256 CHAPTER 5
of Judaism and the Judaized Khazar elite on Khazaria’s population. Such, for
instance, is M. Artamonov’s theory on the divergence of the interests of the
population, subject to the khagan, and those of the Khazar nobility.149 Or the
argument of S. Pletneva that Khazaria’s Judaization irreversibly separated
the Judaized Khazar nobility from the vastly numerous and diverse popula-
tion, which was kept in submission by force.150 L. Gumilev expresses a similar
view, even assuming that after the Judaization the Khazars became the most
suppressed minority of the khaganate.151 These statements are entirely hypo-
thetical. Ultimately, “the significance of Judaism in Khazaria remains unclear”.152
At present, the only ethnic groups of which science has some, albeit quite
relative, notion are the Bulgars and the Alans. The comparison of regions
where both ethnic groups lived side by side or intermingled shows their diverse
relations.
The ethnic composition of the Crimea becomes more varied from the east
westwards. The monuments on the Kerch and the Taman Peninsulas are mainly
Bulgar.153 The first Bulgar settlements in the Crimea date from the late seventh
century or the early eighth. When the second great wave of Bulgar migrants
settled in the Crimea in the mid-eighth century, they found a local Alanian
and Gothic population (but also remnants of other Sarmatian tribes, including
descendants of the ancient Scythians).154 It is important to note I. Baranov’s
conclusion that there were no Alans among the bearers of the Saltovo culture
in the Crimea. In other words, the “Saltovians” on the peninsula were mainly
Bulgars. The Alans who lived there as well as the rest of the Sarmatians were
isolated after the Hunnic invasion.155 Due to the name of one of the main
Crimean settlements, Sugdea, a migration of the Sugdeans (a West Caucasian
tribe, part of the Kasog-Adyghe community) is presumed to have taken place.156
However, another interpretation is also possible—one that connects the name
of the settlement with the Alans.157
The second Bulgar migration wave to the Crimea (that began in the mid-
eighth century) reflects the consolidation of the Khazar domination on the
149 Artamonov 1962, 414.
150 Pletneva 1976, 65.
151 Gumilev 1997, 175.
152 Flerova 2001a, 23; see also Golden 2003, no. 3, 151.
153 Zin’ko and Ponomarev 2007; Maiko 2007; Paromov 2003; Sorochan 2004.
154 Iakobson 1973, 9–10 and 38; Baranov 1989 and 1990, 113–117; Maiko 1996; Romashov 2002–
2003, 119–141; see also Aibabin 2003, 55–64.
155 Baranov 1990, 105.
156 Aibabin 2003, 57; Baranov 1991, 145.
157 Romashov 2002–2003, 122.