View source for List of Khazar rulers

{{no footnotes|date=June 2013}}
The following is a '''list of [[Khazars|Khazar]] rulers'''.

==Early Khazar rulers==
{| style="width:100%;" class="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:22%;"|Name
!style="width:12%;"|Reign
!Comments
|-
|align=center|[[Khozarig]]||style="text-align:center;"| ||align="left"|Eponymous folk-ancestor of the [[Khazars]]
|-
|align=center|[[Karadach]]||style="text-align:center;"|450 AD||align="left"|Karadach was the king of the [[Akatziroi]], a [[steppe]] nation allied to the [[Huns]]. He is described in the accounts of [[Priscus]].
|}

==Khazar Khagans (Ashina dynasty)==

:''See also: [[Ashina]] and [[Göktürk Khagans]]''.
The Khagans were supreme chiefs of the people, holding positions of much influence and spiritual authority, but with little day-to-day command.

{| style="width:100%;" class="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:22%;"|Name
!style="width:12%;"|Reign
!Comments
|-
|align=center|[[Tong Yabghu|Ziebel]]||style="text-align:center;"|618–630 ||align="left"|Tun Yabgu Khan of the West [[Göktürks]]
|-
|align=center|[[Böri Shad]]?||style="text-align:center;"|630–650||align="left"|
|-
|align=center|[[Irbis (Khazar)|Irbis]]?||style="text-align:center;"|650||align="left"|
|-
|align=center|[[Khalga and Kaban|Khalga]]?||style="text-align:center;"|mid 660s?||rowspan=2 align="left"|During the period between  650 and  680, one will sometimes see references to a [[Khalga and Kaban|Khalga, mid 660s, and Kaban, late 660s]]. Researchers should be aware that these names are derived from a single document, the ''[[Cäğfär Taríxı]]'', and that a great many scholars have severely attacked this document as a mixture of factual data and outright fabrication.

The ''Cäğfär Taríxı'' purports to be a compilation of early [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] historical material, assembled (or at least written in its present form) in the late 17th century. It has been used by [[Volga]]n [[Tatars]] to document that their antecedents in their region extend back in time by many centuries.

Critics claim the ''Cäğfär Taríxı'' to be a forgery, created by or at the behest of the Soviet Secret Police (then the [[NKVD]]) in the 1930s for the purpose of creating divisiveness and factionalism within the ethnic [[Tatar]]s of that era. The Soviet government did create spurious historical documents on several occasions. The historicity of the people that it refers to is therefore questionable, so until additional documentation comes to light, Khalga and Kaban should be regarded warily at best.
|-
|align=center|[[Khalga and Kaban|Kaban]]?||style="text-align:center;"|late 660s?
|-
|align=center|[[Busir]] (Ibuzir Glavan)||style="text-align:center;"|c. 690–715||align="left"|Busir Glavan took in the exiled Byzantine Emperor, [[Justinian II]], and gave him his own sister (baptismal name Theodora). He later tried to kill Justinian to placate [[Tiberius III]], causing Justinian's flight to [[Bulgaria]] and his ultimate restoration to the throne.
|-
|align=center|[[Barjik]]||style="text-align:center;"|late 720s–731||align="left"|
|-
|align=center|[[Bihar (Khazar)|Bihar]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 732||align="left"|[[Bihar]] is the name given in some sources to the Khazar Khagan whose daughter [[Tzitzak]] married the future Byzantine Emperor [[Constantine V]]. The son of Constantine and Tzitzak was [[Leo IV the Khazar]].
|-
|align=center|[[Prisbit]]||style="text-align:center;"|late 730s||align="left"|Female. Regent?
|-
|align=center|Under the [[Caliphate]]||style="text-align:center;"|737–c. 740||align="left"|
|-
|align=center|[[Baghatur]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 760||align="left"|
|-
|align=center|[[Khan-Tuvan]]<br/>(a.k.a. Dyggvi)||style="text-align:center;"|c. 825–<br/>830 (died?)||align="left"|
|-
|align=center|[[Tarkhan]]||style="text-align:center;"|840s||align="left"|Arab sources speak of "[[Tarkhan]], King of the Khazars" during this period. "Tarkhan" can be both a proper name and a military rank. It is unclear whether the sources refer to a Khagan named Tarkhan or make a confusing reference to a general.
|-
|align=center|[[Zachariah (Khazar)|Zachariah]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 861||align="left"|
|}

==Khazar Beks==
The [[Khagan Bek]]s were war chiefs, military commanders who exercised considerable day-to-day authority, and were sometimes regarded by outsiders as the supreme lords of the Khazar nation.

{| style="width:100%;" class="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:22%;"|Name
!style="width:12%;"|Reign
!Comments
|-
|align=center|[[Yazir Bulash]]||style="text-align:center;"| ||rowspan=6 align="left"|It is not entirely clear that these individuals were or were not [[Bulanid]]s. They may have been simply warlords. Nevertheless, their activity parallels that of the later Beks, and so are included.
|-
|align=center|[[Chorpan Tarkhan]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 630
|-
|align=center|[[Alp Tarkhan]]||style="text-align:center;"|early 8th century
|-
|align=center|[[Tar'mach]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 730
|-
|align=center|[[Hazer Tarkhan]]||style="text-align:center;"|?–737
|-
|align=center|Under the [[Caliphate]]||style="text-align:center;"|737–c. 740
|}

==Conversion to Judaism==
Hazer Tarkhan's army was annihilated at [[Atil|Itil]] in 737 AD, and the Caliphate imposed [[Islam]] upon the Khazars. Nevertheless, the Caliphs could not adequately garrison [[Khazaria]], and within a few years the Khazars were once again independent. The famous conversion to [[Judaism]] seems to have occurred about this time. The date of the actual conversion to Judaism is a matter of some controversy. According to [[Yehuda Halevi]] in ''Kuzari'', it occurred around 740 AD, though some Arab sources point to a date closer to the end of the 8th century or early 9th century, and more recent scholars have postulated that 861 AD, the date of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius|St. Cyril]]'s visit to Khazaria, was the year of the conversion to Judaism.

The 2002 discovery of a coin hoard in [[Sweden]] further complicates the issue, as some of the coins bear dates from the early 9th century and the legends "Ard al-Khazar" (Land of the Khazars) and  "[[Moses]] is the Prophet of God". Since the coins date from 837 AD or 838 AD, some scholars think the conversion occurred in 838 AD. [[Bulan Sabriel]] was the Khazar ruler at the time of the conversion, but in the list below all the dates up to [[Aaron I]] are based on a presumed 740 AD conversion date.

==Bulanid dynasty==
{| style="width:100%;" class="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:22%;"|Name
!style="width:12%;"|Reign
!Comments
|-
|align=center|[[Bulan (Khazar)|Bulan Sabriel]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 740||rowspan=14 align="left"|Joseph corresponded with [[Hasdai ibn Shaprut]], a [[Jew]]ish [[vizier]] to [[Abd al-Rahman III]], [[Caliph of Cordoba|Caliph of Córdoba]]. It is from that correspondence that this list is taken. It is not entirely ruled out that the Bulanids were in fact Khagans rather than Beks, though their power certainly appears to be that of the Beks. Moreover, it is possible that the positions merged in the 10th century, as Joseph makes no reference to a colleague, instead referring to himself as "king of the Khazars."
|-
|align=center|[[Obadiah (Khazar)|Obadiah]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 786–809
|-
|align=center|[[Hezekiah (Khazar)|Hezekiah]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Manasseh I]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Hanukkah (Khazar)|Chanukkah]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Isaac (Khazar)|Isaac]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Zebulun (Khazar)|Zebulun]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Manasseh II]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Nisi ben Menasseh]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Aaron I]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 900
|-
|align=center|[[Menahem (Khazar)|Menahem]]||style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|align=center|[[Benjamin (Khazar)|Benjamin]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 920
|-
|align=center|[[Aaron II (Khazar)|Aaron II]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. late 920s<br/>–940
|-
|align=center|[[Joseph (Khazar)|Joseph]]||style="text-align:center;"|940–965
|}

==Late Khazar Rulers==
In 969 AD, [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev]] sacked [[Atil|Itil]], the capital of the Khazar Khaganate. Khazar successor states appear to have survived in the [[Caucasus]] and around the [[Black Sea]]. We know of two later Khazar rulers:

{| style="width:100%;" class="wikitable"
|-
!style="width:22%;"|Name
!style="width:12%;"|Reign
!Comments
|-
|align=center|[[David of Taman|David]]||style="text-align:center;"|c. 986–988|| align="left"|
|-
|align=center|[[Georgius Tzul]] (of [[Kerch]])||style="text-align:center;"|?–1016|| align="left"|
|}

==Collapse of Khazar power==
Georgius Tzul was captured by a joint [[Kievan Rus'|Rus']]-[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] expedition and his state was destroyed. Shortly thereafter, the [[Kipchaks]] became masters of the [[Pontic steppe]] (see [[Cumans]]). However, there continue to be tantalizing references, in Muslim sources, of battles against "Khazars" in the [[Caucasus]] well into the late 11th century. Whether Khazar states continued to survive or their name was used generically to describe Caucasian highlanders is unclear.

The fate of the Jewish Khazars is unclear. Jewish travelers of the 12th century continue to refer to them in passing. Khazar Jews are known to have lived in [[Kiev]] and even to have emigrated to [[Spain]], the Byzantine Empire and [[Iraq]]. According to some sources the majority may have gone to [[Hungary]], [[Poland]] and the [[Crimea]], mingling with Jews in those areas and with later waves of Jewish immigrants from the west.

==References==
List largely adapted from [http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/siberia.html Bruce Gordon's Regnal Chronologies - Eurasian Nomads]

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
*[[Artamonov, Mikhail]]. ''Istoriya Khazar''. Leningrad, 1962.
*[[Kevin Alan Brook|Brook, K.A.]]. ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006.
*[[David Christian (historian)|Christian, David]]. ''A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia.'' Blackwell, 1999.
*[[Golden, Peter Benjamin]]. ''Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples.'' Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1992.
*Golden, Peter Benjamin. ''Nomads and Sedentary Societies in Medieval Eurasia''. Washington, D.C.: American Historical Society, 1998.
*Klyashtorny, S.G. and T.I. Sultanov. ''Kazakhstan''. Alma-Ata, 1992.
*Mango, C. & R. Scott (trans.), The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford University Press, 1997.
{{refend}}

{{Khazaria}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Khazar Rulers}}
[[Category:Khazar rulers|*]]
[[Category:Khazars]]
[[Category:Lists of Asian rulers|Khazar]]
[[Category:Turkic dynasties|Khazars]]