List of Khazar cities
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This list includes the names of Khazar cities known from written sources. Of these, only Sarkel and, possibly, the city at the mouth of the Volga (known by various names) were founded by the Khazars; the rest arose in the preceding epoch.
Each toponym is provided with an explanation including an indication of its linguistic affiliation, suggested etymology, time of mention, and a list of the main synchronous sources where it appears. The name is given in the most common English variant. The same city (or part of it) could be called differently at different times and in different languages. The correlation of names and their attribution to archaeological sites are subjects of discussion.
Lists of Khazar cities are already contained in the Arab-Persian geographical literature contemporary to the Khazars. The oldest is found in Ibn Khordadbeh (mid-9th century). The longest list, numbering 11 names, is found in the anonymous work Hudud al-'Alam. Far from all names are amenable to decipherment.
In the course of modern archaeological research, numerous proto-urban centers have been discovered on the territory of Khazaria. However, among the cities of written sources, only Sarkel (Left-bank Tsimlyansk settlement) and Samkerts (Taman settlement) have a generally accepted localization.
| Name | Language | Etymology | Time of existence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Bayda | Arabic | "white fortress" | 8th century | Al-Kufi, Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn al-Faqih |
| Atil | Turkic | "River", after the name of the river Itil (Volga) | 10th century | Arab geographers of the classical school: Al-Istakhri, Ibn Hawqal, al-Muqaddasi; Ibn Fadlan, al-Masudi, Letter of Joseph (without name), List of bishoprics of the Metropolitanate of Doros |
| Balanjar | Persian | "long ravine" | 6th — 9th centuries | al-Tabari, al-Baladhuri, Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn al-Faqih, al-Masudi |
| Khamlij | Turkic | "Khan's city" | 9th century | Ibn Khordadbeh, Ibn Rusta |
| Khazaran | Persian | "city of Khazars" | 10th century | Arab geographers of the classical school, Schechter Letter |
| Samkerts (Byz. Tamatarha, Old Rus. Tmutarakan) | Turkic | ? (Tamatarha — "city of the tarkhan Taman") | 9th — 10th centuries | Ibn al-Faqih, Letter of Joseph, Schechter Letter |
| Sarkel (Old Rus. Belaya Vezha) | Turkic | "white house" | 834/837 — 965 | Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Letter of Joseph, Primary Chronicle, "Journey of Pimen to Tsargrad" |
| Saryshin | Turkic | "white... (island, city?)" | 9th century | Ibn Rusta |
| Semender | Persian | "white city" or "extreme door" | 6th — 10th centuries | al-Baladhuri, Al-Kufi, Ibn Khordadbeh, Al-Istakhri, Ibn Hawqal, al-Masudi, Letter of Joseph |
| Varachan | Armenian | ? | 7th century | Movses Kaghankatvatsi, Armenian Geography |