The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 75
he was actually the grandson of Siyavush, born of the marriage of the lat-
ter’s daughter and Afrasiab’s brother, Agrerat. Kay Khosrow is regarded as the
founder of the first Khwarezmian dynasty.251
Siyavush is also regarded as the founder of the dynasty of the Parthian
Arsacids. In addition, he is credited with founding the cities of Samarkand
and Bukhara.252 Of particular interest is the account of Al-Biruni regarding the
Parthian dynasty. Before ascending the throne, the ruler withdrew to a cave
and his subjects paid him honors as to a newborn. M. Eliade associates this
belief with the Armenian legends of Mithra who lived in a cave and came out
only once a year. Mithra was incarnated and born again through the new ruler.253
The connection between the cave and Khazaria’s Judaization, made by the
writer of the Cambridge Document, Hasdai ibn Shaprut and Jehuda Halevi,
is hardly coincidental. According to the Cambridge Document, the Books of
Moses were retrieved from a cave in the Valley of Tizul (probably in the area of
the old Khazar capital Samandar). Their interpretation by Jewish sages proved
to be decisive for the khagan’s conversion to Judaism. Jehuda Halevi wrote that
the king and his vicegerent converted to Judaism in a cave that was situated
in the Varsan Mountain (related to Varachan or Barsilia).254 Apparently, the
mountain and the cave are situated in Dagestan and were most probably the
site of the ancient pagan sacral center of the Khazars.
The “sacred mountain” is a traditional concept for the steppe peoples. It was
the sacral center of the state, equivalent to the tree as a cosmic axis. This moun-
tain contained the cave in which the khagans officiated in their capacity as
high priests. They served the ancestor cult and especially that of the dynasty, to
all the previous rulers. It is important to bear in mind that rituals were also per-
formed in Madara (the Bulgarian “sacred mountain”)—in caves with running
251 Tolstov 1948b, 83–86; Korogly 1983, 107 and 117–118; P’iankov 2001, 335–338.
252 Kliashtornyi 1964, 168.
253 Eliade 2009, 313.
254 Dunlop 1967, 117–118 and 158; Artamonov 1962, 270 and 272; Golb and Pritzak 1997, 44 and
157; The account of Hasdai ibn Shaprut has a slightly different meaning. He mentions
Mount Seir (it could also mean Serir, but such a mountain also exists south of Palestine),
where the Jews hid their sacred books. After some time they found them and began to
study the Law. According to Artamonov 1962, 271, the cave with the books, which the
Cambridge Document refers to, reminded Hasdai ibn Shaprut of “the popular Jewish belief
that was also known among the Khazar Jews who integrated it in the legend of the Khazar
Judaization”. M. Artamonov thus links the account of the sacred books with the Qumran
manuscripts, also found in a cave. According to Golden 2007b, 158, “the complex of moun-
tains, sea and cave” of the Cambridge Document mirrors that of other Inner Asian ethno-
gonic myths”.