Abstract
The article deals with the problem of the social stratifi cation of the ancient Abkhazian societies in the 6th century AD. This epoch is not chosen occasionally, it is the turn of the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Based on written sources and archaeological data the social stratifi cation of the Abasgoi, Apsilae and Misimians is analyzed. The formation of their social elite, in particular the military one, as a special group of the local population, which had privileged high social rank is examined. It was concerned with the military policy of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Eastern Black Sea Region, which gave an impetus to the acceleration of social stratifi cation in Abkhazia, as well as the emergence of the „military“ aristocracy since the time when the Roman Empire had ruled in the Western Caucasus. Thus, in the necropolis of Tsebelda a fixation of the “chief” burials or graves of the military leaders has been marked.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze “conditionally rich” and “conditionally poor” graves. The existence of social stratifi cation of the ancient Abkhazian society of Western Transcaucasia in the 6th century AD was found. For example in the settlement of Shapky in Tsebelda, there was no any agricultural implement, but the luxury and import fi nds were prevailing. It is evidently, a reliable marker, indicating that a part of the population had a higher social status, is the occurrence of the belt sets in the graves of the necropolis in Tsebelda. The author suggests that the differentiation of the buried people in accordance with their property size varied more depending on the way where the ancient trade road took place; today it is a well-known Sukhumi Military Road.
Keywords
Abkhazia, ancient Abkhazian society, Apsilia, Tsebelda necropolis, graves, grave goods, elite, social stratifi cation
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