[gothic-l] Neil Acherson's Crimea

[Tore Gannholm]

The following book might be of interest.

AA Vasiliev, The Goths in the Crimea. Mediaeval academy of America,
Publication N:o 25, Cambridge Mass. 1936

Tore Gannholm

>Hails!
>
>I promised to follow up on the Crimean Goths with some Zusammenfassung of
>what Neal Ascherson has to say in his book
>Black Sea. But what do you know.. While doing some search on Crimean
>material I found the very chapter I'm referring
>to published on the net by Washington Post!! =>
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/blacksea.htm
>
>Reqired reading!
>
>This is what I have been able to gather from various sources in Russia,
>Ukraine and elsewhere:
>
>The story of the Crimean Goths is intimately tied to those so-called cave
>towns on some flat tops high up the
>Krimskije Gory mountain range which is defining the south-east sea border
>of Crimea. The best known are Chufut-Kale,
>Mangup-Kale, Eski-Kermen with a similar history. They were all
>artificially created for defence purposes back in VIII
>— IX centuries
>
>Although the evidence is by no means conclusive, Mangup was reportedly
>first founded in the 3rd century AD by  Alans
>and Goths. Justinian I however fortressed Mangup during the 6th century as
>one in a series of strongholds designed to
>protect the coastal cities.  It has been described as "a Greek
>principality ruled by gothic princes". The city was
>later captured by the Khazars but in 787 AD, Prince-Metropolitan "John the
>Goth" led a rebellion against the Khazars,
>thus founding the principality of Feodoros, which lasted until 1475.
>To-days coastal city of Feodosia is an other
>reminder of the principality of Theodosia with roots from the 5th century.
>(Why do slavs have this lexically
>irritating tendency to equal th with f?).
>The Ottomans came in 1475 and laid siege to Mangup for six months and
>ended the principality once and for all.  The
>jewish fundamentalist Karaims (not at all related to the converted Khazar
>jews!), originating from Babylon moved in
>and stayed on for a while, and even they left in 1792. Now the basilica
>and citadel stand above all for the few
>tourist visitors.  One can still see remnants of Byzantine architectural
>styles.
>
>Chufut-Kale, a city with a similar history, is located also on a plateau,
>550m above the sea level. It was reportedly
>built under the guidance of Byzantium by Goths and Alans. Little is known
>of Chufut-Kale's earlier history. The first
>written documents go back to the late 13th century. At that time the
>fortress got the name Kirk-Er and was the centre
>of the Crimean Alans according to official Ukrainean history books. But in
>the mid-14th century under the rule of
>Golden Hord Janibek-Klan, the Tatars seized Chufut-Kale and turned it into
>a Beiluk (Tatar regional centre). After
>the foundation of the Crimean Khanate, Cufut-Kale became it's first
>capital. A mosque and a madrasah were built here
>and the walls were fortified. New suburbs (the posad) for Jewish and
>Armenian communities were built to develop the
>town's economy. In the early 1650 century the capital of the Crimea was
>moved to Bachchisarai.  Only Karaites and
>Armenians stayed here. The remaining population were Karaites in the
>mid-17th century and the town was renamed
>Chufut-Kale (Jewish Fortess).
>
>This is not to conclude that the remaining Crimean Goths were mountain
>dwellers in their majority. They probably
>formed minor communities wherever they felt secure but eventually merged
>with the other peoples all over Crimea.
>
>
>Izwara,
>
>Seigmund
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email
>to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
>Homepage: http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gothicl/index.html

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/8/_/3398/_/972882308/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
Homepage: http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gothicl/index.html