Khazar Jewish gravestones in the Taman Museum and the debate over the spread of Judaism

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

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Khazar Jewish gravestones in the Taman Museum and the debate over the spread of Judaism

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s