Introduction 5
scantily-numbered Khazar nobility from the people. “The idea that Judaism
destroyed the khaganate is equivalent to the assertion that Orthodoxy doomed
Constantinople, and thus is beneath any criticism”.20
According to I. Baranov, Joseph’s description is historically accurate, at least
regarding the territory of the Crimean Peninsula. The scientist assumes that
Khazaria’s influence in the Crimea was greatest in the mid-tenth century.21
He associates the end of the Khazar domination over the peninsula with the
destruction of the Saltovo culture. This way, I. Baranov also opposes the view
that the Pecheneg invasion was the main reason for the devastation of the
Saltovo settlements. According to him, “the demise of the Saltovo settlements
was objectively predetermined by the overall development of the relations
between the Rus’, the Khazars and Byzantium that were manifested in the form
of a struggle for hegemony over the coastal areas of the Sea of Azov and the
Northern Black Sea region: the Bulgars, who were the mainstay of the Khazar
Khaganate in Taurica, stood in the way of both the Rus’ and the Byzantine
interests”.22 In general, it should be noted that modern archaeological scholars
who study Medieval Crimea tend to agree with Joseph’s account. In addition,
the words of V. Maiko can be cited: “it is precisely during the 940s and 950s that
the territory of Khazaria reached its maximum size. All this makes the account
of King Joseph regarding the large territory of his land quite plausible”.23
According to D. Dunlop, it “would be hazardous to say” that the lack of a
national or religious unity was the cause for Khazaria’s demise.24 The divide in
the Khazar Khaganate was a consequence of the structure of this state, which
he sees as a combination of incorporated territories, held in subjection by mili-
tary force. Their diminishing could have caused the disintegration of the state,
since the army supported itself by taxes collected from these territories. The
fall of Khazaria was the result of the loss of military control, as well as the lack
of more durable ties among the population of the khaganate, which could have
led to its unification.25
20 Petrukhin, Interview.
21 Baranov 1990, 54.
22 Baranov 1990, 152–153. A. Tortika has a similar opinion regarding the Saltovo monuments
in the Don region (Tortika 2006a, 182, 245–246, 492, 497, and 510).
23 Maiko 1997, 114. Quite a few scientists (mostly from Russia and Ukraine) reject the idea
that a large part of the peninsula belonged to the Khazar Khaganate not only during the
tenth century, but also in the ninth or eighth centuries (see for instance Naumenko 2004b;
Novosel’tsev 1990, 109–110 and 133; Romashov 2002–2003, 143 and 2004, 256; Gertsen 2002;
Makarova 2003. Also, see Aibabin 2003).
24 Dunlop 1967, 224.
25 Dunlop 1967, 233–235.