Çufut Qale

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Çufut Qale cave city

Çufut Qale ([tʃʊˈfʊt qaˈlæ] Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале, Russian: Чуфут-Кале, Crimean Tatar: Çufut Qale, Turkish: Çıfıt Kale, Karaim: Джуфт Къале, Juft Qale) sometimes spelled as Chufut Kale is a historic fortress in Crimea, near Bakhchisaray. Its name is Crimean Tatar and Turkish for "Jewish Fortress" (çufut/çıfıt - Jew, qale/kale - fortress). Çufut Qale was historically a center for the Crimean Karaite community. In the Middle Ages the fortress was known as Qırq Yer (Place of Forty) and as Karaites to which sect the greater part of its inhabitants belong, Sela' ha-Yehudim (The Rock of the Jews).

1 Legends
2 Gallery
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Legends

There are many legends concerning the place. According to one, it was called "Qırq Yer" because the khans Meñli Giray and Tokhtamysh, the founders of the city, brought with them forty Karaite families, and in their honor called it the "Place of Forty".

Another legend, fostered by the Karaites to show the antiquity of their sect, says that Karaites were brought there from Persia at the time of the first Exile. The early settlers of the city exercised great influence upon their neighbors, the Khazars. The ḥakam Abraham Firkovich, who was very skilful in falsifying epitaphs and manuscripts, pretended to have unearthed at the cemetery of Çufut Qale tombstones dating from the year 6 of the common era, and to have discovered the tomb of Sangari, which is still shown by the Karaites. According to Harkavy, however, no epitaph earlier than 1203 can be seen at the cemetery of Çufut Qale, called "Vale of Jehoshaphat"; and the tombs do not belong to Karaites, but to the old Rabbinite settlers called Krymchaks. Çufut Qale, however, existed as early as the seventh century. Abu al-Fida mentions it under the name "Qırq Yer".