Bab al-Abwab

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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Bab al-Abwab **
     Also Derbent, Chora gate And many, many others. And someone even tries to connect this city with Terbent, which is mentioned in the Talmud.
     Bab al-abwab is the arabic name for Derbent, meaning Gate of the gate, al-Bab, meaning Gate. This name was given to the city by the arabs after its capture in the early 8th century. And this city was called Bab-al-abwab for 7th centuries in arabic historical literature, as well as in the works of authors of those countries that were subject to the Caliphate, until in 1258 the Arab Caliphate collapsed after the fall of Baghdad under the onslaught of the Mongol Horde. The city returned to its former name Derbent.
     People have lived here for a long time, since the main trade road through the Caucasus Range passed here.
     The city first appears in Roman geographies in the 3rd century, where it was called the gate, then Albanian, then Caspian. And the name Derbent appears in the atlas of the greeks in the middle of the 6th century.
     Started building wall at the castle, historians have credited the persian king Hobad at the beginning of the 6th century. It was built to protect the persian possessions from the attacks of the turks; but there was a fortified settlement there long before that.
     According to the calculations of archaeologists, the fortress itself appears there at the end of the 5th century. It was a persian fortress that consisted of a Citadel and two stone walls that blocked a three-kilometer passage between the sea and the Caucasus mountains.
     Construction of the fortress and walls continued later. At the beginning of the 6th century, savirs appeared in the area of Derbent, among which there were many slavs who came from the upper Volga. They penetrate through The Gates of The Gates to Transcaucasia and attack the persian borders.
     Balazuri, followed by Ibn al-Asir, reported that the king of kings, shahinshah Kawad of Iran, completed the wall around 520, drawing it between Shirvan and Daryal, The Gate of The Alans. Earlier, he rebuilt the city of Berdaa. Byzantium also participated in the construction of the wall by many. According to a favorite Iranian legend, Kawad also built 360 cities along his wall, according to the number of days it took to build Bab al-Abwab. Then he ordered the destruction of all these cities.
     Masudi, writing in the mid-10th century, noted that the inhabitants of Bab al-abwab were constantly oppressed by the northern steppe huns of the Kingdom of Jidan, referring this circumstance to the 6th century.
     In 530, the jewish population appears here, which was founded by Anushirvan, the son of Kavad.
     In 567, the Derbent wall was completed.
     In 570, the year turquety laid siege to the Fortress, but can not take it.
     In the middle of the 7th century, the city was taken over by the arabs. Al-Bab becomes the base fortress city for conducting military operations against the khazars, which prevented the arabs from entering Eastern Europe. The process of arabization of the city's population and the city itself begins. In the second half of the 7th century, a Juma mosque was built in the city.
     Arab authors, who from the middle of the 7th century were able to travel through the Caspian passage, began to call Derbent in their own way: Bab-al-Abwab, that is, the Gate of the Gate, they can not be denied imagination. They noted that the ends of the fortress wall dug into the sea, forming a harbor between them, blocked by a chain.
     In 654, the arab general Selman conquered Ancient Albania. The arabs took Bilecan, Berda, Shamkhor, Kabala, Shaki, Shirvan, Muscat and other regions and cities, moving to Derbent. Tabari wrote that the first person in Derbent was Abd-ar-Rahman, probably Selman's brother.
     The fortress was then occupied by the persian commandant Shahrvaraz, who had mostly local hired soldiers in his service. Shahrvaraz surrendered to the arabs and surrendered the fortress. For this, he asked to keep his position and not to demand tax from his subjects. Abd-ar-Rahman accepted the surrender of the fortress on the terms of the commandant and decided to move further north, towards Belendger, which Shahrvaraz objected to, believing that after raiding the northern kings, they would return and take revenge on him.
     But the arabs did not listen to the persians. They moved north and, on their way back, were ambushed by the khazars. Abd-ar-Rahman was killed in a heated battle under the walls of Belendger. The khazars placed the body of Abd-ar-Rahman in a large earthen vessel and carried it with them, believing that it could cause rain and drought and ensure victory in the war.
     Since then, Derbent is within the limits of arab power, gets a new name: Bab-al-Abwab, which gradually takes root among arab historians and geographers.
     Bal'ami, who wrote in the middle of the 10th century, noted that in the 7th century the fortress was threatened russ and gurgani. According to him, the russ had a whole Kingdom, many cities and towns. According to him, it was the most powerful Kingdom of all the kingdoms in the Eastern Caucasus.
     In the middle of the 7th century, the khazars invaded through the Gate the Gate to the Ancient Albania, but was fight back by Оuansher also. In the 7th century, the inhabitants of Bal al-abwab suffered, according to Balami, troubles from the neighborhood of the khazars.
     In 692, the arab ruler of Armenia, Muhammad Ibn Ogbay, invades Ancient Albania and occupies the Caspian gate, which he already called Bab-al-Abwab in his report to the Caliph.
     The arabs sought to prevent the passage of the khazar cavalry in Transcaucasia. To do this, they needed to take control of the Gate gate. Ibn Ogbay manages his sortie, because Khazaria at this time was involved in the situation in Byzantium, where there was complete anarchy, the emperors changed every month and it was not clear with whom to negotiate and what.
     As soon as the situation in the Empire settled down, the khazars drove Ibn Ogbay out of the city.
     In 706, Maslama came to Transcaucasia, conquered almost all the fortresses of Ancient Albania, and attacked the khazars near Derbent. After the retreat of the khazar troops, Maslama took the deserted fortress, which in his report to the Caliph calls Bab-al-Abwab.
     In 710, the khazars release their troops from the Byzantine direction, where the new Emperor Philip was established, and try to regain Derbent, having previously regained Ancient Albania. After the retreat of the arabs, the Derbent residents themselves opened the gates to the khazars.
     In 713 Maslama returns and takes Derbent. After that, he invades the borders of Khazaria, where he did not have much success.
     Gevond of this attack of Derbent reports that this fortress was in the hands of the huns. The fortress housed a khazar garrison of three thousand, which for three months held out against the arabs. Maslama managed to take the fortress only due to the fact that the arabs found an underground passage to the fortress, which was opened by the inhabitants of the city.
     In 721, the khazars invade Armenia through Derbent. Then the new arab commander Jarrah forced the khazars to retreat to Derbent, and after a two-month siege took the city, which the arabs held with varying success for 10 years.
     In 730, the khazars, by agreement with Byzantium, again penetrate through the Gate of Chora, as Gevond calls this fortress, go to the land of the maskuts, cross the Araks, invade Paytakaran, on the way they deal with all the muslims, whom the arabs managed to settle here in large numbers.
     But under the Ardabil in the Caspian Albania, Jarrah was killed and his head Bargil planted on the peak.
     In 732, the arabs try to regain the initiative and send Maslama, an old proven wolf, to Derbent. Maslama returned to the arabs of Derbent and Belendger. But not for long.
     In 733, Maslama in Bab-al-Abvab made an alliance with the princes of the mountain tribes of southern Dagestan, with the help of which he again tried to regain Derbent, but the khazars resisted. Maslama had to go deep into the territory of the khazars, leaving behind a strong fortress, the detachment of which constantly made attacks against the arabs.
     Maslama had to return and besiege the fortress, which was occupied by several thousand khazars. Only after the sources of water entering Derbent were exhausted, the khazars decided to leave the fortress. Maslama missed them.
     Maslama in his report to the Caliph said that he re-fortified Bab al-Abwab, built an arsenal there, food warehouses, settled in the city a colony of syrians in the number of 24 thousand people, who were entrusted with the protection of the fortress. But after the arabs left for winter quarters, the khazars regained the fortress, and where the syrians went is unknown.
     In 737, it is Mervan's time to decide the fate of Bab al-Abwab. It passes the Caucasus range through Bab al-Abwab and Daryal.
     Arab writers believed that Derbent was one of the 72 kingdoms in the North Caucasus. According to other sources, Derbent was a merchant domain and was the subject of trade between the richest people of the North Caucasus.
     Since Bab-al-Abvab was the most reliable fortress in the North Caucasus, Mervan ordered all the tribute from the 72nd kingdoms to be brought to Bab-al-Abvab.
     The ruler of Sindan gave the arabs 100 slaves and 40 tons of grain annually. The king of Tabasaran gave the arabs 80 tons of grain. This tribute ensured the presence of an arab garrison in Bab al-Abwab.
     After the departure of Mervan, arab power was held only in the Bab al-Abwab area and further south. North of the fortress, the khazars remained the main force.
     In 762, according to Tabari, the turks, along with the khazars, passed through The Gate of the Gats ancient Albania, where they destroyed Muslim villages. At the same time, they could not take Bab al-Abwab. The arabs stocked up on oil and watered the approaching horsemen from the walls of the fortress.
     In 764, the Caliph Mansur strengthens the fortifications of the Bab fortress. For this work, builders were sent to the city under the leadership of the boastful padagrik Yazid, where he died, executed by the khazars, when he jumped on a horse outside the gates of the fortress and boasted to the khazars of his invincibility. At that moment, he was struck by the padagra and fell from the saddle right under the hooves of the horses that surrounded him khazars.
     In 785, the arabs expected an attack by the khazars. This summer, the ruler of the city Osman stood for a long time on the road leading to the Bab fortress. But the khazars did not contact the large forces of the arabs, and preferred to attack from ambushes. The arabs led by Osman lost almost half of the army, for which Osman fell out of favor, and the Caliph replaced him.
     In 798, the khazars pass through The Gate of The Gates in the Transcaucasus. At this time, there is a change of power in Derbent. Derbent has long been owned by large feudal lords. At this time, the ownership belonged to the ancient Ansar family as-Sulami. They had the right, in the event of the death or deposition of the ruler, to rule Derbent until the arrival of his successor.
     However, the arab governor executed the owner of the city of Bab. Then his son Khayyum Ibn Najm turned against the arabs, who killed the governor, and then called for the help of the khazars, who were not slow to appear, passed through the Gates, and made a complete ruin of the muslims in Transcaucasia.
     The following year, the arabs gathered a strong army and marched against the khazars. However, the Khazar Khagan considered holding the fortress not so important for himself and retreated to his own borders. The fortress again came under the control of the arabs.
     In 943, Tmutorokan Rus, together with the alans, attacked Transcaucasia. Russ came on ships, because they could not pass the fortress of Bab by land. At this time, the fortress had an arab garrison, half-manned by local residents.
     Ibn Haukal, writing in the 70s of the 10th century, reported that after the khazars had conquered by Rus, its inhabitants sought refuge on the island of Bab-al-Abwaba, where there were good walls.
     In the 10th century, during the reign of king Joseph, the Khazaria border in the north passed through Bab al-Abwab.
     In 987, the Emir of the city of Bab called on the help of Rus to overcome the resistance of the local nobility to the will of the Emir. Rus did not take long to wait and appeared on 18 ships with well-armed soldiers. Against Rus was made by the local population, so the ships went to Shirvan and Mugan.
     In 989, despite the failure of the previous year, the Emir of Derbent hired his own guard, half consisting of Russ, to protect him. However, the city at that time consisted almost entirely of muslim residents, who drove the Emir and his guards out of the city.
     In 1032, the Emir of the fortress Bab attacked the russ returning from Shirvan. The following year, the russ retaliated by attacking Bab al-Abwab. They did not succeed in capturing the city, but the city's suburbs were looted to their heart's content.
     Recent events are clearly related to Tmutorokan Rus, which entered into close relations with the peoples of the North Caucasus closest to it. This Rus used the local population, mainly kasogov and alans, to raid the pre-Caucasian regions, especially the Bab fortress.
     In the second half of the 11th century, Bab al-Abwab belonged politically to the Caliphate and seljuq power. From that moment, the turkization of the city began.
     In the 12th century, Bab al-Abwab became the center of an independent Principality. It has existed here for a century.
     At the beginning of the 12th century, the khazars lost their positions on the Volga, the khazars ceased to exist as a political entity, and the khazars disappeared along with it.
     However, in the second half of the 12th century, georgian chronicles note some Derbent khazars who raided Shirvan, where the Derbent Emir ruled.
     The khazars of Derbent were subjects of the Emir of Derbent, as well as his northern neighbors and allies.
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     The walls of the fortress were laid out of stone on lime, and then all this was lined with large hewn blocks. Along the walls were several towers of various shapes and sizes.
     Over the city and the sea, dominated by the Citadel of Naryn-Kala.
     The arabs were most impressed by the wall, which was 40 kilometers long, closing the passage for mounted detachments.
     Masudi from Baghdad noted that the wall was brought to the Tabasaran fortification. The entire fortress complex was needed for protection from the khazars, alans, turks, serirs, slavs.
     Yakut, a Muslim scholar, although of greek origin, wrote that in his time, which is the 12th century, the country and city of Bab al-Abwab lost their peace. The city belongs to the turks, who repel the hordes of steppe dwellers, who are approaching the city, raise the dust to the clouds. The surrounding villages supply the defenders of the fortress with food, as they protect the houses of the mountaineers from the steppe people.
     The arabs noted that the city that they got was marked by all the outstanding qualities of a full-fledged fortress, which provided it with the persians who founded it. The city in arab times was a remarkable structure, causing surprise with its grandeur and power. The mountains here are close to the seashore, the passage along the coast is blocked by two parallel walls, between which the city is located.
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