Sarir or Serir was a medieval
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
state lasting from the 6th or 7th century to the 12th century in the mountainous regions of modern-day
Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...
in southern
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. Its name is derived from the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
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' (), are a Northeast Caucasian languages, 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 Caucasu ...
. According to one legend, the kingdom was established by a Persian general who was sent to control the Caucasus by a
Sasanian
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...
king. This legend is corroborated by the names of local kings, which are normally of Persian or even Syrian etymology.

According to the 10th-century Arab geographer
al-Masudi
al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...
the king of Sarir was a descendant of the 5th-century Sasanian king
Bahram V
Bahram V (also spelled Wahram V or Warahran V; ), also known as Bahram Gur (New Persian: , "Bahram the onager unter), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') from 420 to 438.
The son of the incumbent Sasanian shah Ya ...
. The first king allegedly arrived in Dagestan as an emissary of
Yazdegerd III
Yazdegerd III (also Romanized as ''Yazdgerd'', ''Yazdgird'') was the last Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar (son of Khosrow II), Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II.
Ascending the throne a ...
, bringing with him the Sasanian throne and the imperial treasure after the Sasanian empire had been
defeated by the Arabs in the 7th century. To protect the throne he established a hereditary reign. The 9th-century geographer
al-Ya'qubi
ʾAbū al-ʿAbbās ʾAḥmad bin ʾAbī Yaʿqūb bin Ǧaʿfar bin Wahb bin Waḍīḥ al-Yaʿqūbī (died 897/8), commonly referred to simply by his nisba al-Yaʿqūbī, was an Arab Muslim geographer.
Life
Ya'qubi was born in Baghdad to a fam ...
noted that the golden throne of Sarir was a gift of the 6th-century
shah
Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...
Khosrow I Anushirvan. The king of Sarir reportedly titled himself as ''sahib al-sarir'' ("master of the throne") as well as ''khaqan al-jabal'' ("
khagan
Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...
of the mountain") and ''wahrazan-shah'' (possibly "king of the Avars"), titles he had allegedly received from the Sasanian shah. These reports suggest that the kings of Sarir tried to back their authority by claiming a relationship with the Sasanians. During the
Iranian Renaissance of the 10th and 11th centuries it was common among both Muslim and Christian rulers of the Iranian world and its periphery to express their legitimacy in reference to the Sasanians.
Sarir bordered the
Khazars
The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, a ...
to the north, the
Durdzuks to the west and northwest, the
Georgians
Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...
and
Derbent
Derbent, also historically known as Darband, or Derbend, is the southernmost city in Russia. It is situated along the southeastern coast of the Dagestan, Republic of Dagestan, occupying the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucas ...
to the south. As the state was Christian, Arab historians erroneously viewed it as a dependency of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
. The capital of Sarir was the city of Humraj, tentatively identified with the modern-day village
Khunzakh. The king resided in a remote fortress at the top of a mountain.
History
During the
Arab–Khazar wars 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 ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
's authority. It paid tribute and provided men for the Arab garrison of
Derbent
Derbent, also historically known as Darband, or Derbend, is the southernmost city in Russia. It is situated along the southeastern coast of the Dagestan, Republic of Dagestan, occupying the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucas ...
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 ; ; Tat: ''Şirvan'') is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, as known in both pre-Islamic Sasanian and Islamic times. Today, the region is an industrially and agriculturally developed part of the Republic of Azerbaijan ...
. 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
Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans ( Proto-Ossetians) that flourished between the 9th–13th centuries in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of the latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia ...
cemented the anti-Khazar alliance of the two Christian states.
During the early years of the 11th century ruled a certain Bukht Yisho Khosrow. He is known from a silver plate found in a monastery in southwestern Georgia dated to the year 1008 as well as the 11th-century ''tarikh al-bab''. The latter mentioned that his daughter married Emir Mansur of Derbent in 1025.
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. In the 13th century, the Caucasian Avars formed a new Muslim state, traditionally known as
Avaristan.
Religion
The ruler of Sarir and the inhabitants of his fortress were reported to be Christians, while the population of the countryside remained pagans. Relics of Christianity, like crosses, churches and Christian burials, are, however, commonly found throughout much of Avaria. The most significant preserved Christian monument is the
Datuna Church, which has been dated to the late 10th–early 11th century. Several stone crosses bearing Georgian, Armenian and even Avarian inscriptions have also been noted. Christianity probably arrived via Georgia and had its peak in Avaria contemporary to the
Georgian Golden Age
The Georgian Golden Age ( ka, საქართველოს ოქროს ხანა, tr) describes a historical period in the High Middle Ages, spanning from roughly the late 11th to 13th centuries, during which the Kingdom of Georgia rea ...
in the 10th–12th centuries. Christianity remained dominant until the early 14th century, but eventually disappeared in favour of Islam. Oral traditions recall that the Datuna church was looted by Muslims in around 1475.
Rulers
*
Abuhosro - ( mid 8th century)
*Khosro - ( late 8th century)
* Bukht Yisho I – ( 903)
* Bukht Yisho II – ( 1025)
* Takhu – ( 1065)
References
Literature
* 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