The Arrival of Khazarians on the Steppes and Their Conversion to Judaism

Episode 17: The Khazar Khagans

Barbarian Empires of the Steppes (2014)

Dr Kenneth Harl

Film Review

This lecture mainly concerns the conversion by the Khazars to Judaism in the late 8th and early 9th century and their role in the Byzantine wars against the Arab Caliphate.

According to Harl, the Khazars were semi-nomadic peoples descended from the western Gökturks who established a major commercial empire in the late 6th century AD. The Khazars were heavily involved in providing amber, fur and Slavic slaves to Arabs trading on the northern branch of the Silk Road. This brought them into continual contact with Jewish banking and merchandising houses that stretched from Muslim Spain across North Africa, Egypt and Syria.

The Khazars formed major alliances with the eastern Gökturk Khanate and the Byzantines in attacking Sassanid Empire.* In 705 AD, the Khazars also helped Justinian II regain his throne after he was overthrown in a civil war.

Muslim armies first became a threat to the Byzantine empire in 634 AD, after they crossed from the Arabian Peninsula into Syria (then a Byzantine province). Muslim armies eventually overthrew the Sassanid Empire, as well as Byzantine-controlled Syria, Egypt and North Africa.

The western Gökturks allied with the Byzantine empire against the Muslim Caliphate, while the Eastern Khanate remained under Chinese control. Eventually the entire European steppes would come under Muslim control.

At the end of the 9th century the Magyars, who spoke Finno-Ugrian, migrated to Hungary; the Pechunecs migrated to the south Russian steppes; and the Rus (Scandinavians from Sweden) became prominent in the Volga slave trade.

The Pechunecs, Rus and Byzantines eventually formed alliance against the Khazar Khanate, leading it to collapse in the 10th century.

Harl disputes the widespread belief that the majority of European Jews are descended from Khazars rather than Israelites. He alludes to DNA testing revealing the vast majority of European Jews have Middle East DNA.

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*See The Political Forces Controlling the Steppes When Rome Fell

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/5694984/5695020

The Historical Roots of Patriarchy

Patriarchy, Civilization, Militarism and Democracy

Gwynne Dyer (1994)

 

This documentary traces the development of patriarchy around 5,000 years ago, which Dyer links to the consolidation of agricultural villages into empires. Simultaneously in Mesopotamia, Central and South America and China, hierarchical political systems formed under a single male dictator who controlled their subjects via absolute terror.

This transition from autonomous villages into heavily militarized states was always accompanied by strict control of women’s behavior. Dyer maintains the ultimate goal of controlling women was to increase the birth rate and produce more male subjects for the rulers’ armies. In Mesopotamia, the formation of new religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) glorifying a single male god was the crowning achievement of patriarchy.

According to Dyer, Egypt was the last ancient empire to fully adopt patriarchy. Owing to natural barriers (the Sinai desert and the Mediterranean) that protected it from foreign invasion, it was the last ancient empire to militarize and adopt strict laws restricting women’s freedom.

The 40 minute film is divided into four parts. Parts 2-4 start automatically when the prior part concludes.

 

The Hidden History of Money, Debt and Organized Religion

Debt the First 5,000 Years

David Graeber (2012)

In this presentation, anthropologist David Graeber talks about his 2012 book Debt: The First 5,000 Years

For me, the most interesting part of the talk is his discussion of the historical link between debt and the rise of the world’s major religions (Hinduism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism) between 500 BC and 600 AD.

As Graeber describes it, all commerce was based on credit prior to the development of coinage around 500 BC. In all societies, coinage arose in conjunction with the onset of empire building – traveling armies had to be paid in hard currency rather than credit. The result, according to Graeber, was the simultaneous rise of military/coinage/slavery* empires in Greece, China and India.

According to Graeber, all the major religions arose around the same time – as a “peace movement” opposing militarism, materialism and slavery.

Around 400 AD, when the Roman and other empires collapsed, coinage vanished, along with the standing armies that necessitated its creation. During the Middle Ages, nearly all financial transactions were based on credit. Until 1493, when the “discovery” of the New World initiated a new cycle of empire building, accompanied by militarism, coinage and slavery.

I was also intrigued to learn that Adam Smith stole most of his thinking about free markets from medieval Islamic philosophers. The Islamic ban on usury enabled the Muslim world to operate pure free markets that were totally outside of government influence or control. Trying to operate an economy without such a ban (or a system of debt forgiveness like the Biblical practice of Jubilee) leads to inevitable economic chaos and ultimately collapse, even with government intervention.

People who like this talk will also really like a series Graeber recently produced for BBC4 radio entitled Promises, Promises: The History of Debt.  In it, Graeber explores  the link between Native American genocide and the harsh debt obligations imposed on the Conquistadors.  He also discusses the formation of the Bank of England in 1694, the role of paper money as circulating government debt and the insanity of striving for government surpluses.

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* In ancient times, the primary mechanism by which people became enslaved was non-payment of debt.