Darial Gorge

Coordinates: 42°44′41″N 44°37′21″E / 42.74472°N 44.62250°E / 42.74472; 44.62250
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Darial Gorge
Caucasian Gates
Terek

The Darial Gorge

Terek, and is approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) long. The steep granite walls of the gorge can be as much as 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) tall in some places.[1] The Georgian Military Road
runs through the gorge.

The pass in Luigi Villari's book Fire and Sword in the Caucasus (1906).
Looking north along the gorge (8km south of the Russian checkpoint in North Ossetia–Alania).

In history

The Darial originates from Dar-i Alān (در الان) meaning "Gate of the Alans" in

Persians; the fortification was variously known as the Iberian Gates[b] or the Caucasian Gates.[2] It was also frequently mistakenly referred to as the Caspian Gates in classical literature.[3] 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.[4][1][4]

Josephus wrote that Alexander the Great built iron gates at an unspecified pass[5] which some Latin and Greek authors identified with Darial.[6]

Darial Pass fell into Sassanid hands in 252–253, when 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.[8] Control of Darial Pass switched to the Arab Rashidun Caliphate in 644.[9] 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 state,[citation needed] until it was captured by Russian Empire after annexation of Kingdom of Georgia in 1801–1830. It remained a strategic Russian forepost 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.[1]

As the main border crossing between Georgia and Russia, it has been the site of Russians fleeing conscription for the

Russo-Ukrainian War.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Georgian: დარიალის ხეობა, romanized: darialis kheoba; Ingush: Даьра Аьле, Тийрк-чӀож, romanized: Dära Äle/Tiyrk-Chozh; Ossetian: Арвыком, romanized: Arvykom; Russian: Дарьяльское ущелье, romanized: Daryalskoe ushchelye.
  2. ^ "Garrison of the Iberians" (Greek: Iouroeipaach, Biraparach, from Armenian) https://iranicaonline.org/articles/darband-i-ancient-city

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darial Gorge.
  1. ^ a b c  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Darial". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 832.
  2. ISBN 0-89577-087-3
    .
  3. ISBN 9781789251951
    .
  4. ^ a b Van Donzel & Schmidt 2010, pp. 51–52.
  5. ISBN 978-9004174160
    .
  6. ISBN 978-0415428996
    .
  7. ISBN 0-521-20092-X
    , 9780521200929, p. 141
  8. Patkanov
    ). St. Petersburg, 1861, pp. 121
  9. ISBN 978-0-19-597713-4
  10. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2022-10-02.
Bibliography

Further reading
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