Short answers, pulled from the story.
Atil, also known as Itil, was the capital of the Khazar Khaganate from the middle of the eighth century until the close of the tenth century. It stood along the Silk Road on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, in the Volga Delta of what is now southern Russia.
Atil sat in the Volga Delta on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, in what is now southern Russia. Its exact location has never been confirmed, and as of 2024 no archaeological remains have been positively identified.
Svyatoslav I of Kiev sacked Atil in 968 or 969 CE. Two later writers, Ibn Hawqal and al-Muqaddasi, referred to Atil after that date, suggesting the city may have been rebuilt before falling into ruin again by the mid-11th century, according to Al-Biruni.
The name Atil, also spelled Itil, is often traced to a Finno-Ugric word meaning river. Islamic sources such as Ibn Khordadbeh and Ibn Rustah instead recorded the Khazar capital's name as Hamlikh or Hamlij, possibly derived from the Hebrew ha-melekh, meaning the king.
Atil was home to Jews, Christians, Muslims, Shamanists, and Pagans, many of them foreign traders. Each group had its own place of worship, and disputes were settled by seven judges: two Christian, two Jewish, two Muslim, and one shared judge for Shamanists and other Pagans.
No site has been positively confirmed as Atil. A 2008 claim that it had been found in the Volga Delta village of Samosdelka was disproven by 2020, and excavations have since shifted to a site near the village of Semibugry.