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Title: Khazar studies : an historico-philological inquiry into the origins of the Khazars by Peter B. Golden ISBN: 9-6305154-9-0 Publisher: Akadâemiai Kiadâo Pub. Date: 1980 Format: Unknown Binding

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: OK for historical sources
Comment: Golden is clearly a very secularist Jew with little knowledge and no sensitivity for Jewish cultural-religious context. He has neglected rabbinical literature and doesn't even try to conjure up an image of what the "Jewish" context of Khazaria could have been like. I guess that's honesty, but the result is that it provides no deep insight into what this aspect of Khazar culture might have been like; or an important basis for discriminating between the huge (and valuable) amount of historical sources he brings down.

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent historical and linguistic resource!
Comment: Peter Golden, a professor at Rutgers University, is an outstanding historian. His latest book is "An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples" (Otto Harrassowitz, 1992), which also contains some information about the Khazars. The Khazars are a Turkic people who ruled eastern Europe from about 650 to 1016 and converted to Judaism in the 9th century. At the height of their power, the Khazar Empire collected tribute from neighboring tribes such as Alans and the Volga Bulgars. The Khazars maintained a large professional army, consisting largely of Muslim Arsiya and pagan Slavs, and had many fortresses. The empire was ruled by two monarchs: the great kaghan and the bek. In volume 1 of "Khazar Studies" (1980), the following issues are discussed: (1) theories about the origins of the Khazars, (2) beginnings of the Khazar kaganate, (3) the fortress of Sarkel and the proto-Hungarians, (4) peoples who lived in Khazaria, (5) commerce in Khazaria, (6) Khazar words and names. The last section of this volume discusses at great length Khazarian terms such as "bek", "tarkhan", "tudun", and "il-teber", and names such as Chat Kasar and Chichek, but may be difficult to follow for people who are not too familiar with the subject. The rest of the book, however, is generally accessible to the educated reader. The dilligent reader will be rewarded with a wealth of interesting information about the Huns, Sabirs, Ko"k Turks, Bulgars, and Khazars. Volume 2 contains copies of numerous medieval Arabic, Hebrew, and other documents about Khazar history. English translations are not provided, however. Unfortunately, "Khazar Studies" has been out of print for a long time and will be difficult to find except through interlibrary loan.