Samandar

Samandar was a city of the North Caucasus, in the lands of the Khazars. The earliest notices of the Khazars, from the middle of the seventh century, name it together with Balanjar. The two are described as urban centres, perhaps of tribal origin, and their locations remain unclear.^[1]

The Armenian Geography

The Armenian Geography places the kingdom of the Huns north of Darband, near the sea. In its western part lay Varach’an, the city of the Huns, with Ch’ungars and Smendr. Smendr is taken for the later Khazar city of Samandar.^[2] The Savirk’, the Sabirs, are placed to the east of it, up to the river T’ald, which is taken for the Atil.^[2]

Capital and royal house

The Khazar capital stood at Samandar before it stood at Itil. Masʿūdī says that the capital was once at Semender, which lay eight days from Bab al-Abwab. After Sulayman ibn Rabiʿa al-Bahili conquered the city in the early days of Islam, the seat of the empire moved to Atil, seven days away.^[3] Modern accounts connect the move to Itil on the lower Volga with the pressure of Arab attacks.^[4]

Al-Istakhri says that the city lies between the capital and Bab al-Abwab. It has many gardens, and Muslims live there who have mosques. Its king is a Jew, related to the king of the Khazars.^[5] One account identifies this ruler as a member of the royal house who was also expected to follow Judaism.^[6] The sources do not say whether he held the office of the khagan or that of the bek.

Arab invasion and the Rus

In 737 the Arab general Marwan set out to attack Khazaria through two passes. He led the main army through the Darial pass. A second army under Abu Yazid Usayd ibn Zafir al-Sulami came from Bab, which is Derbent, and had orders to meet him at Samandar.^[7] The Arabs had retreated from Samandar in AH 118, and no Arab army had gone farther. In 737 the northern army bypassed Balanjar, and the two columns met at Samandar against little resistance. A great review was held there.^[8] The khagan, alarmed by Marwan’s advance, withdrew to the northeast and left his capital screened by a strong guard. Marwan advanced from Samandar and reached the Volga.^[9]

Ibn Hawqal describes the city after the Rus attack of the 960s. He says it once had many gardens and, it is said, 40,000 vineyards. He asked about it in Gurgan in AH 358 of a man who had lately been there. The man told him that after the Rus came, not a grape or a raisin remained. The Muslims and the people of other faiths who had lived there, among them idolaters, had emigrated.^[10] Ibn Hawqal also lists Samandar, with Khazaran and Atil, among the places the Rus destroyed.^[10]

The road of Constantine

Constantine, the missionary sent to the Khazars, is said to have gone from Atil down the Caspian coast and to have met the khagan, possibly at Samandar.^[11]

Sources

The sources name Samandar as a city, as a capital and as a place of vineyards. None of them gives a founder or a site.

References

^ Golden 1992, p. 237
^ a b Golden 1992, p. 107
^ al-Masʿūdī; al-Masʿūdī 1863 (MDCCCLXIII auf dem Titelblatt), p. 7
^ Golden 1992, p. 238
^ al-Iṣṭakhrī; Dunlop 1954, p. 95
^ Golden 1992, p. 242
^ Dunlop 1954, p. 81
^ Dunlop 1954, p. 82
^ Dunlop 1954, p. 82–83
^ a b Dunlop 1954, p. 242
^ Dunlop 1954, p. 195

Sources

Literature

Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Douglas M. Dunlop, The History of the Jewish Khazars (1954)
al-Masʿūdī; C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille (trans.), Les Prairies d’or, Bd. II (Texte et traduction) (1863 (MDCCCLXIII auf dem Titelblatt))