[gothic-l] Neil Acherson's Crimea

[sig]

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


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