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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Derbent **
Chora Gate. Also Bab-al-abwab among the arabs.
The first temporary-permanent settlements appear here in the late Scythian-sarmatian times. Here was one of the few passes through the Caucasus range that could be crossed not by a narrow path, but by a wide wave, driving cattle before them, with carts, or an armed crowd on horses.
Starting from the 2nd century after the birth of Christ, persian Kings organize the movement of caravans of the Great Silk Road through the Chora Gate. This trade road went to the North, where in the Tersko-Sulak interfluve it branched into the Kumyk Trade Route and the trade route towards the Volga, at that time Itil, Atil, and Ethillia.
From that time on, Derbent became the Gateway between Central Asia And Eastern Europe, becoming not only a part of the trade route, but also a military-strategic point, providing those who possessed Derbent with strategic superiority during the transfer of troops from one end of the World to the other.
In the 4th century on the steppe expanses of the North-Eastern Caucasus appear turkic tribes, represented by the huns, who by the 5th century partially assimilated, and partially squeezed out in Transcaucasia sarmatians, the last remnants of Aryan tribes, founded the Kingdom of the huns in the North Caucasus, claimed the Gates of Chora and Derbent.
Since the middle of the 5th century, the persian shahs have made great efforts to contain this invasion of the steppe people. They build several fortresses on the approach to the Chora Gate, by the middle of the century having built the Derbent fortress on the Caspian coast. It was a typical persian fortress, where only persian soldiers served. Local mountaineers were not allowed to serve here.
In the 6th century, the persian Shahinshahs built many fortresses along the Caspian coast and on the Kumyk platform to ensure the safety of the movement of caravans of the Caspian and Kumyk routes. The local population is still not allowed to work or serve.
According to legend, after the king of kings, the persian Shahinshah Kavad finished building fortresses on the Caspian and Kumyk Tracts, he spent a whole year touring these fortresses. At the same time, he stayed every day in one of the fortresses. Hence the persian, and after them the arab authors, after a series of complex mathematical calculations, hiding the secret of the account, calculated the number of these fortresses. Together with Derbent, there were exactly 360 of them.
Over the course of a century, Derbent has been under increasing pressure from the turks, who were represented here by the saviro-bulgars, who introduced many innovations to the local culture of cattle breeding and agriculture that the mountaineers liked.
At about the same time, the avar ethnic community was formed from a conglomerate of tribes, but on the basis of the local autochthonous people of the Caucasian type, which eventually became one of the autochthonous in these parts.
The khazars, who came here in the 7th century, complete the fortresses for their military and commercial purposes. They, unlike the persians, attract local men to serve in the fortresses, which won the trust of local tribal Princes. In addition, the Khazarus state attracts the local population to its trade and military campaigns both in its Northern regions, and in Transcaucasia, in Asia Minor, where these joint detachments act under joint byzantine-khazar flags.
Participation with the khazars and byzantines in joint military and trade projects enriched the culture of local peoples both in terms of vocabulary, and in terms of changing the ways of managing the state and cities, as well as agricultural technologies.
From the beginning of the 8th century, the arab-khazar war for the possession of the Chora Gate and Derbent begins. The city changed hands several dozen times between the parties to the conflict, it was destroyed many times and restored as many times, people left it and returned again.
By the middle of the 8th century, the battles subsided, and the khazars established their control over the city for two and a half centuries. The city in this period, called the Khazar, is experiencing its heyday. It has grown, the fortress of the city gets a Citadel and Detinets, in which khazar nobles live for a long time. The kings of the Mountains also live here.
At the end of the 10th century, Khazaria ceased to exist. The city is alternately owned by local Princes, then by visiting Kings and khans. By this time, islam was established as the main religion in Derbent. Many mosques have been built here. Here live representatives of other faiths, which include christians, jews, polytheists, there was and remains among tengrian, preserve their identity, ancestors of the savir-bulgars.
Since the middle of the 11th century, the turkic-like Seljuks ruled here, and after their collapse in the 12th century, Persia returned here.
In the first quarter of the 18th century, the Derbent pass was taken over by the Russian Empire. Peter the Great personally participates in the subordination of Derbent.
This, perhaps, can close the history of Ancient Derbent. Its subsequent socio-cultural development took place in a different era.
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