“Sometime in the 17th century there was a surprising Renewal of interest in Khazar affairs, and the immense body of studies concerning the Khazars was systematized and published in Borussia (Prussia) in 1691. Among the items examined were samples of triangular coins, names inscribed on old rings, images painted on a pitcher of salt, diplomatic correspondence, portraits of writers in which all the book titles etched in the background were transcribed, reports from spies, testaments, voices of Black Sea parrots thought to speak the extinct Khazar language, painted scenes of music-making (from which musical annotations drawn on score books were deciphered), and even a tattooed human skin, not to mention the Byzantine, Hebrew, and Arab archival material. In short, everything that the imagination of 17th-century man could tame and turn to his own advantage was drawn on. And all this was collected between the covers of one dictionary.”
Milorad Pavic, Dictionary of the Khazars
Milorad Pavic, Dictionary of the Khazars
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