Tmutarakan

45.21907 36.71406Coordinates: 45 ° 13 '8.7 " N , 36 ° 42' 50.6" E

Tmutarakan

Tmutarakan ( Russian Тмутаракань , Ukrainian Тмуторокань / Tmutorokan ) is an ancient city on the Kerch Strait , the link between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea . It was located on the Taman Peninsula , in today's Krasnodar region , about across from Kerch . In today's Russian, the term "Tmutarakan" stands for "remote or obscure province".

Greek and Jewish trading city

The city was founded on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Hermonassa , a few kilometers west of Phanagoria , the larger Tean city-colony. With this and Pantikapaion together Hermonassa was one of the most important trading cities of the Bosporan Empire ; his Greek culture was exposed to Sarmatian influences. Hermonassa was probably destroyed by the Huns , but new settlers soon came there. In the 7th century the region fell to the Khazars , who built the fortress city of Tamatarkha. Arab sources call the city Samkarsh al-Yahud ("Samkarsh the Jewish"), which could indicate a Jewish majority. In some sources it is also called "Samkersh" or "Samkush".

Fortified with a strong brick wall and known for a good harbor, Samkarsh was a large trading town. They controlled much of Northern European trade with the Eastern Roman Empire and the North Caucasus . Among the inhabitants were Greeks , Armenians , Slavs , Jews , Ossetians , Lesgians , Georgians and Circassians . Even after the destruction of the Khazar Empire by Svyatoslav I of Kiev in the middle of the 10th century, Khazars lived in the area. The Mandgelis letter from 4746 AM (985/986) names "our Lord David, the Khazar prince", who lived in Taman and was visited by messengers from the Kievan Rus who consulted him on religious questions (which led to the conversion of Vladimir I to the Christianity , which happened around the same time).

Old Russian principality

The old Russian church of St. John the Baptist in Kerch

Although the date and circumstances of Tmutarakan's takeover by the Kievan Rus are unknown, the Chronicle of Hypatius mentions Tmutarakan among the cities that Vladimir I gave to his sons; accordingly, the city came under Russian control before 1015. The Russian name of the city - "Tmutarakan" - is derived from the Turkish tamantarkan ; this could originally have been a title or rank.

Vladimir's son Mstislav von Tschernigow was prince of Tmutarakan from 988 to 1036. During his reign the first stone church was built, of which ruins still exist. The church was dedicated to the Theotokos . In 1066, Prince Rostislav Vladimirovich von Tmutarakan was poisoned by a Byzantine official. After that, the city belonged to Svyatoslav II. Yaroslavich of Chernigov , and then to the Grand Duke of Kiev, Vsevolod I. Yaroslavich . In 1079 Svyatoslav appointed a governor ( possadnik ), who was killed two years later by Dawid Igorevitsch and Volodar Rostislavich . The two occupied the city, but were driven out by Oleg Svyatoslawitsch , who had come from the Eastern Roman Empire, now declared himself "Archon of Khazaria" and made the city his capital.

Decline

In the 12th century the city was isolated from actual Russia by the Cumans and began to decline. The last mention appears in a document from 1378.

The region around the city was part of the Genoese protectorate Gazaria (derived from the Khazars), centered on the city of Kaffa , today's Feodosia in the Crimea. The area was administered by the Ghisolfi family . In 1482 it was conquered by the Girai Khanate.

For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, the area was ruled by the Cossacks who had their center in nearby Stanitsa Taman . In 1791 the area became Russian.

In 1792, the site of Tmutarakan was discovered when a farmer found a stone with an inscription on it that said Prince Gleb measured the distance from here across Kerch to the sea in 1068. Excavations were carried out in the 19th and 20th centuries .

literature

Viktor F. Gajdukevič : The Bosporan Empire. 2nd edition, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1971 (on ancient history).

Web links

Commons : Tmutarakan - collection of images, videos and audio files