238 CHAPTER 5
loyal to the khagan. The royal guards of the Khazar king (bek) consisted of
Muslims—the so-called Larisiyah.
Eastern sources reveal that only khagans had the right to use bricks for
building.55 This is one of the signs which indicate that certain fortresses were
built at the will and with the resources of the central Khazar authorities.
According to G. Afanas’ev’s model, which is based on the efforts necessary to
build a fortification, aside from brick fortresses, constructions of hewn stone
blocks should also be taken into consideration.56 In most cases, a common
feature of both types of fortifications is their square ground plan, which some-
times took the form of a square in a square (the Semikarakorsk hillfort, for
instance), which is important in view of the square’s symbolic meaning in the
steppe world. Joseph himself describes his country as a square.57 In this sense,
fortifications built with a rampart and a square-formed moat should not be
overlooked.
The notion that the horizontal model of the world is shaped like a square
is common for the Iranians, Turks and Ugrians. The vertical and horizontal
models of the world intersect at a Center. The Khazar population depicted
this belief by drawing a square in a square. In architecture, it can be seen in
fortresses with an inner city (citadel), as well as in some temples (shrines in
Bulgaria, the temple at the Khumar hillfort, the sanctuaries in the Maiaki set-
tlement in Khazaria).58 Symbolically, the outer square separates order from
chaos, or “the civilized state” from “the Barbarians”. The sacral power of the
separated space grows stronger closer to the center.59 It is quite impossible
to examine here all the fortresses with similar characteristics, found in the
Khazar Khaganate. They are scattered over a vast territory (from Dagestan to
55 Dunlop 1967, 92; Golden 1980, 102.
56 I am referring to Afanas’ev’s fourth type of stronghold fortifications (Afanas’ev 1993, 134
and 143–148). The difference between the third and fourth type of hillforts is not always
clear. In Svistun’s opinion, quite a few hillforts of the third type could be regarded as
fourth type ones (Svistun 2007).
57 Vlaskin and Il’iukov 1990, 150–152.
58 On the temples, see Vaklinov 1977, 112–114; Ovcharov 1997, 50–58; Stepanov 1999a, 48 and
156–160; Chobanov 2006, 27–35 and 2008, 60–65; Boiadzhiev 2008, 310–338; Bidzhiev 1984,
121–122; Vinnikov and Pletneva 1998, 126–140.
59 Flerova 1994, 107–113. The horizontal model of the world (a square with a marked center
and diagonals) is often depicted on various Saltovo monuments in Khazaria (Aksenov
2004c, 208). On steppe traditions, see Stepanov 2005a, 114–117.