Sham-Shahar

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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Sham-Shahar **
     This ancient city was located on the Kumyk platform, it is associated with the Gubden settlement near the present village of Gubden in Dagestan.
     In the 20th century it was called Leninkent, then Shamshagar, translated from the dargin as City of candles. And the area around was called Shanshkyar, that is Green grass.
     This area in the Tersk-Sulak interfluve has always been marked by an even and mild climate, which made it possible to graze cattle all year round without harvesting hay for the winter. Here they brought their cattle from other localities.
     In addition, the area itself was very picturesque, surrounded by spurs of mountains, mountain valleys, springs with clear and limpid water, streams and rivers.
     The fortress was founded at the beginning of the 5th century after the birth of Christ by the persians on the site of a settlement that appeared here in the 1st century. It was located at a certain elevation above the terrain and covered an area of 2 hectares. There were villages of artisans and merchants in the city. All together, it was located on a fairly decent territory of 100 hectares at that time.
     There was a double defensive wall 15 kilometers long, which stretched along a picturesque valley, connecting Janga, Ulubiy, Shamshahar, and Kyati. There were wide observation towers at the entrance to the city.
     The walls of the fortress closed a hollow with a road that ran parallel to the road along primorye. The city was fortified with moats, as well as walls of glinobit, saman, or ragged stone. Next to this city was another ancient city, whose borders began behind steep cliffs. Ruins and hills are all that remains of these fortresses and cities.
     In the very center of the city there was an elevated part on which iconic structures were built at various times. These were temples, mosques, and again temples, around which the ancient history of the city unfolded. This place still call Kilasila-Khak, which means the Temple hill.
     Samshachar, according to estimates of archaeologists, was one of the most ancient and big cities in Dagestan, inhabited by thousands of families.
     The urban population was engaged in crafts that were necessary to serve the military garrison in the fortress, as well as to provide everything necessary for the trade caravans of the Great Silk Road that passed along the Kuman platform.
     The people of the city were engaged in the repair of military uniforms, pottery, ceramics, which were mostly local, not imported and reflected local traditions.
     At the posads of the Shamshahar made two kinds of pottery. One type consisted of hand-made gray clay vessels, while the other type of ceramics was represented by red clay vessels.
     In addition to the caravan route, the Kumyk tract was used for military and strategic tasks of the Kingdom of the huns, then the persian Shahinshahs, Khazaria and the Golden Horde.
     In the villages of the city of Sham-Shachar, the population was engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding is gradually replaced by animal husbandry. Wheat, barley, millet, oats, and rice are grown here. In some areas there were also cotton and silk, the cultivation of which was borrowed from the traders and merchants of passing here Silk Road caravans.
     Since the time when the tribes of the Kingdom of the huns appeared here, the city has a military garrison that needs good weapons and hardy horses. All this was supplied by the local population, who quickly mastered the production of weapons and horse breeding.
     At the end of the 7th century, with the arrival of the khazars, the Kumyk tribal core began to form in the depths of the khazar multitribe on the basis of the autochthonous population of local mountaineers with the alien hunno-savir substratum. Its formation was encouraged by the constant participation of the military garrison, consisting of the local population, in the military and trade campaigns of the Khazaria to Asia and Transcaucasia through the Chora Gate.
     Participating in these campaigns, the kumyks perceived many socio-cultural innovations of the northern slavs, Rus, and turan tribes, which they applied on the Kumyk platform. All this allowed them to stand out among the mountain peoples.
     This was also evident in the housing, especially in its interior decoration, and in clothing, where traditional mountain clothing is complemented by elements of european-style dresses. The local folklore of both kumyks, dargs, and lakz is distinguished by reasonableness, readiness for long campaigns, observation, strict concepts of honor, loyalty to the word, love for their land, readiness to help, philosophical mentality, and the ability to indulge in fun during folk festivals. It was the diversity of socio-cultural qualities that always caused the respect of the local mountain tribes for the customs of the kumyks..
     In addition to ensuring the movement of merchants, the city also solved military and strategic tasks, providing additional opportunities for the khazars during the arab-khazar wars, as well as joint companies with Byzantium in Transcaucasia.
     There were many ancient cities and fortresses on the Kumyk platform, which since the persian times were linked into a single system for ensuring trade, caravan and military-strategic traffic safety along the Kumyk road. Russian, arab, byzantine, armenian, and georgian chroniclers reported about this system of cities, which included Sham-Shachar.
     Persian authors have noted that in the time of Shah Kavad there were 360 cities with fortresses, and the Shahinshah, during his annual journey through this area, stopped every day at a beautiful and flourishing city with a rich castle.
     Local residents keep many legends about the past of their ancient city by their families. According to them, from the very beginning, christians lived in the city. Christianity was brought here by armenian missionaries from the Derbent Bishopric. The same is said in the legends of other neighboring towns and villages.
     However, during the arab-khazar wars, the arabs, capturing cities on the Kumyk plain, expelled christians. The local population heroically resisted the penetration of foreign-speaking arabs with their own customs into their territory. Since the end of the 7th century, the arabs have not been able to capture the fortress of Sham-Shahar.
     The destruction of the fortifications of Shamshahar occurred every time the arabs came under the walls of Derbent. Finally, the fortress of the city was destroyed by a cunning arab commander, the future Caliph Mervan in 739. All christians from the city of Sham-Shahar were expelled, the temple was destroyed, and in its place mosques were built from the stones of the destroyed temples.
     However, Mervan did not know that this would be the last arab invasion of Khazaria. After the departure of Mervan from the Northern Caucasus, the khazars returned and restored the fortress, after which artisans came here.
     Local researchers believe that the name Shamshahar was fixed in memory of the destruction of Shamshahar by the arabs.
     After the collapse of the Khazarus State in the 10th century, the military garrison left the fortress, it was depopulated for a long time, but people did not leave this place and returned, but the fortress was not restored.
     The settlement on the site of the ancient city of Sham-Shahar lasted until the 15th century. The walls were dismantled by local people.
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