Khazar khaganate in the realms of soviet academia: from m. I. Artamonov to l. N. Gumilev and russian nationalists

Abstract

This paper deals with the reception of M. I. Artamonov's (1898–1972) and L. N. Gumilev's (1912–1992) works focused on the history of Khazar Khaganate and their position in the context of Soviet academia. The paper is based on the prosographical approach to the topic and comparative analysis of primary texts published by Gumilev and Artamonov, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s. The main aim of the study is to analyze and reflect on their findings in the broader context of the Soviet academic discourse and intellectual milieu of Russian nationalists. I argue that Gumilev’s radical revision of the history of Khazar Khaganate far exceeded previous Artamonov’s findings and attracted the attention of Russian nationalist groups of the post-Stalinist era mainly due to its antisemitic narrative. Furthermore, despite the ever-present ambivalence of Gumilev’s contact with Russian nationalists during the 1970s, he was heavily affected by the unstable relationship between Russian nationalists and the official Soviet regime. During that time, Gumilev faced strong censorship of his texts, and his most radical revisionist study focused on the Khazaria was eventually published only posthumously in 1993.