The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 7th-century AD established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, and Kazakhstan. They created what for its duration was the most powerful polity to emerge from the break-up of the Western Turkic Khaganate. Astride a major artery of commerce between Eastern Europe and Southwestern Asia, Khazaria became one of the foremost trading empires of the early medieval world, commanding the western marches of the Silk Road and playing a key commercial role as a crossroad between China, the Middle East and Kievan Rus'. For some three centuries the Khazars dominated the vast area extending from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern Crimea and the northern Caucasus.
Year 737 (DCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 737 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming.
Tarkhan is an ancient Central Asian title used by various Turkic peoples, Iranian peoples, and by the Hungarians and Mongols. Its use was common among the successors of the Mongol Empire.
Barjik was a Khazar prince who flourished in the early 8th century. He is described by al-Tabari as "the son of the Khagan"; his exact status and position is unknown though he may have been the Bek.
Hazer Tarkhan was a general who led a Khazar army of 40,000 men in the failed defense of Atil in 737 CE. He was ambushed and killed by Kawthar, the lieutenant of Marwan ibn Muhammad. Following his death the Khazars sued for peace.
A Khazar general active in the Khazar-Arab Wars of the early 8th century. It is unclear whether "Alp Tarkhan" is a name or a title. The Old Turkic word Alp means hero, and was an element in such names as Alp Arslan, but could also be used as a title for a victorious general. Similarly, Tarkhan or "warlord" could be used as both a personal name and a military rank.
Abu Uqba al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami was an Arab nobleman and general of the Hakami tribe. During the course of the early 8th century, he was at various times governor of Basra, Sistan and Khurasan, Armenia and Adharbayjan. A legendary warrior already during his lifetime, he is best known for his campaigns against the Khazars on the Caucasus front, culminating in his death in the Battle of Marj Ardabil in 730.
The Battle of Marj Ardabil or the Battle of Ardabil was a battle fought on the plains surrounding the city of Ardabil in northwestern Iran in AD 730. A Khazar army led by Barjik, the son of the Khazar khagan, invaded the Umayyad provinces of Jibal and Iranian Azerbaijan in retaliation for Caliphate attacks on Khazaria during the course of the decades-long Khazar-Arab War of the early 8th century.
Chorpan Tarkhan is recorded by Moses of Kalankatuyk as a Khazar general, who conquered Armenia in April 630 CE. He was most likely an officer in the army of the Western Gokturks led by Böri Shad in the wake of Ziebel's victory in the Third Persian-Turkic War. Chorpan Tarkhan ambushed and killed a 10,000-strong Persian cavalry force sent by Shahrbaraz to contain the invasion.
The Battle of Bajarwan was a battle that took place during the Second Arab–Khazar War, between the armies of the Khazar Khaganate, led by the khagan's son Barjik, and the Umayyad Caliphate, whose commanding general was Sa'id ibn Amr al-Harashi.
The Battle of Balanjar was a battle that took place during the First Khazar-Arab War between the armies of the Khazar Khaganate and the Caliphate, whose commanding general was Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah.
The Arab–Khazar wars were a series of conflicts fought between the armies of the Khazar Khaganate and the Rashidun, Umayyad, and Abbasid caliphates and their respective vassals. Historians usually distinguish two major periods of conflict, the First Arab–Khazar War and Second Arab–Khazar War, but the Arab–Khazar military confrontation also involved sporadic raids and isolated clashes from the middle of the 7th century to the end of the 8th century.
Gentlemen of the Road is a 2007 serial novel by American author Michael Chabon. It is a "swashbuckling adventure" set in the kaganate of Khazaria around AD 950. It follows two Jewish bandits who become embroiled in a rebellion and a plot to restore a displaced Khazar prince to the throne.
Böri Shad was a Turkic prince or general who fought the Persians south of the Caucasus during the Third Perso-Turkic War. In this war the Western Turkic Khaganate was allied with Byzantium against Persia during the last great Byzantine-Persian war before the Arab conquests.
The Third Perso-Turkic War was the third and final conflict between the Sassanian Empire and the Western Turkic Khaganate. Unlike the previous two wars, it was not fought in Central Asia, but in Transcaucasia. Hostilities were initiated in 627 AD by Tong Yabghu Qaghan of the Western Göktürks and Emperor Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire. Opposing them were the Sassanid Persians, allied with the Avars. The war was fought against the background of the last Byzantine-Sassanid War and served as a prelude to the dramatic events that changed the balance of powers in the Middle East for centuries to come.
Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans (proto-Ossetians) that flourished in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia–Alania, from its independence from the Khazars in the late 9th century until its destruction by the Mongol invasion in 1238–39. Its capital was Maghas, and it controlled a vital trade route through the Darial Pass. The kingdom reached its peak in the 11th century, under the rule of king Durgulel.
Yazid ibn Asid ibn Zafir al-Sulami or Yazid ibn Usayd ibn Zafir al-Sulami was an Arab general and governor in the service of the early Abbasid Caliphate. He was active mostly in the Caliphate's northwestern frontier region, serving as governor of Arminiya and the Jazira and fighting against the Byzantine Empire and the Khazars.
Turkic invasion of Armenia was a Succesful expedition against the Sassanid Empire led by Chorpan Tarkhan.
