965-1048 CE
From 965 to 1048 CE, the Khazars endured as ghosts of their former greatness — Sviatoslav's Rus' had burned Atil and shattered the khaganate, yet remnants clung to Crimean ports and Caucasian fortresses, their Jewish faith now a curiosity rather than a rival to Christianity and Islam. When the last Khazar lord disappears from the chronicles, an empire that had once held the balance between Rome, Persia, and the Caliphate passed into legend.