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# Khazar Jewish gravestones in the Taman Museum and the debate over the spread of Judaism
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-tamanskom-arkheologicheskom-muzee-mnogo-podobnykh-iudeiskikh-nadgrobii-khazar-otnosiashchikhsia-ko-vtoroi-polovine-i-tysiacheletiia-n-e/
- Published: 2020-10-24T14:41:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:54:47.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Faith, Museums, Ethnography

The Taman Archaeological Museum holds many such Jewish gravestones of the Khazars, dating from the second half of the 1st millennium AD. On the spread of Judaism in the Khazar Khaganate there is, in general, no consensus: not on whether it was Rabbinic or Karaite Judaism, nor on how it coexisted with a very strong paganism, nor on what ties it had with Jewish communities. Sceptics hold that in the end only the nobility adopted Judaism, while the broad mass of the population remained pagan, which ultimately led to the weakening of the state and its disintegration

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_3416@24-10-2020_17-41-43.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_3417@24-10-2020_17-41-43.jpg)