Sarir or Serir was a medieval Christian state lasting from the 6th or 7th century to the 12th century in the mountainous regions of modern-day Dagestan. Its name is derived from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

word for "throne" and refers to a golden throne that was viewed as a symbol of royal authority.

Origin

Sarir was first documented as a political entity in the 6th century AD. The memory of its foundation was transmitted orally among the

Caucasian Avars The Avars, also known as ''Maharuls'' ( Avar: , , "mountaineers") are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group. The Avars are the largest of several ethnic groups living in the Russian republic of Dagestan. The Avars reside in the North Caucasus b ...

. According to one legend, the kingdom was established by a Persian general who was sent to control the Caucasus by a

Sassanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

king. This legend is corroborated by the names of local kings, which are normally of Persian or even Syrian etymology. Sarir bordered the

Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

to the north, the

Durdzuks The Durdzuks ( ka, დურძუკები, tr), also known as Dzurdzuks, was a Georgian name from ''The Georgian Chronicles'' used to describe a people in the North Caucasus, the origins of whom is still a matter of debate, but frequently ide ...

to the west and northwest, the Georgians and

Derbent Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It i ...

to the south. As the state was Christian, Arab historians erroneously viewed it as a dependency of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. The capital of Sarir was the city of Humraj, tentatively identified with the modern-day village

Khunzakh Khunzakh ( av, Хунзахъ, , russian: Хунзах) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Khunzakhsky District in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located in the North Caucasus mountains above sea level. Populati ...

. The king resided in a remote fortress at the top of a mountain.

History

During the

Arab–Khazar wars The Arab–Khazar wars were a series of conflicts fought between the armies of the Khazar Khaganate and the Rashidun, Umayyad, and Abbasid caliphates and their respective vassals. Historians usually distinguish two major periods of conflict, th ...

of the 7th and 8th centuries, the kings of Sarir allied themselves with the Khazars. Following the victorious campaign of Merwan ibn Muhammad in 737–739, Sarir was pressed into submitting to the

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

's authority. It paid tribute and provided men for the Arab garrison of

until the ninth century, when, emboldened by the shift in momentum in the south, Sarir asserted sovereignty over large portions of the Caucasus, including Gumik, Filan and parts of Arran. As the hegemony of the Caliphate crumbled, Sarir found itself continually at war with its successor states, such as Derbent and

Shirvan Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...

. In these wars it was generally victorious and this allowed Sarir to manipulate the politics of Derbent. Concomitantly, the kings of Sarir shifted away from the Khazar alliance and mounted several incursions into the Khazarian steppes. The pattern of intermarriage between the royal houses of Sarir and Alania cemented the anti-Khazar alliance of the two Christian states.

Disintegration

Alarmed by the growing Christian supremacy in the Caucasus, the Muslim powers of the region pledged mutual assistance against Sarir. Their economic and military pressure, coupled with internal discord, led to the state's disintegration in the early 12th century. After another century of Muslim ascendancy, Islam emerged as the dominant religion in the region. In the 13th century, the Caucasian Avars formed a new Muslim state, traditionally known as

Avaristan The Avar Khanate, the Avar Nutsaldom ( av, Avar Nutsallhi; russian: Аварское ханство), also known as Khundzia or Avaria, was a long-lived Avar state, which controlled mountainous parts of Dagestan (in the North Caucasus) from the ...

Rulers

* Abukhisro – (740) * Avaz – (second half of the 9th century) * Buht Isho I – (905) * Philan Shah – (940–950) * Buht Isho II – (1025–26) * Firudzha – * Tokku – (1065)

References

* Minorsky V.F. ''History of Shirvan and Derbent.'' Moscow, 1963 (Минорский В.Ф. ''История Ширвана и Дербента.'' М., 1963, ''In Russian'') * Ataev D.M. ''Mountainous Dagestan during early Middle Ages (materials of archaeological excavations in Avaria).'' Makhachkala, 1963 (Атаев Д.М. ''Нагорный Дагестан в раннем средневековье (по материалам археологических раскопок Аварии).'' Махачкала, 1963, ''In Russian''). * Tahnaeva P.I. ''Christian culture of Medieval Avaria (7th-16th cc.) in context of reconstruction of the political history.'' Makhachkala, 2004 (Тахнаева П.И. ''Христианская культура средневековой Аварии (VII–XVI вв.) в контексте реконструкции политической истории.'' Махачкала, 2004, ''In Russian'') {{coord missing, Dagestan History of Dagestan Former monarchies of Europe States and territories established in the 5th century