Atil
Atil, also spelled Itil, served as the capital of the Khazar Khaganate from the middle of the eighth century until the close of the tenth. The city sat along the Silk Road on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, within the Volga Delta of what is now southern Russia. Outside chroniclers wrote about the city in detail, but nobody today knows for certain what name the Khazars used for their own capital. That gap sits at the center of two questions this documentary follows. What name did the city actually carry, and where, in the delta's shifting landscape, did it once stand?
Linguists most often trace 'Atil' to a Finno-Ugric word meaning river. The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII recorded a related form, Atelkuzu, for the region between rivers where the early Hungarians once lived. The word itself does not survive in modern Hungarian, but comparable river names turn up elsewhere. The White River in Bashkiria is called Ak Adil. Its Bashkir speakers descend from a people whose Ugric language Hungarians could still understand as late as the 13th century.
According to a number of Islamic sources, Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn Rustah, and later compilers recorded the Khazar capital's name as Hamlikh or Hamlij. Some connect Hamlikh to the Hebrew word ha-melekh, 'the king', a possible nod to the Khazar rulers' residence after they adopted Judaism. Only in the 10th century did foreign authors begin calling the Khazar capital Atil, suggesting the name spread relatively late.
Ibn Rustah's version of the name pushed some researchers toward a different theory. They linked it to khanbaliqh, the Mongolian term for Beijing used in the 13th and 14th centuries, meaning 'city of the khan'. Most scholars consider that connection unlikely, since Khazar and Mongolian belong to very different language families. Matching Hamlikh to Khanbaliqh also requires a chain of assumptions that weakens the case.
Tatar speakers today still call the Volga River İdel, a direct descendant of the Khazar name. Chuvash speakers call it Atăl, Bashkir speakers say Iźelin, Kazakh speakers say Edıl, and Turkish speakers call it İdil.
Atil's rise to capital followed a military loss: the Khazars' defeat in the Second Arab-Khazar War. The city later flourished as a trading center, its territory divided into three parts by the Volga River. Administration was based in the western section, home to a court house and a large military garrison. A newer eastern section became the commercial heart of Atil, filled with public baths and shops. An island between the two held the palaces of the Khazar Khagan and the Bek. A pontoon bridge connected that island to one of the city's other sections.
Arab sources from the 10th century split the city's name in two. They called one half of the city Atil and gave the other half the name Khazaran.
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Shamanists, and Pagans all lived within Atil, many of them foreign traders drawn by commerce. Every faith kept its own house of worship. Disputes went before seven judges in total: two for Christians, two for Jews, two for Muslims, and a single judge covering Shamanists and other Pagans.
Atil's Christian community answered to its own bishop, distinct from the city's other faiths. The Friday mosque used by the city's Muslims had a minaret said to rise higher than the castle itself.
Atil's role as a trade center extended to managing the Khazar slave trade, which moved in two directions. Slaves headed west passed through the Black Sea port of Kerch into the broader Black Sea slave trade. Others traveled east across the Caspian Sea from Atil, continuing into Central Asia and ultimately the Abbasid Caliphate.
In 968 or 969 CE, Svyatoslav I of Kiev led an assault that sacked Atil. Later, two writers, Ibn Hawqal and al-Muqaddasi, both mention Atil in accounts written after the year 969. That detail hints the city may have been rebuilt.
Writing in the mid-11th century, the scholar Al-Biruni described Atil as ruined once more. He never mentioned Saqsin, a settlement built nearby, which leaves open the chance that this second Atil met its end sometime in the mid-11th century.
As of 2024, archaeologists still have not confirmed the location of Atil's remains at any site. The leading explanation holds that Atil's remains were carried off as Caspian Sea levels rose over time.
A team of Russian archaeologists working the fishing village of Samosdelka, in the Volga Delta, announced in September 2008 that they had uncovered Atil. By 2020, the Russian Geographic Society had reassessed the Samosdelka find and rejected it, concluding the site was not Atil after all. New excavations then began elsewhere.
Archaeologists next turned to Semibugry, a village deeper in the Volga Delta's central stretch. There they found the remains of a settlement dating to the Khazar period. Digging there continued through 2020, with researchers hoping the settlement would prove to be Atil at last. As historian Alex Feldman put it, "it remains impossible to archaeologically prove" where Atil actually stood.
Common questions
What was Atil the capital of?
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.
Where was the ancient city of Atil located?
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.
Who sacked Atil and when did it happen?
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.
What does the name Atil mean?
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.
What religions were practiced in the city of Atil?
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.
Has the lost city of Atil ever been found?
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.
All sources
9 references cited across the entry
- 1BookThe Khazar State and Its Role in the History of Eastern Europe and the CaucasusAnatoly P. Novoseltsev — 1990
- 2BookKhazar Studies: An Historico-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the KhazarsPeter B. Golden — Akadémiai Kiadó — 1980
- 3BookThe Jews of KhazariaKevin A. Brook — Rowman & Littlefield — 2018
- 5BookThe History of the Jewish KhazarsDouglas M. Dunlop — Princeton University Press — 1954
- 6Итиль-мечта (The Itil Dream)D. Vasilyev
- 9BookHow Medieval Europe was RuledAlex Mesibov Feldman — Routledge — 2023