Khazars - Khazars The Khazars were a semi-nomadic people from Central Asia who adopted Judaism and whose descendants might now be spread over the world. They founded the independent Khazar kingdom in the 7th century C.E. in the southeastern part of today's Europe, near the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. In addition to western Kazakhstan, the Khazar kingdom also included territory in what is now eastern Ukraine, southern Russia, and Crimea. The name 'Khazar' itself seems to be tied to a Turkic verb meaning "wandering." Khazar history is intimately tied with that of the Gokturk empire, founded when the Asena clan overthrew the Juan Juan in AD 552. With the collapse of the Gokturk empire/tribal confederation due to internal conflict in the seventh century, the western half of.
Dictionary of the Khazars - Dictionary of the Khazars Dictionary Of The Khazars: A Lexicon Novel is the first novel by Milorad Pavich (Milorad Pavić). Originally written in Serbo-Croatian, the novel has been translated into many languages, including English.The novel takes the form of three encyclopedias, each compiled from the sources of one of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism). The novel may be read in any number of ways, rather than just back to front, so as to challenge readers to shun passive reading and become active participants in the novel, as they piece together the story from fragmented, and often conflicting, accounts. The novel blends fact and fiction as it addresses the real historical question of what happened to the Khazarian empire. The novel may also be interpreted to.
Kerch - known as Panticapaeum, it had previously served as the capital of the Kingdom of Bosporus in ancient times. In the 8th century, the Khazars built a fortress in Kerch from stone blocks. Its walls were about 2.5 meters thick. The main local government official during Khazar times was the archon. Christianity was a major religion in Kerch during the period of Khazar rule. Kerch's "Church of St. John the Baptist" was founded in 717 C.E. The "Church of the Apostles" existed during the late 8th century and early 9th century, according to the "Life of the Apostle Andrew" by Epiphanus. Today there is a Ukrainian harbour on the Strait of Kerch with ferry connections to Novorossiysk in Russia. Alternative spellings and names: Karch, Karchev.
Khazaria - States History of post-communist Russia List of famous Russians Khazaria also known as Khazar khaganate was the country of the Khazars, neighboring the Byzantine Empire in the southwest, Kievan Rus' in the northwest, and Azerbaijan in the southeast. This Turkic people adopted Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. As an independent state, Khazaria existed between about 652 and 1016. Its supreme ruler was known by the title "khagan". Its last khagan was named George Tsul. Much of Khazaria was covered by steppe land. Khazaria bordered the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The Volga River passed through eastern Khazaria. Major cities of Khazaria included: Along the Caspian coast and Volga delta -- Atil Khazaran Samandar In the Caucasus -- Balanjar Sambalut Samiran Sarir Maghas (Alan capital) Sukhumi (Abkhazian capital) In the.
Khwarezmia - to lead Alexander's armies against his own enemies, west over the Caspian towards the Black Sea. Alexander politely refused. The Aramaic dialect that was used by Persian bureaucracy (no Iranian dialect yet had a written form), passed into use in Khwareszm to the north, where it served as the first local alphabet, about the 2nd century. It was there from that script that the various Turkic rune alphabets developed. Middle Ages According to Biruni the area was ruled by the Afrigid dynasty from the 4th-8th centuries. The resurgent kingdom was established around Khiva in 410CE by Avar tribes possibly under Hephthalites influence. The inhabitants were called Khwalis or Kaliz by the Magyars after the eastern-most Kabarss of Hungary, who dwelt in Carpathian Galicia. They were also called Khalisioi in Greek, Khvalis.
Kievan Rus' - Kievan Rus', a Varangian (Viking) named Rurik first established himself in Novgorod (according to the chronicle, he was selected as common ruler by several slavic tribes), just south of modern-day St. Petersburg, in about 860 before moving south and extending his authority to Kiev. The chronicle cites the Scandinavian Rurik as the progenitor of a dynasty that ruled in Eastern Europe until 1598. Another Varagnian, Oleg (Helgi), who was a close relative of Rurik, moved south from Novgorod to expel the Khazars from Kiev and founded Kievan Rus' about 880. During the next thirty-five years, "Oleg" and his Viking and Slavic, warriors subdued the various Eastern Slavic tribes. In 907, he led an attack against Constantinople, and in 911 he signed a commercial treaty with the Byzantine Empire as an equal.
Kuzari - divided into five essays ("ma'amarim"), and takes the form of a dialogue between the pagan king of the Khazars and a Jew who had been invited to instruct him in the tenets of the Jewish religion. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Introduction 2 "Creatio ex Nihilo" 3 Superiority of his faith 4 Question of Attributes 5 Names of God 6 Arguments Against Philosophy 7 Influence of the Kuzari 8 The "Kuzari Principle" 9 External Links Introduction After a short account of the incidents preceding the conversion of the king, and of the conversations of the latter with a philosopher, a Christian, and a Muslim concerning their respective beliefs, a Jewish person appears on the stage, and by his first statement startles the king; for, instead of giving him proofs of the.
Jaw harp - produce a note. The note thus produced is constant in pitch, though by changing the shape of their mouth and the amount of air contained in it the performer can cause different overtones to sound. The name Jew's harp, may derive from its popularity amongst Eurasian steppe-peoples like the Khazars perhaps being introduced to Europe from that direction..
Jewish philosophy - prior requisite for all perception and knowledge. Saadia Gaon Saadia Gaon (892-942 CE) in his Emunot Ve-Deot ("Principles of Faith and Knowledge") posits the rationality of the Jewish faith, with the restriction that reason must capitulate wherever it contradicts tradition. Dogma must take precedence of reason. Thus in the question concerning the eternity of the world, reason teaches since Aristotle, that the world is without beginning; that it was not created; in contrast, Jewish dogma asserts a creation out of nothing. Since the time of Aristotle it was held that logical reasoning could only prove the existence of a general form of immortality, and that no form of individual immortality could exist. Mainstream Jewish dogma, in contrast, maintained the immortality of the individual. Reason, therefore, must give way in Saadia's view..
Justinian II - into rebellion. In 695 they rose under Leontius and, after cutting off the emperor's nose (whence his surname), banished him to Cherson in the Crimea. Leontius, after a reign of three years, was in turn dethroned and imprisoned by Tiberius Absimarus, who next assumed the purple. Justinian meanwhile had escaped from Cherson and married Theodora, sister of Busirus, khan of the Khazars. Compelled however, by the intrigues of Tiberius, to quit his new home, he fled to Terbelis, king of the Bulgars. With an army of 15,000 horsemen Justinian suddenly pounced upon Constantinople, slew his rivals Leontius and Tiberius, with thousands of their partisans, and once more ascended the throne in 704. His second reign was marked by an unsuccessful war against Terbelis, by Arab victories in Asia Minor, by devastating.
History of Ukraine - became city states. Slavic tribes occupied central and eastern Ukraine in the sixth century A.D. and played an important role in the establishment of Kiev. In the 9th century Kiev was conquered from the Khazars by the Varangian (Swedish Viking) Oleg. Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kiev quickly prospered as the center of the powerful Slavic/Scandinavian state of Kievan Rus. In the 11th century, Kievan Rus was, geographically, the largest state in Europe. A Christian missionary, Cyril, converted the Kievan nobility (mostly Varangians) and most of the population in 988. Conflict among the feudal lords led to decline in the 12th century. Kiev was razed by Mongol raiders in the 12th century. Subsequently, all principalities on Ukraine acknowledged the sovereignty of Mongols. The Mongol rule was very cruel and people often.
Glagolitic alphabet - letters Sha, Shta and Tsi were derived from Hebrew alphabet (Shin and Tsadi) - the phonemes that these letters represent did not exist in Greek but are quite common for all Slavic languages. The remaining original characters are of unknown oriental origin. Some of them are presumed to stem from the Hebrew and Samaritan scripts, which Cyril got to know during his journey to the Khazars in Cherson. History Rastislav, the Prince (King) of Great Moravia, wanted to weaken the dependence of this Slavonic empire on East Frankish priests, so in 862 he had the Byzantine emperor send two Slavonic missionaries, Cyril and Methodius, to Great Moravia. Cyril created a new alphabet for that purpose - the Glagolitic. The alphabet was then used in Great Moravia between 863 (when Cyril and.
Early Russian East Slavs - beekeepers as well as hunters, fishers, herders, and trappers. By the 6th century, the Slavs were the dominant ethnic group on the East European Plain. Little is known of the origin of the Slavs. Philologists and archaeologists theorize that the Slavs settled very early in the Carpathian Mountains or in the area of present-day Belarus. By 600 AD, they had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. The East Slavs settled along the Dnepr in what is now Ukraine; then they spread northward to the northern Volga valley, east of modern-day Moscow, and westward to the basins of the northern Dnestr and the western Bug rivers, in present-day Moldova and southern Ukraine. In the eighth and ninth centuries, many East Slavic tribes paid tribute to the Khazars, a Turkic-speaking people.
740 - 745 Events October 26 - An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and death. The Khazars convert to Judaism. (approximate date) End of the reign of king Sevar and thus of the House of Dulo in Bulgaria. St. Cuthbert becomes archbishop of Canterbury. Pippin III marries Bertrada of Laon. Births Deaths\n.
Arthur Koestler - (a novel about the evils of the Soviet state), The Yogi and the Commissar (another book about Communism), The Sleepwalkers, The Act of Creation, and The Thirteenth Tribe. In the latter work, Koestler argued that most Jews today are descendants of the Khazars, a people in the Caucasus who adopted Judaism in the 8th century and were later forced to move westwards into current Russia and Poland. Koestler was fluent in Hungarian, German, and English, and knew some rusty Hebrew. From 1926 to 1929 he lived for a short time in the British Mandate of Palestine. Koestler, an advocate of euthanasia, and suffering from Alzheimer's disease, took his own life along with his wife in a joint suicide in England. Much of Koestler's work was completely out of step with mainstream.
Ashkenazi - once lived (compare the French word Allemand for Germany). The word ashkenazi is often used in medieval rabbinic literature. References to Ashkenaz in Yosippon and Hasdai's letter to the king of the Khazars would date the term as far back as the tenth century, as would also Saadia Gaon's commentary on Daniel 7:8. Literature about the alleged Turkic origin of the Ashkenazi population appeared mainly after 1950. In the first half of the eleventh century Hai Gaon refers to questions that had been addressed to him from Ashkenaz, by which he undoubtedly means Germany. Rashi in the latter half of the eleventh century refers to both the language of Ashkenaz (Commentary on Deut. iii. 9; idem on Talmud tractate Suk. 17a) and the country of Ashkenaz (Talmud, Hul. 93a). During the.
Asparukh - son of Khan Kubrat. He gained experience in politics and statesmanship in Great Bulgaria, and when the state disintegrated under pressure from the Khazars, he and his four brothers resumed their nomadic life, rocked by the waves of migration and military clashes. Khan Asparukh was followed by a great number of Bulgars. He crossed the Danubian delta and while the Byzantine capital was besieged by the Arabs (674 - 678), he and his horde settled in the Ongul area ( Southern Bessarabia ). He was victorious against the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV in 680 and then he swiftly moved from the Danubian delta down to the Balkan range. Asparukh established the State of Bulgaria in 680 as a union with the seven Slavic tribes. He invaded Thrace in 681, seizing towns.
Yuezhi - (Kidara). The Kidarites themselves were displaced by the expansion of yet another of their families left in Bactria, the YepTal (Hephthal) who came to rule a union of Alchoni and Hua (later known in the west as Avars). In the end, the Hephthalites too eventually invaded India. Thus according to Chinese sources, the three most prominent conquering dynasties to invade North West India were all of the same original 5 family YueZhi stock. Some have argued for the Kidara's relationship to the Elbruz proto-Khazars displaced by the arrival of the Hephthalites in Afghanistan. This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it..
Balanjar - north and attacked Balanjar. The inhabitants of Balanjar tried to defend their town by fastening 3,000 wagons together and circling them around the key fortress on high terrain. The Khazars were defeated in the attack. The Arabs murdered and enslaved many innocent people, and ultimately the surviving Balanjar residents had to flee to other towns, including Samandar. The victorious Arab army stole much booty and the soldiers received large sums of money..
Tervel - hand in diplomatic relations between the two states. Khan Tervel succeeded in either 701 or 702 after his father Asparukh presumably killed in a battle against the Khazars. Shortly afterwards, the deposed emperor Justinian II fled to his place and lured his support. With an army of 15,000 horsemen Justinian suddenly pounced upon Constantinople and slew his rivals Leontius II and Tiberius III, with thousands of their partisans, and once more ascended the throne in 704. Justinian awarded Tervel the marriage of his daughter, title of Caesar which made him second only to the emperor and the first foreigner in Byzantine history to receive such a title, and the best of all, the strategic region of Zagora in eastern Thrace. Justinian II struggled in the following years attempting to recapture Zagora..
