Achi-Su

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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Achi-Su **
     Historians associate this ancient city with a settlement near the present village of Achi-su on the Caspian coast, north of Derbent and south of Tarka in Dagestan.
     Archaeological material extracted from the settlement indicates that the antiquity of the fortress and the city at it extends to the 2nd century after the birth of Christ.
     The city with the fortress was located right on the trade route that went from Derbent to the Kumyk tract and to the mouth of the Volga. The persians founded this stronghold on the Great Silk Road.
     According to the Kumyk lexicology, the city got its name from its autochthonous ethnic component, the mountain, and it meant Salt water. According to local beliefs, the water here has always been salty, due to the proximity of the sea, as well as due to the presence of oil emissions that fell into the sources.
     Closer to the 6th century, the Shahinshakhs Anushirvan and Kavad created fortifications here, including The Achi-su fortress in the defensive system of fortifications against the pressure of the huns Kingdom, which sought to take control of the profitable Kumyk Tract, which is also important in military and strategic terms.
     Since the beginning of the 8th century, the fortress falls under the rule of the Khazar Khaganate. A military garrison is being formed here, whose functions have become much broader than during the reign of the persian kings. Now citizens take part in trade and military campaigns as part of the khazar army both in the northern steppes of the Caucasus and in Transcaucasia, where Achi-su warriors and merchants come into contact with different cultures and civilizations, enriching their social culture.
     In the 8th century, when a series of arab-khazar wars broke out for the possession of the Caspian and Kumyk Trade Routes, the city was besieged many times by arab detachments and was devastated several times.
     In the middle of the 8th century after the birth of Christ, after the passions for the North Caucasus subsided, the city reached its peak. Its territory covered an area of one and a half hectares. The defenses were not distinguished by special constructs. Apparently, the khazars did not attach this town the importance of an important defensive point, rather it was an auxiliary settlement, whose task was to provide technical support for trade caravans and military campaigns.
     After the destruction inflicted by the arabs in the 8th century, the artisan population of the city, consisting of the autochthonous peoples of the lakz, dargs and avars who joined them in the 6th century, moved away from this ill-fated place.
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