Isti-Su on the Sulak

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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Isti-Su on the Sulak **
     The city with the fortress was located on the left bank of the Sulak in the Kizilyurt district of the Kumyk plain of the Tersko-Sulak interfluve on the territory of present-day Dagestan.
     It is identified with a high degree of confidence with еhe Kizilyurt settlement on the territory of the city of Kizilyurt.
     It was founded at the end of the 7th century by the khazars and was one of the strongholds of the khazars on one of the branches of the Silk Road, which became a strategic point during the arab expansion into the territory of the khazars, especially in the North Caucasus.
     This city dates back to the era of the Kingdom of the Huns, when caravans of the Great Silk Road began to pass here, and if silk was carried, it was not much. They carried salt, metal products, jewelry, spices. Guard detachments and armies that participated in military strategies went here.
     The city provided tired caravans with the opportunity to rest, replenish water and food supplies, sell or buy something, and also provided armed security throughout the plain and the North Caucasus.
     But the first inhabitants who founded a permanent settlement here appeared on the site of the future city at the end of the first century after the birth of Christ, representing the Iranian-speaking tribe, after them the savirs come here, who are replaced by the khazars.
     Together, these tribes developed a single culture of gray-flattened ceramics on the Kumyk plane for the Tersko-Sulak interfluve, which then spread throughout the khazars. Beginning in the 7th century, the area became part of Ancient Albania, now divided between Dagestan and Azerbaijan.
     During the reign of the huns, the city became flourishing and densely populated, which did not lose its commercial and military-strategic significance also during the khazar rule, and it continued to exist during the Golden Horde.
     Residents of the city were engaged not only in trade and accompanying caravans. Agriculture was developed here. There was also its own ceramics, the technology of which was in many ways similar to the volga khazar-bulgar culture.
     In the first half of the 8th century, a confrontation broke out between the Caliphate and the khazars, and the majority of the population of the city of Isti-su, who referred to themselves as the khazars, moved north towards the Volga region. However, the city continued to be supported by the khazars. The khazar garrison remained here, and the main crafts were preserved.
     At this time, Isti-su reaches the peak of its development. The size of the fortress was about 1 hectare. The stratigraphy of its cultural deposits has not been fully studied, but the available materials, unorganized raised from the settlement, belong mainly to the saltov-mayatsk culture, traditional for the peoples of the Khazar State.
     At the end of the 10th century, the city was freed from the political influence of the Khazar Khaganate. At times, it was owned by Byzantium and the persians, but in the city and throughout the Kumyk plane, an independent political substratum was formed from several dynasties of local princes who were already capable of concluding political agreements.
     By the arrival of the khans of the Golden Horde in the middle of the 12th century, the city was able to conclude an agreement on the joint use of the fortress. The city agreed to pay tribute in exchange for a promise to send part of the Horde caravans through the city.
     At the end of the 15th century, a war broke out between the main clans of the Golden Horde. The Kuman ulus opposed the supporters of Tamerlane, who in retaliation made a devastating journey with fire and sword through the valleys between the Terek and Sulak. Isti-su, like many cities, ceased to exist as a city.
     Only the ruins of the fortress wall, defensive ramparts, and foundations of dwellings made of glinobit slabs, or torn stones remain to history and descendants.
     Now the city is inhabited mainly by avars, kumyks and laks.
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