arshba.ru

A new alliance of tribes was formed – the "Khazar Khaganate," which, in addition to the Turkuts (remnants of the Turkic Khaganate), also included the Alans, Savirs, Bulgars and others. With the appearance of the "Khazars," Zikhia did not lose its influence in the Western Caucasus, but its positions were weakened. Ties with Byzantium were not lost but were hampered. The Zikho-Kasogs were forced to move to the left bank of the Kuban, as the "Khazars" dominated the right bank.


Materials:

History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009

The second ruler of Abkhazia according to the "Divan of the Abkhazian Kings," following Anos. Son of Anos. The name of the second Abkhazian king – Gozar (Yoazar) is given in the "Divan" in the form Gozar (Yoazar). It does not appear in other sources. It has no scientifically established etymology, although its Iranian origin should not be doubted. It is known that the words azar and zar, one of which is probably a component in the structure of the name Go-zar (Yoazar), are often found as components of Iranian names: Gulzar – "flower garden," Zarina – "golden," azar – azvar (Ossetian) "terror," "fear," etc. The Iranian word azar "fire," also used as a personal name, is understood in proper Persian as "fiery." And in New Persian, azarakhsh means "splendor of fire," "lightning."


The third king of the Abkhazians. Grandson of Anos according to the list of the "Divan," son and successor of Gozar. Named "Istvine" in Georgian documents. He is also Justinian according to the list of Patriarch Dositheus Notaras.

The personal name of the third Abkhazian king in the "Divan" is given in the Georgian form "Istvine," which probably goes back to the Greco-Roman name Justin "just." The 17th-century Jerusalem Patriarch Dositheus writes this Abkhazian king's name in the form Justinian.


The fourth king of the Abkhazians according to the list of the "Divan," son of Justin. Years of reign and activity unknown.

In the "Divan," the name of the fourth king of Abkhazia is recorded in the form Phiniktios (Iniktios. Patriarch Dositheus writes "Philektos"). This name is not attested in other sources. In all probability, it has Greek origin, although its nomogenesis is not scientifically established.


The fifth Abkhazian king according to the "Divan," son of Phiniktios.

According to the "Divan of the Abkhazian Kings," the fifth king of Abkhazia is called Barnuk. The Jerusalem Patriarch Dositheus writes this Abkhazian king's name in the form Koporuk. The Byzantine chronographer Theophanes the Confessor (760–818) testifies that in the 7th century a Lazican king was also named Barnuk. The 7th-century anomah Theodosius of Gangra transmits this name of the Lazican king in the form Lebarnuk/Lebarnikios.

According to G. A. Amichba, Barnuk is one of the original Abkhaz-Adyghe historical names. In the Abkhazian milieu, it probably existed in the form Barnyku (Barnyy) or Barnykhu (Barnyy).

In the personal name Bar-nuk, the base bar (barn) probably goes back to the ancient Abkhazian word a-bra/a-bar meaning "stone," "rock" (abakhu/abrakhu – "rock," "ridge"; abyrlash/abarlash "pearl" literally "white stone," Byrtskha/Bartskha (toponym) "stone bridge," etc.).

This word bar/byr is also the basis in the fictonym of the Abkhazian mythical hero-god-fighter – Abras-kil/A-bar-skil meaning "stone." In general, this name is etymologized as "son of stone."

The second element of the name under consideration – uk/nuk – we consider to be Adyghe, and retrospectively common Adyghe-Abkhazian, a patronymic formant qua (kue/yya) meaning "son." It forms Adyghe and some ancient Abkhazian family names: Adikhua/Adikuaa, Kankhua, Khatkhua. It can also be noted that in the "Divan" the base bar/barn is combined with the form of the formant yu, which is more characteristic of modern Adyghe (shchebetyku). And for the Kabardian language, as is known, the form qua/yya is characteristic (Uerdeshchyque).

Thus, the personal name of one of the rulers of early medieval Abkhazia attested in the "Divan" (Barnuk/Barnyk) goes back to the Abkhaz-Adyghe ethno-linguistic milieu and is understood as "son of stone" ("stoned," "ridge"). Family names, as well as mystified personal names based on the appellative stone (akhabkh), rock (akhra, abakhu), are still current in the active anthroponymic fund of the Abkhazians (Khakhuba/Khakhubia, Abakhuba/Abykhuba, Akhra, Abakhu, etc.).


The sixth king of Abkhazia according to the list of the "Divan," son of Baruk.


The seventh king of the Abkhazians according to the list of the "Divan," son of Demetrius I.


The eighth king of the Anosid dynasty, son of Theodosius I. Time of reign unknown. In Pitsunda, during archaeological excavations in 1954, a pendant seal was found, with which acts and messages were sealed. The seal bears the name "Konstantinos Abasgias" (Constantine of Abkhazia). Scholars believe that this seal could have belonged either to Constantine I or to his grandson – Constantine II.


The ninth Abkhazian king, son of Constantine I. Time of reign unknown. Mentioned in the "Divan."


Ruling prince of Apsilia, patrician. Commander of the inaccessible fortress of Tzibilium in the Kodori Gorge. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian II (685–695, 705–711), wishing to get rid of a favorite who had become dangerous, sends the spatharius Leo (later Emperor Leo III) on a secret mission to the Caucasus. Leo was tasked with setting the Alans, living in the North Caucasus, against their neighbors the Abasgians, living on the southern slopes, by means of bribery, and thus preventing Abasgia from seceding from the empire. At that time, Abasgia, Lazica and Iberia were in the sphere of influence of the Arab Caliphate, a rival of Byzantium in the Caucasus. To bribe the Alans, the spatharius was given large sums of money. As soon as Leo the Spatharius set foot on the shores of the Caucasus, he left this money for safekeeping in Phasis, for security reasons. Leo took guides from among the locals and set out through Apsilia to Alania, crossing the Caucasus Range. Meanwhile, Emperor Justinian, wishing to destroy his spatharius, sent men after him. They seized the money hidden in Phasis, which was intended to pay for the Alans' betrayal of their neighbors – the Abasgians.

The Alans agreed to the proposal of Spatharius Leo. They attacked Abasgia and subjected it to devastation. The king of the Abasgians (apparently Theodosius I or Constantine I) offered the king of the Alans, Itaxius, to hand over Leo for a large monetary reward and to live in friendship, as before. At the same time, the king of the Abasgians revealed to the Alans that the emperor had taken from Phasis the money intended for them.
Soon the Abasgians doubled the payment and offered six thousand nomismata for the surrender of the spatharius. The Alans this time gave their consent, which turned out to be formal. They resorted to new treachery and again raided Abasgia. Still later, also under a plausible pretext, Leo the Spatharius with the Alans invaded the fortress of Sideron (Iron) in Apsilia, where the Arab garrison was located, killed the defenders, set the fortress on fire and destroyed it to the ground.

In short, Leo fulfilled the emperor's mission, although the emperor himself undertook a series of treacherous actions to fail this mission, and above all, to destroy his co-strategos. In this situation, the ruler of Apsilia, Marinus, found himself in a difficult position. He had to take into account the participation of various forces in this expedition. His main task was to avoid the devastation of his country. To this end, after the fall of the fortress of Sideron – the stronghold of the Arabs in his country, the leader of the Apsilians, Marinus, offers Leo his services and leads the latter with his detachment to the sea for departure to Constantinople. For his assistance in this expedition, Marinus receives from the Byzantine emperor the rank of patrician (see the chronicle description of the events in the "Sources" section).


The tenth king of the Abkhazians. Son of Theodosius II.


Materials:

All rulers of Abkhazia

Abkhazian Kingdom. 786 CE
Anthroponymic repertoire of the "Divan of the Abkhazian kings". G. A. Amichba
Chronicle of the Abkhazian kings. F. Jordania 1902
Bgazhba O. Kh., Lakoba S. Z. History of Abkhazia from ancient times to the present day. 2007
Culture and ideology of early medieval Abkhazia (5th–10th centuries). Amichba 1999
"History of Abkhazia in dates". T. A. Achugba 2011
Circumnavigation of the Euxine Sea. Flavius Arrian
Naturalis Historia. Pliny the Elder 77–79. Latin-English 1969
Reports of ancient Greek and Latin writers about Scythia and the Caucasus. Latyshev 1947
Constantine Porphyrogenitus. On the Administration of the Empire: Text, translation, commentary. Litavrin 1991

A Turkic-speaking people who appeared in Eastern Europe after the Hunnic invasion (4th century). At the beginning of the 6th century, a large group of Turkic nomads penetrated and settled in the Northeastern Caucasus, in the lands of the Alans from the north. In the 7th century, they created a military alliance, which, besides the Turks, also included the Alans from the lands subject to them. This union came to be called the Khazars.

There are testimonies from the Georgian literary monument of the 80s of the 8th century, "The Martyrdom of Abo Tbileli," and the Georgian chronicle (11th century), which speak of close contacts (including blood kinship) between Abkhazia and Khazaria – these two powerful early feudal states. Few have asked the question: why is the name of Leon II, effectively the first king of Abkhazia ("Apskha"), absent from the list (divan) of Abkhazian kings, compiled at the end of the 10th century by the first sovereign of the "kingdom of Abkhazians and Kartvelians," Bagrat III. In 730, the Khazar Khagan Hakasr (grandfather of Leon II) died, and for two years his mother, Parsbit (great-grandmother of Leon II), ruled until the coming of age of the "son of the khagan" Barjil (uncle of Leon II), who, together with Bulan ("deer"), the most noble of the Dagestani beks, who was the first to adopt the Jewish religion in Khazaria at that time under the name Sabriel, led the capture of the famous Arab city of Ardabil (present-day Azerbaijan). At the same time (732), the Byzantine emperor Leo the Isaurian (717–741), who in 708–711 was in Alania, Abasgia and Apsilia, married his son Constantine V Copronymus, the future Byzantine emperor (741–775), to the daughter of the Khazar khagan, Chichak ("flower" – aunt of Leon II). Having been baptized, she took the name Irene; at the same time, ceremonial attire at the Byzantine court came to be called "chichakion" in her honor. A little later, perhaps also not coincidentally, the sister of Chichak became the wife of Constantine II of Abasgia (his pendant seal from Pitsunda and the epigraphic inscription "Abasgias" from the Tsandripsh church are known). Thus, the father of Leon II became the brother-in-law of the Byzantine emperor of the same name. As a result, from the first couple was born Leo the Khazar, the future Byzantine emperor (775–780), and from the other – Leon II – the future first king of Abkhazia (786–806). It is difficult to establish with absolute certainty the year of birth of the cousins, also namesakes. Most likely, Leo the Khazar was older than Leon II.

In 737, Marwan ibn Muhammad, a famous Arab commander and later caliph, after capturing most of Transcaucasia, moved against Khazaria from two sides: through Chora (the Derbent Gates) and Darial. He inflicted a crushing defeat on the Khazars, forcing the khagan to temporarily profess Islam. But on the "Abkhazian Road" at the walls of the Anacopia fortress in 738, Marwan was stopped.

In honor of this victory, Leo the Isaurian confirmed to the ruler of Abasgia, Leon I, the hereditary right to possess the country, although he was not the son of the previous ruler Constantine II, but only his younger brother.

After marrying Gurandukht and the death of Archil, the vast lands, including Abasgia, Apsilia, Misiminia and all of Lazica, passed to Leon I. The northern border of his territory, beyond the Caucasus Range, touched Khazaria.

In the thick of events. After the death of Leo the Khazar (780), the situation in Byzantium changed drastically – a struggle for the throne began between his widow and other claimants, weakening the empire. At the same time, discontent with Arab domination was brewing in Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, Albania). As for Khazaria, it had recovered so much from the defeat inflicted on it by Marwan that it itself began to actively intervene in Caucasian affairs. It is not surprising that Leon II, the closest relative of the Khazars at the highest level, appeared on the historical stage at the right moment. With their help, he carried out something like a palace coup (possibly after the death of Leon I). Geopolitically, the Abkhazian Kingdom as an independent state had already matured, which Leon II naturally took advantage of. The state of Abkhazia at the beginning of Leon II's reign is well conveyed in the Georgian source "The Martyrdom of Abo Tbileli," which tells the story of an Arab youth, a servant of the Kartlian erismtavar Nerse, executed in 786 for converting to Christianity. The blessed Abo (Habib) joyfully saw the Christ-loving country of Abkhazia with its people, ruler, bishop and priests. And only the close contacts of Leon II of Abkhazia with the Khazar elite allowed Nerse to hide his family in Abkhazia in advance, and himself to flee from the Arabs, accompanied by 300 horsemen, to the Khazar khagan for help in the fight against the common enemy. Leaving Khazaria, Nerse lived in Abkhazia for several more months, awaiting the results of the negotiations of his nephew Stephanos, whom the Arabs had appointed erismtavar in his place. It becomes clear why Leon II, towards the end of his life, moved the capital of the Abkhazian Kingdom from Anacopia to Kutaisi, which was farther from the borders of the Byzantine Empire and on the shortest route to Khazaria. And to the question posed at the beginning: why Leon II, effectively the first king of the Abkhazian early feudal state, did not get into the list (divan) of Abkhazian kings, one can answer as follows. Firstly, Leon I (uncle of Leon II) was legitimized by the Byzantine emperor himself to inherit Abkhazia, while Leon II seemingly ignored this. Secondly (possibly the main reason) – his origin. It cannot be ruled out that the formation of Leon II's personality was greatly influenced by his Khazar mother, who, unlike her sister Chichak (Irene), most likely professed either traditional pagan or the innovative Jewish religion, which King Obadiah made the state religion of Khazaria at the beginning of the 9th century.

Perhaps this is why Leon II was less subject to Christianity than his uncle. One should also consider the symbolism of the oldest 10th-century tier of the palace in Lykhny, on the northern facade of which is depicted a cross inscribed in a six-pointed Star of David. Is this not a reflection of the syncretism of the two religions in the Abkhazian Kingdom?! In turn, the Khazars had religious tolerance towards Christianity.

Speaking of the traditional religion among the ancient Abkhazians and Khazars, one should note their special veneration of the deity of thunder and lightning (respectively Afy and Kuara), worship of trees (especially the oak), self-infliction of wounds during funeral rites, etc.

Contacts between the Abkhazian Kingdom and the Khazar Khaganate were also reflected in archaeological materials related to ceramic (amphorae of the Saltovo-Mayaki type, slender jugs with flat handles, pithoi with applied ridges, etc.) and iron-working (arrowheads, sabers, some tools, etc.) production of these countries.

Bgazhba O. Kh., Lakoba S. Z. History of Abkhazia from Ancient Times to the Present Day. M., 2007


The Khazars roamed everywhere in the lower reaches of the Volga, the Don, on the plains north of the Kuban. Having subjugated vast territories, the Khazars founded a state – the Khazar Khaganate. In the lowlands of the Ciscaucasia, the Khazars pushed the Bulgars to the west.

With the appearance of the Khazars, Zikhia did not lose its influence in the Caucasus, but its positions were greatly weakened. Zikhia's ties with Byzantium were also not lost, although they were greatly hampered.

The Adyghe who lived at that time north of the Kuban were forced to move to the left bank of the river, since the right bank was dominated by the Khazars.

Socially, the Khazars were divided into classes. The main occupation of the common Khazars was transhumant pastoralism. Temporary settlements of nomadic shepherds constantly appeared on the right bank of the Kuban. Armed detachments of Khazar tribute collectors constantly visited their camps, taking everything to the last. In this regard, some Khazar nomadic shepherds moved to the left bank of the Kuban to the Adyghe and subsequently dissolved among them.

In the early years of the Khazar Khaganate's existence, the Adyghe waged frequent and endless wars with the Khazars, trying to drive them out of all their former lands, but by the end of the 7th century they began to conclude short-term alliances with them, and by the end of the century this alliance was finally cemented.

Disappearance, possible descendants

After the fall of the Khazar Khaganate in the second half of the 10th century, the Khazars dissolved among the Turkic-speaking nomadic peoples who subsequently became part of the Golden Horde. Some part of the ethnic Khazars who professed Judaism most likely merged into the Central European Jewish communities. Some representatives of the Turkic-speaking Jewish peoples – Karaites and Krymchaks, as well as the Iranian-speaking Mountain Jews, consider themselves descendants of the Khazars. Some Turkic-speaking peoples of the North Caucasus may also have Khazar roots.


Materials:

700–1000 AD. Khazars | 800–950 AD. Paleo-DNA G2. Alans, Khazars | 954 AD. Jewish-Khazar Correspondence | 586 BC — 79 AD. Exodus of Jews to Mtskheta | Genetic Studies on the Origin of Georgian Jews

... In Sarmatia are the Hippian (‛Ιππικ), Ceraunian (Κεραύνια) and other mountains, and many rivers, among which is Itil with 70 branches (sources), on the banks of which the people of the Basils have fortified themselves.

The following peoples live in Sarmatia:

1. Khazars
2. Bushi (var. Bulkhi),
3. Basliks (Barsils)
4. Apshegi
5. Apkhazy
6. Royal Sarmatians
7. Hippophagi
8. Nakhchamatians
9. Phteirophagi
10. Syurikatsi
11. Mitrikatsi
12. Amazons
13. Alans
14. Kheburs (var. Khebars)
15. Kudets
16. Skyumi
17. Argavets
18. Margols
19. Takotsi (var. Takry)
20. Argozy
21. Dachany
22. Pinchi
23. Dvals
24. Huns
25. Vospurs (var. Apuls)
26. Tsanars, who have the Alan and Tsekan passes
27. Tushi
28. Khushi
29. Kusty
30. Anthropophagi
31. Tskhavats
32. Gudamakars
33. Duichiki
34. Didotsi (var. Digoi, more correctly — Didoi)
35. Leki
36. Katapastians
37. Agutakans
38. Khenuts (var. Khenuki)
39. Shily (var. Shiby)
40. Tchigby (Tchigi)
41. Khely
42. Kaspy
43. Pukhi
44. Shirvans
45. Ksrany (var. Kharany)
46. Tavaspary
47. Khechmataki
48. Izhamakhi
49. Paskhi
50. Puskhi
51. Pikonaki
52. Bakany
53. Maskuts, at the very Caspian Sea, where the spurs of the Caucasus reach and where the Derbend Wall, a huge fortress in the sea, is erected137. To the north live the Huns, who have the city of Varachan and other cities. The King of the North is called the Khagan. He is the lord of the Khazars. The Queen, however, the wife of the Khagan, is from the family of the Basils.

... Description of Asian Sarmatia: ...Between the Bulgars and the Pontus Sea live the peoples of Garshi, Kuts and Svans up to Pitiunt on the seashore of the country of the Abasgians, where the Apshils and Abasgians live up to their coastal city of Sebastopolis and further to the Dragon River, which flows from Alania and separates Abasgia from the country of Eger. ...


Source:

Ashkharatsuyts. 700 AD. Ed. Patkanov 1877
John Tzetzes. orig. Kissling 1826. Georgica. Information of Byzantine Writers about Georgia. 1967. Vol. VII pp. 22–26