Scholar Claims to Find 1,000-Year-Old Jewish Capital

fox news ^ | Saturday, September 20, 2008

[Cinnamon Girl]

MOSCOW — A Russian archaeologist says he has found the lost capital of the Khazars, a powerful nation that adopted Judaism as its official religion more than 1,000 years ago, only to disappear leaving little trace of its culture.

Dmitry Vasilyev, a professor at Astrakhan State University, said his nine-year excavation near the Caspian Sea has finally unearthed the foundations of a triangular fortress of flamed brick, along with modest yurt-shaped dwellings, and he believes these are part of what was once Itil, the Khazar capital. (edit) The Khazars were a Turkic tribe that roamed the steppes from Northern China to the Black Sea. Between the 7th and 10th centuries they conquered huge swaths of what is now southern Russia and Ukraine, the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea. (edit) "We know a lot about them, and yet we know almost nothing: Jews wrote about them, and so did Russians, Georgians, and Armenians, to name a few," said Kraiz. "But from the Khazars themselves we have nearly nothing."

The Khazars' ruling dynasty and nobility converted to Judaism sometime in the 8th or 9th centuries. Vasilyev said the limited number of Jewish religious artifacts such as mezuzas and Stars of David found at other Khazar sites prove that ordinary Khazars preferred traditional beliefs such as shamanism, or newly introduced religions including Islam. (edit)

In particular, he said, the Khazars opposed the Arab advance into the Caucasus Mountains and were instrumental in containing a Muslim push toward eastern Europe. He compared their role in eastern Europe to that of the French knights who defeated Arab forces at the Battle of Tours in France in 732. (edit) The study of the Khazar empire was discouraged in the Soviet Union. (edit)

[SunkenCiv]

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[Cinnamon Girl]

Here’s a simple statement for you: if you believe Jesus is your messiah, then you are Christian, and you are not practicing Judaism. Very simple.

[rmlew]

Koestler's book is crap. He could have cited real sources like Dunlop, instead the Hungarian communist cherry picked hacks and old encyclopedias to peddle a theory which was historicaly inaccurate, and was laughable on a linguistic and documentary level when written. Though popular among Hungarian Jews (it would make them "true Hungarians" since one of the 9 Hungarian tribes, the Khabars, were dissident Khazars), communists, and other anti-Zionists, the theorgy has been disproven by genetics. Take a look at www.khazaria.com for links to actual studies.
I may be part Khazar, but most Ashkenazim are not. The only Turkic Jews are the Karaylar (Crimean Tatar Karaites) and the dozen or so remaining Krimchaks (Tatar Rabbinate Jews).

[RJR_fan]

Thanks for the reply and the link. I’d prefer not to make a fool of myself by citing fairy tales as facts. That habit undercuts one’s credibility when talking about the most important historical facts — the giving of the law on Sinai, and the resurrection of a certain first=century rabbi.