Construction of Sarkel
At the request of the khagan and the bek, Emperor Theophilos sent the engineer Petronas Kamateros, who built the Khazars a brick fortress on the lower Don — Sarkel, the “White House”.
- Date
- between 833 and 841exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Sarkel (Belaya Vezha)today: Under the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, Rostov Oblast, Russia · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Khazar Khaganate, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Belaya Vezha; Белая Вежа; Petronas Kamateros
Constantine VII tells in De Administrando Imperio how Petronas sailed to Cherson, moved his men to transport ships, went up the Don and, finding no suitable stone, burned bricks in kilns and made lime from river shells. The rectangular fortress, about 190 by 130 metres, had walls 3.75 m thick and a garrison of three hundred men relieved every year. It guarded the Don near the portage to the Volga, probably against the Magyars.
The date is disputed within Theophilos’ reign (829–842): Russian scholarship usually gives 834–837, while others, such as Constantin Zuckerman, date it to about 840–841; the interval covers both. In 965 Sviatoslav took the fortress, which became the Rus’ town of Belaya Vezha. Excavated by Mikhail Artamonov in the 1930s, the site was flooded by the Tsimlyansk Reservoir in 1952.
Connections
Related events
- Sviatoslav’s campaign against the Khazars964 – between 968 and 969 · Eastern Europe
Same participants
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861 · Eastern Europevia Khazar Khaganate
- The “Rhos” at the court of Louis the Pious18 May 839 · Western and Central Europevia Byzantine Empire
- Great Rus’ raid on the Caspianbetween 913 and 914 · Middle East and Egyptvia Khazar Khaganate
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- The “Rhos” at the court of Louis the Pious18 May 839
- Treaty of VerdunAugust 843
- Great Heathen Army in England865–878
- Mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia863 – 6 April 885
Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860
- Christianization of Bulgaria864
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Sarkel
- Wikipedia (Russian): Саркел
- Константин Багрянородный. Об управлении империей / Под ред. Г. Г. Литаврина, А. П. Новосельцева. — М.: Наука, 1989. — Гл. 42.
- Артамонов М. И. Белая Вежа // Советская археология. — 1952. — Т. XVI. — С. 42–76.