The State Hermitage Museum: Information

The History of the Khazars
M. I.Artamonov
St. Petersburg, Second Edition, 2002

With the publication of Artamonov’s book The History of the Khazars, the State Hermitage and the Philology Department of St. Petersburg State University launched their series entitled The Classics of the Hermitage. Research into History and Culture.

In the foreword to the second edition the director of the State Hermitage M.B. Piotrovsky says that the most important aspect of the museum’s activity is the work it undertakes to explain the logic of unique objects of world culture. The series will consist of works by the great scholars of the past.

Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov (1898 - 1972) was the director of the State Hermitage from 1951 to 1964. He was an archaeologist and the leader of many archaeological excavations. He devoted a significant part of his life to studying the Khazars. The first edition of his tome about this nomadic people was published in 1962. Based on the analysis of written and archaeological materials, the book traces the history of the Khazar’s origins. It also it tells us about the Huns, the Bulgars and the Avars.

The History of the Khazars
M. I.Artamonov