On the Date of the Khazars' Conversion to Judaism and the Chronology of the Kings of the Rus Oleg and Igor. A Study of the Anonymous Khazar Letter from the Genizah of Cairo

REB 53 1995 France p. 237-270 C. Zuckerman, On the Date of the Khazars' Conversion lo Judaism and the Chronology of the Kings of the Bus Oleg and Igor. — This study dwells on several key issues in the history of the Khazars : the date of their conversion to Judaism — which is set in 861 or very soon afterwards — , the constitutional changes in the Khazar state, its relations with Byzantium and the Rus. An examination of the wars of the early 940s, which involved the Byzantines, the Khazars and the Rus, leads to a new chronology of the reign of the king of Rus Igor, summer 941 -winter 945, instead of the traditional 912- 945. The reign of Igor's predecessor, Oleg (traditional dates 879-912), moves up to little before 911-summer 941 (died in the winter 944/5). The history of the «Rus' of Kiev» is consequently abridged by at least forty years.