Kissim-Kala of Northern Kumykia

Cities of Khazaria. Kromos Estatium
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     The khazar cities here include not only those cities that were built by the khazar architects, but also those that were built before the arrival of the khazars, were used by the khazars for their needs and tasks for a long time.
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Kissim-Kala of Northern Kumykia **
     Also Gelbach, The Red Fortress. In ancient times, it was a fortress Chir-Yurt, that is, a Fortress with a military garrison.
     It was located on the Kumyk plain between Sulak and Terek, in what is now Northern Kumykia. Since ancient times, there were cities and fortresses here, which in the era of khazar rule in the North Caucasus were connected in a single system of fortifications that ensured the safety of the caravan route from the Chora Gate along the Tersk-Sunzha Interfluve.
     The city fortifications here were built at the end of the 5th century by the legendary persian ruler Isfendiyar.
     The city is identified with the settlement of Kostek on the bank of the Sunzha river near Derbent and near the village of Verkhny Chilyurt in present-day Dagestan.
     According to the archaeological materials from the settlement, it can be concluded that there were stone walls with towers. The fortress could withstand frequent seismic movements in the depths of the mountains in these places.
     The place to build a fortress here was not chosen by chance. This was a strategic point that provided traffic control along the military-commercial road along the Sunzha river. Therefore, despite the destruction during the arab-khazar wars, the fortress and the city were always restored.
     Over the last two thousand years Kumyk platform is characterized by stable mild climate that allows the local population, the core of which from the 7th century be the kumyks, a mixture of khazar peoples with the local indigenous mountain people, engage in farming, develop horse breeding, livestock and sheep breeding all year round.
     Wheat, barley, millet, oats, rice, cotton and silk for their own needs were the main agricultural activities of the kumyks.
     All the cities of the Kumyk platform, connected in a single military and commercial system with the advent of the khazar era, were famous for the production of weapons, since almost all the cities of this system had military garrisons.
     In the 8th century, the era of the Khazar Khaganate begins, and the bulgars, fragments of the Bulgarian Kingdom, arrive in the area of Kissim-Kala. After the collapse of the Khaganate, the bulgars dissolved into the local kumyk-laks population, traces of which were preserved only in the vocabulary of local peoples.
     There was a military garrison here for several centuries, which provided customs control over the road, and needed good weapons. The city was famous for its master gunsmiths, potters, and many ornaments were found on the site. Somewhere not far from here was the legendary city of Belendger, famous during the arab-khazar wars.
     According to the legends from the great-grandfathers of local old-timers, the kumyk legendary hero, local Shamkhal and Russian Prince Soltan-Mut settled here at the end of the 16th century. Here he conceived and from here carried out his campaign to Endirei, where he founded the independent Principality of Endirei.
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