Andji-Kala

Cities of Khazaria. Kromos Estatium
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     The khazar cities here include not only those cities that were built by the khazar architects, but also those that were built before the arrival of the khazars, were used by the khazars for their needs and tasks for a long time.
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Andji-Kala **
     Also Indjy.
     It was one of the thriving cities of the Kumyk valley, which arose in the middle of the 4th century after the birth of Christ during the Hunnic Kingdom, which continued its development during the Khazar Khaganate, and which existed during the Golden Horde.
     Historians consider this city to be the second capital of the Khazar Khaganate, but this is only for those authors who mistakenly identify this city with Semender.
     It was a major commercial and political city of the khazars. The city was a fortress with a Citadel and a posad, surrounded by two rows of fortress walls with towers. These walls stretched from the heights of Tarki-Tau to the sea. These walls have survived to the present day, and in the 17th century their remains were seen by Peter the Great.
     Andji-Kala has been known to authors since the 7th century, when the arab-khazar wars began. It is known that in 662, the Khazar Khagan was in Andji, fleeing from the arabs.
     Derbent Nameh calls Andji or Indji a great city standing on the seashore three farsakhs from Tarhu. The city was subordinate to the Khazar Khakan, like Samandar, Tarhov, Irhan, Gelbach, Madjars, Dzhulat, Shehr-and-Tatars.
     According to ancient information confirmed in Derbent-Nam, Andji-Kala was located three kilometers below the city of Tarhu.
     Chronicles note that the city is large and well fortified. The remains of mud brick walls, ramparts, and stone foundations of dwellings have been preserved on the hillfort, which is attributed to the city. The home was built of adobe walls or of ragged stone walls.
     This wall stretched from the heights of Tarki-Tau to the sea. The city had strong walls that had secret passageways leading to mountain paths that provided food and water to the city in the event of a siege. And the defenders of the city, half assembled from the local highlanders, fought desperately and bravely.
     There was a Citadel in the city, which makes it possible to judge the presence of important nobles in the city. The city was closed by two fortress walls with towers.
     The walls were so strong that a thousand years after the destruction, Peter the Great had the opportunity to observe its remains.
     In its khazar past, Andji Kala was a major trade and political center, since it was close to one of the branches of the Silk Road, as well as a strategic road from Derbent to the pre-Caucasian steppes.
     The arabs were able to take the city with great difficulty, building a wall of their wagons, from which they were able to penetrate the fortress.
     The city was destroyed. In the 12th century, the historians reporting this event called the city Inzhi-kent.
     The basis of the population of the city and its surroundings were Kumyks, the core of which was formed in the 7th century after the birth of Christ in the bowels of Khazaria on the khazar-bulgar substratum with subsequent stratification of the oguz-kipchak substratum on this core.
     The resulting kumyk ethnic group from the very beginning of its formation enjoyed authority among the mountaineers, the khagans and shamkhals of the city were at the head of all campaigns as part of the khazars in Transcaucasia, merging with the slavic and turanian tribes, being the guides of cultures from Asia to Europe and back. This was also facilitated by participation in trade migration, which was carried out through the Kumyk platform.
     Some historians believe that the name of Indji, the city had since ancient times, since the people called the whole country of it, the river, another city with the name Indji-Kalesi.
     According to some sources, Semender, Tarkhu and Indji were given by the persian Shah Isfendiyar to his ruler, who was called Tumyn Shah. These lands were considered to be his inju, an specific ownership.
     The name of the city is derived from the term «hill», since Anzhi-mountain, Anzhi-slope, and Anzhi-gorge are located nearby.
     According to another version, the name of the city comes from the concept of «Ingi», meaning possession, ulus.
     Kumyks and other peoples of the Kumyk plain fortifications near the city of Makhach-Kala are still called Andji-Kala. There are the remains of two fortress walls that stretch from mount Tarki-Tau to the sea, enclosing the territory of the ancient city. This city with its lands around it was the ulus, the inju of the Khazarian kings.
     Linguists find the word «Andji» in the vocabulary of the polovtsians of the 12th century. They had the ancestral association andj-oglu, mentioned in the Word about Igor's regiment.
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