Samandar in the Caucasus

Samandar in the Caucasus (на ПРОЗА.РУ)

The first capital of Khazaria, which appeared in the 7th century, is identified by local researchers with the Shelkovskoye settlement in Chechnya, where Lev Gumilev conducted excavations. This city was called Samandar, but the name is derived from the fact that the housing of citizens was collected from glinobit, straw smeared with clay with the addition of adhesive organic matter, and the second word «dar» means house or city.

According to some sources, starting from the 7th century, the Caucasian capital of the khazars was located in Varachan, which is sometimes localized on the territory of Chechnya.

In the 8th century, the khazars moved their capital closer to the coast from Samandar to Semender. There was already a fortress here, built on the instructions of the persian Shah Khosrov or Anushirvan in 560, when the khazars were not here, but there were persian subjects or half-breeds still iranian, who went through the Caucasus to Asia Minor. At that time, the possessions of Iran reached the crest of the Caucasus mountains, and the Shahs of Persia needed to protect their possessions from the Northern nomads.

It is known that the entire district of Samandar was the center of settlement of the peoples of Northern Dagestan, which attracted ancestral crafts to the city, which then moved to Semender, closer to the sea and to the trade routes.

The inhabitants and artisans of Samandar were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, produced various products necessary for military affairs, in the manufacture of jewelry.

Representatives of local paganism lived here, there were khazars of the tengri type, after the arab-khazar wars, muslims settled here, christians came from Byzantium, and then from Rus, and there were few jews. All religions were united in their communities. The jewish community was supported by the khazar kings, also jews.

The dwellings in Samander were tents and light structures made of wood with humped roofs. Farm pits were set up everywhere in the city to store products from local fields.

In 1185, ambassadors from the ruler of Samandar, jews by faith, arrived in Baghdad, asking for help in teaching the jewish faith. This was recorded by Ptahia of Regensburg, a jewish traveler. The message says Samandar, perhaps it was a delegation from the old capital of Khazaria.

Karaite annals note that in the 7th century the khazar capital was located on the bank of the Terek river. Among the karaites, the word «Saman» means chopped straw, sich, and the word «dar» means millet. Thus, the name of the city Samandar from the karaite language meant an glinobit city of mud huts.

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