The reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014 and the centuries-old historical path of the peninsula, which has become one of the most significant "crossroads of cultures" in Eurasia, make the study of its historical heritage increasingly relevant in the modern era of the clash of civilizations and the revival of Russia. The editorial board of the magazine "Vostok (Oriens)" offers readers a series of articles devoted to various aspects of the history and culture of medieval Crimea. From the analysis of the first instrumental plan of the ancient settlement of medieval Solkhat in 1783, it follows that the Rabbanites and Karaites in the XIII-XIV centuries lived in neighboring communities surrounded by buildings of the Islamic community of the city. There is reason to believe that the core of the Jewish community was formed in the pre-Urban period (i.e., several decades before the 1260s). From the point of view of urban structure, the population of Jewish neighborhoods was a single community. Hebrew remained the language of ritual and epitaphs for all members of the community; dialects of Turkic were the language of everyday communication. Hebrew was used in the inscriptions on applied seals; one of the finds contains a Judaico-Arabic bilingualism. The Solhat Synagogue can be tentatively dated to 1260-1280, based on the materials of coin finds from previous excavations. Its area is about 214 sq. m. The walls are laid out in the technique of shell masonry on lime mortar; the floor is made of flat stone. The sacral (southern) wall has preserved traces of an altar niche (ghalal). Perhaps the altar niche was decorated with marble mosaics. The plan of the synagogue is presumably close to a three-nave basilica with a stone arcade. The estimated size of one parish, based on the area of the prayer hall, is about 1070-1100 people (based on 5-6 family members). The hypothesis of the existence of two equal parishes - Karaite and Rabbanite-suggests a doubling of this number. This ... Читать далее