Darial Gorge
Template:Short description Template:Infobox valley The Darial GorgeTemplate:Efn is a river gorge on the border between Russia and Georgia. It is at the east base of Mount Kazbek, south of present-day Vladikavkaz. The gorge was carved by the river Terek, and is approximately Template:Convert long. The steep granite walls of the gorge can be as much as Template:Convert tall in some places.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |
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}}{{#ifeq: ||}}</ref> The Georgian Military Road runs through the gorge.
History
The name Darial originates from Dar-i Alān (Template:Lang) meaning "Gate of the Alans" in Persian. The Alans held the lands north of the pass in the first centuries AD. It was fortified in ancient times both by the Romans and Persians; the fortification was variously known as the Iberian GatesTemplate:Efn or the Caucasian Gates.<ref name="readersnatural">Template:Cite book</ref> It was also frequently mistakenly referred to as the Caspian Gates in classical literature.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The pass is mentioned in the Georgian annals under the names of Darialani; Strabo calls it Porta Caucasica and Porta Cumana; Ptolemy, Fortes Sarmatica; it was sometimes known as Porta Caucasica and Portae Caspiae (a name bestowed also on the "gate" or pass beside the Caspian Sea at Derbent); and the Tatars call it Darioly.Template:Sfn<ref name="EB1911"/>Template:Sfn
Josephus wrote that Alexander the Great built iron gates at an unspecified pass<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which some Latin and Greek authors identified with Darial.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Darial Pass fell into Sassanid hands in 252–253, when the Sassanid Empire conquered and annexed Iberia.<ref>Ehsan Yarshater. The Cambridge history of Iran, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, 1983. Template:ISBN, 9780521200929, p. 141</ref> The control of the Darial Pass switched to the Western Turkic Kaganate in 628, when Tong Yabgu Kagan signed a treaty with Iberia, transferring over to the Kaganate the control of all its cities and fortresses, and establishing free trade.<ref>Movses Kagankatvatsi. History of Agvans (Russian trans. and ed. by Patkanov). St. Petersburg, 1861, pp. 121</ref> Control of Darial Pass switched to the Arab Rashidun Caliphate in 644.<ref>Akram A.I. The Muslim Conquest of Persia, Ch:16 Template:ISBN</ref> Afterwards, it was controlled by the Kingdom of Georgia. There was a battle point between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde, then indirectly controlled by Safavids and Qajar stateTemplate:Fact. in 1597, it was invaded and occupied by Kabardians <ref name=":miziev">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":snosh">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":Gytnov">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":Gytnov2">Template:Cite journalTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref name=":Inosteuropgeo">Template:Cite book</ref> by a sudden attack. until it was captured by Russian Empire after annexation of Kingdom of Georgia in 1801–1830. It remained a strategic Russian outpost under Russian control until the dismemberment of the Soviet Union.
Importance
The Darial Pass was historically important as one of only two crossings of the Caucasus mountain range, the other being the Derbent Pass. As a result, Darial Gorge has been fortified since at least 150 BC.<ref name="EB1911"/>
As the main border crossing between Georgia and Russia, it has been the site of Russians fleeing conscription for the Russo-Ukrainian War.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
Notes
References
Template:Commons category <references />
- Bibliography