Shamkir Fortress: An Abbasid Fortress and Khazar Settlement in Azerbaijan
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Azerbaijan
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Abbasid
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page5 sections
History
Shamkir Fortress is a historical fortress in Azerbaijan, associated with the Khazars and the Abbasid rebuilding of Shamkir in the ninth century. The settlement was known by at least the fifth century and may have begun as a Khazar settlement before Arab expansion into the region.
In 737, during Umayyad campaigns against the Khazars, Khazar groups captured along the Volga were settled at Shamkir. Sabirs destroyed the city in 757, ending an early phase of its history.
After the Abbasid conquest of Khazar territory in 851, Boğa el-Kebîr, a ninth-century Abbasid military commander and governor, arranged the settlement of 300 Muslim Khazar families in Azerbaijan. He built a city called Shamkir for them on the Kura River, and the settlement was re-established in 854. The Georgian chronicle Kartlis Tshovreba describes Boğa as a Khazar, while Kitâbü’l-Evrâk generally identifies him as a Turk. He was a Turkic ally of the Abbasid Caliphate, an Islamic empire that ruled and campaigned across much of the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The Abbasid administration later removed him from his governorships in Arminiya and historical Azerbaijan because it rejected his settlement initiatives. The fortress and settlement therefore belong to the history of Khazar presence and resettlement in the region.
Remains
The surviving physical remains consist of parts of the fortress’s defensive structure, including towers and walls. Glass remains recovered at Shamkir add archaeological evidence for activity at the site.
Fortress Structures and Finds
Towers and Walls
Remains of the fortress towers survive alongside sections of the fortress walls. Together, these remains preserve elements of the structure that enclosed and defended the settlement.
Glass Remains
Glass remains have been found at Shamkir Fortress. These finds form part of the archaeological material associated with the fortress and settlement.
Nearby sites
