Saqsin, also known asSaksin andSaksin-Bolgar, was a medieval city that flourished from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries. It was situated in theVolga Delta (modern-dayAstrakhan Oblast), or in theLower Volga region, and was known in pre-Mongol times as Saksin-Bolgar, which in Mongol times becameSarai Batu. It was mentioned by theArab geographeral-Gharnati and thePersianQazwini, among others, and recorded as "the land of the Saksins" in the report of FriarBenedict of Poland about the 1246 trip ofGiovanni da Pian del Carpine through the camp of Mongol princeBatu Khan on the shores of the Volga. S.A. Pletneva locates Saksin between presentVolgograd andAkhtubinsk.
Friar Benedict apparently misunderstood the name as somehow connected with theSaxons of Germany, stating incorrectly that the inhabitants were Christians and "believed to be Goths" related to those ofCrimea. In actuality, they were probablyTurkic andMuslim.
Saqsin may be an Arabized version ofSarighsin, Turkic for "Yellow City" or "White city". The identity of its inhabitants is unclear, though Carpine reports that Saksin province was inhabited byKumans. It was situated near the ruins ofAtil, the oldKhazar capital, but there is no indication that it was part of anylatter-day Khazar polity. It was situated inKipchak territory and may have been the center for one of their principalities. Some sources claim that it was under the influence of theVolga Bulgars.
Beginning in 2003 Dmitry Vasilyev ofAstrakhan State University led a series of excavations at theSamosdelskoye site near the village of Samosdelka (Russian:Самосделка) in the Volga Delta. Vasilyev connected artifacts from the middle strata with Khazar,Oghuz andBulgar culture, leading him to believe that he had discovered the site of Saqsin. The matter is still unresolved.Sarai Batu was excavated by a number of expeditions exploring the center of the city, and was probably located on the periphery of the original Saqsin. The ruins of Atil appear to be underneath the layers presumed to represent Saqsin.[1]
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