Çufut Qale

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Chufut Kale cave city

Çufut Qale (Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале, Russian: Чуфут-Кале, Crimean Tatar: Çufut Qale) sometimes spelled as Chufut Kale is a historic fortress in Crimea, near Bakhchisaray. Its name is Crimean Tatar for "Jewish Fortress" (çufut - Jew, qale - fortress). Çufut Qale was historically a center for the Qaray community. In the Middle Ages the fortress was known as Qırq Yer (Place of Forty) and as Karaites to which sect the greater part of its inhabitants belong, "Sela' ha-Yehudim" (The Rock of the Jews).

[edit] Legends

There are many legends concerning the place. According to one, it was called "Kirk-er" because the khans Mengli-Girei and Takhtamish, the founders of the city, brought with them forty Karaite families, and in their honor called it the "Place of Forty."

Another legend, fostered by the Karaites to show the antiquity of their sect, says that Karaites were brought there from Persia at the time of the first Exile. The early settlers of the city exercised great influence upon their neighbors, the Khazars. The ḥakam Abraham Firkovich, who was very skilful in falsifying epitaphs and manuscripts, pretended to have unearthed at the cemetery of Chufut-Kale tombstones dating from the year 6 of the common era, and to have discovered the tomb of Sangari, which is still shown by the Karaites. According to Harkavy, however, no epitaph earlier than 1203 can be seen at the cemetery of Chufut-Kale, called "Vale of Jehoshaphat"; and the tombs do not belong to Karaites, but to the old Rabbinite settlers called "Krimchaki." Chufut-Kale, however, existed as early as the seventh century. Abu al-Fida mentions it under the name "Kirk-er."