''Baliqchi'' (most probably Old Turkic ''balıkçı'') was a supposed military title used by the

Khazar The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

Khaganate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mongol ...

. The main piece of support for the term's existence is the historiography of

Theophanes the Confessor Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking u ...

, which mention a governor of

Phanagoria Phanagoria ( grc, Φαναγόρεια, Phanagóreia; russian: Фанагория, translit=Fanagoriya) was the largest ancient Greek city on the Taman peninsula, spread over two plateaus along the eastern shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus. The ci ...

during

Justinian II Justinian II ( la, Iustinianus; gr, Ἰουστινιανός, Ioustinianós; 668/69 – 4 November 711), nicknamed "the Slit-Nosed" ( la, Rhinotmetus; gr, ὁ Ῥινότμητος, ho Rhinótmētos), was the last Eastern Roman emperor of the H ...

's 705 CE excursion into

Khazaria The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

by the name of ''

Balgitzin Balgitzin ( el, Βαλγίτζιν ''Valgítzin''; died 704), in the account of Theophanes the Confessor, was the Khazar tudun of Phanagoria during the sojourn of Justinian II in that town. He was dispatched, along with Papatzys, by Busir Khagan ...

'' – which has sometimes been as a Greek corruption of the title ''baliqchi'', but this is unclear. If ''Balgitzin'' can be associated with ''baliqchi'', then it may mean " n executer of a labour/issuepertaining to a walled town/stronghold", as ''balık'' in Old Turkic means "walled town, stronghold", therefore affording a title or a common name for a townwall guardian. Other meanings for ''baliqchi'' have been proposed, such as "fisherman", which might imply a connection to a naval force. The

Schechter Letter The "Schechter Letter" (also called the "Cambridge Document") was discovered in the Cairo Geniza by Solomon Schechter. The Letter The Schechter Letter has been interpreted as a communique from an unnamed Khazar author to an unidentified Jewish d ...

describes the Khazar general Pesakh as "''BWLŠṢY''" ( he, ), which has been interpreted as both the Hebrew rendition of ''baliqchi'', or as ''Boluščï'', a Turkic personal name, which would imply that "Pesakh" was not the general's name at birth.

References

Kevin Alan Brook Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

. ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 3rd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2018. *

Douglas M. Dunlop Douglas Morton Dunlop (1909–1987) was a renowned British oriental studies, orientalist and scholar of Islamic and Eurasian history. Early life and education Born in England, Dunlop studied at Bonn and Oxford under the historian Paul E. Kahle, Pa ...

. ''The History of the Jewish Khazars,'' Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954. * Peter B. Golden. ''Khazar Studies: An Historio-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the Khazars.'' Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1980. *

Norman Golb Norman Golb (15 January 1928 – 29 December 2020) was the Ludwig Rosenberger Professor in Jewish History and Civilization at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Golb was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on 15 January 1 ...

and

Omeljan Pritsak Omeljan Yosypovych Pritsak ( uk, Омелян Йосипович Пріцак; 7 April 1919, Luka, Sambir County, West Ukrainian People's Republic – 29 May 2006, Boston) was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvar ...

, ''Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century.'' Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982. Khazar titles {{mil-rank-stub