Everything about Tmutarakan totally explained
Tmutarakan (Russian:
Тмутаракань) is an ancient city that controlled the
Cimmerian Bosporus, the passage from the
Black Sea to the
Sea of Azov. It was situated on the
Taman peninsula, in the present-day
Krasnodar Krai of
Russia, roughly opposite
Kerch.
Greek and Jewish emporium
The town was founded on the site of the ancient
Greek colony of
Hermonassa, located a few miles west of the major
Tean polis-colony of
Phanagoria. Along with Phanagoria and
Panticapaeum, Hermonassa was one of the main trade centers for the
Bosporan Kingdom; as such, its Greek culture was somewhat tempered by
Sarmatian influences. Hermonassa was likely destroyed during the arrival of the
Huns in the region, but settlement on the site resumed shortly thereafter.Phanagoria was the capital of the Great Bulgaria during several decades . In the 7th century, the region fell to the Khazars, who built the fortress town of
Tamatarkha. Arabic sources refer to it as
Samkarsh al-Yahud (for example, "Samkarsh the Jewish"), perhaps indicating a
Jewish majority. Other variants of the city's name are "Samkersh" and "Samkush".
Fortified with a strong brick wall and boasting a fine harbour, Samkarsh was a large city of merchants. It controlled much of the Northern European trade with the
Byzantine Empire and
Northern Caucasus. The inhabitants included
Greeks,
Armenians,
Russians,
Jews,
Ossetians,
Lezgins,
Georgians, and
Circassians. After the destruction of the Khazar empire by
Svyatoslav of Rus in the mid-10th century, Khazars continued to inhabit the region. The
Mandgelis Document, a
Hebrew letter dated
AM 4746 (985–986) refers to "our lord David, the Khazar prince" who lived in
Taman and who was visited by envoys from Kievan Rus to ask about religious matters (possibly in connection connected to
the conversion of
Vladimir I of Kiev which took place during roughly at the same time).
East Slavic principality
Although the exact date and circumstances of Tmutarakan's takeover by the
Kievan Rus is unknown, the
Hypatian Codex mentions Tmutarakan as one of the towns
Vladimir the Great gave to his sons, which implies that the Russian control over the city was established before Vladimir's death in 1015. The Russian name of the city — "Tmutarakan" — derives from the
Turkic tamantarkan (
Taman-Tarkhan as in
As-Tarkhan); this may have originally been a title of rank.
Vladimir's son
Mstislav of Chernigov was the prince of Tmutarakan from 988 to 1036. During his reign, a first stone church was dedicated to the
Theotokos, the ruins of it being still visible. In 1066, prince
Rostislav Vladimirovich of Tmutarakan was poisoned by a
Byzantine official. Afterwards the city belonged to the prince of
Chernigov Svyatoslav Yaroslavich and then to the
Grand Prince of Kiev Vsevolod Yaroslavich. In 1079, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich appointed a governor (
posadnik), who was captured two years later by
David Igorevich and
Volodar Rostislavich, who seized the city.
In 1083,
Oleg Svyatoslavich arrived in Tmutarakan(
Arakhan of Tmutar) from the Byzantine Empire and ousted David Igorevich and Volodar Rostislavich, adopted the title of "
archon of Khazaria" and made the city his capital. In the
12th century the city was isolated from the Russian mainland by the
Cumans and gradually declined. The last recorded mention was in a scroll of 1378.
Decline
The region surrounding the city was part of the
Genoese protectorate of
Gazaria, based at
Kaffa. It was within the territory administered by the
Ghisolfi family and was conquered by the
Girai Khanate in 1482 and by Russia in 1791.
The site of Tmutarakan was discovered in 1792, when a local peasant found a stone with an inscription stating that Prince Gleb had measured the sea from here to
Kerch in 1068. The excavations of the site were conducted in the 19th and 20th centuries. The habitation level in places exceeds twelve meters.
During much of the 17th and 18th centuries the area was dominated by
Cossacks centered on the town of Taman, which was located near the remains of Tmutarakan. The modern town of
Temryuk is nearby. In the modern
Russian language, "tmutarakan" stands for "a distant and obscure province", owing to its similarity to phrase "тьма тараканов" ("multitude of cockroaches"), as well as to desertion of the city.
Further Information
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