Stary Krym

Staryi Krym (russian: Старый Крым; uk, Старий Крим; crh, Eski Qırım, italic=yes; in all three languages) is a small historical town and former bishopric in Kirovske Raion of Crimea, Ukraine. It has been illegally occupied by Russia since 2014 (see Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation). It is located in the Eastern Crimean Peninsula, approximately 25 km (15 mi.) west of Theodosia. Population:

Names

During the late 13th century, the town was known as either ''Solkhat'' (''Solkhad'', ''Solghad'', ) or as ''Qrım'' ( ). Neither name is attested prior to the 13th century, but on the authority of al-Qalqashandi, ''Solkhat'' is the older of the two, dating to the period prior to the Mongol conquest in mid-1238. Both names coexisted during the 14th century, but the name ''Qırım'' came to displace ''Solkhat'' by the early 15th. The origin of either name is uncertain. Some consider ''Solkhat'' to be related to the Greek ''Colchis''.

Before the Mongol period, mention is made in Greek hagiography of the residence of the Khazar governor of the eastern part of the peninsula, as a fortress named ''Phoulla'' or ''Phoullai'' (Φοῦλλαι, although other sources identify this place with Chufut-Kale) along with ''Sugdaia'' ( Sudak); it is likely that the site of this fortress corresponds to the site of ''Solghat''.E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 4
pp. 1084f

The name ''Qirim'' may continue the old name ''Cimmerium'' (after the Cimmerians).
The Strait of Kerch was known as ''Bosporus Cimmerius'' in the Roman era (as reported by Ptolemy, Polybius, and Strabo), after the city of Cimmerium which stood nearby. The promontory or peninsula on which it stood was known as ''Promontorium Cimmerium'' (Κιμμέριον ἄκρον).
The 13th-century toponym ''Qrim'' is likely explained as a corruption of the name ''Cimmerium''.
There are however alternative suggestions, such as derivation from the Greek ''Cremnoi'' (Κρημνοί, in post-classical Koiné Greek pronunciation, Crimni, i.e., "the Cliffs", referenced by Herodotus 4.20.1 and 4.110.2) or from a Mongolian appellation.

The name "Crimea" (for the Crimean Khanate, and later also for the peninsula itself) is derived from the name of the city. It became adopted as an alternative term for what used to be known as ''Tauris'' or '' Tauric Peninsula'' in western languages from the 17th century.

Since the annexation of Crimea by Catherine II of Russia in 1783, the town has been known by the Russian name Staryi Krym (Russian ''staryi'' meaning "old", rendered in Crimean Tatar as ''eski''; also transliterated as ''Staroi Krim'' and variants). Although officially the town was renamed ''Levkopol'' after the ancient Greek name of ''Leukopolis'' (White City), this never gained popularity, perhaps because the town already styled a name from antiquity.

History

The town was probably the site of an earlier Khazar fortress before the Mongol conquest of the Crimea in mid-1238. The Mongols under Batu Khan fortified the town and thereafter it became a capital of the Crimean Yurt (Crimean province of the Golden Horde) and a home for the Emir of Crimea.

Before the 1270s, Qrim had been a village surrounding a fort at best, but by the early 14th century it had grown into a prosperous city. Kaykaus II was given Qrim as a fief in c. 1265.
Tatar coins were struck in Qrim from 1287/8 (AH 686) and in the same year, an Egyptian architect was sent there to build a mosque to be named after the Egyptian sultan.

From that period remain the Ozbek Han Mosque, built in 1314 by Uzbeg Khan, and the ruins of a madrassa built in 1332.
The town prospered during the 14th century, but it was completely destroyed during the civil unrest under Mengli Girai in the later 15th century. Qrim seems to have retained its position as capital of the newly established
Crimean Khanate for some years, as coins struck here are dated to as late as 1517 (AH 923), after which point in 1532 the capital of the Ottoman vassal state was moved to Bakhchisaray, and the city declined into relative obscurity.
After the Russian conquest of the Crimean Khanate in the 1770s, the city of Staryi Krym was given the Greek name of ''Leukopolis'' (''Lewkopol''), but this name never entered common usage. In 1863, the town had a population of 1,085, of which 43.4% were Armenian Christian, 42.8% were Eastern Orthodox, 13.1% were Muslim, and 0.7% were Protestant. In the late 19th century, the inhabitants were mostly employed in gardening, tobacco cultivation and farming.

Staryi Krym was the city where the famous Russian writer Alexander Grin lived and died, and now has a museum dedicated to him.
The city is home to an important cardiac sanatorium, formerly run by notable heart surgeon Nikolai Amosov.

During World War II, the German occupiers operated a ''Sicherheitsdienst'' prison in the town.

Ecclesiastical history

As Phulli, it was one of the bishoprics in the Roman client-state, later province, of the Bosporan Kingdom, where no imperial metropolis was established, and it faded under heathen rule.

The diocese was nominally restored in 1929, as a Latin Catholic titular archbishopric (Curiate Italian name Fulli).

It has been vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents of the intermediary (archiepiscopal) rank:
* Francis Joseph Beckman (1946.11.11 – 1948.10.17)
* Gabriele M. Reyes (1949.08.25 – 1949.10.13)
* Pasquale Mores (1950.01.31 – 1960.05.15)
* Willem Pieter Adrian Maria Mutsaerts (1960.06.27 – 1964.08.16)

Gallery

File:Мечеть Узбека.JPG, Ozbek Han Mosque
File:120829 Церква Сурб-Ншан06247.jpg, Surb Khach Armenian monastery
File:Starokrymskii sanatorii.jpg, Health resort in Staryi Krym

Notable people

* Abraham Kirimi, medieval Karaite rabbi

Notes

External links

* http://www.iccrimea.org/monuments/monuments.html
* http://tatarworld.com/history.htm
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070929191951/http://www.go2crimea.com/en/index.php?p=31&s=10
* http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/russia/crimeapre1478.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060214212726/http://archnet.org/library/places/one-place.tcl?place_id=8092

The murder of the Jews of Staryi Krym
during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.

GCatholic - Phulli, with titular incumbent links

{{Authority control

Cities in Crimea
Kirovske Raion
Cities of district significance in Ukraine
Holocaust locations in Ukraine