The Alans were the most easterly of the Sarmatian nations and the most durable, occupying the northern part of the lands between the Black Sea and the Caspian at least until the end of our period, subjugated in turn by the Huns, Khazars and Mongols, but always re-emerging. They differed from the other Sarmatians in being blonde instead of dark, and in that not all ever became armoured lancers. Arrian’s 2nd century AD “Order of Battle Against the Alans” assumes that all Alans will charge, but will be vulnerable to infantry missiles while doing so, which implies that most did not have horse armour. Some did, since it was reported later among Alans settled in Brittany. Elsewhere, Arrian says of Roman cavalry “some carry conti and charge in the Alan and Sarmatian fashion”. Alans were still charging desperately against the Catalan company in the 14th century, although by then certainly mostly light horse. Although not themselves especially aggressive as a nation, they frequently sent contingents to help others that were, leading to various short-lived settlements of conquerors or foederati scattered over the later Roman west and in due course absorbed by neighbouring cultures. They are typified by Claudian as the “restless Alans”.
The Magyars were a Finno-Ugrian race who moved west on
to the steppes in the 5th century, becoming subject allies of the Khazars after
650. They became independent again early in the 8th century, but remained on
friendly terms with their former overlords and continued to provide them with
allied contingents until 896, when, as a result of incursions into their former
territory by the Pechenegs and Danube Bulgars, the Magyars migrated to the
plains of the middle Danube, where they settled down to rule a sedentary
population of Slavs. They were joined in this migration by the Kavars –
according to Konstantinos Porphyrogenitos comprising three rebel Khazar tribes
of “the Khazars’ own race”. These subsequently provided the personal
following of the Kende, the highest spiritual leader of the tribes, and the
Gyula, the C-in-C of the combined armies. In 896 the Kende was Kurszan, but the
real leader was the Gyula, Arpad. The Szekely, who served as the vanguard of
the army and were later entrusted with the defence of the eastern border, may
also have been Kavars, or may have been Avar remnants already in the area. The
so-called Magyars themselves in fact comprised seven tribes, the Nyék, Megyeri,
Kürtgyarmat, Tarjan, Jeno, Kér and Keszi, although some historians regard only
the first two as Hungarian, considering the others to have been of
“Bulgaro-Turkish” origin. Increasing prosperity saw the Magyar nobles
joined by a new class of gentry. Very large Magyar armies raided far into
Western Europe between 899 and their defeat at the Lechfeld in 955.
The Khazars were unusually devious even for nomads, and adopted Judaism in the 8th century as a political ploy to counterbalance their Christian and Moslem neighbours It has been suggested that they are the ancestors of the East European Sews providing the majority of modern Israelis. The Khaganate maintained a standing “Royal Army~’ of full time paid cavalry According to al-Masudi. most were armed with bow, but some with lance “like the Muslims” As al-Masudi wrote in the mid-luth century, the lancers were probably also armed with bow, like the ‘morasanian-Turkish ghulants then typical of Muslim armies. Ibn Hawkal says that there were 12,000 cavalry in the Royal Army. 4,000 of them Muslims Masudi says that the Muslims were refugees from Khwarisnn, and served on the condition that they were not obliged to fight against their co-religionists. This nucleus was supplemented for major campaigns with levies from the Ihaaars’ numerous subject tribes
Over time, a finely balanced status quo developed, providing
stability and considerable prosperity across the western steppe. Its linchpin
was a part of the Türk tribal grouping that had come to dominate the area north
of the Black and Caspian Seas. The Khazars, as they were known, ruled the
steppes north of the Black Sea and became increasingly prominent because of the
military resistance they put up during the period of the great conquests in the
decades following Muammad’s death. Their effectiveness against the Muslim
armies won them the support of a constellation of other tribes who united under
their leadership. It also caught the attention of the Roman emperors in
Constantinople who understood that there were mutual benefits to be had from
striking an alliance with the dominant force on the steppes. So important were
the Khazars as allies that in the early eighth century two marriage alliances
were arranged between the ruling houses of Khazaria and Byzantium – the name
normally given to what remained of the Roman Empire in this period.
From the point of view of Constantinople, Byzantium’s
capital, imperial marriages with foreigners were rare; alliances with steppe
nomads were all but unprecedented. The development is a clear indication of how
important the Khazars had become in Byzantine diplomatic and military thinking
at a time when pressure on the empire’s eastern frontier in Asia Minor from the
Muslims was acute. The rewards and prestige given to the Khazar leader, the
khagan, had a significant impact on Khazar society, strengthening the position
of the supreme ruler and paving the way for stratification across the tribe as
gifts and status were handed down through the tribe to chosen elites. It had
the further effect of encouraging other tribes to become tributaries, paying
tribute in return for protection and rewards. According to Ibn Falān, the
khagan had twenty-five wives, each a member of a different tribe and each the
daughter of its ruler. A source written in Hebrew in the ninth century likewise
talks of tribes that were subject to the Khazars, with the author uncertain if
there were twenty-five or twenty-eight tributaries. Peoples like the Poliane,
Radmichi and Severliane were among those who recognised the overlordship of the
Khazars, enabling the latter to strengthen their position and become the
dominant force on the western steppe in what is now Ukraine and southern
Russia.
Rising levels of trade and long periods of stability and
peace triggered profound transformation within Khazar society. The way the
leadership of the tribe functioned underwent a change, with the role of the
khagan becoming increasingly removed from day-to-day affairs and his position
evolving into a sacral kingship. Lifestyles also changed. With strong demand in
neighbouring regions for the produce grown, managed and produced by the Khazars
and their tributaries, as well as for the fruits of long-distance commerce,
settlements began to spring up that eventually developed into towns.
By the early tenth century, the bustling city of Atil served
as a capital, and permanent home to the khagan. Straddling the Lower Volga, it
was home to a cosmopolitan set of inhabitants. So sophisticated was the city
that there were separate courts to resolve disputes according to different
customary laws, presided over by judges who would rule on disputes between
Muslims, between Christians or even between pagans – while there was also a
mechanism in place for how to resolve the matter if the judge was unable to
reach a verdict.
Atil, with its felt dwellings, warehouses and royal palace,
was just one of the settlements that changed how the nomads lived. Other towns
grew up in Khazar territory as a result of rising commercial activity, such as
Samandar, where wood buildings were characterised by their domed roofs that
were presumably modelled on traditional yurts. By the early ninth century,
there were sufficient numbers of Christians across Khazaria to merit the
appointment not only of a bishop but of a metropolitan – effectively an
archbishop – to minister to the faithful. Evidently there were also substantial
Muslim populations in Samandar and Atil as well as elsewhere, something that is
clear from reports in the Arabic sources of large numbers of mosques built across
the region.
The Khazars themselves did not adopt Islam, but they did
take on new religious beliefs: in the middle of the ninth century, they decided
to become Jewish. Envoys from Khazaria arrived in Constantinople around 860 and
asked for preachers to be sent to explain the fundamentals of Christianity.
‘From time immemorial,’ they said, ‘we have known only one god [that is,
Tengri], who rules over everything . . . Now the Jews are urging us to accept
their religions and customs, while on the other hand the Arabs draw us to their
faith, promising us peace and many gifts.’
A delegation was therefore dispatched with the aim of
converting the Khazars. It was led by Constantine, best known by his Slavonic
name Cyril and for the creation of the eponymous alphabet he devised for the
Slavs – Cyrillic. A formidable scholar like his brother Methodius, Constantine
stopped on his way east to spend the winter learning Hebrew and familiarising
himself with the Torah in order to debate with Jewish scholars also heading to
the khagan’s court. When they arrived in the Khazar capital, the envoys took
part in a highly charged series of debates against rivals who had been invited
to present Islam and Judaism. Constantine’s erudition carried all before him –
or so it seems from the account of his life which drew heavily on his writings.
In fact, despite Constantine’s brilliance – he was told by the khagan that his
comments about scripture were as ‘sweet as honey’ – the embassy did not have
the desired effect, for the Khazar leader decided that Judaism was the right
religion for his people.
A similar version of this story was being told a century
later. News of the Khazar conversion had been received by astonished Jewish
communities thousands of miles west, who eagerly tried to find out more about
who the Khazars were and how they came to be Jewish. There was speculation that
they might be one of the lost tribes of ancient Israel. The polymath asdai b.
Shaprū, who was based in Córdoba in al-Andalus – that is, Muslim Spain –
finally managed to make contact with the tribe. His endeavours to establish
whether the Khazars were indeed Jewish or whether this was simply a tall tale
put out by those wanting to win his favour had hitherto drawn a blank. When he
finally received confirmation that it was indeed true that the Khazars were
Jewish and, moreover, that they were wealthy and were ‘very powerful and
maintain numerous armies’, he felt compelled to bow down and adore the God of
heaven. ‘I pray for the health of my lord the King,’ he wrote to the khagan,
‘of his family, and of his house, and that his throne may be established
forever. Let his days and his sons’ days be prolonged in the midst of Israel!’
Remarkably, a copy of the khagan’s reply to this letter
survives, with the Khazar ruler explaining his tribe’s conversion to Judaism.
The decision to convert, wrote the khagan, was the result of the great wisdom
of one of his predecessors, who had brought delegations representing different
faiths to present the case for each. Having pondered how best to establish the
facts, the ruler had asked the Christians whether Islam or Judaism was the
better faith; when they replied that the former was certainly worse than the
latter, he asked the Muslims whether Christianity or Judaism was preferable.
When they lambasted Christianity and also replied that Judaism was the less bad
of the two, the Khazar ruler announced that he had reached a conclusion: both
had admitted that ‘the religion of the Israelites is better’, he declared, so
‘trusting in the mercies of God and the power of the Almighty, I choose the
religion of Israel, that is, the religion of Abraham’. With that, he sent the
delegations home, circumcised himself and then ordered his servants, his
attendants and all his people to do the same.
Judaism had made considerable inroads into Khazar society by
the middle of the ninth century. Apart from references in Arabic sources to
proselytisation by Jews in the decades before the arrival of the delegations at
the khagan’s court and the fact that burial practices underwent a
transformation during this period too, the recent discovery of a series of
coins minted in Khazaria provides strong evidence that Judaism had been
formally adopted as a state religion in the 830s. These coins bore a legend
that provided a fine example of how faith could be packaged to appeal to
disparate populations. The coins championed the greatest of the Old Testament
prophets with the phrase Mūsā rasūl allāh: Moses is the messenger of God.
This was perhaps less provocative than it sounds, since the
Qurān after all explicitly teaches that there should be no distinction between
the prophets and that the message brought by all of them should be followed.48
Moses was accepted and revered in Islamic teaching, so praising him was in some
ways uncontroversial. On the other hand, however, the evocation of Muammad’s
special status as God’s messenger was a central element in the adhān, the call
to prayer made from mosques five times a day. As such having Moses’ name on the
currency was a defiant statement that the Khazars had an identity of their own
that was independent of the Islamic world. As with the confrontation between
the Roman Empire and the Muslim world in the late seventh century, battles were
fought not just between armies, but also over ideology, language and even the
imagery on coins.
In fact, the exposure of Khazars to Judaism had come about
through two sources. First, there were long-standing Jewish communities that
had settled in the Caucasus in antiquity which must have been galvanised by the
economic development of the steppe.49 According to one tenth-century writer,
many more were encouraged to emigrate to Khazaria ‘from Muslim and Christian
cities’ after it became known that the religion was not only tolerated and
officially sanctioned but practised by much of the elite. The correspondence
between the Khazar ruler and asdai in Córdoba in the tenth century reports that
rabbis were actively recruited, while schools and synagogues were built to
ensure that Judaism was taught properly – with many chroniclers noting
religious buildings dotted across the towns of Khazaria, as well as courts
where decisions were reached after consultation with the Torah.
The second trigger for the rise in interest in Judaism came
from traders who were drawn in from much further away, attracted by the
emergence of Khazaria as a major international trade emporium – not only
between the steppe and the Islamic world, but between east and west. As
numerous sources attest, Jewish merchants were highly active in long-distance
trade, playing much the same role that the Sogdians had played when connecting
China and Persia around the time of the rise of Islam.
Jewish merchants were highly adept linguists, fluent in
‘Arabic, Persian, Latin, Frankish, Andalusian and Slavic’ according to one
contemporary source. Based in the Mediterranean, they appear to have travelled
regularly to India and China, returning with musk, aloe wood, camphor, cinnamon
‘and other eastern products’ which they traded along a chain of ports and towns
that serviced markets in Mecca, Medina and Constantinople, as well as towns on
the Tigris and the Euphrates. They also used overland routes, heading through
Central Asia to China either via Baghdad and Persia or passing through Khazar
territory on their way to Balkh and east of the Oxus river. One of the most
important points on this axis was Rayy, just to the south of the Caspian
(modern Iran), a city that handled goods coming from the Caucasus, from the
east, from Khazaria and other locations on the steppe. It appears that these
were first cleared through the town of Jurjān (Gorgan in northern Iran),
presumably where customs duties were collected, before being taken to Rayy.
‘The most amazing thing’, wrote one Arabic author in the tenth century, ‘is
that this is the emporium of the world.’
