The greater king was recruited from the Khazar house of notables (ahl bayt maʿrūfīn) and, in an initiation ritual, was nearly strangled until he declared the number of years he wished to reign, on the …

Jun 20, 2026 · Khazar, member of a confederation of Turkic-speaking tribes that in the late 6th century CE established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European …

The story of the Khazars – a powerful Turkic people whose medieval empire straddled the crossroads of Europe and Asia – remains one of the most intriguing and debated episodes in Jewish and Eurasian …

"The Khazar people were an unusual phenomenon for Medieval times. Surrounded by savage and nomadic tribes, they had all the advantages of the developed countries: structured government, vast …

Genetic studies on Jews have found no substantive evidence of a Khazar origin among Ashkenazi Jews.

May 1, 2026 · Essays summarizing the history of the Khazars, their principal cities, their culture, and their conversion to Judaism in the 9th century.

References to the Khazars adopting Judaism as their religion is found in Arabic, Christian and Jewish sources. However, the most famous account is found in the letters known as the Khazar …