The Role of Jewish Communities in the Administration of the Khazar Khaganate: Towards the Hypothesis of a Eurasian Invariant of the Church Model

Abstract

Research Description The article examines the role of Jewish communities and the transregional networks associated with them in the political, economic, and administrative life of the Khazar Khaganate from the 7th to the 10th centuries. At the centre of the study is the question of how the Khazar written, judicial, fiscal, and diplomatic infrastructure functioned, and why so little direct documentation from it has survived. Particular attention is given to the Khazar conversion to Judaism, Jewish commercial and legal networks, and written records associated with the Khazar milieu. The article proposes a reconsideration of the traditional view of Khazaria as a “silent” or predominantly non-literate political entity and places it within a broader Eurasian context. The proposed interpretation is presented as a research hypothesis and requires further verification through archaeological, linguistic, and documentary research. Thus, the study offers a new perspective not only on Khazaria, but also on the broader question of the origins and diffusion of transregional mechanisms of governance in medieval Eurasia.