Abaskun was a port that existed in the
Middle Ages on the southeastern shore of the
Caspian Sea in the area of
Gorgan.
[Bosworth, C. E.]
Abaskūn
". ''Encyclopaedia Iranica''. Accessed on June 6, 2007.
Location
In his ''
Geographia'',
Ptolemy mentions a river Sokanda in
Hyrcania, which may have given the name to the city. The exact location of Abaskun remains unclear; most likely, it was situated near the mouth of the
Gorgan River. According to
Arab geographers, Abaskun was within a one- or three-day journey from
Gorgan.
Its coordination's may be near to today's village of
Khvajeh Nafas or
Gomishan city
History
Abaskun was a prosperous trading hub from which merchants travelled to
Daylam,
Derbent, and
Atil in the land of
Khazars on the
Volga trade route. The city's products included
shagreen
Shagreen is a type of rawhide consisting of rough untanned skin, historically from a horse's or onager's back, or from shark or ray.
Etymology
The word derives from the French ''chagrin'' and is related to Italian ''zigrino'' and Venetian ...
, woolen cloth, fish, and seabirds' feathers, which were used for decorating garments. In the 10th century, Abaskun possessed a
citadel built of fired brick and a congregational
mosque in the market quarter. The city's wealth and vulnerable location made it a target of the
Caspian expeditions of the Rus.
The
Rus
Rus or RUS may refer to:
People and places
* Rus (surname), a Romanian-language surname
* East Slavic historical territories and peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia
** Rus' people, the people of Rus'
** Rus' territories
*** Kievan ...
staged their first small-scale raid on Abaskun sometime between 864 and 884,
[ Golden, P.B. (2006) "Rus." '']Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published in ...
'' (Brill Online). Eds.: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill. pillaging the city in 909 or 910 and again in 913 on a very large scale.
In 1220,
Muhammad II of Khwarezm, the fugitive ruler of the
Khwarezmid Empire, hid from the
Mongols on an island near Abaskun. After that, the city is not mentioned in documents. In the 14th century, the
Persian geographer
Mostawfi wrote that Abaskun was an island which was submerged due to the rise of the Caspian Sea caused by a temporary change in the course of the
Oxus, which briefly flowed into the Caspian instead of the
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
.
References
{{Reflist
Medieval history of Iran
History of the Caspian Sea
History of Golestan Province
Ports and harbours of Iran