Chufut-Kale, the best known Crimean cave town
Chufut-Kale is one of the best preserved and best known towns. It is located near Bakhchisarai on the plateau of a mountain spur which dominates three deep valleys. Nature itself planned the inaccessibility of this town, while man reinforced the natural defenses with fortifications.
Researchers are not unanimous as to the time of the town’s appearance. Some of them consider it to be a Byzantine fortress founded in the 6th century. Others are of the opinion the fortified settlement appeared in the 10th-11th centuries.
During the early period of the town’s history, it was mainly populated by Alans, the most powerful of a late Sarmatian tribes of Iranian descent. They began penetrating the Crimea from the 2nd century A.D. Settling down in the mountainous Crimea, the Alans adopted Christianity. They engaged in agriculture, cattle-breeding and handicrafts. According to archaeologist Ye.V.Veimarn, who excavated some sections of the town in the 1950s and 1960s, it was not only a fortress but primarily a centre of commerce and craft. The ancient name of the town has been preserved. In written sources it is mentioned in the 13th century under the name of Kyrk-Or (Forty Fortifications). This name lasted until the mid-17th century.
In 1299 the Tatar horde of Emir Nogai raided the Crimean peninsula. Kyrk-Or was among the sacked towns. Having seized the town, the Tatars quartered their garrison in it.
At the turn of the 15th century, Tatars settled Karaite craftsmen in front of the eastern line of fortifications; the Karaites built a second defensive wall to protect their settlement, and thus a new part of the town appeared.
In the 15th century the first Crimean Khan, Hadji-Girei, who realized the fortress’ advantages, turned the old section of the town into his fortified residence. Years later it also safeguarded khans during their internecine strife and was a reliable shelter during their struggle against the Golden Horde for independence.
After the defeat of the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanatr became considerably stronger. The significance of Kyrk-Or as a stronghold declined, and the Crimean Khan Menglis-Girei moved his capital to Bakhchisarai. The old town remained a citadel of Bakhchisarai and a place of incarceration for aristocratic prisoners.
In the late 15th century the Lithuanian ambassador Lez was imprisoned there and in the mid- 17th century, the Polish Hetman Potocki. In Kyrk-Or Russian envoys and famous political figures languished in captivity as well, including Vasili Graznoi, a favorite of Ivan the Terrible, Russian envoy Vasili Aitemirov and Prince Romodanovski, sent in the late 17th century to the Crimea to conclude a peace treaty. The most severe tribulations fell upon the shoulders of V. Sheremetev. This Russian voevode spent 21 years in Tatar captivity (from 1660 to 1681).
In the mid-17th century Tatars left Kyrk-Or. Only Karaites remained to live there. They were the descendants of ancient Turkic-speaking Khazars, whose state in the 7th – 10th centuries included parts of the Crimea. In the 8th century the Khazar Kaganate adopted Judaism. Tatars considered Karaites to be Jews, hence the town graudually acquired the name of Chufut-Kale, which in Turkic meant “Jewish fortress”. After the Tatar departure, Karaites lived there for over 200 years. They adopted Karaism, a doctrine which rejects rabbinism and talmudism and bases its tenets on the interpretation of the Pentateuch. With time, the word “Karaite” came to refer to the name of the people.
After the Crimea’s conquest and its inclusion into the Russian empire, the Karaites declared their loyalty to the new rulers. In return the government granted them privileges, enabling them to live anywhere in the empire. From that time on, Chufut-Kale became deserted. Its dwellers left the plateau and settled in cities. By the mid-19th century the town ceased to exist.
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