Khazar-Kala in the North Caucasus

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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Khazar-Kala in the North Caucasus **
     Also Gazar-Kala on the Ivgy river among the chechens, Khazar-Kala among the dagestani elders, Gatsar-Kalau among the kabardins and balkars. Humraj among the ancient serirs. Hasni-Khisnumma among the khazar savirs. Zazar Fortress from russian explorers.
     The researchers of the history of the North Caucasus to place this fortress in a few places.
     According to one version, the Khazar-Kala fortress named Gazar-Kala was located in Chechnya on the right bank of the Ivgiy river, near the present village of Booni-Yurt, to the east of it.
     According to another version, Khazar-Kala was located in the coastal floodplain of the Yaryksu river, near the village of Novukuli. Here excavated settlement era of the iron age, which received in science the name Novokuli the hillfort.
     There is assumption that the Khazar-Kala, under the name Gatzar-stool was located near the village of Bylym in Kabardino-Balkaria.
     All these locations of this ancient city are located in places that still remember Alexander the Great, who built several fortresses here. According to legend, the Kala fortress was built on the site of the future khazar fortress, which was built by the builders of the King of Kings. After the fall of the Macedonian Empire, the fortress fell into disrepair, it was dismantled into stones and bricks, which are stored in the base of each house of the Serir Land as a talisman. It is believed that in the stones of the Khazar-Kala fortress lies the secret of the Caucasian Golden Throne, on which sat the Kings of Sarir. And once the King of Kings also plunged into it.
     In the annals, this fortress city appears as a city of the state of Serir, sometimes captured by the khazars. Serirs called his city Humradj, later it was called Hasni-Khisnumma. When the khazars came here, they called it Khazar-Kala. The khazars took control of this city when they had to pass through Derbent to Transcaucasia and return. This lasted no more than two months a year, and even then, not every year.
     Al-Hanafi in the 15th century wrote that in the 6th century after the birth of Christ, the King of Rus sat in this city, and under him was a Golden Throne. This Caucasian Golden Throne is also reported by many muslim geographers. According to their data, it was owned by The Tsar of Sarir, who was from the Rus. Thei lived in large numbers in Dagestan at that time. These were the times when Sarir covered the vast steppe territories of the North Caucasus and the Southern Don.
     Khazar-Kala was not the capital of Sarir. But since the end of the 7th century, the capital has been under attack by arabs of the muslim faith. Then both thrones were moved to Khazar-Kala and kept there until the change of time.
     The fortress of King Sarir, according to Hudud-al-Alam, stood on the top of a promontory above the raging river below. Thron of the Ruler of Sarir цas made акщь red gold and was visible throughout the land of Sarir.
     The area of the fortress, according to Ibn Ruste, was about 10 farsakhs, in his best times the area of the city reached eight hectares.
     The Citadel, Detinets, and the city were all surrounded by stone walls. The ramparts of the Citadel were 12 meters wide and 4 meters high. These ramparts served as walls, since they were neatly laid out of glinobit, that is, from tightly packed clay with small pebbles mixed with ash. At the top of the rampart was a wall of river boulders on clay 4 meters high.
     At the corners of the walls were towers, one of which was a throne, where the King of Serir sat on a throne of red gold, and the Queen of Savir sat on a throne of white silver.
     People of different faiths lived in the city, but the King was guarded by christians. The fortress belonged to 20 rivers with their valleys, the owners of which bring him tribute every month.
     The first organized settlers appeared here in the early 1st century BC. They were sarmatians, followers of the scythians. The population ethnically goes back more to the iranian-speaking steppe movement from north to south, which was marked by the construction of buildings of the turluch type, as well as the construction of small light rounded huts. In case of danger, the population was quickly removed, people dismantled their turluks and retreated to a safe place, then returned again. Therefore, there were no fortifications in the cultural layer of that time.
     Starting from the 5th century after the birth of Christ, savirs came here, who by that time already dominated the Caspian lowland adjacent to the Serir Kingdom. The arrival of Savir was marked by the heyday of the Serir Kingdom. The savirs controlled a large territory that interested merchants from all corners of the earth. At this time, the first fortifications appeared on the site of the future Khazar-Kala fortress.
     The settlement site was surrounded by an earthen rampart and a moat. However, the buildings were still not very fundamental. Light huts with a rounded stone hearth in the center. All this can be quickly collected and evacuated when danger approaches.
     In the middle of the 6th century, the fortress was repeatedly attacked by the avars, the latter attack proved disastrous for both the settlement and the fortress. Ramparts were destroyed, homes were burned, and many people died. Apparently, the attack was sudden, or the city authorities decided to resist.
     In the middle of the 7th century, the khazars came here. They are building new fortifications for the fortress that still controlled the road from the steppe to the mountains. The area of the Fortress decreased, but the rampart became higher. Permanent masonry buildings, as well as wide yurts appear in the fortress. It is clear that the khazars came here for a long time, but the steppe character of the population has not changed much. The presence of yurts suggests that the khazars often left their places and left from here.
     Since the middle of the 7th century, khazar detachments have passed this way almost every year to participate in military operations together with Byzantium.
     In the 8th century, the Khazar-Kala fortress became an important stronghold in the mountains of Dagestan for the Khazaria. The fortress controlled the trade route along which the caravans of the Great Silk Road went to the inner mountainous Dagestan, and from there through Derbent to Transcaucasia.
     The Kingdom of Serir had a well-armed Horde, which even the khazar warriors could not overcome. In addition, since the 8th century, Serir was also under the control of Byzantium, which actively planted christianity here.
     During the khazars campaigns in Transcaucasia, where they fought with the Byzantines against the arabs and persians, this fortress was rented by the Khagans from the Kingdom of Serir. In addition, the main holders of the fortress and its builders were the huns-savirs, one of the founders of the Khazaria themselves.
     In 735, the fortress was taken by the arab commander, the future Caliph, Mervan. It is known that the khazars took over the defense of the city. Serir's warriors, as always, fled to the local gorges, but most likely they succumbed to the promises of the arabs. Aguk Shagin from a noble khazar family led the defense of the Khazar-Kale.
     Since then, history has not reported anything about the fortress. Novokubansk settlement, which most often prescribe this city, excavated already in the middle of the Soviet era.
     In fact, it is well known that the khazars were great lovers of sleep. At the same time, they were able to dream. Not all peoples are given this. They never learned how to interpret their own dreams, but they were the best dream interpreters in the world for neighboring peoples.
     In the morning, the righteous khazars bragged to each other about who had the most dreams that night. One day they had an amazing dream, from which they did not want to come out.
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