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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Gelda of Ancient Albania **
This city was mentioned in the works of ancient authors along with a number of other cities of the coastal Caspian sea, related to the Ancient Caucasian Albania, which is now divided by Dagestan with Azerbaijan.
The city was located at the mouth of the Sulak river, formerly Kae and Kesia. Historians quite confidently identify the city of Gelda with the Upper Chir-Yurt settlement. Although other versions of the location of this chronicled city are put forward.
Gelda was located on the very shore. Its inhabitants engaged in fishing and trade with cities near the Caspian sea. The city had a port through which the main trade turnover went.
But since then, the Caspian sea has repeatedly changed its water level. Experts have noted about a dozen changes in levels over the past two centuries alone.
Part of the city could have been submerged in the sea, because over 2 thousand years the Caspian sea rose by a dozen meters, flooding more than one hundred cities, cultures and States. It is difficult to draw conclusions about the coastline, how it looked in ancient times, and where the cities of Ancient Albania could presumably be located. The inhabitants of the city could gradually retreat inland, moving their main structures there.
The city was first mentioned in the literature of ancient authors. It was first a settlement on the coast of the Coastal Caspian sea, where since ancient times there was a land and sea trade route from Asia Minor and Central Asia to the black sea region and further to Europe. There were places favorable for the development of crafts, trade and agriculture, which allowed this settlement to gradually turn into a city.
Ptolemy mentions the city of Gelda among three dozen other large settlements of the Caspian region of Ancient Albania, among which he especially highlights teleba, Gelda, Albana and Gater.
The name of the city could get from the ancient tribe of gells, who lived in the valley of the Sulak river, where they founded their main city of Geld. Historians relate it to the current village of Gelbach.
Some ethnologists compare the gells with the galbs and Albans, whose names are found in the vocabulary of the neighboring Avar people. It is believed that the ancient Greek writers who accompanied Alexander the great recorded all his achievements. One of his elite units, geiter, once reached the Albanian Caspian sea and established the first real military fortification here at the mouth of the Kesia river. In their report, from the words of the returning soldiers, they recorded the word Albi as Alban.
Russian historians believe that the Avars are the core people of the albians. This position is partially confirmed by the materials of archaeological excavations at the site of the alleged city of Gelda.
Ptolemy gave the city of Gelda another name as Jelda. Now not far from the settlement there are the remains of an old fortress, which is called Jalgan from the old days.
arab authors attribute the phenomenon of the development of the Caspian cities of Ancient Albania, nestled in the mouths of rivers and rivulets, not only to the fact that one of the Great Silk Road routes passed here, but also to the fact that there was oil, which was scooped up here in buckets. With these two facts, the arabs explain the fierce struggle of the kingdoms and States of the then world for the possession of Ancient Albania.
Al-Masudi, poetically describing the pictures of fire tornadoes in the area of Absheron, did not say anything about the fact that the coastal settlements were large cultural centers that could be called cities.
During the arab-khazar struggle for possession of the rule over Kumyk tract, involving a significant part of the silk Road caravans, the fortress of the city he took an active part in the war on the side of the khazar State, for 50 years she was repeatedly attacked by the arabs and passed from hand to hand, but always recovered khazar architects after the retreat of the arabs.
The fortress itself was located on the bank of the Sulak river in the very cross of the gorges of the Caucasian foothills, the Kumyk platform and the Caspian lowland. The fortress stood in the way of the advance of The Caliphate's troops into the depths of Khazaria, where other cities of the saltovo-mayatsky culture were located, the same culture as in the upper Chir-Yurt settlement.
The fortress was built during the rule of the persian Shahinshahs over this trade route, who in the 6th century felt competition in this direction from saviro-bulgar migrants, behind whom stood the Kingdom of the huns.
At the beginning of the 8th century, this trade route was controlled by the khazars. They strengthen the walls of the fortress, now they have a height of up to 3 meters. The military garrison consists mainly of local mountaineers. This was an important political move of the khazar authorities, which made it possible to buy the loyalty of local autochthonous tribes to the khazar authorities. Which was not the case with the persians.
Now military garrisons accompanied the caravans along their entire route from Derbent through the Kumyk tract to Azov and the Crimea. Warriors of local origin, participating in trade and military expeditions of the Khazar Khaganate armies, entered into multilateral cultural contacts with a variety of peoples and religions, which enriched local cultures.
By the middle of the 8th century, it formed a new genotype of people based on their autochthonous Caucasian hemocult-sarmatian type with attraction saviro-bulgaran element.
After the fall of Khazaria, the Fortress passes into the full possession of the local Kings of the Caucasus mountains. However, the highlanders did not have the means to maintain and repair these Castles, and control of the trade routes along the valley did not bring the same income as under the persians and khazars, since there was no unified system for managing these revenues. Each Prince of the Mountains controlled only their own section of the road.
The situation changed for the better after the arrival of a new organized force in the face of the Golden Horde with Russia. The walls are being repaired again, and there are remnants of the Mongol population living here.
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