THE CONVERSION OF THE KHAZARS TO JUDAISM

Peter B. Golden

The Khazar conversion to Judaism, an unusual, but not unique occur-

rence, must be viewed within several larger contexts. The broadest
of these was the conversion of the nomadic, steppe peoples to one or
another of the universal religious systems (Judaism, Christianity, Man-
ichaeism, Islam or Buddhism). This was a process that was sometimes,
but not exclusively, associated with the further growth and articulation
of state structures. Although a divine mandate to conquer and rule was
often part of the Eurasian nomads’ imperial ideology, they did not cre-
ate any of the great world religions. For these they turned to the seden-
tary cultures with which they came in contact. Indeed, this is a further
example, it has been argued, of their dependence, in the spheres of both
material and spiritual culture, on sedentary society. Their choice of reli-
gion often grew out of very immediate, “mundane (rather) than spir-
itual considerations,” combined with “sound political sense.” Conversion
of the elites, especially the ruler, almost always preceded large-scale
conversions.1
A somewhat narrower context is that of the struggle by the great agrar-
ian empires of the medieval Mediterranean world to win over to their
respective faiths the “heathen barbarian” peoples to their north. More
concretely, this meant the struggle of Western and Eastern Christendom
and the Muslim Caliphate to convert the Germanic, Slavic and Altaic

1
See A.M. Khazanov, “The Spread of World Religions in Medieval Nomadic Soci-
eties of the Eurasian Steppes” in M. Gervers, W. Schlepp (eds.), Nomadic Diplomacy,
Destruction and Religion from the Pacific to the Adriatic (Toronto Studies in Central
and Inner Asia, 1, Toronto, 1994), pp. 11–15 and his “World Religions in the Eurasian
Steppes: Some Regularities of Dissemination” in G. Bethlenfalvy et al. (eds.), Altaic Reli-
gious Beliefs and Practices. Proceedings of the 33rd Meeting of the Permanent Altaistic
Conference, Budapest, June 24–29, 1990 (Budapest, 1992), pp. 197–201. On the course
of various religions among one Eurasian, Turkic, nomadic, tribal confederation, see P.B.
Golden, “Religion Among the Qıpčaqs of Medieval Eurasia” Central Asiatic Journal,
42/2 (1998), pp. 180–237.
124 peter b. golden

steppe peoples. The fourth century conversion of the Goths to a moder-

ate form of Arian Christianity through the activities of Ulfilas,2 was the
first of several attempts by Constantinople to reach beyond the Danube
using bilingual and bicultural agents. Evaluations of Byzantine success
in the Pontic steppes vary. Moravcsik proclaimed Byzantine conversion
activity in eighth century Khazaria “remarkably successful.” Although
Christian communities could be found in the steppe and immediately
adjoining areas of the North Caucasus, successes were sporadic and do
not appear to have resulted in mass conversions.3 In this light, Noonan
has recently suggested that Byzantium, in fact, did not fare particularly
well here.4 One interesting example, of some relevance to the Khazars,
is that of the so-called “North Caucasian Huns,” a subject people of the
Khazars. In 682, according to Movsês Dasxuranc’i, the Albanian ruler
Varaz Trdat sent the Albanian (Ałuanian) bishop Israyêl to the “Huns” to
bring them into the Christian fold. The ruler, Ałp Iłut’uêr (Alp Elteber),5
a son-in-law of the Khazar Qağan, “and his army” were converted. The
policy was pronounced a success and the Huns were duly proclaimed
“allies.”6 We know nothing of the subsequent fate of Christianity among
the North Caucasian Huns. Khazar-led attacks into Albania, however,
were still a commonplace in the early eighth century.
The Alans, an important element of Byzantine diplomacy in Western
Eurasia, provide a further illustration of the difficulties. According to
al-Masûdî, their rulers, previously pagans, had converted to Christian-
ity “during the reign of the Abbâsids.” After 320/931–2, however, they
drove out the bishops and priests sent to them by Byzantium and abjured

2
This was initially, but not exclusively, the work of Ulfilas, a man of non-Gothic,
or mixed Gotho-East Roman origins, see R. Fletcher, The Barbarian Conversion From
Paganism to Christianity (New York, 1997), pp. 72–77; P. Heather, The Goths (Oxford,
1996), pp. 60–61, 85, 90–91, 131, 312–217.
3
Missionary activity began as early as the mid-fourth century, stemming from
Armenian, Armeno-Caucasian Albanian, Georgian and Byzantine sources, see Gy.
Moravcsik, “Byzantine Christianity and the Magyars in the Period of Their Migration”
The American Slavic and East European Review, 5 (1946), pp. 29–45; D. Ludwig, Struktur
und Gesellschaft des Chazaren-Reiches im Licht der schriftlichen Quellen (Münster, 1982),
I, pp. 318–325; M.G. Magomedov, Obrazovanie xazarskogo kaganata (Moskva, 1983),
pp. 158–172.
4
Th. Noonan, “Byzantium and the Khazars: a Special Relationship?” in J. Shepard,
S. Franklin (eds.), Byzantine Diplomacy (Aldershot, 1992), pp. 120–121.
5
This is a common title of a subordinate ruler in Turkic polities, see G. Clauson, An
Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish (Oxford, 1972), p. 134; P.B.
Golden, Khazar Studies (Budapest, 1980), I, pp. 147–150.
6
Movsês Dasxuranċi, The History of the Caucasian Albanians, trans. C.J.F. Dowsett
(London, 1961), pp. 153–171.