Where the Turkic metahistorical issues were discussed in great detail, I decided to post my essay on the relationship Kievan Rus and the Khazar state in the IX-XI centuries. The newly formed ancient Russian state is in conflict with the Khazar empire, which is already beginning to give up its positions.

For many centuries, the ancient Russian state bordered on the steppe territories, with a predominance of nomadic tribes and nationalities. The formation of Russia and the Slavic community as a whole took place in close contact with the nomadic ethnic substratum and its territorial and political formations. A special place in these foreign policy contacts was occupied by the "nomadic empire" of that period - the Khazar Khaganate, which was both an important trading partner of Kievan Rus and a dangerous geopolitical competitor.

During the period of Oleg’s reign, or rather guardianship, until 903 and, obviously, his joint reign with Igor until 907, the main goal of Kiev’s policy was the further “gathering” of East Slavic lands, so that by the beginning of the first campaign against Constantinople, almost all East Slavs found themselves (perhaps in different ways) in the sphere of influence of the Old Russian state. After that the centers foreign policy moved far from the borders of Kiev in two directions: Byzantine and eastern. Both of them were related.

Trade, both local and international, played an important role in the economic life of the North Caucasus. Cities served as the main centers of trade (both international and local). At opposite ends of the North Caucasus, two cities flourished, equally connected with land and sea trade: Derbent in the southeast, Tmutarakan in the northwest.

The North Caucasus was connected with neighboring and distant countries by a system of routes along which both trade operations and military campaigns were carried out. The extremely favorable position of the North Caucasus at the junction of Europe and Asia, near the developed states of Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Asia Minor, and between the three seas - the Black, Azov and Caspian - contributed to the strengthening of the importance of these routes.

The sea routes along the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea were also of no small importance. Derbent was the largest port of the Caspian Sea, and through it many regions of the Caucasus were drawn into international trade.

The range of imported and exported items was very diverse. For the northwestern and central regions, ties with Byzantium, the Crimea and the Russian state are most clearly visible.

So some types of crosses were brought from Russia (encolpions, cross-vests), buckles, earrings, a whorl made of pink slate (of the Ovruch type, XII century), clay glazed eggs.

Amber came to the Caucasus through Russia. Merchants delivered bread, honey, wax, expensive furs, and cattle from Bulgarin and Russia.

The most powerful political association that took shape in the middle of the 7th century. in Primorsky Dagestan and eastern Ciscaucasia, was the Khazar Khaganate. Not only the peoples of the Caucasus were drawn into the orbit of the state created by the Khazars, but also numerous tribes of nomads (Alans, Savir Huns, Bulgars, Turks, etc.), who succeeded each other in the steppe expanses of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

By the time the Old Russian state was formed, Khazaria lost its former importance and, enriched by duties from Russian trade with the Caucasus and the Baghdad Caliphate, tried to emphasize its role as a defender of the advanced frontiers of the latter from the Russians.

Khazaria in the first half of the tenth century. steadily declined and lost its political weight. This is clearly seen from the materials of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, for whom Khazaria is a secondary political force, inferior to the Pechenegs, Rus and Hungarians. The hegemony of the Pechenegs in the south of Eastern Europe had already been determined, and only the North Caucasus was still under the predominant influence of the Khazars, although the role of the Alans rose there, and Byzantium from the Crimea tried, maneuvering among local political forces, to increase its influence in this region. Hence Porphyrogenitus's special attention to the Pechenegs, counting on bribing their leaders in order to set the Hungarians or the Khazars against Russia.

The Arab geographer and traveler Al-Idrisi gives the following description of the Pechenegs and related Hungarians and Magyars, who lived on the territory bordering Russia and Khazaria: ] Master and Castres. Both cities are small, and merchants rarely visit them. And no one has been to them, since [the natives] kill all foreigners who want to pass through their country. Both cities stand on a river that flows into Isil.

As for the country of Bajnak, it is small. There are no, according to the information that has come down to us, large cities, except for the city of Yakamuni8. Its inhabitants are numerous and are Turks9 who are at war with [the inhabitants of the country] ar-Rusiyya, which borders on them from the side of the country ar-Rum1. They take refuge in the mountains and in the forests so that they cannot be attacked there. The Bajnak people are like [the people] Ar-Rusiyya in the custom of burning their dead. Some of them shave their beards, others braid them. Their clothing consists of a short jacket. Their language differs from the language of the Rus and from the language of the Basjirts.

The basin of the Caspian Sea was included in the sphere of economic interests of the Rus, at least from the 9th century. At that time, a path passed along the Caspian Sea, connecting Eastern Europe with the countries of the East. According to Ibn Khordadbeh, this trade route went along the Don and the Lower Volga, the Caspian Sea to the city of Jurjan (Gurgan) lying on its southern coast and further to Baghdad. This route is described by Ibn Khordadbeh as the route of Rus merchants, from which it can be concluded that they played a prominent role in trade in the Caspian. About the fact that in the IX century. Russian merchants maintained trade relations with many Caspian regions, and says Ibn Khordadbeh's indication that the Rus, who set off on a journey across the Caspian, used to land "on any coast" of the sea. By the X century. The Rus already had their own colony in Itil, which, apparently, was quite impressive in size, since a special judge was appointed to deal with the lawsuits of the Rus and the Sakaliba.

The development of the Volga-Caspian trade route was bound to put the Russians in front of the need to establish mutually acceptable relations with Khazaria, which, thanks to its geographic location controlled the Caspian sector of trade, as well as part of the caravan routes between Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Eastern Transcaucasia and the Middle East.

How the relationship between the Khazars and the Rus formed during the Caspian campaigns of the latter, almost nothing is known. Al-Masudi preserved the only mention of an agreement concluded by the Rus with the Khazar king during the campaign of 912-913. According to this agreement, for the right to pass through the territory of Khazaria, the Rus undertook to give the king half of the booty they captured. Although on the way back, the Rus, as was due, sent the Khazar king half of the booty, they were severely attacked by the Muslims living in Khazaria, who were allegedly outraged by the predatory actions of the Rus in the Muslim regions of the Caspian Sea. Here is how one of the most prominent Arab geographers Az-Idrisi describes the destruction of the first capital of the Khazar Khaganate by the Rus during one of the Caspian campaigns: "As for the city of Samandar, it was once a large prosperous city. It was built by Anushirvan, there were gardens and vineyards, the number of which cannot be counted58. Then the Rus tribe fell upon the city and destroyed it, so that the prosperity of the city was a thing of the past ".

In addition, from the beginning of the X century. political changes unfavorable for the Khazars took place on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Most of the regions of this region fell under the influence of the Bukhara Samanids, with whom Khazaria was in hostile relations, since the Samanids threatened it from Central Asia, inciting the Guzes to raid Khazaria. If you look at the geography of the Caspian campaign of the Rus, it turns out that the main arena of their actions were the lands subject to the Samanids, as well as Shirvan. Therefore, in 912-913. it was beneficial for the Khazars to let the Rus go to the Caspian Sea, because by their actions they weakened the opponents of Khazaria. The fact that the actions of the Rus largely coincided with the interests of the Khazars is indirectly evidenced by the Shirvan and Derbent chronicles, which are silent about the campaign of the Rus, but talk a lot about the struggle against the Khazars in the first two decades of the 10th century.

The next campaign of the Rus to the Caspian, according to the conclusion of most researchers, had a qualitatively different character compared to the previous ones, since the predatory policy of the Rus gave way to an aggressive one. Information about this campaign of the Rus was preserved by a number of Arab and Persian writers of the 11th-15th centuries, as well as in the work of the Armenian historian of the 10th century. Movses Kalankatvatsi. According to the Arab historian Ibn Miskaveykh, who left the most detailed account of this campaign of the Rus, in 332/943-944 a detachment of the Rus captured the rich Azerbaijani city of Berdaa, located near the Kura River in the Armenian-Georgian border area. The Russians quickly defeated the small garrison of the ruler of the Marzban region, who was at that time fighting in Syria, who was stationed in the city. Having occupied the city, the Rus declared to the locals that they were ready to guarantee their safety and freedom of religion if they would obey the new masters of Berdaa. However, attacks against the invaders continued, so the Rus exterminated part of the urban population. Meanwhile, Marzban pulled up a large army to the city, but he could not drive the Rus out of there, although he pretty much patted their detachment. The invasion of the Mosul prince into the southern part of Azerbaijan forced Marzban to transfer his main forces to the south, leaving only a small part of the army in Berdaa. In the end, the Rus, weakened by the spread of diseases among them, as well as constant clashes with Muslims, decided to leave the city. At night, they left the fortress, loaded with booty, reached their camp on the banks of the Kura, where they boarded the ships that were waiting for them and sailed home.

The attempt of the Rus to gain a foothold in Berdaa, relying on the support of the local population, could not but cause opposition from the Khazaria. Apparently, it was after the campaign of the Rus on Berdaa that the Khazar rulers stopped letting Russian troops into the Caspian Sea, which subsequently gave reason to the Khazar king Joseph to declare that Khazaria serves as a shield protecting the Islamic world from the warlike Rus, who, if not for the onslaught of Khazaria holding back their onslaught, , could reach Baghdad.

Joseph's statement that he does not allow the Rus to enter the Caspian suggests that such attempts on the part of the Rus were made even after the campaign against Berdaa. It is possible that the change in the Caspian policy of Khazaria towards the Rus led to Svyatoslav's campaign to the east.

The final defeat of the Khazars is associated with the campaign of Svyatoslav. In the Tale of Bygone Years under the year 6473 (i.e., 965) it is recorded: “In the summer of 6473. Svyatoslav went to the kozars; he heard the kozars, went against the prince with his Kagan, and gave up fighting, and having fought, overcoming Svyatoslav the kozars and they took their city and Bela Vezhu. Probably, we are talking about those yases and kasogs who were still subject to the Khazars.

Svyatoslav began with the liberation from the Khazar power of the Vyatican land; and then in 965, passing along the Oka and the Volga, the Russian army, perhaps with the participation of the Torks, defeated the Bulgars and Burtases, went down the river, ruined the Khazar capital Itil. Through the Caspian Sea, Svyatoslav reached Semender and, having devastated it, headed west along the Caucasus. Here, moving towards the Sea of ​​Azov, he extended Russian power to the aces and kasogs. The ties of these lands with Russia turned out to be strong and, changing the form, lasted until Mongol invasion. On the way back up the Don, the Russians took Belaya Vezha (Sarkel) and then returned to Kiev. It was a deliberate blow dealt to Khazaria at the proper time, at the time of her political isolation; this blow was based on a sober consideration of the economic and political interests of Russia. The purpose of the campaign was not only to defeat Khazaria, but also to take control of the trade routes to Khorezm, Baghdad, Constantinople along the Volga, Don, on the Kerch Strait, in the North Caucasus, open the road to the Caucasus and become a strong foot in Crimea. It was a victory that had a beneficial effect on the entire development of Russia and greatly strengthened its position in the Black Sea region.

However, keeping the employed required effort, since the Vyatichi land retained a tendency to independence, and it took another campaign of Svyatoslav's troops to force it to pay tribute.

Eastern sources about the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate allow us to think that Svyatoslav did not succeed in completely defeating Khazaria in 965. According to the Arab historian Ibn al-Athir, the Khazars after this defeat turned to Khorezm. At the cost of adopting Islam, the rulers of Khazaria managed to maintain their power in the Volga region and the northeastern Caucasus with the help of Khorezm for several years. After the defeat of the Khazar troops, Svyatoslav subdued the Iranian-speaking aces, who apparently lived on the Don, as well as the Kasogs (ancestors of the Kabardians and Circassians), who apparently lived on the eastern shore of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov.

The existence of the Khazar state worried Russia. During the Bulgarian war of 968, the Pechenegs probably acted at the instigation of Byzantium, but, perhaps, not without the influence of the Khazars, with whom they had common interests against the Oghuz Torks rushing across the Volga. It can be assumed that after making peace with the Pechenegs, Svyatoslav, before returning to the Balkans, decided to put an end to Khazaria. He himself, apparently, did not participate in the new Khazar war, which is why the Russian chronicle did not retain information about it. But the Arab geographer Ibn Haukal in 358 AH. (968/969), being in Dzhurdzhan on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, he saw refugees from Khazaria there, who told him about the destruction of the most important Khazar cities of Itil and Semender that year by the Rus. Obviously, the same event was also meant by those who wrote at the end of the 10th century. another Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi (his information came from Khorezm): "I heard that the army that arrived from Rum (Byzantium), called Rus, conquered them (Khazars) and took possession of their country." this news of al-Muqaddasi contains a clear indication that the army of the Rus, who conquered Khazaria, arrived from Rum; probably it was the army of Svyatoslav, who came with him from the possessions of Byzantium. Ibn Haukal, mentioning the ruin of the Khazar cities by the Rus, specifies that after that the Rus went back to Rum and Andalus.

So, the result of the campaigns of Svyatoslav's troops was the destruction of the Khazar state and the assertion of Russian influence in the Don and Kuban regions, as well as the subordination of the Vyatich land. On the Lower Volga later, the Oguzes and the Volga Bulgars established their dominance, taking advantage of the destruction of the Khazar Khaganate.

Svyatoslav's plans were finally implemented under Vladimir, who, preparing a new action against Byzantium in the Crimea, was supposed to in 981-982. again subjugate the Vyatichi land 33, and after it the Khazaria. “And I went to the Kozars, I won and put tribute on them.” He resumed Russian influence in the Caucasus, where his son Mstislav was sitting in Tmutarakan: in 987-989. Russians served the Emir of Derbent. Tmutarakan was also an important church center36. Holding Sarkel, Korchev and Tmutarakan in his hands, having a peace treaty with Bulgaria, Vladimir, having occupied Kherson in 989, forced Byzantium to reckon with the interests of Russia. As we can see, the Khazar policy

turned out to be an essential element of much more important problems.

The Khazars moved from the foreign policy sphere of Russia to the domestic political vassal sphere: in 1023, Mstislav Vladimirovich opposed Yaroslav "from the kozara and from the scythe." Russia's policy in Derbent, Alania, Ganja and Shirvan testifies to the strength of its positions in the North Caucasus.

The wars of Svyatoslav with the Khazars testify to the growing power of the Russian state and the intensification of its eastern policy, which was aimed at securing a foothold at the mouth of the Don and expanding trade and political ties with Iran and Central Asia. Opportunities have been created for even closer communication with the peoples of the North Caucasus.

The Khazar Khaganate was the first state that Ancient Russia had to face. The fate of not only the East European tribes, but also many tribes and peoples of Europe and Asia depended on the outcome of the struggle between these two states. The first reliable mention of the Khazars refers to the 60-80s of the VI century, when they, as subordinates, participate in the campaigns of the Turks in Transcaucasia. Apparently, in the early 90s of the 6th century, the Khazars became the leading force in the Eastern Ciscaucasia, recognizing, however, the supreme power of the Turkic Khaganate. Having seized Kiev in 882 and thus subjugated the entire path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" to his power, Prince Oleg begins a consistent and stubborn struggle with the Khazar Khaganate, seeking the liberation of the East Slavic tribes from the Khazar yoke and uniting them in one state. Under Oleg's successor, Prince Igor, Kievan Rus clashed several times with the Khazar Khaganate. Twice, in 913/914. and in 943/944. These major clashes were due to the impossibility for Russia to pass through Khazaria to the Caspian Sea and further to Transcaucasia. The commercial and military ships of Russia from the Sea of ​​Azov went up the Don to Perevoloka, from where they were dragged by land to the Volga. The first such campaign for Russia ended in defeat: on the way back, at the request of the Muslims, they were attacked. The second went well for Russia. Kievan Rus several times at the same time had to deal with Khazaria because of the Crimean possessions. But the mortal blow to the Khazar Khaganate, which put an end to its independent existence, was inflicted by Prince Svyatoslav, the son of Igor. Prince Svyatoslav undertook his first campaigns against the Vyatichi and against Khazaria. In 964, Prince Svyatoslav marched on the Oka River. In 965 he defeated the Khazar Khaganate.

After the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate by Svyatoslav, Bulgaria, taking advantage of the civil war that began in Russia, extends its influence to the tribes of Vyatichi, Murom and Merya. In the 80s of the 10th century, the Bulgars tried to persuade the Vyatichi against Kiev, and this attempt was quite successful. In 984, Vladimir made a campaign against the Radimichi, Vyatichi neighbors, and the next year, the annals recorded a grandiose campaign of the united Russian-tordic regiments against the Volga Bulgaria. After a campaign against the Bulgars in 985, the Kievan prince realized that it was more profitable to be friends and cooperate with the Bulgars than to be at enmity and made "eternal peace" with them. Rus was interested in the Bulgars as a market for both their goods and goods brought from the East. In turn, Russia was interested in Bulgaria to no lesser extent, as evidenced by the existence of a Russian colony in the Bulgarian capital. In 1006, an agreement between Kievan Rus and Volga Bulgaria was renegotiated on new terms. Until 1088, the chronicles are silent about the clashes between the Bulgars and the Rus. Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, who made an attempt to conquer the Bulgars, was forced to conclude an "eternal peace" with them. He realized that peaceful relations with the Volga Bulgaria would bring much greater benefits to his state. Vladimir's treaty with Bulgaria is renegotiated several times and serves as direct evidence of long-term good neighborly relations between the two states. Byzantine Rus Khazar prince

Russia and Kaganate

On July 3, 968, Prince Svyatoslav put an end to the existence of the Khazar Kaganate

Only three times a year did the Kagan break his seclusion. On a white horse, he rode through the streets and squares of the capital, and behind him the Nokhchi guardsmen followed in even rows. It was forbidden to look at the kagan. Those who violated this ban were immediately pierced by Chechens with mines.
Nevertheless, by the time of the fall of the kaganate, a system of dual rule had developed in Khazaria, in which the military power was exercised by the beks, and the priestly functions and nominal supremacy remained behind the khagans. The executive power was exercised by the king-infantry. The last king of the Khaganate was Joseph ben Aaron. Joseph allowed Byzantine Jews to move to Khazaria, when under the emperor Roman they were persecuted.
However, few people know the fact that for some time Russia was under the yoke of the Khazars, and the activities of the Kiev prince were controlled by the Khazar tudun. No, the Khazars did not conquer Russia. Quite simply, the Kiev merchants owed money to the Khazar usurers, and forced the prince to pay for them with the independence of the state. Kiev paid tribute to the Khazars not only in money, but also tribute with swords i.e. warriors. The Slavs supplied the Khazars rather large military units, and if they were defeated, then the soldiers were executed.

The Tuduns were the actual rulers of Kiev, just as in Khazaria itself, on behalf of a nominal Turkic-speaking kagan and the power was exercised by the Jewish kahal, in the face of a man called in Turkic back , but in Hebrew ha-melech . The first tudun was in 839 the Khazar governor Almus.

One of these tuduns was the famous Dir, who was killed by the Prophetic Oleg together with Prince Askold during the capture of Kiev in 882. After that, Oleg fought with the Khazars for two more years and until the very year 939 he delivered Russia from their power.

However, in the same year 939, the Khazar governor Pesach ambushed the Russian army returning from the campaign, defeated it, after which it ravaged Kiev and restored Khazar domination in Russia. The princes again became tributaries of the Kaganate. It was in order to pay tribute to the Kaganate that Igor arranged a polyudye - he collected tribute from the Slavic tribes subject to Kiev.

And then the autumn of 945 came. Prince Igor had just paid another tribute to the Khazars, but this time the Khazars considered the amount of tribute insufficient. Igor had to go through the people again and re-extract honey and skins for the Khazar tribute. So he again appeared in the land of the Drevlyans, where he was killed.

This event has another version. According to this version, the Drevlyans killed Igor at the instigation of the Khazars. The fact is that a year before that, Igor, who from 941 to 944 fought with Byzantium at the request of the Kaganate, unexpectedly made peace with the Empire and concluded a non-aggression pact with it. This pact was supplemented by a secret protocol on the division between Russia and the Empire of the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region.

At that time, Prince Mal ruled in the Drevlyansk land. Most likely, this is a Slavic distortion of the Jewish name Malch, meaning "king." The word is of the same root as the one already mentioned ha-melech. Probably his mother was a Khazarian. It was this same Malch who lured Igor's squad into an ambush.

Warrior of the Khaganate

The ancient Slavs had this custom: if someone kills a prince, he becomes a prince. This is what Malchus intended to do. Having killed the prince, he intended to take possession of everything that he had, including Igor's wife Olga, but she was not going to become the wife of some Malch, the man who killed her husband. Therefore, having played a comedy with a wedding, Olga killed all these Drevlyans along with their prince.

Subsequently, Olga tried to enlist the support of Byzantium in the fight against the Kaganate, but the Greeks made baptism a condition. Olga accepted it. She also advised Svyatoslav to accept Orthodoxy, but he answered her: “How do I want to adopt a new law? And my squad will start laughing at this. Translated into the current language, it sounds like this: “What are you, mother, my boys are pinning me up.”

Despite the baptism of Olga, help from Byzantium never came, and the matured Svyatoslav had to rely only on his own strength.

In the end, on July 3, 968, Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich defeated the Khazar army and wiped Itil, Semender and other Khazar cities off the face of the earth, and all the Khazar gold was thrown into the Volga, since Svyatoslav’s warriors were, as they say, zapadno to take wealth for themselves, derived from human trafficking. The expression "money does not smell" was in those days, apparently, still unfamiliar to our ancestors.

After the defeat of Khazaria by our glorious ancestors, one of its fragments formed Jewish Principality Zhugyut centered in the first capital of Khazaria, Semender, next to the current village of Shelkovskaya, now located in Chechnya. Another fragment of the Jewish Khazaria - the Khazar principality with the center in Kerch was conquered in 1016 in a joint campaign of the Byzantine and Russian troops.
A small political entity in the Lower Volga region, dependent on Khorezm, with its center in Saksin, located on the site of Itil, underwent Islamization.

See also:

Remembering the great victories of our ancestors is the sacred duty of each of us, because knowledge of those great victories of the past carries the keys to understanding how to build our future. As we remember the victory of our grandfathers in the Great Patriotic War over Hitler's Nazism in 1945, so we must honor and remember the invaluable contribution to the development of Russia's victory in 964 over Khazaria.

Say a word about Svyatoslav

Few people outside our Motherland know the name of the warrior, ruler and man - the Grand Duke Kievsky Svyatoslav Igorevich, nicknamed the Brave. But even less is known that the correct name of his St. e toslav, not St. I am toslav, since his name comes from the word " Light", but not " holy". So, having replaced only one letter, the enemies of Russia killed the correct understanding of his name, which is formed from two such beautiful words as Light and Praise. In the end, it turned out man's name Svetoslav, meaning the one who glorifies the light or the light of the glorifying. In addition, in contrast to, whom our ancestors called the dark warrior, the people called the prince-warrior Svetoslav the Light Prince and the Light Warrior.

Prince Svetoslav Igorevich was brought up from childhood as a warrior. The teacher, mentor of Svyatoslav was a Varangian asmud(the Varangians were the highest caste of professional warriors, formed from different peoples Slavic-Aryan), who taught the young pupil to be the first in battle and hunting, to hold fast in the saddle, to control the boat, to swim, to hide from enemy eyes both in the forest and in the steppe. Svetoslav was taught military art by another Varangian - the main Kiev Sveneld.

As a three-year-old child in 945 AD, or rather in the summer of 6453 from the SMZH (Creation of the World in the Star Temple - a new chronology of our ancestors, which originates from the moment a peace treaty was concluded after the victory in the war over Ancient China), he accepted participation in their first battle. It was at that time when Princess Olga, together with her retinue, went to war with the Drevlyans in order to avenge her murdered husband, Prince Igor. Prince Igor decided to collect the tribute in the second round, for which he was killed by the Drevlyans. In front of the Kiev squad, Svyatoslav was sitting on a horse. And when both troops converged - Kiev and Drevlyane, then little Svetoslav threw a spear in the direction of the Drevlyans. Then Svetoslav was just a boy, so the spear did not fly far - it flew between the ears of the horse and hit the horse in the leg. But the Kiev governors said: "The prince has already begun, let's follow, squad, for the prince." Such was ancient custom Russ - only the prince could start the battle. And no matter what age the prince was.

By the way, the word PRINCE according to the decoding of Grinevich G.S. in the ancient proto-language of our ancestors - KЪNAZ, means "to the perfection (refinement) of the earth, or, simply, the secrecy (refinement) of the earth"!

While Svetoslav was growing up and gaining experience and courage, his mother, Princess Olga, ruled the principality. But Svetoslav Igorevich was not like his mother. If Olga was baptized into the Greek religion, which later became Christian, then Svetoslav remained the bearer of the Vedic knowledge and traditions of his ancestors.

Through the centuries, the description of his portrait by the Byzantine historian Deacon has been preserved: “Medium height, with a broad chest, blue eyes, thick eyebrows, beardless, but with a long mustache, only one strand of hair on his shaved head, which testified to his noble origin. In one ear he wore an earring with two pearls ... "

Most of all, Svetoslav valued combat armor and weapons. ancient chronicle"The Tale of Bygone Years" tells of Prince Svetoslav as a true warrior. He spent the night not in a tent, but on a horse blanket, with a saddle in his head. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or boilers with him, did not boil meat, but thinly sliced ​​​​horse meat or beef, or the meat of wild animals, roasted it on coals and ate it like that. His warriors were just as hardy and unpretentious. But the squad of Svetoslav, not burdened with convoys, moved very quickly and appeared in front of the enemy unexpectedly, instilling fear in them.

Svetoslav himself was not afraid of his opponents. When he went on a campaign, he always sent a warning message to foreign lands: "I'm coming for you!" Which meant - I want to go to you, that is, you are my enemies. The funny thing is that our ancestors called enemies on “you”, and now this word is a respectful appeal to to a stranger or older.

Do not attack without warning, do not shoot at an unarmed or unequal enemy in strength - this code military honor , an ancient tradition of the Slavic-Aryans, which was honored and observed by the great Light Warrior Prince Svetoslav.

In addition to military honor and courage, an outstanding feature of the character of Svetoslav, as a Light Warrior, was his irreconcilable fight against usury brought to Russia by the Khazars. For taking money at interest and giving interest to others, cut off both hands. He considered usury a corruption of the soul and monetary slavery, giving rise to all vices. And the Khazars, who hunted in Russia by lending, were chained to a raft and floated along the Dnieper in.

Khazar Khaganate

The Khazar state - the Khazar Kaganate - is the most powerful and richest state in the southeast of the borders of Kievan Rus. It was located in the lower reaches of the Volga, stretching west and east as far as Mordovia, including such territories as Northern Afghanistan, Crimea (Tmutarakan is one of its cities). The Khazar city of Semender was located in the North Caucasus, Sarkel - in the interfluve of the Volga and Don, their lower reaches. The capital Itil was located just at the mouth of the Volga, approximately on the site of the modern one.

Before enslavement by Persian Jews (i-UD-ey - means excising UD, i.e. circumcised, and UD is the male genital organ, where the words Pleasure came from - receiving sexual pleasure, UDochka, UDilshe) in the middle of the 6th century AD. Khazars, white and black Khazars lived quite amicably in it. The ruling caste of professional warriors from the Slavic-Aryans was then called the White Khazars, while the Turkic tribes who came to the lower reaches of the RA River (Volga - Itil) from the depths of Asia, like refugees from the Ancient One, were called the Black Khazars. In essence, the black Khazars were representatives of the yellow race with admixtures of the black race. They had black hair, black eyes and swarthy (yellow) skin, for which they were nicknamed black Khazars.

Khazaria existed as a multinational state in which people of both the white and yellow races lived peacefully side by side with each other. Khazaria lived in the same peace and harmony with its neighbors. Favorable location The Khazars (the famous “Great Silk Road” passed through the Khazar Kaganate) attracted Persian Jews from the tribe of Simonov to the country, who began to move here after the revolution they had made in Persia, when the Jews completely robbed the Persian people, and with all their wealth fled the country. More about how it was destroyed Persian Empire, which was founded by the ancestors of the Slavic-Aryans, can be read in books Nikolay Levashov…

When Civil War in China led to a sharp decline in trade, the Khazar Jews moved north and defeated and subjugated the Kama (Volga) Bulgaria, and also occupied the boundless lands of Great Perm, where they organized their trading settlements - trading posts. The conquered lands gave the precious fur of sables, martens, ermines, and besides, Khazar Jews organized child trafficking(just like). And again, caravans with furs and slaves stretched from the North to the South, and the money went into the bins of the Khazar Jews.

For most of the Russian population, knowledge about the Khazars is limited to lines from A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Song of Prophetic Oleg”, which says: “How Prophetic Oleg is now going to take revenge on the unreasonable Khazars ...” and after all, the “Khazar Kaganate” was considered one of the first serious external enemies of Ancient Russia. The contemporaries of the Khazars were the nomadic tribes of the Polovtsians and Pechenegs, who also raided Russia.

The meaning of the word Khazars: nomadic ancient Turkic people, formed in the 7th-10th centuries.

The formation of the "Khazar Khaganate" presumably took place in 650. One of the heirs of the last kagan from the Nushibi group, belonging to the Western Turkic Khaganate, found shelter in Khazaria and founded his own Khaganate - the Khazar. After the collapse of the Western Khaganate in 958, the "Khazar Khaganate" became the sole heir to the lands in Southeastern Europe. The Khazars, in addition to conquering lands, were actively engaged in cattle breeding and the resale of slaves.

The original religion of the "Khazar Kaganate" was the traditional paganism at that time. In the future, supporters of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and pagan religions lived there quite peacefully, but not for long. The Khazars converted to Judaism. The adoption of Judaism by the Khazars as the main religion was most likely influenced by the establishment of trade relations.

The "Khazar Kaganate" conquered and subjugated foreign lands, collecting tribute. Among them were some East Slavic tribes: Vyatichi, Radimichi, northerners, glades, burdened with tribute until the liberation of Ancient Russia. Also, from the middle of the 8th century, the Volga Bulgaria was in the power of the "Khazar Kaganate".

Ancient Russia for a long time waged an active struggle against the Khazars. However, the decisive event in this long struggle was the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav in 964 against the "Khazar Kaganate". Pechenegs and Guzes became his allies. Having reached the capital of the "Khazar Kaganate" - Itil (Atil), Prince Svyatoslav and his allies crushed the Khazar army led by the kagan, capturing the second most important Khazar city - Semender and the Sarkel fortress along the way.

After the collapse of the "Khazar Kaganate" until the 980s, the Russians ruled in the lower reaches of the Volga. The inhabitants of the capital of Khazaria and their head at that time found shelter on the islands of the Caspian Sea. After the departure of the Rus, the Khazar ruler was offered help from Khorezm (a region of Central Asia) and he returned to his native lands. In exchange for help, most of the Khazars had to convert to Islam, and then their king. In 985, Prince Vladimir made a new campaign against the Khazars and laid tribute on them.

In the middle of the 11th century, the Volga Khazaria finally disintegrated after the invasion of new nomads - the Polovtsians. In 1024, the Khazar people fought on the side of Mstislav, the son of Prince Vladimir, during their battle with their brother Prince Yaroslav. The last news about the Khazars was in 1079 and 1083, during the hostilities of Prince Oleg the Prophet, who was subsequently captured by them and given to Byzantium.

Soon, power in the Volga region passed to the Volga Bulgaria, and Alania went to power in the Caucasus. A single power on these lands was again formed only as part of