04-16042-2
}}
*{{cite encyclopedia| entry = КАСПИЙСКОЕ МОРЕ перевод [CASPIAN SEA translation]
 | dictionary = Русско-крымскотатарский словарь (кириллица) [Russian-Crimean Tatar Dictionary (Cyrillic)]
 | lang = ru
 | entry-url = http://www.classes.ru/all-crtatar/dictionary-russian-crtatar-cyr-term-3892.htm
 | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211026015642/http://www.classes.ru/all-crtatar/dictionary-russian-crtatar-cyr-term-3892.htm
 | access-date = 12 February 2021 | archive-date = 26 October 2021
 | ref = {{harvid|Caspian Sea translation}}
}}
*{{Cite magazine| title = Ясно-понятно. Кто такие мишари?
 | trans-title = Clearly understood: Who are the Mishars?
 | magazine = Инде (inde.io)
 | language = ru
 | url = https://inde.io/article/2207-yasno-ponyatno-kto-takie-mishari | url-status = live
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221108191102/https://inde.io/article/2207-yasno-ponyatno-kto-takie-mishari
 | date = 2016 | access-date = 23 May 2024 | archive-date = 8 November 2022
 | ref = {{harvid|Who are the Mishars?|2016}}
}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/GOLD/thumbs?class_mark=T-S_12.122 The Kievan Letter scan] in the [[Cambridge University Library]] collection.
* [http://www.khazaria.com Khazaria.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19971221083021/http://khazaria.com/ |date=21 December 1997}}
* [https://archive.today/20061003195338/http://www.dinur.org/resources/resourceCategoryDisplay.aspx?categoryid=457&rsid=478 Resources – Medieval Jewish History – The Khazars] The Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026233731/http://geocities.com/ayatoles/ |date=26 October 2009 |title=Khazar Historic Maps}}
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/khz/index.htm The Kitab al-Khazari of Judah Hallevi, full English translation at sacred-texts.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106005357/http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/khz/index.htm |date=6 January 2010}}
* [https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2.209/ancient-lost-capital-of-the-jewish-khazar-kingdom-found-1.254377 Ancient lost capital of the Khazar kingdom found] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810091901/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2.209/ancient-lost-capital-of-the-jewish-khazar-kingdom-found-1.254377 |date=10 August 2017}}

{{Turkic topics}}
{{Khazaria}}
{{Turkic peoples}}
{{Crimea topics}}
{{Barbarian kingdoms}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khazar}}
[[Category:Khazars| ]]<!--please leave the empty space as standard-->
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Russia]]
[[Category:Ashina tribe]]
[[Category:Groups who converted to Judaism]]
[[Category:History of Kuban]]
[[Category:Jewish polities]]
[[Category:Khanates]]
[[Category:Khanates of the North Caucasus]]
[[Category:Saltovo-Mayaki culture]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 960s]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 650s]]
[[Category:Turkic peoples]]