The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 47
Actually, the term “Turk” lost its ethnic meaning after the Arabs conquered
most of Middle Asia in the mid-eighth century. Subsequently, it stood for many
and different in origin ethnic groups and tribes—something typical only for
the Arabic written tradition from this period (the ninth to eleventh centuries).127
Thus, the statement of Saadia (Said) Gaon Al-Fayyumi (892–942): “Togarmah
is the Khazars, and they are Turkmen”,128 should not be seen as a reference to
an ethnic term, but rather to a cultural and geographical community.
In nomadic societies, the idea of a common origin, transmitted through
similar genealogical lineages, helps unite the often multiethnic and multilin-
gual community. These genealogies allow for the easier inclusion of foreign
groups and tribes that are external for a specific community. The genealogi-
cal kinship lines are important also in a foreign political sense, with regard
to the relations between the different nomadic tribes.129 For the Khazar ruler
Joseph his descent from Togarmah ensured his dynasty the right to rule over
his descendants, and not only in theory, but also in reality, since the named
peoples come mostly from Khazaria. This power is emphasized already at the
beginning of the letter where Joseph calls himself “king of Togarmah”.130
1.3 The Title of the Khazar Ruler Joseph and the Dual Kingship in
Khazaria
The peoples, listed in Joseph’s Reply as descendants of Togarmah and brothers
to Khazar, belong to the Turkic, Ugrian and Iranian ethno-linguistic families.
Their names have not been completely deciphered, but it is clear that it is a
list of ethnic groups that inhabited the steppe zone. It is possible that some
of them inhabited the Caucasus, especially in view of the perception of the
Caucasian peoples as descendants of Togarmah, according to the tradition
that existed at that time. When he calls himself “the king of Togarmah”, Joseph
clearly sees himself as the ruler not only of the steppe peoples, but also of the
Caucasian ones. So could the title “king of Togarmah” be a kind of interpreta-
tion of the steppe empire title khagan?
127 Kliashtornyi 1992, 126.
128 Poliak 2001, 86. According to Shapira 2007b, 317, calling the Khazars Turkmen hints at
their origin from Inner Asia.
129 Khazanov 1994, 140–143.
130 According to Pletneva 1976, 7, this way the Khazar ruler stressed the greatness of his
power that extended not only over the Khazars, but also over the rest of the Turkic
peoples. Magomedov 1994, 10 expresses a similar opinion, and so does Poliak 2001, 86.