Sarai (city)

Sarai (also transcribed as Saraj or Saray, from Persian sarāi, "palace" or "court"[1]) was the name of two cities, which were successively capital cities of the Golden Horde, the Mongol kingdom which ruled much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Old Sarai
Tilework fragments of a palace in Sarai.

"Old Sarai", or "Sarai Batu" or "Sarai-al-Maqrus"[2] (al-Maqrus is Arabic for "the blessed") was established by Mongol ruler Batu Khan in the mid-1240s, on a site east of the Akhtuba river, near to the modern village of Selitrennoye.[3]

This site was most probably located on the Akhtuba River, a channel of the lower Volga River, near the contemporary village of Selitrennoye in Kharabali District, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, about 120 km north from Astrakhan.

Sarai was the seat of Batu and his successor Berke. Under them Sarai was the capital of a great empire. The various Rus' princes came to Sarai to pledge allegiance to the Khan and receive his patent of authority (yarlyk).[4]

New Sarai
The domains of the Golden Horde in 1389. The gold star shows the location of New Sarai. Empty circles represent other major cities.

"New Sarai" or "Sarai Berke" (called Sarai-al-Jadid on coins) was at modern Kolobovka, formerly Tsarev,[5] an archeological site also on the Akhtuba channel 85 km east of Volgograd, and about 180 km northwest of Old Sarai; or possibly on the site of Saqsin (which may itself have stood on the site of the Khazar capital, Atil). The bishops of Krutitsy resided in Tsarev from 1261 to 1454. It had probably succeeded Sarai Batu as the capital of the Golden Horde by the mid-14th century.

Sarai was described by the famous traveller Ibn Battuta as "one of the most beautiful cities ... full of people, with the beautiful bazaars and wide streets", and having 13 congregational mosques along with "plenty of lesser mosques".[6][7] Another contemporary source describes it as "a grand city accommodating markets, baths and religious institutions".[6] An astrolabe was discovered during excavations at the site and the city was home to many poets, most of whom are known only by name.[6][8]

Both cities were sacked several times. Timur sacked New Sarai around 1395, and Meñli I Giray of the Crimean Khanate sacked New Sarai around 1502. The forces of Ivan IV of Russia finally destroyed Sarai after conquering the Astrakhan Khanate in 1556.

In 1623-1624, a Russian merchant, Fedot Kotov, travelled to Persia via the lower Volga. He described the site of Sarai:

Here by the river Akhtuba stands the Golden Horde. The khan's court, palaces, and courts, and mosques are all made of stone. But now all these buildings are being dismantled and the stone is being taken to Astrakhan.[9]

Since Old Sarai lies at 120 km from Astrakhan and New Sarai at 300 km, it is difficult to decide to which of these two cities this description applies.

After the destruction of New Sarai, Russia established the fortress city of Tsaritsyn (later Stalingrad, now Volgograd) to control the area.

Little Sarai
Main article: Saray-Jük

Sarai Juk (Little Sarai) was a city on the Ural River. It is often conflated with the other Sarais in historical and modern accounts. This town was the main city of the Nogai Horde, one of the successors of the Golden Horde. Although sacked by the Ural Cossacks in 1580, it was later used as the headquarters by some Kazakh khans.

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See also

References
  1. Encyclopedia of Islam, Saray
  2. Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York, NY: Facts on File
  3. VASILIEVITCH, K.V. et al., Atlas Istorii SSSR 1, Glavnoe Upravlenie.., Moskva, 1948, p. 12
  4. MacKenzie, David, Michael W. Curran. (2002). A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. ISBN 0-534-58698-8
  5. Possibly near: 48.6617°N 45.3680°E / 48.6617; 45.3680
  6. Ravil Bukharaev (2014). Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge. p. 116. ISBN 9781136808005.
  7. Battutah, Ibn (2002). The Travels of Ibn Battutah. London: Picador. p. 136. ISBN 9780330418799.
  8. Ravil Bukharaev; David Matthews, eds. (2013). Historical Anthology of Kazan Tatar Verse. Routledge. p. 15. ISBN 9781136814655.
  9. Н. А. Кузнецова (N. A. Kuznetsova), Хождение купца Федота Котова в Персию [Journey of the merchant Fedot Kotov to Persia] (Moscow, U.S.S.R.: 1958), page 30. (in Russian) From p. 30: "Тут по той реки по Ахтубе стоит Золатая Орда. Царской двор, и полаты, и дворы, и мечети — все каменные, а стоят и до Астрахани."
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