64 CHAPTER 1
Based on the fact that in the sources Ras Tarkhan is called leader or king of
the Khazars, O. Bubenok and D. Radivilov assume that Ras is an Arabic term
meaning “head, chief ”, so Ras Takhan can be read as “chief tarkhan”, which fully
complies with the titles “king of the Khazars” or Hatirlitber.202 Since according
to Al-Yaqubi Ras Tarkhan was the king of the Khazars, in M. Artamonov’s opin-
ion “it could be assumed that in the Khazar government he held the position
immediately below the khagan. He was the commander-in-chief of the Khazar
army and the predecessor of the beks who later played a leading role in the
Khazar state”.203 For B. Zakhoder, the titles of khagan-bek and tarkhan-khagan
are interchangeable.204
Not all sources from the eighth century associate the tarkhans in the Khazar
Khaganate with the kingly title. Only two accounts from the ninth century
deal with Khazar tarkhans and both depict them as kings of the Khazars. The
first one is by Ibn Khordadbeh (the ninth century) who describes the travels
of Sallam Al-Tarjuman (842–844). His journey lay through the land of the Filan
Shah in the Caucasus. The Filan Shah wrote a letter in support of the travelers
to the “Tarkhan, king of the Khazars”. The second account is by Al-Muqaddasi
(985), according to whom the Caliph Al-Wathiq (842–847), during the early days
of his reign, sent the scholar Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi to “Tarkhan,
the king of the Khazars”.205 Interestingly enough, Al-Biruni (973–1050) uses the
tarkhan title regarding the king of the old Khazar capital Samandar, who was
subordinate to the khagan.206
It can be concluded that the change in the title of the king-vicegerent in
Khazaria went not just from shad to bek, but from shad/tarkhan to bek. The
Middle Asian tradition, contemporary to the Khazar Khaganate, also provides
evidence for such a conclusion. In it, as was discussed earlier, the titles of shad
and tarkhan were both used for rulers of the same regions. The close relations
between the ruling dynasties of Sogd, Khwarezm and the region of ancient
Khwarezm. As was stated earlier, B. Vainberg believes that the Kerder culture arose as a
result of the migration of the Dzhetyasar population.
202 Bubenok and Radivilov 2004, 15. In connection with the interpretation of the term Ras,
it is interesting to note that the Scythian name of the Volga was Ra. Hudud al-ʿAlam con-
tains a description of the river Ras which is identified as the Ilek River, a tributary to the
Ural (Vainberg 1990, 202).
203 Artamonov 1962, 246.
204 Zakhoder 1962, 224–225.
205 Dunlop 1967, 190–191 believes that the second account is not authentic, while according
to Artamonov 1962, 306 the two accounts refer to the same event.
206 Novosel’tsev 1990, 118.