viii Preface
basis. It refers not only to the myth of the “thirteenth tribe” (in the words of A.
Koestler), but also to the “vengeance on the foolish Khazars”.
The “Khazar myth”, as it is known today, serves all kinds of political
agendas that explain the Jewish presence in Europe and in contemporary
Israel. If A. Koestler’s thesis (which has no scientific grounds) is to be followed,
it could be argued that in its larger part Israel’s population consists of descen-
dants of the Khazars, and therefore has no grounds for claiming its current
territory. This topic is expanded by one of the scientific schools of thought in
Russia, which sees the Khazars only as Jews and thus justifies the destruction
of the khaganate by the Rus’ as liberation of the peoples oppressed by Khazar
rule.4 This is why most of the notions about Khazaria today constitute a
layered over time political tradition. In Russian science it is linked to the
theory of the eternal struggle between the steppe peoples and the Rus’.
The study of the genesis of the ideas, represented by the “Khazar myth”,
along with its various nuances and trends, is a separate large topic that goes
beyond the scope of this research. The “Khazar myth” has, of course, influ-
enced (to a larger or smaller extent) the scientific theories of various authors
(e.g. B. Rybakov) and has served as a basis for applying pressure on others (e.g.
M. Artamonov). This has been shown in the respective places of this book.
L. Gumilev’s works also depict the “Khazar myth”. Since his theories are dis-
cussed in detail in the present work, let me just point out here that the Khazar
Khaganate represents a stage in the development of the Russian scientist’s
political theory, associated with the idea of the “zigzag of history” and the
continuity between the so-called anti-systems, one of which he assumes the
Jewish religion itself to be, along with the community that professed it.
The present study combines some extremely contradictory and purely
scientific theories, created in the last few decades. The contradictions in the
various authors’ conclusions are determined not only by the vague accounts
in the sources, but also by their use of different theories regarding the Khazar
statehood and economy. The applied theory often proves crucial to the con-
clusions reached, despite the fact that the available information on Khazaria
allows for other interpretations as well. The various scientific views therefore
need to be handled carefully and subjected to additional analysis. The con-
tradictions in the scientific views become especially acute regarding the last
century of Khazaria’s history. Despite the existence of several significant and
3 The phrase is a quote from the poem “Pesn’ o Veshchem Olege” by A.S. Pushkin. See Petrukhin
2006a. See for instance also the discussion on the pages of Voprosy literatury from 1988
(Kozhinov 1988; Robinson and Sazonova 1988).
4 See also Kizlov and Mikhailova 2004; Tortika 2006a, 347–352.