Eski-Kermen near Bakhchisarai

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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Eski-Kermen near Bakhchisarai **
     These city belongs to the category of Cave cities in Crimea.
     All we know about this city is what archaeologists have unearthed, as well as indirect information from various sources. No writing directly spoke about this city. It is also unknown what it was called before the arrival of the tatars in the 13th century, when it received the name Eske-Kermen.
     Since its foundation, only one settlement known to archaeologists, Circass-Kermen, now the village of Krepkoe, has been preserved in the vicinity of the fortress.
     The city was located on a mountain plateau on the edge of a 30-meter cliff geographically between Bakhchisarai and Mangup-Kale.
     The naming of the city does not cause much controversy among linguists. Old fortress. The vocabulary is completely crimean tatar.
     In the correspondence of the Khazar King Joseph with his Jewish addressees in Europe, a city called Kut is mentioned. Researchers believe that Joseph here meant the city that later became known as Eski-Kermen.
     The city was founded, as archaeologists suggest, by scythian-sarmatians in the 3rd century BC, who came from the Dnieper.
     At the end of the 3rd century after the birth of Christ, the gothic tribes came here and built the first artificial fortifications on the plateau. The gothic socio-cultural footprint is present in the city until the 13th century.
     By the 4th century, scientists attribute the beginning of the construction of a Byzantine-type Basilica, which was completed until the end of the 8th century, when a revolt against the khazars broke out here.
     In the 6th century, the byzantines ruled the Crimea. Together with the goths, they build a fortified point here, with which they controlled the road to the ports on the coast. This was the period of construction of a protective byzantine line against nomad raids in the Middle ridge of the Crimea.
     Some historians try to associate Eski-Kermen with the legendary and chronicled city of Doros, which is usually placed on the Leaky Cape Mangup-Kale. They refer to the name of the city «Old Town».
     Indeed, in the architecture of the city of the beginning of its foundation, archaeologists find not so much byzantine. For example, a deep siege well with a six-flight staircase, which has eighty steps, at the bottom of which an underground spring still operates, which formed a small lake. This well is the result of the architectural creativity of the scythians first, and then the goths, who like to equip their secrets with stairs.
     The city's caves are mostly of natural origin. There are small clearings in the limestone. In the grottoes lived monks who had left the joys of life. But there were not many of them, and scientists did not find any attempts to create a monastery here.
     Grottos were used by the townspeople for household needs, for defense structures, workshops, small chapels and tombs.
     The city was large by medieval standards. It covered an area of about 20 hectares. The city was stretched out like a ship.
     The fortress should have been considered impregnable for its time. The fortress itself was located on a plateau surrounded by steep cliffs.
     The approaches to the plateau were protected by walls with a rock foundation. Several gates with towers were built into the walls. On the plateau itself, the byzantines built a watchtower, which local mythologists call Kyz-Kele, that is, the Maiden tower, linking this name with several legends about girls who, as a rule, local rulers kept here, forcing them to marry, and they were thrown out of the tower or ascended by Icarus into the clouds.
     The cave complex had a main street, from which corridors with casemates branched off in different directions. From here you could get to the siege well and go to the church of the Assumption of Mary and the Three horsemen, the last church was a tribute to the scythian sarmatians, who put a lot of effort into the construction of caves. Apparently, the alans, who arrived here in the 10th century along with russian merchants, found here sarmatians, their ancient relatives. Together, they built the cave fortress of the Three Horsemen, the architecture of which is associated with the dedication to Gregory the Victorious.
     The caves had several dozen stone bags with ventilation for storing grain. In such stone recesses, grain could be stored for several years.
     Along the top of the caves on the slope of the plateau, there are rows of wild vineyards, which even now, despite numerous rebirths, retain their original row of thousands of years ago, as if waiting for their owner.
     The inhabitants of the city and its suburbs were mainly engaged in agriculture, trade, as well as crafts necessary for the defense of the city, ensuring its life. When enemies appeared, people hid behind the walls of the city's fortress and in its cave complex.
     In the middle of the 8th century, the khazars came to Crimea, trying to oust foreign tribes from the peninsula, including the goths, who were a very organized force here, which prevented the rule of Byzantium. The khazars came to the Crimea in collusion with the Byzantines. They came for one summer to destroy the Gothic Republic, but they stayed here for a long time. Khazaria controlled the steppes of the Crimea, while Byzantium controlled the entire coastal part of the peninsula.
     In 787, a revolt against the khazars broke out, and Eski-Kermen was one of its most persistent centers. Bishop John of Gotha led the revolt. The khazars suppressed the rebellious city and destroyed its entire defense system. On the mountain plateau, after the khazar defeat, for a century and a half urban life barely glimmered.
     In the 9th century, several jewish families who owned the hebrew script settled here, but they were descended from the turks. Apparently, these jews represented the interests of the khazar nobility, which in the middle of the 9th century was almost entirely jewish. Khazar jews occupied a trading position. As taxpayers, they usually acted as a single legal entity, their community, able to quickly capitalize on their funds and use their opportunities to correspond with their jewish communities around the world at that time.
     Since the middle of the 10th century, after the weakening of the Khazaria, the byzantine greeks returned to the peninsula, bringing with them russian merchants. A guard detachment was set up here, hired from local residents, and small warehouses appeared. The city is gradually growing, and its military-political and commercial significance is also growing.
     The city reached its greatest prosperity in the 12th century. There were wide, well-planned streets, blocks were densely built up with residential buildings. The Bishop of the whole district sits in the city. His pulpit was carved out in the stone temple of the city.
     In the 13th century, the Basilica in the center of the plateau was expanded. At least 700 families live here.
     In 1297, the city was severely damaged by an earthquake. Not having time to recover, city was visited by uninvited guests, the hordes of Nogai.
     For a century, the city has tried to restore the agricultural land that has always been the main theme of its existence.
     In 1399, another disaster comes here in the person of Edigei, the temnik or thousander of the Golden Horde. All newly built fortifications, churches, basilicas, and dwellings were destroyed.
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