10. Ancient Rus and the Great Steppe, Gumilev
IX. The Agony of the Chimera (945-966), Then the paths of the Khazars and the Jews parted forever.
[A great chapter replete with details of a very foundational period.]
51. COUP IN KIEV
As long as the Khazar government subjugated peoples as numerous as the black Bulgarians, cultured as the Alans, brave as the Pechenegs, and freedom-loving as the Guzes, it skillfully managed them. It was always possible to bribe the leader, or hire the braves of the people, or seduce influential women, or recruit traitors. It was important that the ethno-psychological reaction could be calculated, since the creative elements in psychology were replaced by traditional elements, amenable to study.
But the ancient Slavic-Russ in the tenth century, unlike the listed nationalities, were a passionate ethnos. In the fracture, i.e. the transition from the akmatic phase to the inertial one, associated with the Varangian usurpation, took many victims and brought a lot of shame, but did not completely destroy the passionate gene pool in the country.
Orphans, children of heroes who died on the Black Sea from Greek fire and on the Caspian Sea from epidemics, grew up in a fertile landscape, in a stable life, not disturbed by any technical improvements or European methods of education. They knew who had sent their fathers to their deaths, having previously taken away the cherished swords. They saw where the skins of squirrels and martens went, and why their mothers and sisters froze. They heard menacing shouts from Kiev, where the prince was sitting, securely protected from the people by an alliance with the Khazar tsar, whose army was always ready. We grew up in this environment... the same age as Prince Svyatoslav. According to an authentic source - chronicle - Prince Svyatoslav was born in 942. His official father Igor in 879 was "detesk velmi", but even in this case in 942 he was over 60 years old, and his wife Olga was 49-50. Svyatoslav was their firstborn, and he really was Olga's son, and as for Igor Rurikovich, this is on the conscience of the author of an authentic source, as well as the age of Olga, who, until her death in 969, behaved much more actively than an old woman at 76 years old [1].
Interestingly, Olga and her son did not live in Kiev, but in Vyshgorod, where Svyatoslav's "breadwinner", i.e. the teacher, was a certain Asmud, and his father's voivode was Sveneld.
Sveneld had a tribute from Drevlyans and Ulich to feed his squad. Igor's squad thought it was too luxurious for him. Igor had to pay tribute to the Khazars and feed his squad. In 941 and 943, the Kiev prince bought off the Khazar tsar by participating in his campaigns, but in 944, "Igor, prompted by the squad, goes on a campaign to the Village land (to collect the tribute due to Sveneld and his squad), but Sveneld does not give up the rights given to him - there is a clash of Igor's squad with Sveneldova and with the Drevlyans - Sveneld 's subjects; In this clash, Igor was killed by Mstislav Lute, the son of Sveneld."[2]
A.A.Shakhmatov's version eliminates one of the absurdities of Nestor's version, according to which Igor's greed was associated with frivolity. In fact, how to let the squad go, while remaining in a plundered country?! It is another matter if Igor and his advisers were convinced of the powerlessness of the Drevlyans and fell victim to a conspiracy organized in Vyshgorod. But even then, it remains unclear why the Kiev squad did not take revenge on Mstislav the Fierce for treason and the death, even if not of the prince, but of their associates? And how did they decide to do this in Vyshgorod, when Kiev's forces exceeded their strength by half again? And finally, why did the plot succeed, and revenge on Mstislav the Fierce took place in 975, when Oleg Svyatoslavich, or rather, his retinue, killed him? In both versions, something is missing: in our opinion, the influence of the Khazar king Joseph is not taken into account.
After the Passover campaign, the Kiev prince became a vassal of the Khazar king, and therefore was confident in his support. Therefore, he ceased to take into account the contracts and conditions that he had concluded with his subjects, believing that they valued their lives more than their property. This is a typically Jewish formulation of the question, where other people's emotions are not taken into account. Sveneldich and his squad were seized with resentment: they perceived the deprivation of their share of tribute, without which it was quite possible to do, as an insulting neglect, to which they responded by killing the prince. But since Igor and the Varangians surrounding him were unpopular in Russia after two heavy defeats, the conspirators were supported by the broad masses of Drevlyans, thanks to which the coup was a success, because the princely squad was isolated.
The ambiguities of chronology, (in the sources), did not end there: doubts arose about the date of Olga's baptism and her trip to Constantinople. B.A. Rybakov rejects the version of the "Tale of Bygone Years"[3], which supports the opinion of V.N. Tatishchev, who relied on the lost Ioakimov chronicle, and G.G. Litavrin, who, after reviewing Byzantine sources, justified the previously rejected date is 957[4]. E.E.Golubinsky, moreover, believes that Olga came to Constantinople already baptized, with her confessor Gregory, and was baptized in Kiev[5].
For our problem, this date would be important, since in the tenth century a change of religion meant a turn in the foreign policy, i.e. in the relations of Russia with Khazaria, but, on the other hand, all the authors noted that Olga kept her baptism in deep secrecy... until 955, after which, according to the testimony of Jacob Mnich, she pleased God with good deeds.[6] The latter included the war with Khazaria. But before that, Princess Olga behaved cautiously, only allowing Russian brave men to serve in the Byzantine troops for a decent fee. But even this became possible after the coup, when a short interregnum came [7], after which the prince became a minor Svyatoslav, his mother, a Pskovite Olga, became regent, and the head of government was voivode Sveneld, the father of Mstislav the Fierce. The composition of the new Government speaks for itself. Note only that the older generation has Scandinavian, and the younger - Slavic names. In short, all the actual power was concentrated in the hands of either the Slavs or the Slavonic Rosses.
Only one question is unclear and probably unsolvable: was Svyatoslav the son of Igor the Old? The chronicle does not doubt this [8], we have no confidence in this.[9] But in terms of ethnology, this is not so important. Olga and Sveneld restored the Slavo-Russian tradition and returned Russia to the path along which it had been moving before the Varangian usurpation. (The Varangians were Viking conquerors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day Sweden. The Varangians settled in the territories of modern-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, and in the 9th century, they founded the medieval state of Kievan Rus'.) And the consequences turned out to be the most favorable for the Russian land and very difficult for the Jewish community in Khazaria. But I do not dare to follow A.A.Shakhmatov in identifying the Drevlyansky Prince Mal and Lyut Sveneldich. It doesn't work!
After Igor's murder, Sveneld led the re-conquest of Drevlyans: it is unlikely that he opposed his son! Lyut Sveneldich was killed in 975 by Oleg Svyatoslavich, who was not yet 15 years old.[10] It means that his confidants did it, but the repression was carried out again by Sveneld, the first adviser of Yaropolk. The latter reproached Sveneld for the death of Oleg, because it is clear that the boy was innocent of the sins of the senior vigilantes. Sveneld is not mentioned in the chronicle anymore.
But most importantly, Vladimir, the son of Malusha and the nephew of Dobrynya, relied on the Varangians, with their help destroyed Rogvolod and Yaropolk and took Kiev. But then he had to face the resistance of the townspeople, who did not want to pay the Varangians 2 hryvnia per person, nor to see them in their city of Kiev. And Vladimir was forced to send the Varangians to Constantinople without payment for their labors.
The head of government under Vladimir was Dobrynya. To consider the fact that he led a campaign against his grandfather, i.e. Sveneld, as revenge on the murderers of his father (i.e. Lute) is ridiculous, and according to the ethnic norms of the tenth century it is impossible. The chronicle version is more logical, where the children of the Drevlyansky Prince Mala oppose the oppressors - Sveneld and his son, blocking with their enemies - the Varangian party. But the enemies of our enemies are not always our friends. As soon as the need for the Varangians passed, they got rid of them, the Slavic element triumphed over both the Norman and the Rossomonsky, retaining only the name itself from the latter: "the glade, which is now called Russia." The change of faith in 988 made it possible to put an end to the northern overseas traditions, (the pagan traditions of the Perun religion, and their human sacrifices), and Russia entered an inertial period of ethnogenesis, in which conditions for the accumulation of cultural values are optimal.
52. FACE TO FACE
Russia, having got rid of the Varangian leadership, recovered quickly, although not without some difficulties. In 946 Sveneld pacified the Drevlyans and imposed on them a "tribute to the burden", two-thirds of which went to Kiev, and the rest to Vyshgorod, the city that belonged to Olga [11].
In 947 Olga went to the north and imposed tribute on the churchyards on Msta and Luga. But the left bank of the Dnieper remained independent of Kiev [12] and, apparently, in alliance with the Khazar government.[13]
It is unlikely that the Khazar tsar Joseph was pleased with the transfer of power in Kiev from the hands of the Varangian king to the Russian prince, but he did not repeat the Passover campaign. Over the past five years, the external situation of the Jewish community of Itil has become more complicated. Not only did trade with Baghdad cease as a result of the Bund victory, but Chinese trade also suffered damage.
In 946, the Khitans took Kaifyk, the capital of China and the hub of caravan trade, then gave it to the chateau Turks, and they found themselves at enmity with both the Khitans and the Chinese.[14] Trade suffered greatly from these troubles. And in France, too, there was a fierce war - between the last Carolingians and the Dukes of Ile-de-France. As already mentioned, the Carolingians gave protection to French Jews for money; therefore, their defeat and the imminent fall of the Western Empire did not promise the Jews anything good.
Based on these circumstances, the Khazar king Joseph considered it good to refrain from going to Russia, but the delay did not benefit him. Olga went to Constantinople and was baptized there on September 9, 957, which meant the conclusion of a close alliance with Byzantium, the natural enemy of the Jewish Khazaria. The attempt to win Olga over to Catholicism, i.e. to the side of Germany, undertaken by Bishop Adalbert, on the instructions of Emperor Otto 1, who arrived in Kiev in 961, was not successful.[15] From that moment on, Tsar Joseph lost hope for peace with Russia, and it was natural. The war began, apparently, immediately after Olga's baptism.
The fact that the Khazarian war with Russia took place in the 50s of the tenth century, is definitely confirmed by a letter from Tsar Joseph to Hasdai ibn Shafrut, minister of Abdarrahman III - the Umayyad Caliph of Spain, written before 960: "I live at the entrance to the river and do not let the Rus arriving by ship to penetrate to them (the Muslims). In the same way, I do not allow all their enemies who come by land to enter their country. I am waging a stubborn war with them (enemies of Muslims. - L.G.). If I had left them alone, they would have destroyed the whole country of the Ismailis to Baghdad".[16]
This is, of course, an exaggeration. The Buyids in Iran, Baghdad and Azerbaijan held firm. Apparently, Joseph wanted to win over the Caliph of Spain in order to try to create an anti-Byzantine bloc on the Mediterranean Sea, where just at that time the Greeks, with the support of the Rus, were reconquering Crete, the base of Arab-Spanish pirates. In 960 Nikephoros Phokas won a victory. King Joseph's hopes for the help of Western Muslims were shattered.
Nevertheless, Byzantium could not actively help the renewed Russia. The forces of the Greeks were constrained by the offensive on Silicia and Syria. In the decisive years 965-966. Nikephoros Phokas took Mopsuestia, Tarsus, conquered Cyprus and reached the walls of the "great city of God" - Antioch.
These victories were expensive. There was famine in Constantinople in 965-969, as the price of bread rose 8 times. The popularity of the government was falling.
However, friendship with Byzantium provided Russia with an alliance with the Pechenegs, which was important during the war with Khazaria. The Pechenegs, having come to the western edge of the Steppe, found themselves in a very difficult situation: between the Greeks, Bulgarians and Russians. In order not to be crushed, the Pechenegs concluded alliance agreements with the Russians and Greeks, ensured the security of trade between Kiev and Chersonesos (Crimea), and supplied the Rus with sabers instead of heavy swords. This alliance lasted until 968[17], i.e. until the next Russian-Byzantine conflict. But at the decisive moment of the war with Khazaria, the Pechenegs were on the side of the Kiev prince. The supporters of the Khazar king at that time were the Yasi (Ossetians) and Kasogi (Circassians), who occupied the steppes of the North Caucasus in the tenth century. However, their loyalty to the Jewish government was questionable, and their zeal was approaching zero. During the war, they behaved very sluggishly. The Vyatichi tributaries of the Khazars behaved in much the same way, and the Bulgarians generally refused to help the Khazars and were friends with the Guzs, enemies of the Khazar king. The latter could only hope for the help of Central Asian Muslims.
53. SINCERITY AND BENEFIT
It would seem natural that in the east the ally of the Jewish Khazaria was the Tajik Samanid state, known for its active foreign trade and brilliant culture. However, the situation in this power was difficult. During 150 years of Abbasid domination in Central Asia and Iran, the descendants of Arabs, Persians, Sogdians and part of the Parthians managed to adapt to new conditions and by the tenth century merged into a monolithic Tajik ethnos. It was the Tajiks who were led by the local Samanid dynasty, and the culture they created shone like a diamond, compared to which all others are a frame.
Here, in a brief essay, there is no way to describe this rich era, but... crystals appear when magma cools. In just one century, the valor of the Dehkans who ascended the throne of Ismail Samani has melted into the charm of gardens, the cheerful noise of bazaars and the splendor of Sunni mosques. The descendants of the warriors became cheerful and educated inhabitants.
Soon the Samanids, in order to preserve their power, began to buy Turkic slaves (Gulyams) and make an army of them. Those, remaining de jure slaves, could make a career (sometimes dizzying - up to the governors of provinces), since in fact the Gulyams were much stronger than free dehkans and merchants. After all, they had sabers in their hands, and they were all professional warriors. Any such militia is not but scary.
And there were Turks abroad who became Muslims. In 960, the Karluks converted to Islam, followed by the militant Chigili and the brave Yagma. This won them the sympathy of the powerful Sunni church, which feared the free-thinking of the Samanids. Shiites seemed to the Muslim clergy to be greater enemies than foreigners. By 999, the Samanids were betrayed by literally everyone: Turkic mercenaries, clergy, citizens of Bukhara, but even before that they could not help the Khazar Jews.
In a different situation was the lonely oasis of Khorezm, not far from the Aral Sea. Khorezm is like a green island in the middle of a yellow desert, and its ancient population - Khorasmia, or Khvalissa - escaped the Arab pogrom that transformed the cities of Sogdiana. Khorazmshah submitted to the Arabs back in 712, agreed to pay tribute and pledged to provide military assistance. By this he saved his people, who were old and tired.[18]
In the tenth century there were two states in the Khorezm oasis: The old-timers in Kyat were ruled by Khorezmshah; the Turks who settled in Urgench were ruled by the emir. They united in 966, and then Khorezm became a Turkic-speaking settled independent ethnic entity.
The necessary tradition was preserved by the descendants of the Khorasmians, and the passionarity was introduced by the Turks, mainly Turkmens. In the tenth century, thanks to exceptionally favorable conditions, the symbiosis turned into a systemic integrity - an ethnos in a Muslim superethnos.
You can think about where the passionarity of the Aral nomads came from. These descendants of the Sarmatians had to squander it simultaneously with the Khorasmians, Sogdians and Parthians. Yes, that's right, but in the VI-VII centuries, during the era of the Western Turkyut Khaganate, there was a genetic drift from the shores of Orkhon, spreading the trait to the outskirts of the population area.[19] Simply put, the steppe heroes during their campaigns to the west rewarded local beauties with their favor, and the descendants who appeared inherited the passionarity of their fathers.
Contemporaries characterized the Khorezmians as follows: "They are bravely fighting with the Guzs and are inaccessible to them" (Istakhri); "they are hospitable people, lovers of food, brave and strong in battle" (Makdisi); "its people (the city of Kyat) are fighters for faith and are militant", "its population (Urgench) is famous for belligerence and the art of throwing arrows" (Hudud al-Alam); "every autumn, with the onset of cold weather, the king of Khorezm marched against the Guzs" (Biruni)[20].
And since the Guzs became enemies of the Khazar Kingdom in the tenth century, Tsar Joseph had every reason to hope for the help of Khorezm. After all, the economic well-being of Urgench and Kyat in the first half of the tenth century was based on trade with Khazaria, going through Ustyurt and Mangyshlak, bypassing the nomadic Guzs.[21] If Tsar Joseph or another Jew had been the ruler of Urgench, he would have supported the Khazar Jewish community, because it was beneficial not only to him, but also to his country. But a Turk ruled in Urgench, who, for the sake of faith, went to a less profitable alliance with a Bulgar freed from Khazaria. The Guzs, fighting with the Khorezmians, let merchants through their lands, charging a fee. This trade was less profitable for Khorezm, but the Turk's conscience was clear.
The concept of "benefit" is different for different ethnic groups and in different epochs. For Emir Urgench, money meant a lot, but not everything. He could not use them to buy the location of mullahs and ulama, the enthusiasm of his mounted riflemen, the sympathies of neighboring nomads and even the love of his wives. In Asia, not everything is for sale, but much is given for free, for the sake of sincere sympathy, which the emir must acquire if he does not want to change the throne to the grave. Since the public opinion of the Khorezmians of the tenth century was formed in a constant war for Islam, their ruler had to act in accordance with the established stereotype of behavior. He did just that.
Maqdisi reports: "The ruler of Djurjania sometimes takes possession of the cities of Khazaria" - and in another place: "I heard that al-Mamun invaded them (the Khazars) from Djurjania, defeated them and converted them to Islam. Then I heard that a tribe from Rum, which is called Rus, invaded them and took possession of their country"[22]. Both Ibn-Miskaveyh and Ibn al-Asir report an attack in 965 on the Khazarian khagan of some Turkic people. Khorezm gave help on condition that the Khazars converted to Islam, and then "the Kagan himself turned"[23]. Let's compare this information with what we already know.
In 943, the Khazar Jews and the Khorezmians, according to Masudi, were in an alliance. In 965, the Khazar empire fell. Consequently, fluctuations in the policy of Khorezm took place in the interval between these dates. It is logical to think that the chances of Tsar Joseph fell after Olga's trip to Constantinople in 957. It means that during these years (957-964) the Khorezmians, under the pretext of protecting the Khazars from the Guzs and Russ, converted the pagan population of the Volga Delta to Islam. They did it willingly, because they did not see anything good from their rulers. Thus, the road to Itil was opened to Svyatoslav, and preparations for the war were completed.[24]
54. THE FIFTH ACT OF THE TRAGEDY
The year 964 found Svyatoslav on the Oka, in the land of Vyatichi. The war with the Khazar Jews was already in full swing, but the Kiev prince did not dare to lead the offensive through the Don steppes controlled by the Khazar cavalry [25]. The strength of the Rus of the tenth century was in the rooks, (boats) and the Volga is wide. Without unnecessary clashes with the Vyatichs, the Russ cut down and set up rooks, and in the spring of 965 they descended along the Oka and Volga to Itil [26], to the rear of the Khazar regular troops waiting for the enemy between the Don and the Dnieper [27].
The campaign was thought out perfectly. Russ, choosing a convenient moment, went ashore, replenished food supplies, not disdaining looting, returned to their boats on the Volga, without fear of a sudden attack by Bulgarians, Burtas and Khazars. How it went on, one can only guess.
At the confluence of the Sarys River, the Volga forms two channels, the western one - the Volga proper and the eastern one - the Akhtuba. Between them lies the green island on which Itil stood, the heart of the Jewish Khazaria.[28] The right bank of the Volga is a loamy plain; perhaps the Pechenegs came there. The left bank of the Akhtuba is sandy dunes, where the Guzas were the owners. If some of the Russian rooks went down the Volga and Akhtuba below Itil, then the capital of Khazaria turned into a trap for the defenders without hope of salvation. The Rus' advance down the Volga was self-melting and therefore so slow that the locals (Khazars) had time to escape into the impenetrable thickets of the delta, where the Rus would not be able to find them, even if they tried to look. But the descendants of the Jews and Turks showed ancient courage. Resistance to the Russ was led not by Tsar Joseph, but by an unnamed kagan. The chronicler is laconic: "And after the battle, overcome Svyatoslav Kozar and grad them... taking"[29]. Hardly any of the defeated survived. And where the Jewish king and his close tribesmen fled to is unknown.
This victory decided the fate of the war and the fate of Khazaria. The center of the complex system disappeared, and the system disintegrated. Numerous Khazars did not put their heads under Russian swords. They didn't need it at all. They knew that the Russ had nothing to do in the Volga Delta, and the fact that the Russ had freed them from oppressive power was only pleasant to them. Therefore, Svyatoslav's further campaign - along the well-worn road of the annual migrations of the Turkic-Khazar khan, through the "black lands" to the middle Terek, i.e. to Semender, then through the Kuban steppes to the Don and, after the capture of Sarkel, to Kiev - passed unhindered. The assumption of the movement of the Russian army from the Volga to the Terek, or, what is the same, from Itil to Semender, by sea [30] is absolutely incredible. River boats had to first get stuck on the rifts in the delta; then, they were not suitable for sailing on the stormy Caspian Sea, and, finally, it is impossible to rise by water along the Terek River to the place where the village of Grebenskaya is now located.[31] After all, the former campaigns of the Rus to Gilan and Azerbaijan were carried out thanks to the support of the Judeo-Khazar government, which supplied the fleet with pilots and suitable ships. In 965-966 there was neither one nor the other.
Therefore, one should prefer the traditional version of the route of the Russian army, finding a real explanation that the destruction caused by it was small: buildings and gardens were destroyed, but not people.
The Russian warriors, starved for a long march through the semi-desert, plundered the luxurious gardens and vineyards around Semender, but the inhabitants of these unprotected settlements could easily hide in the dense forest on the banks of the Terek. The inhabitants of Sarkel probably fled in advance, because there was nothing to fight for and nothing for. The death of the Jewish community of Itil gave freedom to the Khazars and all the surrounding peoples.
The emir of Derbent was strengthened on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, and the Emir of Khorezm on the eastern shore, but they could not keep the steppe peoples who had learned the taste of independence in submission. The transition of ethnic fragmentation, which lasted 250 years, has come for the entire Great Steppe. During this time, an original medieval variation of the steppe culture developed, since no one interfered with the nomads' life.
The Khazar khaganate disappeared not only as a state, but also as an important element of the system of international relations: political, economic, religious and even ethnic. All the parties that relied on the support of aggressive Judaism have lost their support, which was extremely valuable for them. As a result, the ✓Carolingian dynasty lost its position in France, forced to cede hegemony to national princes and feudal lords; in ✓China, individual soldier and anti-nomadic rebellions turned into aggressiveness and national exclusivity of the newborn Song Dynasty; The caliph in ✓Baghdad weakened and lost control even over Egypt, not to mention the "other Africa" and Arabia; disorganization corroded the Samanid emirate. In short, the allies of the deceased Khazaria became ill.
Oddly enough, those who tried to take over a country devoid of protection did not win either. The Khorezmians held out on the Volga only from 977 to 985, could not establish a sincere alliance with the Bulgarians and left, leaving the Volga region to the pagan Guzs. The latter, back in the XII century, made up the majority of the population of the city of Saksin[32], located in the Volga delta, on the Tabola Bayou[33].
The Khazar Jews who survived in 965 scattered to the outskirts of their former state. Some of them settled in Dagestan (urban Jews), others - in the Crimea (Karaites). Having lost contact with the leading community, these small ethnic groups turned into relics that got along with numerous neighbors. The collapse of the Judeo-Khazar chimera brought them, like the Khazars, peace. But apart from them, there were Jews who did not lose the will to fight and win, and found shelter in Western Europe.
55. THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE CHIMERA
So, the paths of the Khazars and the Jews parted forever. The descendants of the ancient Khazars in the Don Valley adopted the name "brodniki". The descendants of the Brodniki subsequently changed their ethnonym: they began to be called Cossacks. Russian, which became common, and Orthodoxy, adopted back in the IX century, allowed them to enter the Russian ethnos as one of its subethnoses. Close ties with the Principality of Chernigov, the Russian language, which became common, and Orthodoxy, adopted back in the IX century.
The Khazars had nothing to love the Jews and the statehood they had planted. The economic prosperity of Itil did not give them any benefits, and the culture of the dominant ethnic group was alien to the native Khazars and, moreover, unnatural for them.
The Iranian branch of the Jews brought the principles of Mazdakism to the Khazars, according to which all unreasonable, i.e. spontaneous, nature, including the emotions of man himself, was declared evil. Reason was declared good, although it is the mind that is prone to delusions. The Byzantine branch of the Jews brought skills of extraterritoriality, i.e. the absence of direct contacts with natural landscapes. And both of them showed intolerance towards their ethnic environment, which they considered only insofar as it was practically necessary. And then both people and nature rose up against them.
The fate of the ruling class of Khazaria, read - the ruling ethnos, shared and the aborigines of the country, with the exception of those who managed to move beyond the Don or take refuge on the "ridge" - the mountain range of Dagestan, beyond the Terek. The Volga Khazars found themselves in the worst situation, as the landscape that fed them sank under the waves of the Caspian Sea. If in the III century the level of the Caspian Sea stood at -36 m, then at the end of the XIII century it reached -19 m, i.e. it rose by 17 m. For the steep shores of the Caucasus and Iran, it did not matter much, but for the gentle northern coast, where the Khazaria was located, this transgression was a disaster. "The Netherlands" turned into "Atlantis". Blooming gardens, pastures - everything was flooded with water, from which only the dry peaks of the Baer hills, where the Khazar cemeteries were previously located, stuck out.
The Khazars had to leave the flooded country, and without the usual, native landscape, the usual ethnic group is crumbling. So, the Khazars scattered in the great city of Sarai, the "capital" of all Western Eurasia. However, not only the Khazars have lost their ethnic integrity, but even what seems to be integral - lost their memory, or, speaking strictly scientifically, their ethnic tradition. The descendants of the Khazars forgot that they were Khazars, and the descendants of the Khazar Jews forgot about the country where their ancestors lived and acted. The latter is clear: for the Jews, the lower reaches of the Volga were not their homeland, but a "stadium" for testing their strength; therefore, it made no practical sense for them to recall the tragic failure. It is for these reasons that Khazaria has become a country without historical sources: written, material and ethnographic, i.e. recorded in rituals and beliefs. And since before the XX century any history was based on the collection and criticism of sources, the history of Khazaria could not be written on the basis of traditional methods.
56. WHY DID THE CHIMERA NOT ARISE IN RUSSIA?
It would seem that in Russia in the IX-X centuries there were all conditions for the emergence of the same ethnic chimera that developed in Khazaria. The Varangian foreigners dominated the Kievan land for over 60 years - from 882 to 944 - and after that they remained there, using the privileges of the military caste. The presence of a large number of bastards who appeared in this era is beyond doubt, although not noted by the chronicler. But it is known that every chronicler does not describe what is everyday, and known to his readers, but what seems to him worthy of mention, because the narrative is not a statistical report. Therefore, the absence of direct indications of the narrative source on mestization should not confuse the researcher. Another thing is confusing: where did the descendants of the Varangians and Slavs go, and even without a trace, as if they did not exist? After all, the descendants of the Norwegians still live in Northern England and Normandy. But, on the other hand, in Ireland and Sicily they are just as invisible as in the Dnieper. Is there any pattern here?
Since the sources do not answer the question, let us turn to the theory and methodology of broad analogies. Let's compare the situation in Russia with the one that arose twice in Khazaria: in the VII and IX centuries.
In the VI-VII centuries, the Khazars were combined with the Turkic heroes, and they took in a tsarevich from the Ashin family. It was an ethnic "xenia", which generates a "social organism", i.e. a complicated political integrity. The Turkic-Khazar mestizos took the place of military leaders and sacrificed their lives for the new homeland, because the old one had already been torn apart by the Chinese. In other words, they joined the ethnogenesis of the Khazars as a component, and not as a foreign body.
Therefore, the preservation of nomadic life skills by the khan's surname did not matter for social relations within the established ethnic group. Well, if the khan wants to go from the Volga to the Terek and Don in the summer, then let him ride! It doesn't interfere with anything.
Another thing was the regime of Obadiah (Obadiah made the Jewish coup and took power), and his descendants, who made their community the ruling class in Khazaria. They worked for themselves, not for their subjects. Assimilation did not arise, since neither the Khazars were accepted into their community, nor the Jews were allowed to decline to the level of the masses. Two ethnic groups belonging to different superethnoses lived in the same area, as if permeating each other. This is the chimera.
The Varangians in Kiev are not like either Turkyuts or Jews. On the one hand, these are invaders who robbed the population on the "Polyudy", predators who pursued their goals, for which they threw their subjects into senseless campaigns to the Caspian and Pontus. And they belonged to another superethnos, professed a different religion (Perun), and had a special culture. As if everything speaks of their analogy with the Jews of Khazaria.
But, on the other hand, professional Varangians were polyethnic. Their detachments consisted not only of Scandinavians, but also of Balts: Polab Slavs, Latvians, Finns. At the same time, the Scandinavians were not representatives of their ethnic groups, but "free atoms" - people thrown out of their homeland by an explosion of passionarity. This means that they broke with the old traditions, and the new ones created by their children were inherited from their mothers. Consequently, if not the children, then the grandchildren of the Varangians became Slavo-Rosses, like the Turkic offspring in Khazaria. And this was greatly facilitated by the fact that the Varangian fathers themselves either died in unsuccessful campaigns, or changed Kiev to Constantinople, leaving their descendants only a genetic inheritance - the passionarity of the ascent phase. It was by no means small.
Now, if not "Varangians" came to Kiev in the IX century, but members of ethnic groups: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, as it was in Pomerania and Brandenburg in the XII century, then their analogy with the Khazar Jews would be legitimate. The Rakhdonite Jews represented a superethnos artificially preserved at a high phase of passionarity. Scattering did not bother them, because they were fed by the anthropogenic landscape - cities. Due to the "artificiality", i.e. increasing the rigidity of the system, passionate overheating was not allowed, but the system itself became fragile. That's why it broke down from the first strong blow in 965. And the Scandinavian ethnic groups reached the phase of passionarity, which allowed them to take part in the creation of a superethnos only in the XII century. But then they were no longer dangerous for the Grand Duchy of Kiev.
So, the Varangians did not create a chimera in Kiev, not because of their "noble qualities", which they did not have, but because they could not, as they could not strengthen themselves in Ireland. Only in scorched Normandy and bloodless Northumberland colonies of Normans, Vikings, but not Varangians settled on wastelands or ruins and survived, having minimal conflicts with the aborigines. But they ceased to be Norwegians, and became sub-ethnoses of the French and the British.
In Russia in the IX century there was a break, a transition from the acmatic to the inertial phase. It was during this difficult time that the Varangians penetrated Russia like bacteria into an open wound. But the "white blood cells" - local passionaries - eliminated the infection, which was followed only by the name of the dynasty of warrior princes - Rurikovich. These were mestizos incorporated by the Slavic-Russian ethnos. The end of this process of ethnic recovery should be considered not Olga's political coup, but a cultural shift - a return to the old Gothic-Rossomon tradition of contact with Byzantium - the baptism of Russia by Vladimir Svyatoslavich. But there was another phenomenon, no less significant than the one described above.
The rise of passionarity, which swept Western Europe in the IX century, led to the creation of a powerful and predatory superethnos there, a meeting with which was inevitable. It could be friendly or hostile, but in any case, it entailed irreversible consequences. This will be discussed in the following chapters.
Notes
[1] Nestor erred against the truth. In 946, Mal woos Olga, who is 54 years old. Absurdity, but this is not a description of a dynastic marriage, but an inset didactic novel. In 955, at a reception with Constantine Porphyrogenitus, she was, according to Nestor, so "beautiful in face" that Basileus fell in love... an old woman 62 years old? One of two things: either Olga's age is incorrect, or everything else (see: Gumilev L.N. The Legend of the Khazar tribute).
[2] Shakhmatov A.A. Searches ...p. 365.
[3] See: Rybakov B.A. Paganism of ancient Russia. M., 1987. pp.385-391.
[4] See: Litavrin G.G. On the dating of Olga's embassy to Constantinople// History of the USSR. 1981. No. 5. pp. 180-183.
[5] See: Golubinsky E.E. The history of the Russian Church.P.77; cit.according to: Rybakov B.A.Decree.op.c.385-391.
[6] B.A.Rybakov (Paganism of ancient Russia. p. 391) notes the unreliability of chronicle dates, but accepts this testimony.
[7] See: Shakhmatov A.L. Decree, Op. 109.
[8] See: The texts of the Kiev Code of 1039 and the Novgorod Code of 1050, restored by A.A. Shakhmatov (Searches. pp. 543, 613).
[9] Fictional genealogies are too common to attach much importance to them. For example, the real surname of the Russian tsar Paul I is Gotorp.
[10] Svyatoslav's birth year is 942; Oleg is Yaropolk's younger brother. So, he could have been born no earlier than 961, but most likely later.
[11] PVL. Ch.1.P.43.
[12] This is evident from the fact that the Radimichi re-conquered the voivode Vladimir the Wolf's Tail in 984.
[13] See: Shevchenko Yu.Yu. Decree.op. pp.51-54.
[14] See: Gumilev L.N. The search for a fictional kingdom.Pp.78-79.
[15] See: Grekov B.D. Kievan Rus. M., 1949. pp.458-459.
[16] Kokovtsov P.K. Decree. op. pp.83-84.
[17] PVL.Ch.II. p. 312; History of Byzantium. Vol.II. p. 231-233.
[18] The Khorasmians are close relatives of the Parthians; therefore, the initial date of their ethnogenesis is VI-III centuries BC, but it was preceded by an incubation period, the duration of which is difficult to determine. So, by the tenth century A.D., the Khorasmians had passed all the phases of ethnogenesis and were in homeostasis, which allowed them to accept passionate Turks into their environment without resistance, who sought to get along with them. And this made possible full assimilation on a peaceful basis.
[19] N. Vavilov proved that recessive mutations are gradually being pushed to the outskirts of species and racial areas (letters to Academician V.I. Vernadsky: cit. according to: Cheboksary I.A. Peoples, races, cultures. M., 1971. pp.147-148).
[20] Cit. by: Tolstov S.P. Decree. op. p. 244.
[21] See ibid. p. 242.
[22] Cit. by: Tolstov S.P. Decree.soc. pp.252-253.
[23] See ibid.
[24] S.P. Tolstov, contrary to Makdisi, believes that the conquest of Khazaria by the Rus preceded the entry of the Khorezmians into Khazaria; he tries to compare the invasion of the Rus with Vladimir's campaign against the Bulgars in 985 (see: Tolstov S.P. Decree.soc. p.255). There are no grounds for such an opinion.
[25] This is the answer to A.A. Shakhmatov's doubts (see: Shakhmatov A.A. Decree. soc. pp. 118-119).
[26] See: Artamonov M.I. History of the Khazars. pp.426-429.
[27] S.P.Tolstov (Decree.soc.C.256) believes that the Rus met with the Guzes near the Verkhnedonsky portage (i.e. above Itil) and moved up the Volga. However, the current on the Volga is so strong that it was possible to rise against the current only with the help of boatmen. In military conditions, this is too dangerous. Therefore, we must assume that the Russ descended the Oka and Volga by self-melting, drifting, in which the warriors do not get tired and can be ready to fight with the enemy.
[28] See: Gumilev L.N. Discovery of Khazaria. p.26.
[29] PVL. Ch. 1. P. 47. It says there: "And their grad and Bela Vezhya are taken." So, "grad" is not a White Vezha (see: Artamopov M.I.Decree. soc. p.427. Note 9).
[30] See: Artamonov M.I. Decree. soc. P.427; Pashuto V.T. Foreign policy of Ancient Russia. M., 1968. P. 93.
[31] The location of the Semender between the sovr. the villages of Grebenskaya and Shelkovskaya proved (see: Gumilev L.N. Khazaria and Terek//Vestn.LSU. 1964. No.24.pp.78-88; He. The discovery of Khazaria.Pp.166-169; He. Where is Semender then? // History of the USSR. 1969. No. 3. pp. 242-243), but V.T. Pashuto was not noticed.
[32] See: Bolshakov O.G., Mongayt A.L. Abu Hamid al-Garnati's Journey to Eastern and Central Europe (1131-1153). Moscow, 1971. pp. 27-30.
[33] See: Gumilev L.N. The Legend of the Khazar tribute. p.171.
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