Atil, also Itil, was the capital of the

Khazar Khaganate The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a Nomadic empire, nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukra ...

from the mid-8th century to the late 10th century. It is known historically to have been situated along the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

, on the northern coast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

, in the

Volga Delta The Volga Delta is the largest river delta in Europe and occurs where Europe's largest river system, the Volga River, drains into the Caspian Sea in Russia's Astrakhan Oblast, north-east of the republic of Kalmykia. The delta is located in the ...

region of modern

Southern Russia Southern Russia or the South of Russia ( rus, Юг России, p=juk rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a Colloquialism, colloquial term for the southernmost geographic portion of European Russia. The term is generally used to refer to the region of Russia's So ...

. Its precise location has long been unknown. Varangian routes

In 2008 a Russian archaeologist claimed to have discovered the remains of Atil in

Samosdelka Samosdelka () is a fishing village in the Astrakhan Oblast of southern Russia, approximately 40 km south-southwest of the city of Astrakhan, in the Volga River river delta, delta area of the Caspian Depression marshlands. In September 2008, Russ ...

, a village in the Volga Delta approximately 30 km southwest of the city of

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

. This claim has since been disproven.

Name

The historical

Turkic people Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members ...

s living on or near the Volga region called both the river and the Khazar capital city on the river or ''Atil''. Modern

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

have retained the historical name for the Volga. The Volga is known as '' İdel ''( Идел) in Tatar, as '' Atăl '' (Атӑл) in Chuvash, as '' Iźelin '' in Bashkir, as '' Edıl '' in Kazakh, and as '' İdil '' in Turkish. The origin and meaning of the ancient Turkic form "/" are uncertain.

History and description

Atil was located along the Volga delta at the northwestern corner of the

. Following the defeat of the

Khazars The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, a ...

in the Second Arab-Khazar War, Atil became the capital of Khazaria.

Ibn Khordadbeh Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh (; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking bureaucrat and geographer of Persian descent in the Abbasid Caliphate. He is the aut ...

, writing in ca. 870, names ''Khamlij'' as the capital of the Khazars. This is presumably a rendition of Turkic ''khaganbaligh'' "city of the khan" and refers to the city later (in the 10th century) named as ''Atil'' in Arab historiography. At its height, the city was a major center of trade. It consisted of three parts separated by the Volga. The western part contained the administrative center of the city, with a court house and a large military garrison. The eastern part of the city was built later and acted as the commercial center of the Atil, and had many public baths and shops. Between them was an island on which stood the palaces of the Khazar

Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

and Bek. The island was connected to one of the other parts of the city by a

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

. According to

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

sources of the 10th century, one half of the city was referred to as Atil, while the other was named Khazaran. Atil was a multi-ethnic and religiously diverse city, inhabited by

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, Shamanists, and Pagans, many of them traders from foreign countries. All of the religious groups had their own places of worship in the city, and there were seven judges appointed to settle disputes (two Christian, two Jewish, and two Muslim judges, with a single judge for all of the Shamanists and other Pagans). The numerous Christians of Atil were under the jurisdiction of their own

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

; the

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

of the

Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.See: * * * * ...

of the Muslims of Atil is said to have been higher than the castle. RadzivillChronicleFol8rb

The city was a major trade center, and managed the

Khazar slave trade The Khazar slave trade took place in the Khazar Khaganate in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The Khazar Khaganate was a buffer state between Europe and the Muslim world and played a major part in the trade between Europe and the Middle Ea ...

, in which slaves bought for export were transported from the Khazar Khaganate to either the

Black Sea slave trade The Black Sea slave trade trafficked people across the Black Sea from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to slavery in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Black Sea slave trade was a center of the slave trade between Europe and the rest of t ...

in the West via the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

port of

Kerch Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...

, or East from the capital of Atil via the Caspian Sea to

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and from there to

slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate Chattel slavery was a major part of society, culture and economy in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) of the Islamic Golden Age, which during its history included most of the Middle East. While slavery was an important part also of the pr ...

. Svyatoslav I of Kiev sacked Atil in 968 or 969 CE.

Ibn Hawqal Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Al-Jazira (caliphal province), Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronic ...

and al-Muqaddasi refer to Atil after 969, indicating that it may have been rebuilt.

Al-Biruni Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (; ; 973after 1050), known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern ...

(mid-11th century) reported that Atil was again in ruins, and did not mention the later city of

Saqsin Saqsin, also known as Saksin and Saksin-Bolgar, was a medieval city that flourished from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries. It was situated in the Volga Delta (modern-day Astrakhan Oblast), or in the Lower Volga region, and was known in p ...

which was built nearby, so it is possible that this new Atil was only destroyed in the middle of the 11th century.

The search for archaeological remains

As of 2024, the archaeological remains of Atil have not been positively identified. An accepted hypothesis is that they were washed away by the rising level of the

Samosdelka site

In September 2008, Russian archaeologists excavating in the Volga Delta fishing village of

announced their discovery of what they claimed were the remains of Atil. A 2020 assessment by the Russian Geographic Society concluded that Atil had not been found in Samosdelka, and announced that new excavations were underway at another site.

Semibugry site

The archaeological remains of a settlement from the Khazar period near the village of Semibugry (Russian: Семибугры) in the central part of the Volga Delta were discovered after Samosdelka and as of 2020 were being excavated in the hopes that the settlement was Atil. According to historian Alex Feldman, "it remains impossible to archaeologically prove" the location of Atil.

Gallery

File:В поисках Итиля.jpg File:Brick field Atil 2014.jpg File:Brick wall Atil 2014.jpg File:Potsherds (close up) Atil 2014.jpg File:Potsherds (wide) Atil 2014.jpg

References

Sources

External links

Atil entry from Dead Cities (archived, in Russian), 9 December 2008Jewish Virtual Library "ATIL or ITIL", 2008. Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group.

Scholar claims to find medieval Jewish capital, 21 September 2008

ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE GREAT DISCOVERY, 15 June 2020The Expansion of the Early Islamic State, Edited by Fred M. Donner, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Croup, LONDON AND NEW YORK, First published 2008 by Ashgate Publishing, Published 2016 by Routledge
{{Khazaria Geography of Astrakhan Oblast Defunct towns in Russia Khazar towns Populated places on the Volga Underwater ruins Former populated places in Russia Saltovo-Mayaki culture