The Myth of the Judeo-Khazar Founding of Kiev

Abstract

This article critiques the idea that the Judaic Khazars of the late 8 th - first half of the 9 th cc. founded Kiev. That hypothesis was formulated almost a century ago, but was never taken seriously. Wide-scale archaeological investigations in Kiev have since confirmed that the concept of Khazar foundations lost validity even from the point of view of historiography. However, this “original” idea was revived by N. Golb and O. Pritsak in their publication on Judaic Khazar documents of the 10 th century. Quite unexpectedly it was presented by these scholars as “widely spread”. Then М. Goldelman, following them, defined it similarly in his entry on the Khazars in “Brief Judaic Encyclopedia”. The authors mentioned have no new documents in their disposal suggesting the outdated supposition that Khazars founded Kiev. A Hebrew letter from Kiev, even if genuine, may be the only evidence of the existence in 10 th -century Kiev of a Judaic Khazars’ community. This in no way reveals when and by whom the town was founded. Philological considerations mention a Khazar vezir named Kuia, believed to have been the founder of Kiev, as well as a Khazar tribe called Kavars (Kopyrs), who are thought to have inhabited one of the Kiev’s districts. However, these are purely abstract and do not correspond to the archaeology and historical topography of Kiev. Thus, in the book by N. Gold and 0. Pritsak, the reader encounters a myth concerning the foundation of Kiev by the Judaic Khazars that has nothing in common with historical reality.