426 Constantine Zuckerman from the Inner Depths of Berzilia, That Is from the First Sarmatia, and Conquered All the Country Beyo

426 constantine zuckerman from the inner depths of Berzilia, that is from the First Sarmatia, and conquered all the country beyond the sea as far as the Sea of Pontos; and they subjugated (. .) Batbaian <the eldest son of Kubrat>, chieftain of the First Bulgaria, from whom they exact tribute to this day”.67 Thus “the great nation of the Khazars” only came into sight of the Byzantines—as of the Armenians—after it had conquered Barsilia. Most scholars admit that the creation of the Khazar Kaghanate coincided with the integra- tion of the Barsils and took place in their country, yet in situating Bar- silia west or north of the Caspian they argue for the North-Caucasian origin of the Khazar statehood. Now we see that there is as little evidence to support this reasoning as to justify the Khazar presence in the Northern Caucasus in the early seventh century (supra). The Khazars came from the Middle Volga and surely not alone. The rapid political accommodation with the subdued Barsils suggests that the latter were part of the Khazar horde that moved south. If so, the perennial enigma of Khazar archaeology—linked to the preponderance of “Bulgarian” material—and the mysterious reference of al-Ist&akhrî& to two kinds of Khazars, dark and bright,68 finds a possible solution. The Khazar con- querors, who subjugated the Northern Caucasus and the Pontic steppe, comprised a strong Barsilian (Bulgarian) element. In the new country, the Barsils were no doubt regarded as Khazars. The Khazars’ appearance north-west of the Caspian: When? As early as 555, the name of Khazars appears to have been known to the anonymous author of the geographical excursus in the Syriac adaptation of Zachariah of Mitylene’s Church History (supra). If the Khazars are one of the thirteen peoples “living in tents”, they must have nomadized west of the southern reaches of the Ural ridge: on the north-western outskirts of the nascent Turkic Kaghanate, on the edge of the Finno-Ugric world and on the frontier of the forest and the steppe, in the region where the close contacts between the Finno-Ugrians and the Turks will give birth to the Hungarian people. But the Khazar expansion southwards only 67 Theophanes, ed. De Boor, p. 358, tr. Mango, p. 498; Nicephorus 35, ed. tr. Mango, pp. 88–89, cf. pp. 15–16 on the common source. 68 Al-Ist&akhrî’s& description is translated by Dunlop (cited n. 5), p. 96. the khazars and byzantium—the first encounter 427 starts a century later. The combined evidence of archaeological excava- tions and of several contemporary texts indicates the circumstances and the chronology of their movement. The excavators of the Samara Elbow burials date the earliest monu- ments to the second half of the seventh century. R.S. Bagautdinov, A.V. Bogačev and S.E. Zubov affirm that the vast majority of settlements of the region’s earlier population—the Imen’kovo culture which they attri- bute to the Slavs—disappears, ca. 600, under the pressure of the “proto- Bulgars”, whose advancement to the Middle Volga they plausibly relate to the creation of a powerful confederation of Bulgarian tribes under the Khan Kubrat. This analysis creates a gap of half a century between two successive populations which is contested by G.I. Matveeva, who believes in the survival of the Imen’kovo culture well into the seventh century.69 The migration of the “proto-Bulgars”—whom I identify as Barsils—probably took place in the 640–650s, at the apogee of Kubrat’s power. By ca. 660 at the latest, this attempted expansion brought the Bulgarian tribes into collision with the Bashkirs and the Khazars. While the Barsils were subjugated and eventually absorbed by the Khazars, this could be only partly the case of a much stronger part of the Bulgarian horde led by Kubrat’s son, Asparukh. According to the long version of the Armenian Geography, Asparukh was defeated by the Khazars and fled from the Hippic Mountains to an “island” in the delta of the Danube (supra). Two main identifications for the Hippic Moun- tains have been proposed. M.I. Artamonov attaches this name to the low ridge of Ergeni and to the Stavropol’ Hights, north of the Kuban plain where he situates the center of Kubrat’s Bulgaria. By way of contrast, V.F. Gening argues for a more western location of the site, identifying it as the Doneckij Krjaž70 The latter view is more compatible with the well-informed description of Anania of Širak, who mentions the Hippic Mountains before—that is, to the west of—the Ceraunian Mountains which make the Volga turn to the East. “Close to the Hippic Mountains” 69 Bagautdinov, Bogačev, Zubov (cited n. 62), pp. 167–170; Matveeva (cited n. 62), pp. 88–89. 70 Artamonov (cited n. 5), p. 172 (the Ergeni identification of the Hippic Moun- tains in Ptolemy has a long history—see Müller, cited n. 53, p. 913); V.F. Gening, A.H. Halikov, Rannie bolgary na Volge, Moscow 1964, pp. 111–112. Nicephorus and Theo- phanes (supra, n. 67) mention Asparukh’s settlement in the region of Onglos, north of the Danube (Anania’s island of Piwki), but not the place he came from or his defeat by the Khazars..

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