Çufut Qale

Çufut Qale (Tatar pronunciation: [tʃʊˈfʊt qaˈlæ]; Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале, Chufut-Kale; Russian: Чуфут-Кале, Crimean Tatar: Çufut Qale, Turkish: Çıfıt Kale, Karaim: Къале, Qale) sometimes spelled as Chufut Kale is a historic fortress in Crimea, near Bakhchisaray. Its name is Crimean Tatar and Turkish for "Jewish Fortress" (çufut/çıfıt - Jew, qale/kale - fortress). Çufut Qale was historically a center for the Crimean Karaite 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).

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History

10 Main facts about history of Chufut-Kale
  • 1. 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.
  • 2. 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.
  • 3. In written sources the cave town is mentioned in the 13th century under the name of Kyrk-Or (Forty Fortifications). This name lasted until the mid-17th century.
  • 4. 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.
  • 5. 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.
  • 6. 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.
  • 7. After the defeat of the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate 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.
  • 8. 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 gradually 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.
  • 9. 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.
  • 10. By the mid-19th century the town ceased to exist.

Legends

There are many legends concerning the place. According to one, it was called "Qırq Yer" because the khans Meñli Giray and Tokhtamysh, 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 Çufut Qale 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 Çufut Qale, called "Vale of Jehoshaphat"; and the tombs do not belong to Karaites, but to the old Rabbinite settlers called Krymchaks. Çufut Qale, however, existed as early as the seventh century. Abu al-Fida mentions it under the name "Qırq Yer".

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See also

References

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