Ar-aks

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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Ar-aks **
     The settlement with small fortifications appeared on the bank of the Terek river at the very edge of the Kumyk valley back in the time of the huns, who tried to control one of the branches of the Silk Road that passed through the Kumyk plain. Trade caravans from Araks moved further along the banks of the Terek or Sulak under the protection of Hun warriors, as well as from the highlanders who served in the city.
     As for the name of the city, it could have been brought here by the persians during the construction of the Derbent fortifications in the early 6th century after the birth of Christ. Even earlier, in the 6th century before Christ, they also gave their name to the Araks river in Transcaucasia. In the ancient Iranian language, this word meant muddy, not light. There are still several settlements with the name Araks in Iran and Armenia.
     What the city was called in hunnic times, local researchers have not yet decided. However, linguists note that neither the huns, khazars, or Horde tried to rename the city, since the word «araks» was familiar to them and meant part of the whole, ar-aks. From this they conclude that the name Ar-aks for the city appeared in the time of the huns, and the persians took this name as a related one.
     After the collapse of the hunnic Kingdom, it was replaced by the Khazar Khaganate, and in the 7th century a fortress with walls of mud bricks appeared here.
     Preserved after the huns, the peoples of tyumen, guen, nogai and others were able to form their own people by the arrival of the khazars on the basis of the Kumyks, who lived sedentary and knew many crafts. Therefore, in Araks and on the lands around it, Kumyks lived, who already had their own language, culture of the hostel, system of self-government, and concepts of freedom. All this formed ideas about how to protect yourself and why.
     The khazars did not interfere in the life of the city in peacetime. The townspeople ruled themselves, relying on a system of popular communities, in which the nobility gradually stood out. This nobility nominated the owners of cities that appeared in large numbers in the Kumyk plain after the appearance of the huns in the 3rd century.
     The huns, and later their heirs, the khazars, sent their troops here only when the enemies of their kingdoms appeared.
     With the beginning of the arab-khazar wars in the early 8th century, a khazar detachment appeared here, which stood here until the forties of the 8th century, when the arabs last tried to subdue Khazaria and the eastern part of the Caspian sea. Archaeologists identify several ancient settlements in the Buinak district of Dagestan with the city of Araks.
     According to the description of scientists made on the basis of folk tales, archaeological discoveries, historical information and records in ancient Kumyk languages, it was a rich city with at least 3 thousand houses. Many dwellings were built on stone foundations, and the walls of the houses were glinobit.
     The city did not stop its life during the Golden Horde, which was not interested in stopping the movement along the Silk Road.
     It is necessary to note the advantageous strategic position of the city of Araks and other cities of this type in the Kumyk plane. In the North and North-West it was limited to the Terek, on the East its border was the shore of the Caspian sea, in the South-East Kumyk plane was a river Soulac, and to the South towered Cachkalyck and Andean ranges in the west was the river Aksay.
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