Sarai (city)
Sarai was the name of possibly two cities near the lower Volga, that served successively as the effective capitals of the Cuman–Kipchak Confederation and later the Golden Horde, a Turco-Mongol khanate. There is considerable disagreement among scholars about the correspondence between specific archaeological sites.
Old Sarai
"Old Sarai" was established by the Mongol ruler Batu Khan, as indicated by both occasional references to the "Sarai of Batu" and an explicit statement of the Franciscan William of Rubruck, who visited Batu in 1253 or 1254, on his way to the court of the Great Khan Möngke at Qaraqorum. William's statement, "Sarai, the new town that Baatu is making on the Etilia" is considered the first historical reference to the city; a few passages later he refers to the same settlement as "Sarai and the palace of Baatu". The slightly later Persian historian ʿAṭā Malik Juwaynī describes this settlement as both "camp" and "city", reflecting its dual function, gradual development, and perhaps the lifestyle preferences of its various inhabitants.As the principal seat of Batu, Berke, and their successors, Sarai was effectively the capital of a great empire, although the khan and his court occasionally resided at other sites as well. The Mongols did not replace the ruling Russian elite and so the Russian princes were required to visit Sarai to pledge allegiance to the khan and receive the khan's patent of approval as a condition of keeping their thrones. In 1261, the city became a seat of the Saray diocese of the Russian Church, presiding over a Russian community that lived there. It was considered advantageous for leading Russian princes to have a high-ranking Greek or Russian bishop be present at the khan's court. The bishop of Sarai was also likely responsible for overseeing Russians and Greeks residing and trading at the court of the khan. The bishop at times was also sent to negotiate with the Byzantines in Constantinople. The friars established themselves in Sarai in 1280.
It also served, at least occasionally, as the burial site of khans: when he died in 1266, Berke was buried at the "Sarai of Batu", according to the Ilkhanid vizier Rashīd ad-Dīn Faḍlullāh. Berke had presumably continued the development of the city, promoting the settlement of Muslims and attracting Muslim literati, leading later Muslim accounts to credit him with the foundation of the city; this probably led to references to the "Sarai of Berke", although it is doubtful that there was ever an entirely separate city called "Sarai of Berke" ; it certainly cannot be identified with "New Sarai", which was founded more than six decades after Berke's death. The earliest coins struck at Sarai have been identified with issues of Berke from 1264/1265. During the reign of Mengu-Timur Khan silver coins were again struck with the label "Sarai" in 1272/1273; coins of more consistent standard and issue followed under Toqta Khan, especially after 1310.
New Sarai
"New Sarai" is said to have been founded or formally inaugurated by Öz Beg Khan in the first half of the 14th century after he built a palace on the Volga about north of Old Sarai. The earliest explicit reference to a city bearing this name is the notice of the death of Öz Beg in "New Sarai" in March–April 1341 by a nearly contemporary Mamluk author. A statement of the Timurid historian Ibn ʿArabshāh that "between the building of Sarāy and its devastation there passed sixty-three years" would place the formal founding of "New Saray" 63 lunar years before its sack by Timur in the winter of 1395–1396, and so in 1334–1335. The reasons for the relocation of the capital are unclear, as is how substantial such a relocation actually was, although it is sometimes assumed that the rationale was a change in the level of the Caspian Sea and the extent of the waterways in the Volga Delta.Sarai and the other major centers of the Golden Horde along the lower Volga benefited from trade and exhibited a significant degree of cultural prosperity. While the origin of coins simply labeled "Sarai" remains uncertain, coins labeled "New Sarai" started to be minted from 1342. 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. These included Hisām Kātib and Sayf-i Sarāy, who died in 1396.
This prosperity was rapidly threatened by the onset of chronic political and military instability alongside competition for the throne of the Golden Horde after 1361. As the traditional capital and a rich and prestigious prize, Sarai became the target of most claimants to the throne. The beglerbeg Mamai, for example, took Sarai on behalf of his own puppet khans on four or five separate occasions between 1362 and 1375/1376, losing it to rivals each time. Intervening in the internal conflicts within the Golden Horde, the Central Asian conqueror Timur sacked, leveled, and set on fire Sarai in the winter of 1395–1396. The city had partially recovered by 1402, and by the 1420s minted coins again, although the Golden Horde did not completely stabilize. Shortly after the Russian traveler Afanasy Nikitin passed through in 1469, Sarai was plundered by the ushkuyniki, riverine pirates from Vyatka, in 1471. The Muscovite commander Vasily Ivanovich Nozdrovaty Zvenigorodsky and the Crimean prince in Muscovite exile Nur Devlet plundered the "Yurt of Batu" in 1480, in a counterattack ordered by Ivan III of Russia in retaliation for the advance of Khan Aḥmad against Moscow. The decisive blow seems to have been the sacking and burning of Sarai by Khan Meñli I Giray of the Crimea in June 1502. The forces of Ivan IV of Russia passed through and destroyed what was left of Sarai while conquering the Astrakhan Khanate in 1556. After it expanded its control over the lower Volga region, Russia established the new fortress cities of Astrakhan in 1558, and Tsaritsyn in 1589.
Descriptions of Sarai
The traveler Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, who visited in about 1332, has left a description of Sarai. Since the foundation of "New Saray" is estimated to have taken place about this time, it is not entirely clear which Sarai was described by Ibn Baṭṭūṭa; the stated distance of 3 days upstream from Astrakhan is possibly consistent with the site at Selitrennoe Gorodišče, traditionally identified as "Old Sarai", but the archaeological excavations of that site might not support this identification.The Damascene historian Aḥmad ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī, who died in 1349, has also left a description of Sarai, based on the account of a traveler; once again, it is not entirely clear whether the information refers to Old Sarai or New Sarai, given its date, and references to both Berke and Öz Beg:
In 1623–1624, a Russian merchant,, traveled to Persia via the lower Volga. He described the site of Sarai:
As so often the case, it is difficult to decide to which Sarai this description applies.
Location of Old Sarai and New Sarai
The location and identity of the settlement or settlements called Sarai have been subject to scholarly disagreement. Arguments have centered on whether or not there were two capital cities named Sarai and what their respective locations were. One of the influential views that emerged was that "New Sarai" was an enhancement or expansion of "Old Sarai", rather than a separate settlement. The other view was that "Old Sarai" and "New Sarai" were two separate settlements after all, separated by some distance, with "New Sarai" possibly associated with a satellite settlement called Gülistan. Already in the second half of the 18th and first quarter of the 19th century, Sarai was being sought variously at the large ruin fields of Tsarevskoe gorodishche and Selitrennoe gorodishche, both located on the left bank of the Akhtuba, a left distributary of the Volga, which remain the most impressive archaeological sites in the area.During the late 19th-late 20th century, the dominant view that resulted from earlier studies, was that "Old Sarai" was founded in the 13th century by Batu and located at Selitrennoe gorodishche, while "New Sarai" was founded later in the 13th century by Berke and made capital in the early 14th century by Öz Beg, and was located at Tsarevskoe gorodishche. The Selitrennoe gorodishche archaeological site was described as "Gorodishche Selitrennoe ... remains of the Golden Horde capital Sarai-Batu" on the official sign in at the site, while the corresponding sign at the Tsarevskoe gorodishche archaeological site read "Ruins of Sarai-Berke ".
This apparent certainty was eventually eroded by subsequent scholarship. First, it was noted that "New Sarai" could not be associated with Berke on historical, archaeological, and numismatic grounds, leading to a modification of the reconstruction: "New Sarai" was built by Öz Beg, and both "Sarai Batu" and "Sarai Berke" referred to "Old Sarai". Second, the analysis of the archaeological remains and distribution of found coins led to the realization that, while Selitrennoe gorodishche matched Sarai, Tsarevskoe gorodishche did not, and was likely to represent the hitherto unlocated city of Gülistan, which was developed by Jani Beg and rivaled Sarai as a khan's residence and mint in the 1350s and 1360s but then declined. This conclusion quickly gained support among the experts, and the present general consensus is that Selitrennoe gorodishche is "New Sarai", while Tsarevskoe gorodishche is Gülistan.
There is currently no consensus on the location and identification of "Old Sarai". Some scholars suppose that it was a less impressive settlement whose ruins are yet unnoticed or obscured under those of "New Sarai" at Selitrennoe gorodishche, or were destroyed by changing water courses and levels. Others have sought a suitable archaeological site downstream of Selitrennoe gorodishche to identify with "Old Sarai". Here there are extensive remains of Golden Horde settlements, especially at Aksarayskoe gorodishche, and at Akhtubinskoe gorodishche. Apart from a tentative suggestion for Vol'noe 15 km downstream from Selitrennoe, Akhtubinskoe gorodishche at Komsomol'skiy has also been suggested, and a case has been made for Krasnoyarskoe gorodishche in Krasny Yar, where the necropolis on the neighboring Mayachny hill has yielded some coins from the 13th century.
File:Coin of Jani Beg New Serai mint. Dated AH 748.jpg|thumb|A coin of Golden Horde ruler Jani Beg, from his New Serai mint. Dated AH 748
File:Ciutat de Sarra in the Catalan Atlas.jpg|thumb|Ciutat de Sarra with the Golden Horde banner in the Catalan Atlas.
The question remains open. The account of William of Rubruck ensures a location for the Sarai of Batu at or slightly above the apex of the Volga Delta, on the left edge of the Volga-Akhtuba river sistem. This is something possibly compatible with Selitrennoe gorodishche, or perhaps rather with a site farther downstream, between it and the apex of the Delta. This is also consistent with the account of Abū al-Fidāʾ, which places Sarai on the Volga only 2 days above the Caspian coast, and with that of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, who reached Sarai 3 days after Astrakhan. Pegolotti gives a single day's journey between Sarai and Astrakhan, while the Nikon Chronicle cites 2 days for the same journey. Only the account of William of Rubruck refers without any doubt to "Old Sarai", since it dates to the reign of Batu. If "Old Sarai" and "New Sarai" coexisted for some time at some distance from each other, "Old Sarai" ought to be sought downstream of "New Sarai". This might be confirmed by a 15th-century map from the Franciscan monastery of Lesina, which places Saray on the Volga, above Dolatcana, above Eschisari. One interpretation of the evidence would place Batu's original camp on the Akhtuba across from modern Seitovka, "Old Sarai" a little upstram at medieval Ak-Saray, the major royal necropolis a little upstream at medieval Dawlat-Khan, and "New Sarai" a little upstream at Selitrennoe gorodishche.