Talk:Kandik

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The following is taken from "The History of the Jewish Khazars," by D.M. Dunlop, pp. 4-15.

"...The chronicler Theophanes {died circa A.D. 818} who tells the story introduces them as "the Turks from the east whom they call Khazars." (Ed. Bonn, 485) On the other hand, the West Turks appear in the Greek writers simply as Turks, without special qualification. The Syriac historians mention the Khazars earlier than A.D. 627. Both Michael Syrus (Ed. Cabot, 381, col. 1, line 9) and Bar Hebraeus (Ed. Budge, 32b, col. 1, line 13) tell how, apparently in the reign of the Greek Emperor Maurcie (582-602), three brothers from "inner Scythia" marched west with 30,000 men, and when they reached the frontier of the Greeks, one of them, Bulgarios (Bar Hebraeus, Bulgaris), crossed the Don and settled within the Empire. The others occupied "the country of the Alans which is called Barsalia, " they and the former inhabitants adopting the name of Khazars from Kazarig, the eldest of the brothers. If as seems possible the story goes back to John of Ephesus (So Barthold, E.I., art. Bulghar) {died circa A.D. 586}, it is contemporary with the alleged event. It states pretty explicitly that the Khazars arrived at the Caucasus from central Asia towards the end of the 6th century. In the Greek writer Theophylact Simocatta {circa 620} we have an almost contemporary account of events among the West Turks which can hardly be unrelated to the Syriac story just mentioned. (Ed. Bonn, 282ff, Chavannes, Documents, 246ff) Speaking of a Turkish embassy to Maurice in 598, this author describes how in past years the Turks had overthrown the White Huns (Hephthalites), the Avars, and the Uigurs who lived on "the Til, which the Turks call the Black River." (Unidentified. Til is apparently the same as atil, itil, "river." Cf. Atil, Itil=the Volga. Zeuss (Die Deutschen, 713n.) denied that the Volga was meant. Marquart, followed by Chavannes (Documents, 251), suggested the Tola, a tributary of the Orkhon, which is probably too far east). These Uigurs, says Theophylact, were descended from two chiefs called Var and Hunni. They are mentioned elsewhere as the "Varchonites." (Menander Protector, ed. Bonn, 400) Some of the Uigurs escaped from the Turks, and, appearing in the West, were regarded by those whom they met as Avars, by which name they were generally known. The last part of this is confirmed by another Greek author, according to whom Justinian received representatives of The pseudo-Avars, properly Uigurs, in A.D. 558, (Menander, ibid., 282) after which they turned to plundering and laying wast the lands of eastern and central Europe. If the derivation from Uigur is right, the word "ogre" in folklore may date from this early period. Theophylact also tells us that about the time of the Turkish embassy in 598 there was another emigration of fugitives from Asia into Europe, involving the tribes of the Tarniakh, Kotzagers, and Zabender. These were, like the previous arrivals, descendants of Var and Hunni, and they proved their kinship by joining the so- called Avars, really Uigurs, under the Khaqan of the latter. It is difficult not to see in this another version of the story given by Michael Syrus and Bar Hebraeus. The Kotzagers are undoubtedly a Bulgar group, (Cf. Marquart, Streifziige, 488) while Zabender should be the same name as Samandar, an important Khazar town, and hence correspond to Kazarig in the Syriac. Originally, it seems, Samandar derived its name from the occupying tribe. (Menander, ibid., 282) ..."

Kaz 23:59, 27 August 2006 (UTC)