Editing Sarkel

{{short description|Ruined fortress in Russia}}
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Sarkel
  |native_name = Sharkil
  |alternate_name = 
  |image = Sarkel.jpg
  |alt = 
  |caption = Aerial photo of the excavations conducted at Sarkel in the 1930s.
  |map_type = European Russia#Russia Rostov Oblast
  |map_alt = 
  |map_size =
  |coordinates = {{coord|47|42|18|N|42|16|23|E|display=inline,title}}
  |location = [[Russia]]
  |region = [[Rostov Oblast]]
  |type = Fortification
  |part_of = 
  |length = 
  |width = 
  |area = 
  |height = 
  |builder = [[Khazars]], [[Byzantine Empire]]
  |material = 
  |built = 830s
  |abandoned = 
  |epochs = 
  |cultures = Khazar
  |dependency_of = 
  |occupants =
  |event = 
  |excavations = 1930s
  |archaeologists = [[Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov|Mikhail Artamonov]]
  |condition = Submerged by [[Tsimlyansk Reservoir]]
  |ownership = 
  |management = 
  |public_access = 
  |website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
  |notes = 
}}

[[File:Hungarian migration.png|thumb|200px|[[Hungarian Prehistory|Migration of Hungarians]]]]
[[File:Sarkbric.jpg|thumb|200px|Turkic [[Tamgas]] on some of the bricks from Sarkel]]

'''Sarkel''' (or '''Šarkel''', literally "white house" in the [[Khazar language]]<ref>[[Douglas Morton Dunlop|D.M. Dunlop]], ''The History of the Jewish Khazars'', [[Princeton University Press]] (1954).</ref><ref>The first part ''Sar'' is cognate with [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]] ''šur'' 'white', while ''kel/kil'' reflects  a now lost  [[Middle Persian|West Middle Iranian]] cognate of Sanskrit ''grh''̣ a ‘house’, Russian ''gorod'' ‘town’, [[Gothic language|Gothic]] [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/garth#English ''garths''] ‘house’. [[Marcel Erdal]], ''Khazar Language'', in Peter B. Golden et al. (eds.). ''The World of the Khazars. New Perspectives.'' [[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] pp. 75-108,pp.85-86; Károly Cseglédy, "Šarkel: An Ancient Turkish Word for 'House'" in  [[Denis Sinor|D.Sinor]], ed., ''Aspects of Altaic Culture'' (Uralic and Altaic studies no. 23) (Bloomington and the Hague, 1963), pp. 23-31. </ref>) was a large limestone-and-brick fortress in what is now [[Rostov Oblast]] of Russia, on the left bank of the lower [[Don River, Russia|Don River]].

It was built by the [[Khazars]] with [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] assistance in the 830s or 840s.<ref>D.M. Dunlop and Arthur Koestler both date the construction to around 833 (Dunlop 186; Koestler, ''The Thirteenth Tribe'', Random House (1976), p. 85); Peter B. Golden states Sarkel was built 'with Byzantine assistance in 840-41' ("The Conversion of the Khazars to Judaism", in: Peter B. Golden et al. ''The World of the Khazars. New Perspectives'', Brill (2007), p. 150); and Marcel Erdal provides the date 838 ("The Khazar Language", in: Peter B. Golden et al. (2007), p. 85).</ref> It was named Sarkel, or 'white-house', because of the white limestone bricks used in its construction.

==Location==
Sarkel was located on a hill, on the left bank of the Don River. It is currently under water, after the construction of the [[Tsimlyansk Reservoir]]. The left bank of the river was much lower, compared to the right, so a lot of it was flooded.

Across the Don River from Sarkel, on the right bank, there was located another large Khazar fortress roughly contemporary with Sarkel. This site is known as {{ill|Pravoberezhnoye Tsimlyanskoye site|ru|Правобережное Цимлянское городище}}, although its ancient name is unknown.<ref>V.S. Flyorov (2017), [http://www.hagahan-lib.ru/library/hazariya-v-krosskulturnom-prostranstve-istoricheskaya-geografiya-krepostnaya-arhitektura-vibor-veri25.html «Building Materials of Byzantian Origin in Khazar Fortresses of the Lower Don»] (English summary of article in Russian)</ref> It is still there, on the much higher right bank, although suffering from erosion because of encroaching water.

==Construction==
Sarkel was built to protect the north-western border of the Khazar state in 833. The Khazars asked their ally, [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilus]], for engineers to build a fortified capital, and Theophilus sent his chief engineer [[Petronas Kamateros]]. In recompense for these services, the Khazar [[khagan]] ceded [[Chersonesos Taurica|Chersonesos]] and some other Crimean dependencies to Byzantium.

Historians have been unable to determine why such a strong fortress was built on the Don. They generally assert that the costly construction must have been due to the rise of a strong regional power that posed a threat to the Khazars. [[Alexander Vasiliev (historian)|Alexander Vasiliev]] and [[George Vernadsky]], among others, argue that Sarkel was built to defend a vital [[portage]] between the Don and the Volga from the [[Rus' Khaganate]]. Other historians believe this polity was situated many hundred miles to the north. Another nascent power, the Hungarians, was not particularly threatening to the Khazars as long as they paid tribute to the khagan.

[[Constantine Porphyrogenitus]] records in his work [[De Administrando Imperio]] that the Khazars asked the Emperor Theophilos to have the fortress of Sarkel built for them. His record is connected to the Hungarians on the basis that the new fortress must have become necessary because of the appearance of a new enemy of the Khazars, and other peoples could not be taken into account as the Khazars’ enemies at that time. In the 10th century, a Persian explorer and geographer [[Ahmad ibn Rustah]] mentioned that the Khazars entrenched themselves against the attacks of the Hungarians.

== History ==
[[File:Principalities of Kievan Rus' (1054-1132) en.svg|thumb|200px|Principalities of Kievan Rus' (1054-1132).]]
The city served as a bustling commercial center, as it controlled the [[Volga]]-Don portage, which was used by [[Rus' people|the Rus]] to cross from the [[Black Sea]] to the Volga and thence to the Caspian and Baltic.<ref>[[Carl L. Thunberg|Thunberg, Carl L.]] (2011). ''Särkland och dess källmaterial''. Göteborgs universitet. CLTS. pp. 20-22. {{ISBN|978-91-981859-3-5}}.</ref> The route was known as the "[[Khazarian Way]]". A garrison fortified at Sarkel included [[Oghuz Turks|Oghuz]] and [[Pecheneg]] mercenaries.

Sarkel's fortress and city were captured by [[Kievan Rus']] under prince [[Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev|Sviatoslav I]] in 965. The city was renamed '''Belaya Vezha''' (Slavic for ''White Tower'' or ''White Fortress'') and settled by Slavs. It remained Slavic until the 12th century, when the district was taken over by the [[Kipchaks]].

[[Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov|Mikhail Artamonov]] excavated the site in the 1930s. It was the most ambitious excavation of a Khazar site ever undertaken. Among many Khazar and Rus items, Artamonov discovered Byzantine columns used in the construction of Sarkel. The site is now submerged by the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, completed in 1952, so no further excavations may be conducted.

== See also ==
* [[Semikarakorsk Fortress]]
* [[Samosdelka]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{More footnotes|date=August 2009}}
* [[Kevin Alan Brook|Brook, Kevin Alan]] (2006). ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. {{ISBN|0-7425-4981-X}}
* [[Douglas M. Dunlop|Dunlop, Douglas M.]] (1954). ''The History of the Jewish Khazars''. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
* [[Douglas Morton Dunlop|Dunlop, Douglas Morton]] (1997). "Sarkel". ''[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]'' (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. [[Cecil Roth]]. Keter Publishing House. {{ISBN|965-07-0665-8}}
* [[Marcel Erdal|Erdal, Marcel]] (2007). "The Khazar Language", in Peter B. Golden et al. (eds.). ''The World of the Khazars. New Perspectives.'' Brill. pp. 75-108.
* [[Peter B. Golden|Golden, Peter B.]] (2007). "The Conversion of the Khazars to Judaism", in: Peter B. Golden et al. (eds.). ''The World of the Khazars. New Perspectives.'' Brill. pp. 123-162.
* [[René Grousset|Grousset, René]] (1970). ''The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia''. (transl. Naomi Walford). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. {{ISBN|0-8135-0627-1}}
* [[Arthur Koestler|Koestler, Arthur]] (1976). ''The Thirteenth Tribe'' Random House. {{ISBN|0-394-40284-7}}
* [[Carl L. Thunberg|Thunberg, Carl L.]] (2011). ''Särkland och dess källmaterial''. Göteborgs universitet. CLTS. pp. 20-22. {{ISBN|978-91-981859-3-5}}
* [[George Vernadsky|Vernadsky, George]]. ''A History of Russia''. ([http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/VGV/vgv173.htm online])

==External links==
* [http://www.khazaria.com/sarkel.html Sarkel on Khazaria.com]

{{Khazaria}}

[[Category:Khazar towns]]
[[Category:Forts in Russia]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Russia]]
[[Category:Defunct towns in Russia]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Russia]]
[[Category:Submerged places]]
[[Category:833 establishments]]
[[Category:Saltovo-Mayaki culture]]
[[Category:9th-century fortifications]]