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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Tarki in Dagestan **
Other names were also applied to this city at different times, such as Tarku, Targu, Samandar, Semender, Bar'Ufa.
Researchers identify this city with the Tarkin settlement near the village of Tarki near Makhachkala. The city was located on the slope of the Tarki-Tau mountain.
From its very beginning as a city, Tarki has been an important point on the trade routes from the Volga region to the Transcaucasus and further to Persia and Byzantium. The fortress in Tarki was considered one of the largest and most fortified in the North Caucasus. It is very difficult to get close to the fortress, but the trade road is well shot from its walls.
Some researchers connect the city of Targu of khazar time with Samandar, others with Semender, in this case, the first mention of this city can be attributed to the Armenian geography, which reports the city of Samandar in the 7th century after the birth of Christ.
Buniyatov believes that Targu corresponds to the name Bar'ufa, which al-Kufi gives.
Gevond mentions the city of Targu, which means fist in turkic. This city under the name of Targu was reached by the arab General Maslama in the early 8th century. Gewond notes the importance of the city to the arabs and colorfully describes the siege of the city Targu by the arabs. Ghevond reports that the huns with a large army, led by the Kagan, met the arabs near the city. The arabs stood in one place for several days, not daring to move into the attack. Both armies once a day released their daredevils for duels.
The Khagan of the huns was waiting for reinforcements, sending a summons to all parts of his Kingdom. The arabs were looking for weaknesses in the khazars, looking for opportunities to bribe thousanders.
One morning, when the khazars saw that the arab camp was empty, they withdrew, leaving their wagons with women and a small detachment led by a local Albanian leader, and they themselves went by mountain paths to Iveria.
In 721, the arabs led by Jarrah besieged Tarki for 6 days, after which the city surrendered, and Jarrah moved to Belendger.
The city had serious fortifications. It was protected by two stone walls that stretched from mount Tarki-Tau to the coast of the Caspian sea. The thickness of the walls reached up to 4 meters and were protected by shell masonry, typical of local architecture. There was a distance of 2 kilometers between the walls. In this interval, during the appearance of enemies, there were the cattle of the townspeople.
Historians sometimes identify Tarki with Belendger near Makhachkala, which is more than doubtful.
In the gloss De Bor, the river Reteg is the Terek, whose name is probably transferred to the city of Tarki.
In one of the chronicles, the khazars are derived from the mixing of the turks with the caucasian aborigines, where their main city was Tarki, which later moved to the Itil river. Here we are more likely talking about the city of Tarki or Semen-der, which lost the status of the capital, and only the khazar nobility moved to Itil, while the city with the same name remained in place, here were its inhabitants of non-military craft.
According to archaeologists, the first settlements on the site of Tarki appear in the 2nd Millennium BC. The settlement existed until the 3rd century after the birth of Christ almost continuously.
The name of the city is derived from the persian word «der-ter», which means door, passage.
According to another opinion, Semen-der and Dar-ki passed to the naming of cities from the turkic tribes that came to the Caucasus in the 4th century New Era.
The arabs noted in their writings that the city of Tarki was famous for its gardens and sweet grapes. The buildings of the city were mostly wooden architecture, with the use of reeds and clay, and the roofs were pointed, like yurts. But they were stationary structures.
Muqaddasi noted that at the beginning of the 10th century there were mosques, christian churches and synagogues in the city, and people of different nationalities lived here.
In 965, Svyatoslav attacked the city and ravaged it. Later, the city was attacked by Tmutarakan Rus.
In the 13th century, the city is mentioned by Marco Carpini. Here he met the mongol conquerors.
In 1375, Tarki is listed on the Catalan Atlas. Here it is recorded as part of a certain Sarai Empire, apparently referring to the Golden Horde.
At the end of the 16th century, Tarki became the capital of shamkhalate Tarkovsky. A pier appears here, where a shopping center is formed that served the transshipment of goods from Iran to the North Caucasus. Russian Tsars have been targeting the city since that time, sending their military contingents here in order to subdue Tarki to russian rule.
According to legend, Tarki was taken by Peter the Great. Yakov Bryus, Peter's military commander, noted the significance of the city, considering it the main city of Dagestan, which had several thousand houses.
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