Abstract
Any large study, on the one hand, solves a number of issues, on the other – generates new ones. So, the study of the Great Abkhazian (Kelasur) wall, carried out by the author in 2013–2016, gave an accurate localization of the studied objects, partially solved the problem of dating, but gave rise to a number of new questions, including the following: which state built this wall? This article is devoted to the answer to this question. An attempt is made to look at the history of Abkhazia of that period, as it is refl ected in the sources, and how these sources are interpreted by various researchers, in the light of already updated data on the localization of the wall and its dating, as well as the opening of the ancient fortress in the city of Sochi and on the basis of these data to reconstruct the main boundaries between its historical areas. Sanigiya is the most Western part of the ancient Abkhazia. It was located to the North of the river Bzyb, on the territory of modern Gagra district of the Republic of Abkhazia and, partly on the territory of the municipal resort city of Sochi, Krasnodar region of Russia (Greater Sochi). The borders Abazgii actually coincide with the boundaries of the present-day Gudauta district, ethnically “Bzyb Abkhazia” from the Bzyb river to the West, up to Anakopia (modern New Athos) in the East. Misiminiya is the most mysterious region of ancient Abkhazia. There is little information about it. Based on the information of the Byzantine historian Agafi a it can be assumed that the territory of Misiminia covered the province of Dal and Tsabal (modern Tsebelda). The name of the tribe inhabiting ancient Assyria was the source of the modern self-name of all Abkhazian peoples – Apsua. The name of the tribe inhabiting ancient Assyria was the source of the modern self-name of all Abkhazian peoples – Apsua. This area was located in most of the territory of modern Ochamchyr, partially – Tkuarchal districts of Abkhazia, ethnically - “Abzhuy Abkhazia” and was surrounded by the Kelasurskaya wall.
Keywords
Late antiquity and the early middle ages, Abkhazia, Apsilia, Abazgia, Sanigiya, Massimini, Kelasurskaya wall
Anchabadze, Z.V. 2010: Izbrannye trudy [Selected works]: in 2 vol. Vol. 1. Istoriya i kultura drevney Abkhazii. Iz istorii srednevekovoy Abkhazii (VI–XVII vv.). [History and culture of ancient Abkhazia. From the history of medieval Abkhazia (6th –early 17th centuries)], Suhum.
Georgika, 1952: Svedeniya vizantiyskikh pisateley o Gruzii [The Information of Byzantine writers about Georgia]. Tbilisi.
Gunba, M.M. 1989: Abkhaziya v I tys. n. e. [Abkhazia in the 1st Millennium AD]. Sukhumi.
Inal-ipa, Sh.D. 1995: Sadzy. Istoriko-etnografi cheskie ocherki [Sadz. Historical and ethnographic essays]. Moscow.
Inal-ipa, Sh.D. Chto rasskazyvayut abkhazy o drevneyshem naselenii Abkhazii i svoem proishozhdenii (materialy s kommentariyami) [What Abkhazians tell about the ancient population of Abkhazia and its origin (materials with comments)], http://apsnyteka.org/416-inal-ipa_sh_ chto_rasskazyvaiut_abkhazy....html.
Inal-ipa, Sh.D., 1976: Voprosy etnokulturnoy istorii abkhazov [Issues of ethnic and cultural history of Abkhazians]. Sukhumi.
Ivaschenko, M.M. 1926: Velikaya Abkhazskaya stena [The Great Abkhazian wall.]. Izvestiya AbNO [Transections of Abkhazian Scientifi c Society] IV, 61–89.
Kizilov, A.S., Glazov, K.A. 2017: Drevniy Sochi kak gradoobrazuyuschee yadro sovremennogo goroda. Analiticheskie rezultaty arkheologicheskikh, dokumentalnykh i topografi cheskikh sopostavleniy [The ancient city of Sochi as the core of the modern city. Analytical results of archaeological, documentary and topographic comparisons]. Doklady sochinskogo otdeleniya russkogo geografi cheskogo obschestva [Reports of the Sochi branch of the Russian Geographical Society] 5, 152–166.
Kizilov, A.S., Kondryakov, N.V. 2017: Lokalizatsiya porta Sochi na srednevekovykh kompasnykh kartakh i materialnye svidetelstva [Localization of the port of Sochi on medieval compass maps and material evidence in the sat.]. In: A.E. Ashuba (ed.), Kavkaz i Abkhaziya v drevnosti i v Srednevekove: vzaimodeystvie i preemstvennost kultur. Chetvertaya Abkhazskaya Mezhdunarodnaya arkheologicheskaya konferentsiya, posvyaschennoy arkheologukavkazovedu L.N. Solovevu. Materialy mezhdunarodnoy arkheologicheskoy konferentsii. 26–30 noyabrya 2013 g. [The Caucasus and Abkhazia in ancient times and in the Middle Ages: interaction and continuity of cultures. Fourth Abkhazian international archaeologi cal conference dedicated to the archaeologist of the Caucasus L.N. Solovyov. Materials of the international archaeological conference. 26–30 November 2013]. Suhum, 171–179.
Pachulia, V.P. 1964: V krayu zolotogo runa [At the edge of the Golden fl eece]. Moscow.
Pachulia, V.P. 1973: Legendy lazurnogo berega [Legends of the Cote d’azur]. Moscow.
Trebeleva, G. 2017: Great Abkhazian (Kelasur) wall and the problem of localization Apsilia borders. In: Fortifi cations, defense systems, structures and features in the past. Book of Abstracts. Zagreb, 39–40.
Trebeleva, G.V., Khondziya, Z.G., Yurkov, G.Yu. 2015: Velikaya Abkhazskaya (Kelasurskaya) stena. Novye otkrytiya [The Great Abkhazian (Kelasur) wall. New discoveries]. In: V.E. Rodinkova (ed.), Novye materialy i metody arkheologicheskogo issledovaniya: Materialy III Mezhdunarodnoy konferentsii molodykh uchenykh, Moskva, 16–19 Maya 2015 g. [New materials and methods of archaeological research: Materials for the III International conference of young scientists, Moscow, 16–19 May, 2015]. Moscow, 198–200.
Trebeleva, G.V., Khondziya, Z.G., Yurkov, G.Yu. 2017a: Rezultaty issledovaniya Velikoy abkhazskoy (Kelasurskoy) steny (2013–2015 gg.) i voprosy granits rannesrednevekovykh gosudarstvennykh obrazovaniy na territorii Abkhazii [The Results of the study of the great Abkhazian (Kelasur) wall (2013–2015) and the issues of the boundaries of early medieval state formations on the territory of Abkhazia]. Problemy istorii, filologii, kultury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies] 3, 174–185.
Trebeleva, G.V., Khondziya, Z.G., Yurkov, G.Yu. 2017b: Velikaya Abkhazskaya (Kelasurskaya) stena: rezultaty issledovaniya 2013–2016 godov, novye dannye i novye voprosy [The Great Abkhazian (Kelasur) wall: results of the 2013–2016 study, new data and new questions] In: A.G. Novozhilov (ed.), Arkheologiya i etnografi ya Kavkaza i Kryma. Tezisy dokladov [Archaeology and Ethnography of the Caucasus and Crimea. Abstracts.]. Saint Petersburg, 60–62.
Trebeleva, G.V., Yurkov, G.Yu. 2015: Po velikoy abkhazskoy (Kelasurskoy) stene: ot r. Kelasur do r. Ulys i problema vostochnogo kontsa [The Great Abkhazian (Kelasuri) wall: from the river Kelasur to the river Ulis, and the problem of the Eastern end]. Problemy istorii, filologii, kultury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies] 1, 365–383.
Trebeleva, G.V., Yurkov, G.Yu., Gorlov, Yu.V., Tsvinariya, I.I., Agumaa, A.S., Kaytan, Sh.G. 2012: Kelasurskaya stena, esche raz k voprosu datirovki [The Kelasur wall, once again on the issue of dating]. Problemy istorii, fi lologii, kultury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies] 4, 169–178.
Uvarova, P.S. 1894: Materialy po arkheologii Kavkaza. [Materials on the archaeology of the Caucasus]. IV. Moscow.
Voronov, Yu.N. 1998: Kolkhida na rubezhe Srednevekovya [Colchis at the Turn of the Middle Ages]. Suhum.