Crimean Tatars’ ethnogenesis (part 1)

Who are the Crimean Tatars?

The main narrative that haunts us is that the Crimean Tatars, Karaites, Krymchaks, and Urums emerged from nothing, and all the peoples who had inhabited Crimea before disappeared without a trace. By the 18th century alone, approximately 17 different peoples lived on the Crimean peninsula, and their certain cultural characteristics are inherent in descendants, the Crimean Tatars.

Nadir Bekirov, a Doctor of Philosophy, said that the reluctance to notice this is due to political reasons. It is difficult to study the history of Crimea, in particular because of the overabundance of sources: there are too many interpretations and biased judgements. The entire cultural and humanitarian heritage of the Crimean Tatars after the annexation of Crimea in 1783 and the deportation in 1944 was taken away or destroyed.

In order to fully understand the history of Crimea, we need to look into its past.

Tauri.

The Tauri, representatives of the Kizil-Koban culture, are considered the first indigenous people of Crimea. The whole history of the Tauri began and ended on the peninsula: these people never left Crimea and did not come from anywhere, unlike some other peoples who also took part in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars.

According to archaeological findings, this people has been known to us since the 10th century B.C., and the first written mention of them appeared 500 years later in the well-known History of Herodotus. Scythian, Hellenic, and later Crimean Tatar settlements literally rose on the foundations of Taurian ones.

There is a theory about an ethnonym of Turkic origin, namely “tav-er-ler-i” – “people living in the mountains”. The name itself indicates that they later spoke one of the Turkic languages.

Many Hellenic sources describe the Tauri as rather aggressive people, but they, like any other aborigines, defended their land from invaders. Later, however, the Tauri and the Greeks realised that it was better to cooperate: the latter could offer the Tauri much of what they needed in their daily lives because the natural and climatic conditions of Crimea could not provide it to the locals.

Cimmerians.

Unlike the Tauri, who lived only in Crimea, the Cimmerians are known as one of the first peoples of Eastern Europe. We have known about them since the 10th century B.C. But there is even less information about the Cimmerians than about the Tauri.

This people was already familiar with the concept of a state system, they were good warriors and defeated some of the largest armies of the city-states of Mesopotamia, namely Assyria, Urartu, and Lydia. Their state existed until 640 B.C.

The Soviet interpretation of the Iranian origin of the Cimmerian people is wrong. We cannot judge the ethnogenesis of an entire nation by having a few royal names in Assyrian, Persian, or Hellenic transcriptions. Instead, very little attention has been paid to the theory of the Turkic origin of the Cimmerians. This is confirmed by the opinion of the researcher Yurii Drozdov about the Turkic origin of the ethnonym “kemi-er-i” – “a person who has a boat”.

Some researchers believe that part of this people left the Northern Black Sea region due to drought in the 7th century B.C. However, another part remained on the Crimean Peninsula and later took part in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars.

Scythians.

In Histories, Herodotus provides some interesting facts for research: “Nomadic tribes of Scythians lived in Asia. When the Massagetae drove them out of there by military force, the Scythians crossed the Arax and arrived in Cimmerian land.” Thus, we can conclude that the Scythians played a role in the displacement of the Cimmerians.

The Scythians' ancestral home was the Altai, the cradle of the Turkic peoples. This is evidenced by the well-known Scythian mounds that stretch far to the Lower Danube, originating from the Altai mountains. The reason for the appearance of the Scythians in the Northern Black Sea and Crimea has a fairly simple explanation: the Scythian tribes simply lacked land. Since they needed to graze their animals, and many hostile tribes around them had the same need, there was only one way out – to move west. That’s how they founded their states.

Scythians and Tauri coexisted well (they pushed the Cimmerians to the foothills). Initially, the settlements were separate, but later an active process of interaction began. Gradually, the Tauri became part of the population of Scythian settlements, and the ethnic term “Tauroscythians” (or “Scythotaurians”) appears in history.

According to the most common version, the Scythians belonged to the Iranian group of peoples of the Indo-European family, however, Yurii Drozdov in his book “The Turkic Period of European History” emphasises that the lifestyle, material culture, clothing, beliefs, martial arts and other rituals of the Scythians, Tauri and Cimmerians were similar to those of the Turkic-speaking peoples and differed from the possessions of the Indo-Iranian culture.

Hellenes.

The Hellenes appeared on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula in the 8th century B.C. The majority of the Hellenic population were warriors, not traders and craftsmen. This fact only confirms the opinion that the colonisation of the Hellenes was not very peaceful.

The military superiority of the Hellenes over the Tauri could not be denied. Thus, the first factories appeared on the southern, eastern, and western coasts of Crimea. In general, most colonies were founded by people from Miletus, one of the largest cities in Asia Minor.

In the 1st century B.C., Mithridates VI Eupator united all the Black Sea city-states and ruled over them. However, he was unable to defeat the Roman Empire in times of war, and as a result, the Bosporan Kingdom became a vassal of Rome. At this time, there was an active cultural integration of the Hellenes with the Scythians.

Sarmatians.

There is no doubt that the Sarmatians, who in turn were divided into Roksolans, Yazygians, Alans and others, were one of the tribes related to the Scythians. The only difference between them and the Scythians was that the Sarmatians were more cruel and warlike.

Herodotus claimed that the Sarmatians spoke the Scythian language. The geographer Strabo also classified the Sarmatians as Scythians. In the 6th century, the philosopher Stephen of Byzantium referred to early Greek and Latin authors in his work Ethnica. He argued that the Sarmatians were a Scythian tribe and claimed their state was Sarmatia.

Archaeological research in recent years has shown that the historical homeland of the Sarmatians was the southern Urals and Central Asia. Initially, relations between the Scythians and Sarmatians were friendly. King Ateas' army included Sarmatians who helped defeat the Persians. But later, the Sarmatians took advantage of the decline of Scythia and seized its territories, pushing them deeper into the Crimean Peninsula.

The Roman historian Polyenus made an assumption that the Sarmatian queen Amaga responded to the request of the inhabitants of Chersonese for help, which is why the Sarmatians so quickly captured the Scythian lands. Subsequently, the Scythians and Sarmatians reunited and opposed the Kingdom of Pontus. However, they lost to King Mithridates.

It is likely that it was from the Sarmatians that the Crimean Tatars received the Turkic tamgas, which were popular in the Bosporan Kingdom. As a result of this alliance, the Sarmatians gradually dissolved among the local population and became the basis for the formation of the Crimean Tatars.

Alans. Romans.

In the 2nd century A.D., the Alans appeared in the Black Sea steppe, pushing the Sarmatians deeper into the peninsula and occupying the steppe part of Crimea.

Some evidence of the similarity between the Sarmatians, Scythians and Alans is their traditions and rituals. The Alans and the Sarmatians also fought against the Roman Empire. Interestingly, in the 13th century, the Flemish Franciscan monk and traveller Guillaume de Rubrouck spoke about the Alans in Crimea. He claimed that they lived in a community along the Black Sea coast near Kherson (Chersonese). By that time, they had already converted to Christianity. The Alans may have partially merged with the Goths, but they were also mentioned in the 17th century.

In the 1st century, Roman legionaries appeared on the Crimean peninsula. We cannot say whether they had any contact with the local population, but the Romans stayed in Crimea until the 4th century A.D. They left behind excellent outposts, good roads, and the first Christians. Roman culture had impact on the population of some cities, however, we cannot say that the influence of the Romans on the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars was essential.

Sources:

1. Гульнара Абдулаєва «Кримські татари: від етногенезу до державності».

2. Курс лекцій Надіра Бекірова DERS (увага! відео російською мовою):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfBhLJ5G-NVv8CtOnzF-P4bRwm42i-hjN

Article by Esma Ametova, Daria Piskun, Olena Sudak