Balin

Balin **
     This city was also called Galin and Balyn.
     In the Russian stories the city under the name Balin is correlated with the Veja polovtsian.
     Artamonov believes that the cities of Sugrov, Sharukan and Balin attributed to the polovtsians in the chronicle, which stood on the banks of the Donets river, belonged to the Donets yasses, who at the beginning of the 12th century were already more settled than nomadic. Only they were able to organize at the Khan's standing as the city with the suburbs. And over time, already at the city of Balin, the polovtsian khans organized their stations.
     It is also likely to assume that earlier, starting from the 8th century, it was a khazar city, but the khazars had a different name.
     This city had a mixed population, as the khazars always had, but it was based on artisans and farmers who complemented each other. The picture of a harmonious steppe town was complemented by polovtsian flocks that came here to winter, which is why at this time the stone buildings were not visible at all for a large number of polovtsian yurts. That's why the city was called polovtsian, although it was founded by yasses.
     The Ghazi-Baraj tarikhy Scripture states that Balin was located on the Bystraya Sosna river, west of Yelets. It was a border town with the Chernigov Region at that time, the beginning of the 12th century, then it was the border with the Kursk Principality. If we follow the geographical logic of this work, then Balin corresponds more to the city of Livna.
     Balin is also mentioned in the chronicles under the year 1177, where it is called the center of the specific Livensky Principality. Indeed, 4 kilometers from the city of Livny, archaeologists unearthed an ancient settlement called Klyuchevskoe, whose historical time stopped with the arrival or departure of the mongols.
     The city of Balin is also compared with the city of Chernava, the foundation of which is attributed to Jura Chernoyar, who built this city. His name was also Karanjar. The city of Chernav also passed to a host of ghosts in mongol times.
     The city Balin was named after its founder, leader kolbyag of Chernoyar that led his people from the Baltic, where they lived in the city Kolobzeg in the field of the major cities of Volin.
     In 1111, Vladimir and his son Yaropolk make a campaign to the Don.
     In 1116, David and his son Vsevolod repeat this campaign. The purpose of these campaigns was to pave the way to the Caucasus, which was saddled by the polovtsians, who settled in the fortresses at the yass cities of Sugrov, Sharukan and Balin. The polovtsians were pushed back behind the Iron gates.
     Balin was standing on the old trade route East-West on from Sugrov and Sharuckan, who also guarded the way.
     Modern researchers suggest on the basis of toponymic search on ancient and modern maps a settlement south of Debaltsevo
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