Tmutarakan on the Bosporus and Taman

Tmutarakan on the Bosporus and Taman (на ПРОЗА.РУ)

Also Germonassa in antiquity; Tumen-Tarkhan in the early khazars; Khazar, Samkerts in late; Tamatarha from the Byzantines; Tmutorokan in Ancient Rus; Matarha the Horde; Matrega the Genoese, Taman with the fortress Khankala from the turks; Vospor Kingdom or Tmutarakan Principality in the russian chronicles.

The city is considered one of the oldest in the south of Rus in the delta of Kuban river. Starting from the end of the 9th century, the city received russian-slavic кeign.

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Among the greeks the word «tagmatarchis» meant the residence of tamatarkha, the owner of the region. Although the word «tagmatarch» is clearly from the indo-aryan lexicon, which was adopted by both Ancient Greece and Cimmeria, which existed in the 7th century in the Crimea and Taman.

The word «tma» in the persians meant fog, in the khazars this word meant a military detachment of 10 thousand soldiers. The word «tarkhan» meant a leader who ruled a ten-thousand-strong army of the Turkic Khaganate. Then Tmu-Tarkhan can mean the Leader of the army.

The word «tamg» in other lexicons meant strait, and the word «tarkhan» meant free. Then Tamag-Tarkhan could mean a Free Strait.

The word «Tumen» meant a city with a hundred villages, and the word «Tarkhan» meant free, so Tumen-Tarkhan can mean a Free Big City.

In russian colloquial speech, the word Tmutarakan is associated with something unattainably distant and unknown, beyond the seven seas, it is unknown where.

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Now this city is identified with the Taman settlement, which is located within the village of Taman on the Taman Peninsula. Local researchers believe that it was with the name Taman that this city was part of the annals of Rus. The area of the city was about 35 hectares. The thickness of the cultural layer, divided into a dozen sublayers, is 24 meters.

The city had a mud wall and an 11th-century there was Church built by Prince Mstislav. Inside the fortress there was a stone tower for viewing the surrounding area and the coastal territory.

The Fortress had large storage facilities for water for winemaking. The streets were straight and paved. The dwellings were made of stone and wood, but they were built on blocks of stone, and the houses had stoves made of mud bricks.

During the old Russian Tmutarakan period, only a small layer of old russian culture was preserved on the site. This suggests that there were only merchants who were passing through the city, and the city itself was inhabited by people of different nationalities in the language of the turkic type, who were brought here by the hurricane of the Turkic Khaganate, which brought its Spirit to tmutorokan from across the Caspian sea.

There is a version that old Russian Tmutarakan, which was written about by travelers and chroniclers, was located in a another place. And the city has not been found yet because this settlement left almost no cultural traces on Taman due to the short time of its existence, which could be caused by an earthquake that occurred here in 1094 with a rise in sea level.

Among belgorod researchers, there is a version that the Tmutorokan Principality should be associated with the Krapivensk settlement, which is not younger than the 12th century, and which is located at the mouth of the Koren river in the Donets basin. There, in the depths of this river was artificially filled in and then flooded a whole city with a christian monastery carved out from the chalk rock.

In the 18th century, there was a town of Torokan in the Grodno province, also immured somewhere in the swamps and deserts of Belovezh Pushcha. What was wrong with him, no one knows.

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At the end of the 6th century before the birth of Christ in the era of classical antiquity, this city was called Hermonassa. According to ancient greek chroniclers, the city was built in the 6th century by the greeks from Lesbos or Mycenae, from whom it received the name Hermonassa.

The beginning of its construction under this name was laid by Semander of Miletus, and the aeolian greeks worked and then stayed here. And the city was named after the wife of its founder, whose name was Hermonassa. According to another version, the city of Hermon founded with the Greek Ionians.

Since the 4th century after the birth of Christ, the city of Hermonassa was part of the Bosporus kingdom, but remained an independent polis. In the city at this time settled not poor people who were able to build a two-story villas, built of local stone. At their homes the greeks had large storehouses of wheat, which was also intended for merchant affairs. There were various crafts in the city, including pottery, since all the stone buildings were covered with a kind of tile, the pattern of which was not repeated anywhere else in the Bosporan Kingdom.

In the center of the city, according to the tradition of the architectural urban culture of the ancient city, there was the Upper city, the Acropolis, the protected city, the sacred place of the city, where its life and history began.

Next to the city, outside its ramparts, stood the temple of Aphrodite.

Since the 2nd century after the birth of Christ, the romans come here, who do not change anything special in the city, as well as in its naming, they continue to call the city Hermonassa in their stories.

In the 6th century Ad, after the birth of Christ, the khazar history of the city begins. Here was established the forerunner of the khazars, the Turkic Khaganate. The turks gave the city a turkic-language interpretation of its name: Tumen-Tarkhan. At the same time, the khazars used the city in their usual element, as a customs checkpoint on the Taman trade route from the khazars to the greeks. The port and city infrastructure were more occupied by merchants, who were heterogeneous in the khazar period, but mostly greek, although Novgorod russian merchants were already appearing.

At the beginning of the 6th century after the birth of Christ, Justinian the First annexed Panticapaeum together with Tmutarakan to Byzantium, although on a federal basis. The Byzantines themselves do not interfere in the city's affairs, they pay taxes, and that's fine. The city under the name Taman is governed on a parity basis by the khazars and Byzantium.

In the 7th century, the byzantines came to the Taman Peninsula, who strengthened the fortress, strengthened the port facilities, and the city was called in its own way, but also consonant with the Khazar: Tamatarkha.

At the end of the 7th century, the Turkic Khaganate disintegrated, and the Khazar Khaganate became its successor. Tumen-Tarkhan is now listed as the khazars, who rename the city to Samkerts, which they gradually turned into a fortress by the beginning of the 9th century.

The Khazarian government, having received huge possessions in the Crimea, took into account the fact that the majority of the urban population, including in Tmutarakan, was christian and gravitated to Byzantium, which could lead to the city falling back to Byzantium. Therefore, the Khaganate made political and economic concessions to Constantinople.

Constantine succeeded in restoring church organization in the Crimea and Taman, though without uniting individual bishops into a single Metropolitan area.

At the end of the 8th century, the Patriarchate of Constantinople established The Tamatarch diocese of the Gotha metropolis in the Crimea. At this time the Emperor Constantine involved in the restoration of christianity in Full and Tamatarha.

In the 10th century, according to the letter of the Khazar King Joseph, Rus attacked the khazar city of Samkerts, which for a long time was considered a suburb of Kerch, but in fact corresponds to Tmutarakan.

At the beginning of the 10th century, this khazar fortress covered the passage from the Black sea to the sea of Azov, as well as crossing the Bosporus on ice in winter.

This fortress was long known to the Russian merchant people who sailed to Tmutarakan in the 8th century from the Dnieper along the coast of the Crimea.

Constantine Porphyrogenitus noted that in this way Rus went to Black Bulgaria, Khazaria, and even to Syria, which can also be understood as Serir in the Caucasus.

Byzantium helps the khazars in strengthening the fortress, in the structures of which the influence of Byzantine architects is noticeable at this time. In the city itself, there are no temporary residential structures such as yurts or dugouts, which are characteristic of the nomadic turks and khazars of the 8th century.

The main population of the city has not changed its multinational character, laid down by the ancient greeks. Here live slavs, Rus, khazars, armenians, and alans, who freely professed their religions: tengrianism, christianity, and judaism.

Artisans were engaged in pottery, winemaking, cattle breeding, agriculture, and wine production. There were a lot of merchants, this is understandable, the city stood on a profitable trade route, where roads connected with the Black sea, Azov and Black sea regions.

Economically, the city is largely dependent on Byzantium, as the main products produced by them, the greeks are transported to Asia Minor.

Since the 8th century, in the Khazarian period, the city is referred to in various sources as Tamatarkha, Matluka, as well as Samkerts, Samkush, Tumen-Tarkhan. Arabic sources of this period named the city as Samkush al-Yahud or Jewish Samkush. At that time the jewish community settled in the city, relying on the Royal nobility in Khazaria.

At this time, all the settlements of the Bosporus are filled with circular ceramics with wavy-linear ornaments, which is attributed to both the russian-slavic population and the saltov culture, which was carried by the khazar tribes.

Since the end of the 8th century, the archaeological material of the city and its burials has been represented by ceramics made of egg-shaped amphorae, tall pitchers with flat handles, and gray clay pots made on a potter's wheel with a surface covered with a horizontal-furrowed fluting with a comb wave under the neck, sometimes applied over the fluting.

In the mid-9th century Sih department was transferred to Tamatarha-Matraha.

Since the 9th century, a russian-slavic cultural and ethnic element has appeared in the life of the city, which is brought by merchants, Princes, vigilantes, military men, monks, and prodigals who are looking for happiness on earth.

In 943, Prince Helgu-Oleg, who was the eldest son in a Norman family, who reigned in Tmutorokan, which was part of Azov Rus, made a campaign in Transcaucasia, where he died.

There is a version that Helgu-Oleg was a Prince of the Norman Tmutorokan Rus, Samkerts does not mean Tmutorokan, but Kerch.

One way or another, but Rus is composed of many diverse people, was able to overcome the resistance of the defenders of the city, which in the sources describing this story, was called as Samkerts. After that, all this motley host went home, scattering over the Taman Peninsula.

After learning about the looting of Tmutarakan-Samkerts, the Archon of Bosporus at that time, a protege of the khazars, a Bulshitsa named Pesach, rushed to take revenge on the thieves, but found no one. Then he considered that all this was the work of иyzantine intriguers, attacked the иyzantine possessions in the Crimea.

The persian historians writing in the 12th century reported that in 943, Tmutorokan Rus, together with the alans, attacked Transcaucasia, moving from the alans and the greeks. They went through the steppes of the North Caucasus to the Caspian sea. It turns out that the Rus that attacked Samkerts did not dissolve on the Bosporus, but amicably went to the Caucasus, where the Crimean khazars did not go.

According to another, more reliable version, by that time Sarkel was already called Belaya Vezha, and the russian-slavic colonization reached the Kerch Strait, on the banks of which the Russian Tmutorokan Reign appears. Therefore, an attack on the Caspian peoples could occur through the Don with a transfer to the Volga. In addition, in the construction of ships Helga-Oleg was helped by the Byzantines, who saw in the Tmutorokan Principality a force with which it was possible to negotiate.

In the 10th century, after the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate in 965, the ancient russian history of the city begins, when the city was returned to its original turkic-language name Tmutarakan, closer to the spirit of the russian-slavic, rebellious and seeking happiness in the far-off Kingdom-state.

In 968 Samkertz passed under the power of Kievan Rus. Svyatoslav, who went to conquer the Bosporus, first took Semender, on the way to the Black sea subdued the alans, some of whom joined Svyatoslav's army, then subdued the kasogs and came to Tamatarch, who did not resist and sent ambassadors with gifts. After that, Svyatoslav reached Sarkel by water, from where his defenders had already left, at least in the chronicles nothing is reported about the siege of the fortress. Here he established his fortress, calling it the White tower.

While Svyatoslav was on the Bosporus, he founded there a new Principality Tmutarakan, called in the sources also Tmutarakan Reign. After that, Tmutarakan is actively included in the system of cultural and trade relations between Byzantium, the North Caucasus, the Russian Principalities, and the Crimea.

The ethnic composition of the city did not change much, only more traders from Rus began to arrive.

In the 10th century, the city underwent architectural redevelopment. Now homes are oriented to the cardinal directions of the Earth, with residential mansions attached courtyard extensions with a barn and storage facilities for agricultural products. Organized cemeteries appear in the city.

Behind the posad was a harbor, where there was a pier, which in different epochs was converted to new ship epochs. Not far from the city on the mountain was an ancient monastery built in the early 11th century. On the other side, right next to the current village, there are ruins of both fortresses, genoese and turkish.

The craft of the city was mainly of greek culture, like all the inscriptions around: on cemeteries, on dishes, and on stones.

At the end of the 10th century, the city begins to appear in russian chronicles. The city then belonged to the Chernigov Principality.

Tmutorokanskoe Reign was closely connected with the conquests of Svyatoslav, which was based on the general movement of russian-slavs under the banner of Severskaya Rus to the South-East, and which has long been associated with the Tmutorokan region. Severskaya Rus participated in all its historical perepetiyah from the very first day of the foundation of the city here, and therefore could never accept its loss, each time returning to the homeland of their ancestors.

In the 10th century, the Belaya Vezha on the Don and Tmutorokan in the Kerch Strait made it possible to establish a water trade highway Dnipro-Azov-Don-Volga-Caspian to connect Kiev, Seversk, and later Moscow Rus with the North Caucasus.

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In 988, Vladimir the First made a campaign to Korsun, now Sevastopol, in order to consolidate the position of Rus on the Kerch Strait, which provided Rus with trade transit to the East, and which was somewhat constrained after the defeat of Svyatoslav on the Danube.

After the establishment of the Rus control over Tmutorokan the Byzantine Emperor Basil the Second had nothing to do but to try to establish friendly relations with the efforts of the Rus. He gives his sister, Princess Anna, in marriage to Vladimir, here, in Korsun, there was a wedding according to the Orthodox rite, where Vladimir received baptism.

Tmutorokan and Belaya Vezha were on the way from Kiev to the Volga, which allowed them to keep this route open for russian trade.

In 988, the city of Tmutorokan was mentioned in the chronicle as belonging to the Principality of Chernigov. Some historians believe that the city in the chronicle was more like an invented, non-existent, inserted to decorate a poetic image. Maybe the chronicle was about another city that stood on Desna and was a transit point for merchants when traveling to ancient Tmutorokan.

In 988, Mstislav Vladimirovich the Brave or Udaloy, the son of Vladimir the First, became the Prince of Tmutarakan. He reigns in the city until 1036, the year of his death on the hunt.

In 1016, Khazaria maintained its influence in the Crimea and was referred to in history as Tauric Chersonesus. Headed this khazar process stratig George Tsulo. Byzantium this year sent its fleet under the leadership of General Andronicus in Hersonissos for the establishment of an agreement with Tsulo. However, the latter set too high a price. In Tmutorokan, the army of Russia joined Andronicus with the governor of the Tmutorokan Principality Sfeng, sworn brother of Vladimir the First.

The last stronghold of Khazaria was defeated by common efforts, Georgy Tsulo was executed. It is believed that Sheng was subordinate to another brother Mstislav, by Yaroslav, which casts doubt on the connection of the troops of Byzantium and Rus in Tmutorokan.

In 1022, Prince Mstislav of Tmutarakan built a Church of the most Holy Theotokos in the city, apparently in honor of the pacification of the kasogs and alans, which foreshadowed the imminent appearance of the diocese here.

The chronicle says that Mstislav in 1022 opposed the kasogi, killed the kasogi Prince Rededya in single combat, which convinced the kasogi to submit to him and join his army. In the army of Mstislav then there were also northerners from Chernigov.

In the circassian tradition, this historical episode is spelled out in a slightly different version. It says that some years after the Tamtarakan Prince, apparently Mstislav, defeated Ridade, the adygeans, calling on the ossos to help them, conquered Tmutorokan. Most likely it was not a conquest, but participation in Mstislav's army.

According to indirect information, indeed, the squad of Prince Mstislav, who marched from Tmutorokan to Chernigov in 1023 for his father's legacy, consisted of kasogs and khazars who served in his army according to vassal subordination.

In 1023, the synod documents of the Patriarchate of Constantinople mention the Archbishop of Zichia in Tmutorokan, which confirms the hidden participation of Byzantium in this political and commercial direction.

The significance of Tmutorokan during the reign of Mstislav was not limited to a small area on both sides of the Kerch Strait. Tmutorokan was a vast center of Rus possessions in south-east of Rus, under her supervision have left the Don region, the Kuban and the lower Volga.

Owning the Tmutorokan port, which also had a shipyard, Tmutorokan Rus regularly appeared on the Caspian sea. In addition, the Tmutorokan Princes had peaceful relations with Byzantium, which allowed them to make unpunished raids on Derbent and Shirvan.

Tmutorokan was not considered, and was not in fact, a remote small Principality within Rus. It was an important military-political and international trade center in the South of Russia at that time.

In 1024, the battle of Listven takes place between Vladimir's sons, Prince Mstislav of Tmutorokan and Prince Yaroslav of Chernigov. Mstislav won and was very happy that only the northerners were killed from his army, while the squad that he led out of Tmutorokan remained intact.

In 1029, Yaroslav Vladimirovich makes a campaign to yass, as reported by the Nikon chronicle. This was an attempt to return the Tmutorokan Principality to its possession.

In the year 1030, Rus is sent from its Tmutorokan naval base to Shirvan on 38 ships. Here they smashed the army of Shirvanshah near Baku and entered the Kura river, where they took Baylakan with the help of the son of the local ruler Gandji Arran. This campaign was generously paid for, apparently, by Byzantium.

In 1032, the Tmutorokan fleet reappears in Shirvan, but it was already an independent campaign, not supported politically. On the way back, the Tmutorokan ships were sunk, and the soldiers scattered.

In 1033, the tmutorokans decided to avenge their dead citizens, joined with the alans, attacked Derbent, but without political, military and financial support they could not hold the siege for a long time and were repulsed.

In 1036, the year of Mstislav dies. His brother, Jaroslaw, gets in possession of all the Left bank of the Dnieper along with Tmutorokan.

In 1039, in the documents of the Synod of Constantinople, Archbishop Anthony of Zichia in Tmutorokan is known, who had his own seal, which allowed him to administer civil court as well.

In 1054, Yaroslav died. Tmutarakan Reign, together with the Chernigov remains for his son Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, who puts in Tmutorokan his son Gleb Svyatoslavich.

In 1059, Nikon, a monk of the Pechersk monastery and, apparently, the founder of the russian chronicle, builds a church of the Virgin near the city, and then goes to Svyatoslav in Chernigov to ask him to give Tmutorokan to Prince Gleb, for which the townspeople strongly asked. At this time, someone else reigned here. Apparently, this Nikon was not the last category of people at the Grand Ducal Kiev table.

In 1064, Yaroslav's grandson Rostislav Vladimirovich, exiled from Novgorod, comes to Tmutorokan, expels Gleb Yaroslavich and captures this city.

In 1065, Svyatoslav and Gleb enter the conflict with the army. Rostislav had to leave Tmutorokan so as not to start a fratricidal war. In Rus there was still something to rule over.

In 1066, after Svyatoslav left the city, Rostislav returned here again, took the city for himself, and at the same time established his power in many regions of the North Caucasus, the Azov sea and the Kuban region.

Rostislav achieved control on Tmutorokan, and with it over the Kerch Strait, thanks not only to the strength of his weapons, it was enough for everyone. He managed to convince the population of the Kuban region to go over to his side, which, being nomadic, was inclined to obey the strong and persistent leader whom he saw in Rostislav, and who, as they believed, would be able to preserve and strengthen their blood, tribal connection with the Tmutorokan region.

Svyatoslav has not yet seen in the change of the ruler over this southern region of Rusa nothing mournful for himself, finding for his son Gleb other places for his Princely feeding. However, Rostislav and his strengthening in the areas of Byzantine influence did not suit the Emperor of Byzantium.

In 1066, Rostislav receives a diplomatic visit from the Kherson kotopan, a military stratig of the Kherson fema, who, during negotiations, puts poison from under his fingernail into a glass of friendly wine. Historians believe that the death of Rostislav was interested in his uncle Svyatoslav, who instigated the Byzantine kotopan.

This was a purely Byzantine service to its political partner in exchange for concessions on spheres of influence.

Rostislav strengthened despite international political agreements of the head of Rus at that time, Svyatoslav. The Byzantine Emperor was not satisfied with the strengthening of Rostislav with the subsequent expansion of Rus to the Crimea through the Tmutorokan isthmus.

In addition, Rostislav crossed the demarcation line between Rus and Byzantium, intercepting Kerch with Vosporus from Byzantium.

In 1068, Prince Gleb Svyatoslavich went by sea from Tmutarakan to Korchev in order to determine the possibilities of a sea route between the cities. This event was stamped on the Tmutorokan stone. Then Korchev was part of the Tmutorokan Principality.

In Tmutorokan in virtue of his origin has always been a heavily urban Council, which was divided into two parties. One party was russian, the other party was made up of natives. The russians party were drawn towards Rus, while the natives were striving for political freedom. The influence of each party waxed and waned.

The native party was made up of the leaders of the local tribes, who lived their ancient ideas about the culture of life, which was based on raids on other Principalities. This party was led by khazar jewish merchants. Although they sometimes went from one side to the other.

The russian party was formed over several centuries from merchants and artisans who traded in Rus and Byzantium.

In the 11th century, the russian party had many jewish khazars who came here from the collapsed Khazaria, byzantine greeks, and arabs.

In 1070, the Tmutorokan army with its Prince Gleb went to Kherson together with Vladimir Monomakh to suppress the uprising of the local nobility. This was the idea of the Byzantine Emperor Michael the Seventh, nicknamed Duki.

In 1072, in the Synod documents of Constantinople, the Archbishop of Zichia in Tmutorokan was mentioned by the name of Gregory. It is known that he read the gospel not only in greek but also in the glagolitic script.

In 1076, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich died. The other two Yaroslavich took advantage of this in order to capture his legacy.

In 1076, the Princes Oleg and Roman Svyatoslavichi began to fight for their father's legacy and for the rights to Kiev. They prowled like gray wolves in the misty steppes of Southern Rus, until they came to the seashore and landed in Tmutarakan.

In 1077, Roman Svyatoslavich, Gleb's brother, came to rule Tmutorokan. After a while, the two of them came from Tmutarakan together with the polovtsians and khazars to capture their father's city of Chernigov.

In 1078, Svyatoslav's son Oleg fled to Tmutorokan, where another «outcast», his cousin Boris Vyacheslavich, also exiled by Vsevolod, was already located.

In 1078, Oleg and Boris with the Tmutorokan squad and the hired polovtsian horde invaded the Russian land, defeated Vsevolod who was coming to meet them on the Sozhitsa river and occupied Chernigov. This was the first time in the history of Rus when polovtsians were involved in inter-princely fights.

At the end of 1078, on Nezhatina Niva, somewhere near Chernigov, the location of which has not yet been determined, there is a battle between the troops of Izyaslav Yaroslavich and Vsevolod Yaroslavich against the troops of Boris Vyacheslavich and Oleg Svyatoslavich. Boris and Oleg are defeated. This battle is mentioned in the «Word about Igor's regiment». Boris was killed, and Oleg with a small squad returned to Tmutorokan.

Tmutorokan, remote from the Prince's estates, always attracted vagabonds, restless people, offended warriors, smerds.

In 1079, Oleg Svyatoslavich Chernigovsky ruled in Tmutarakan. The rules, apparently, were not very good, the townspeople were not happy with his decrees. The instigators turned out to be kozars or khazars, they rebelled, incited by the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros-Votaniat and the Kievan Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, seized Oleg Svyatoslavich, transferred him to a Greek ship that took Prince of Tmutorokan to island Rhodes.

Taking advantage of the strife unfortunate for the Svyatoslavichs, the Grand Duke Vsevolod sent his governor Ratibor to Tmutorokan. But the Vospor region, which became a refuge for the deprived Princes, was later subordinated to the Princes David Igorevich and Volodar Rostislavich, the grandson and great-grandson of Yaroslav the Great. However, they did not rule there for long.

In 1079, Roman Svyatoslavich, having recruited a host from the khazars in Tmutorokani, came to the Pereyaslav Reign, gathering polovtsians on the road. However, Vsevolod bribes the polovtsian Khan and the khazars, who kill Roman on the way back.

In 1079, the year the khazars were a significant part of the nobility Tmutorokan. When they learned of the death of Roman and the scattering of his retinue, they took the opportunity to seize power in Tmutorokan, in which they were undoubtedly helped by Byzantium, their long-time ally in intrigues against Rus.

The khazar party at this time had great power and influence in Tmutarakani. This party seized remained on the board in Tmutorokan Oleg and sent him to Byzantium. Tmutorokan passed to Vsevolod, who sent his posadnik Ratibor here.

The tmutorokan khazars, among whom the merchant class traditionally prevailed, did not want to strengthen the restless and quarrelsome princes expelled from Rus, who violated established trade relations with the rich Kievan and Chernigov Rus. In the hands of the khazar merchants were all trade Tmutorokan. In addition, the khazars were traditionally drawn together by the jewish religion, which allowed the khazar jews to work together in all parts of the world.

In 1080, Tmutarakan was ruled by Ratibor, a posadnik of Prince Vsevolod of Kiev.

In 1081, new fugitives, David Igorevich and Volodar Rostislavich, arrived in Tmutorokan. So Tmutorokan did not remain in the power of Vsevolod for long.

This city has traditionally been a favorite place for quarrelsome Princes, exiled Princes who seek to gather their strength away from the Grand Duke's table to continue their inter-princely intrigues. In addition, Tmutorokan was not a poor place, a significant part of international trade was concentrated here, the income from which the fugitives could participate in the affairs of Russia from afar.

Volodar Rostislavich was the son Tmutarakan Prince Rostislav, who was poisoned Byzantine katepan. He naturally regarded this city as his father's fiefdom.

In 1082 the son of Rostislav, Volodar and David Igorevich expelled the mayor Ratibor. Here, too, the hand of Byzantium was not without its influence.

In 1083, Oleg Svyatoslavich captured Tmutarakan. He was assisted by Byzantium in this matter, for which Oleg promised Byzantium dominance in the city.

In 1083, a Rhodian exile, Prince Oleg, appeared in the city, who by that time had acquired a wife, Theophania Mouzalon, from the Byzantine patricians.

Oleg, living as an exile in Rhodes, which was very famous in history for the fact that there were ancient and wise laws, different sciences, magnificent architecture, and there was a huge Colossus, during his exile, agreed with the byzantine greeks, who equipped him with warships, so that he finally returned to Tmutorokan, which he did.

Oleg, having received support from Byzantium, recruits another motley army of lovers of war, without any ceremony expels David and Volodarus from Tmutorokan throne, executes traitors from the khazars, whom he considered involved in the murder of his brother Prince Roman and who were plotting evil against him.

In 1083, the original letter of King Joseph to the Secretary of the Spanish ruler fell into the hands of khazar Jewish merchants. According to the custom of that time, the letters of the rulers to each other were sent by trade caravans through merchants. These letters were recommendations that allowed their holders to get in touch with the elite of society.

Sensing their precarious position in Tmutorokan, the jewish merchants changed the text of the letter of the last King Joseph, presenting their achievements in a boastfully hyperbolic spirit, in order to appear before the european nobles in a positive way, using the letter of Joseph as a recommendation. As a result the world recived the so-called extensive edition of this letter, or tmutorokanian.

At the end of the 11th century, monk Nikola of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra stood at the Matrahi pulpit, which indicates the influence of Rus in tmutorokan affairs.

At the end of the 11th century in Tmutorokan was the bishop of Zikhiya Theodosius, a protege of Kiev. Apparently, the population of russian-speaking vocabulary has greatly increased here.

In 1094, the Tmutorokan Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich won the inter-princely struggle for the Chernigov Reign. Then he concentrated on intra-russian political situation, the Byzantine Empire also has full control on the Tmutarakan. Now the city is only reported by Byzantine sources, reporting it as their colony.

After 1094, nothing is heard in the stories about Tmutorokan, as well as about the khazars in Tmutorokan. And what is heard, is now is heard about to Matrah and without any connection with Rus.

In the 12th century, the polovtsians appeared in the Crimea. The city becomes a tributary of the polovtsian khans.

In 1109, the Grand Duke Svyatopolk-Mikhail fought near the Don and took the polovtsian villages, where the khazars also sat, and then moved to the South. Here Svyatopolk takes the city of Osenev, and Sugrov was turned to ashes by him. Both cities were founded by the kozars, and the polovtsians lived in their houses. Since then, the name Bospor Kingdom or Reign Tmutarakan disappeared in the russian chronicles. Only the city remained, when Byzantine, when Chernigov possession.

In 1140, the Byzantine philologist John Tsets reports that the country of the Matarchs is part of the Byzantine Empire.

In the second half of the 12th century, Tmutorokan did not belong to the Chernigov Principality and was on free bread, which Byzantium immediately took advantage of, to which Kievan Rus did not object. Kiev and Constantinople shared the strategic position of Tmutorokan, with each side naming the city in its own way in its chronicles. Byzantium fell in love with the name Matarch, and Rus still called him Tmutorokan..

In 1169, according to the Synod of Constantinople, Bishop John, from Kiev, served as a priest in Matrakh, so that the Holy Scriptures could be accessible to russian speakers.

In 1185, despite the fact that the Tmutorokan Principality did not exist at that time, the Tmutorokan freemen took an independent part in the attack on the Caspian, when, together with continental Rus, possibly from the Chernigov freemen, the forerunners of the Free Cossacks, penetrated the Caspian Sea on 72 ships. On the way, they plundered Shirvan and ownув Shemakha for six months, after which, a few years later, half of the population of Shemakha suddenly began to speak on russian, and stories with the Shemakhan Queen appear in russian fairy tales.

In 1204, Constantinople fell as a result of the Fourth Crusade, Tmutarakan becomes a free city, freed from the arms of one of the Rulers of that World, but not for long.

The first half of the 13th century for Tmutorokan is held in constant clashes with the polovtsians, who call this city Matrakha.

Until the middle 13th century, Matrakha existed as an international trade center, which naturally had a diverse population of alans, goths, russians, and greeks, and in which the merchant class still held the upper hand, as it did in Novgorod and even earlier in Phoenicia.

In the 13th century comes the era of the Golden Horde. The mongols did not try to change anything, they did not rename anything, they called it what the townspeople said: Matrika. Nor did the Horde interfere with the performance of the christian faith by the citizens, a faith that was regulated by both Kiev and Constantinople.

In the second half of the 13th century, the Tamatarch Archdiocese was elevated to the rank of a Metropolitan see with the Zichy title for bishops. The Kiev Lavra was also responsible for appointing priests to the pulpits.

In 1285, the year Metropolitan of Zihii and Matraji was Vasiliy, who received Tmutorokan Department in Vladimir. They say that he read the Psalter so fervently that the people of Golden Horde came to his readings and all devoted themselves to the Christian faith, believing that it was all about Genghis Khan, although they did not understand a word of anything. As it was 300 years later with the yakuts.

At the end of the 14th century, the genoese came to the city and it became a part, a colony of the Genoese Empire. The Adyghe Prince Berozoh is also present among the city's nobility. The genoese called the city Matrigel. This name lasted until the 15th century, when the turks came here.

In 1394, in Tmutorokan read the Bible Bishop Zihii Nicodemus, sent here from the Vladimir Principality.

In 1396, the Republic of Genoa built its fortress in Tmutarakan. Tmutorokan they call Mitrega, referring under this name and the fortress.

In 1419, Zacharias de Gisolfi, the son of the genoese Baron Vincenzo de Gisolfi and the daughter of the Prince of Adyga Berozoh, Princess Biha Khanum, became the Ruler of the city.

In 1439, a Catholic Archdiocese appeared in Tmutarakan-Matrakh, the formation of which was facilitated by genoese merchants.

Since the middle of the 15th century, for two centuries, the city with the name of Tmutarakan is indicated standing on the Desna in various histories and collections, the most significant of which is the «List of cities near and far». Apparently, such a town of the same name on Desna could have existed at this time, and even earlier, which was used by russian merchants as an intermediate station on the way to the ancient city of Tmutorokan.

In 1475, Matrega falls under the rule of Turkey, but Zacharias de Guisolph, using his connections in Italy, Genoa, under the Moscow Tsar and in the North Caucasus, was able to remain mayor of the city.

In 1478, Zacharias built a fortress near the city, which in history was called Hunkala, the name is clearly drawn to the Caucasus, and the city in the stories was first called Khankala, then Taman, which travelers often confused with Tmutarakan.

Since 1774, the era of the presence of the Russian state here begins, which at first forgot about the existence of this city, then remembered when someone accidentally stumbled upon the ruins of one of the walls of an ancient Greek temple. However, full-fledged excavations were carried out already under the Soviet regime.

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