Kart-Urum

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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Kart-Urum **
     Also Kart-Orum.
     This city is attributed to one of the Kumuk settlements in the area of Gental near the village of Kafir-Kumukh. This place is now famous for its cherry orchards.
     According to another version, the version of local researchers, Kart-Urum can be identified with the Gent-Orun settlement on foothill terraces 4 kilometers from the current village of Karabudakhkent in Dagestan. There are remains of fortress walls, defensive ramparts, and stone foundations for dwellings. Apparently, the walls of the houses were glinobit or made of torn stone.
     Archaeologists attribute the Foundation of this city to the 4th century after the birth of Christ. Although the first settlers appear on this site in the 1st century after the birth of Christ.
     The city was considered one of the most prosperous on the Kumyk plain. This prosperity was ensured by the fact that the city entered the system of ensuring the safe movement of trade caravans along the Kumyk plain towards the Don region and further, to Byzantium, to Europe.
     Lexicologists derive the name of a city from the words «stop and place». The place that Ptolemy called «kart» in greek langvig. By the turks of the Kingdom of the huns, and later by the khazars this city was called «urun». Claudius Ptolemy received information about cities and rivers in this part of the Universe from merchants who traveled these roads, which were part of the Great Silk Road. Ptolemy got this information from the time of the Macedonian military campaigns.
     The area of the city with the fortress and townships was at least 40 hectares. With the arrival of the huns, the ancient settlement acquired the features of a proto-urban settlement. Simple fortifications, a place for caravaners to rest, a bazar, and crafts that serve caravaners appear here.
     During the reign of the khazars and their representatives from savir and bulgars, the city did not lose its qualities. The Khaganate provided unhindered passage through the Kumyk valley of the Great Silk Road caravans, linking all the fortified points of the Kumyk plain along the caravan route in a single system of security for merchants. This brought the townspeople a considerable income, since the caravans had to be accompanied throughout the territory subject to the Khaganate.
     The climate on the Kumyk platform is always foothill soft, which allowed you to engage in year-round agriculture and cattle breeding, which was noted by travelers who walked the roads of the Great Silk Road along with trade caravans.
     The population was engaged in farming, growing wheat, barley, millet, oats, rice, cotton, even silk.
     The kumyks are formed as the main ethnic autochthonous core in the bowels of the Kingdom of the huns and have been an important subject of strategic relations with the Khazar Lords since the end of the 7th century. Subsequently, layers from the kipchak-oguz-bulgar intertribal conglomerate are added to this core.
     The khazars, the Golden Horde khans, persians have always been attracted to their military and trading campaigns kumyk city rulers. They did not stop at the border of their possessions, but went far beyond them, covering themselves with the glory of victories in Transcaucasia and Asia Minor.
     Being in frequent relations with Asia during their close and distant campaigns, and merging in the north with slavic, khazar, and turanian tribes, the kumyks became cultural guides between Asia and Europe, while absorbing socio-cultural innovations.
     The culture of the kumyks and their customs do not differ from the customs of the local mountaineers. However, for лumyks, these mountain customs are not mandatory, they easily allow deviations from them.
     The fortress of Kart-Urum was somewhat rebuilt during the arab-khazar wars. Its architecture is intertwined with persian, khazar, and arabic architectural elements.
     Posad people were engaged in the manufacture of ceramics, crafts made of stone, animal bones. Pottery was his own, but on the basis of the saltov.
     After the collapse of Khazaria, the city froze for two centuries in anticipation of its future fate, which at the beginning of the 13th century again turned to Kart-Urum with its brilliantly thoughtful face. During the rule of the Golden Horde here, the volume of caravan traffic on the Kumyk plain increased many times. In addition, local handicrafts now have the opportunity to trade on the vast territory of the Horde.
     Archaeologists and historians note that despite the multi-ethnic nature of the city, it was on the caravan route, the main ethnic element of Kart-Urum and its districts were turkized kumyks, dargins and laks.
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