The Khazars

CHRONOLOGY

AD 371 The Huns conquer the steppes north of the Black Sea.

515–516 Hunno-Sabirian invasion of Armenia.

540 Sabiri raid south of the Caucasus.

552 Death of Khagan Bumin (Tumin), founder of the Turkic Khaganate in Central Asia; joint assault by Sabiri and Khazars upon ‘Caucasian Albanians’ (vassals of the Sassanian Empire, in present-day Azerbaijan).

562 Defeat of the Sabiri-Khazar alliance by Sassanian ruler Khusrow I Anushirvan.

567–571 Khazar and Bulgar territories between the Caspian and Black Seas fall under Turkish Khaganate.

576 War begins between Byzantine Empire and Turkic Khaganate.

626 Alliance of Byzantine Empire and Turkic Khagan against Sassanian Empire; Turkic and subordinate Khazar armies strike south of Caucasus.

628 Khazars conquer ‘Caucasian Albania’ (largely in present-day Azerbaijan).

632 Formation of Great Bulgaria in the western steppes.

c. 650 Khazar tribes establish Khazar Khaganate (Khazaria) north of the Caucasus.

653–654 Defeat of first Arab-Muslim invasion of Khazaria, but Muslims take Derbent.

655 Khazars conquer part of Crimean peninsula.

657–659 Fragmentation of the Turkic Khaganate.

c. 660 Migration of some Bulgar tribes from the western steppes, across the Danube into what became Bulgaria.

684 & 711 Khazars invade Muslim territory south of Caucasus and take Derbent.

713 Muslims recapture Derbent and raid deep into Khazaria.

721 Muslims invade Khazaria and take the Khazar capital at Balanjar.

723–724 Further campaigns by Muslims against Khazars and probably also Alans; a major Khazar assault is defeated between the Araxes and Kura rivers in February 724.

c. 730 Traditionally, the date when the Khazar Khagan Bulan converts to Judaism.

730–731 Khazars defeat an Arab-Muslim army at the battle of Marj Ardabil (9 December 730), overrun north-western Iran, and reportedly reach northern Iraq before being expelled.

732 Marriage of Byzantine Prince Constantine Copronimus (later Emperor Constantine V) to Tzitzak (baptized as Irene), daughter of the Khazar Khagan Bihar. Marwan ibn Muhammad (subsequently the last Umayyad caliph) counterattacks against Khazars, retaking Derbent and seizing Balanjar.

735 Marwan again invades Khazaria and defeats Khazar army.

737 Khazar Khagan supposedly accepts Islam temporarily as part of a peace agreement with the Caliphate.

c. 740 Khazar ruling elite and perhaps other dominant elements start converting to Judaism.

750 Umayyad caliphal dynasty, with powerbase in Syria, is replaced by Abbasid caliphal dynasty with powerbase in Iraq.

799–809 Reforms of Khagan Obadiah, and official adoption of Judaism by Khazar ruling clans.

810–812 Uprising of Kabarians (Khavars)◦– Khazar tribes who subsequently joined the Magyars.

822–836 Internal strife in Khazar Khaganate causes some Magyar tribes and three Kabarian Khazar sub-tribes to migrate to ‘Etelköz’ between Carpathian mountains and Dnieper river.

834 Construction of a fortified Khazar urban centre at Sarkel, controlling strategic portage between Don and Volga rivers.

882–885 Varangian Rus take Kiev and absorb several Eastern Slav tribes.

889–890 Turkic Pecheneg tribes, having migrated to the western steppes, attack the western Magyars; the Gyula (military commander) Arpad becomes ruler of Magyar Hungarians before 895.

894–895 Magyar Hungarians campaign on the Danube; defeated by Pechenegs, they abandon Etelköz and cross the Carpathians into Transylvania.

909 Varangian Rus raid Khazar territory and plunder Caspian coast.

913–914 Pecheneg and Ghuzz Turks and Alans attack the Khazars. A permitted Varangian raid down the Volga reaches the Caspian Sea, attacking Baku and northern Iran, but is attacked by Khazar troops on its return.

915 Pecheneg Turks make peace with Prince Igor of Kievan Rus (Russia).

922 Arab scholar Ibn Fadlan travels through Volga region.

932 War between Khazars and Alans ends in Khazar victory.

941 Failure of Kievan Rus assault upon Byzantine Empire by land and sea.

943 Rus raid Muslim territories in south Caspian region.

945 Peace agreement between Kievan Rus, Bulgaria and Byzantine Empire.

954–961 Correspondence between Hazdai ibn Shafrut (Shaprut), Jewish senior secretary of the Caliph of Cordoba (Spain and Portugal), and the Khazar Khagan or Beg (military commander) Joseph Ben Aaron.

965 Grand Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich I of Kievan Rus conquers Khazar Sarkel and Tamatarkha (Tmutarakan).

968 or 969 Svyatoslav Igorevich captures Khazar capital of Atil, effectively bringing the Khazar Khaganate to an end.

977–985 Atil occupied by Khwarazmshahs (Muslim rulers of Khwarazm, south of Aral Sea), followed by gradual conversion of most Khazars to Islam.

985 Grand Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kievan Rus campaigns down Volga River against now fragmented Khazars.

1048 Muslim scholar al-Biruni describes Atil as being in ruins.

1079 Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, exiled ruler of Chernigov, is seized by Khazar ruler of Tmutarakan and sent as prisoner to Byzantine emperor.

1083 Oleg Svyatoslavich returns to Tmutarakan and declares himself Archon (Byzantine governor).

Kozar (undated) Traditionally, the ancestor of the Khazar people.

Karadach (c. AD 450) King of the Akatziroi, according to Priscus a steppe people allied to the Huns.

(From mid-5th to early 7th centuries AD, tribal leaders are unknown.)

Ziebal (618–630) Perhaps the same as Tong Yabghu, ruler of the Western Turkic Khaganate.

Bori Shad (630–650) Probable leader of tribes north-west of the Caucasus, under Western Turkic rule.

Irbis (c. 650) Recorded in traditional Russian sources as founder of the Khazar Khaganate.

Khalga (mid-660s) Mentioned only in the 17th-century Tatar Cagfar Tarixi.

Kaban (late 660s) Mentioned only in the 17th-century Tatar Cagfar Tarixi.

Busir (c. 690–715) The first confirmed, dateable Khazar Khagan.

Barjik (late 720s–731) Described as ‘the son of the Khagan’, who led Khazar armies against the Islamic Caliphate.

Bihar (c. 732) An ally of the Byzantine Empire.

Prisbit (late 730s) A female name◦– perhaps a regent rather than a ruler?

(737–c. 740: Khazaria under the authority of the Muslim Umayyad Caliphate.)

Baghatur (c. 760) Perhaps ruler of Khazaria, although Ras Tarkhan is also mentioned as ruler or military commander.

Khan Tuvan (c. 825–830) Also known as Dyggvi.

Tarkhan (840s) Also the title of the Khazar military commander.

Zachariah (c. 861) Mentioned only in a Russian source.

Bulan Gabriel (c. 740) Khagan or Beg who led the conversion of the Khazar ruling elite to Judaism; he and subsequent Khazar rulers until Aaron II are only mentioned in the correspondence of Hasdai ibn Shaprut.

Obadiah (c. 786–809) Khagan or Beg, described as ‘one of the sons of the sons of Bulan’.

Hezekia (mid-9th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Obadiah.

Manasseh I (mid- to late 9th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Hezekia.

Hanukkah (mid- to late 9th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Obadiah.

Isaac (mid- to late 9th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Hanukkah.

Zebulun (late 9th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Isaac.

Manasseh II (late 9th century) Sometimes called Moshe; Khagan or Beg, son of Zebulun.

Nisi (late 9th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Manasseh II.

Aaron I (late 9th or early 10th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Nisi.

Menahem (late 9th or early 10th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Aaron I.

Benjamin (late 9th or early 10th century) Khagan or Beg, son of Menahem.

Aaron II (920s–939 or 940) Khagan or Beg, son of Benjamin.

Joseph (939 or 940–965) Khagan or Beg, son of Aaron; corresponded with Hasdai ibn Shaprut of Cordoba, and probably ruled during the collapse of the Khazar Khaganate.

David (c. 986–988) Probable ruler of a small Khazar successor-state on the Taman peninsula that was apparently called Tmutarakan.

Georgius Tzul (unknown until 1016) Ruler of Kerch, in Tmutarakan on the Taman peninsula; perhaps converted to Orthodox Christianity.