Zichia (; , ) was the predecessor of

Circassia Circassia ( ), also known as Zichia, was a country and a historical region in . It spanned the western coastal portions of the North Caucasus, along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. Circassia was conquered by the Russian Empire during ...

and a medieval kingdom on the northeastern shore of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, inhabited by

Circassians The Circassians or Circassian people, also called Cherkess or Adyghe (Adyghe language, Adyghe and ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia, a region and former country in t ...

.Колли Л. Кафа в период владения ею банком св. Георгия (1454—1475) // Известия Таврической Ученой Архивной комиссии. № 47. Симферополь, 1912. С. 86

History

The exact borders of the kingdom are unknown. According to the 10th-century

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and ...

(), it lay south of Tamatarcha ( Tmutorokan), separated from it by the river Oukrouch (possibly to be identified with the

Kuban River The Kuban is a river in Russia that flows through the Western Caucasus and drains into the Sea of Azov. The Kuban runs mostly through Krasnodar Krai for , but also in the Karachay–Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea. ...

), and had a city called Nikopsis. According to a legend about a visit of the

Apostle Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

there, it lay between Abasgia (

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

) and the Cimmerian Bosporus (

Strait of Kerch The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is to wide and u ...

). In historical sources, the area first appears in the 6th century, when the Byzantine historian

Procopius of Caesarea Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Emperor Justinian's wars, Procopius became the pr ...

(''Wars'', VIII.4.2) records that the people of the ''Zechoi'' used to have a king appointed by the Roman Emperor, but that they had since become independent. The ''

Notitiae Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') were official documents that furnished for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the mos ...

'' of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed ...

mention an

autocephalous Autocephaly (; ) is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. The status has been compared with t ...

archbishopric of Zichia from the 7th century on, associated with Tamatarcha or the Cimmerian Bosporus. At the time of Constantine VII, Byzantine dealings with the area were carried out by the inhabitants of Cherson. In the 11th century, the Byzantines may have established control over the region, as attested by the seal of a Michael, "''

archon ''Archon'' (, plural: , ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem , meaning "to be first, to rule", derived from the same ...

'' of Zichia,

Khazaria 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, an ...

, and Gothia", but this is disputed among modern scholars. In the 12th century, Emperor

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history o ...

() used the title "emperor of Zichia, Khazaria, and Gothia", but it is unclear to which extent this claim corresponded to reality. In the 13th century, the area was visited by Hungarian and Italian travellers, who called it ''Sychia'' (and other variants thereof). These travellers located Matrica (Tmutorokan) within Sychia.

Known rulers

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

(89–146) mentions a king of Zichia named Stachemfak * In the 500s, King Bakhsan the son of King Daw fought with the Goths.D, S. ''Çerkes Krallar, Hükümdarlar'' "In the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, the Goths settled in the north of the Black Sea. There were constant wars with the Circassian kingdoms. Prince Baksan, one of the 8 sons and eldest of King Daw, was one of the rare leaders who made his mark in the wars against the Goths, was one of the rare leaders to whom a statue was erected, and died with his eighty warriors in a war against the Goths, in which his 7 brothers joined him." * King Lawristan is mentioned as the king in the 700s–800. * King Hapach of Zichia, the son of king Weche, is mentioned to have raided Khazaria in the 900s. * Rashid-ad-Din in the ''Persian Chronicles'' wrote that the Zichian king Tukar was killed in battle against the Mongols in 1237. * In 1333,

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII (, , ; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Papacy, Avignon Pope, elected by ...

thanked the King Verzacht (Верзахта in

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

script) of Zichia (

) for his assistance in implementing the Christian faith among

. * In 1471, the ruler of

Caffa Feodosia (, ''Feodosiia, Teodosiia''; , ''Feodosiya''), also called in English Theodosia (from ), is a city on the Crimean coast of the Black Sea. Feodosia serves as the administrative center of Feodosia Municipality, one of the regions into ...

, Uffizio di San Giorgio signed a contract with the ruler of

, "the paramount lord of Zichia" for supplying of Caffa with large quantities of grain by Zichia.Kressel R. Ph. The Administration of Caffa under the Uffizio di San Giorgio. University of Wisconsin, 1966. P. 396 * Kansavuk is mentioned by Malbakhov as a king of Zichia in 1542.Мальбахов Б. К. "Кабарда на этапах политической истории (середина XVI — первая четверть XIX века),

Москва Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, из-во «Поматур», 2002 г. , ст. 212

History

Known rulers

See also

Notes

References

Further reading