242 CHAPTER 5
horses and entered the lands of the Khazars. When the local Khazar troops
failed to stop the Oghuz, the Khazar king himself came out against them and
did not let them enter Khazaria. The Eastern writer emphasizes that the Oghuz
could not cross the river in summer.77 The possibility that the Oghuz could
fight with the Khazars, being their neighbors, is also mentioned by Constantine
Porphyrogenitus.78 Ibn Fadlan’s account reveals that the ruler of the Volga
Bulgars, Almish, was the son-in-law of the Oghuz army commander, Etrek.
Meanwhile, the Khazars held a number of hostages, whom the Oghuz wanted
to exchange for the Arab envoys. The main concern of the Oghuz (expressed
by the noblest and most honorable among them, Tarkhan) was that the envoys
of the Arab Caliphate could be plotting to provoke a war between the Oghuz
and the Khazars.79
According to one legend, the father of Seljuk, Duqaq (Tuqaq), was in the
service of the Khazar ruler, who bore the title of yabghu. After Duqaq’s death,
when Seljuk came of age, he was elevated in the Khazar court as a military
commander. The Khazar ruler’s wife (khatun) did not like Seljuk and man-
aged to set her husband against him. Fearing for his life, Seljuk fled, taking
with him 100 horsemen, 1500 camels and 50 000 sheep. The names of Seljuk’s
sons are especially interesting: Israel, Michael, Yunus and Musa.80 The story of
how Duqaq and Seljuk served the Khazar ruler cannot be accepted as accurate
due to the title of yabghu. Since this was the title of the supreme ruler of the
Oghuz, it is widely acknowledged that they had probably been in his service.81
It should, however, be borne in mind that the legend in question was popular
in Middle Asia where the yabghu title was widespread and meant “supreme
ruler”. Adding the fact that this was also the title of the Oghuz ruler, it is hardly
surprising that the Khazar ruler was presented with the title of yabghu. The
title itself is therefore is not a valid reason to reject the story, especially given
that the Oghuz probably served in garrisons at various Khazar fortresses dur-
ing the tenth century. The high position of Duqaq in the Khazar court, along
77 Dunlop 1967, 209–210; on the ways in which nomads crossed rivers during various sea-
sons, see Tortika 1999.
78 Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De Administrando Imperio, ch. 10, in Litavrin and
Novosel’tsev 1989, 51.
79 Ibn Fadlan. Puteshestvie do Volzhska Bulgariia, in Naumov 1992, 32–33; Kovalevskii 1956,
26 and 129.
80 Dunlop 1967, 258–261; Artamonov 1962, 419–420.
81 Dunlop 1967, 259; Artamonov 1962, 420; Vainberg 1990, 288–289 assumes that the legend
does not refer to the Khazar Khaganate, but to the ruler of the Al-Khazar city, located on
the middle reaches of the Syr Darya.