Dzurdzuks

The Durdzuks ( ka, დურძუკები, tr), also known as Dzurdzuks, was a Georgian name from '' The Georgian Chronicles'' used to describe a people in the North Caucasus, the origins of whom is still a matter of debate, but frequently identified as possible ancestors of modern Nakh peoples.

Ethnonym

Durdzuk is a medieval ethnonym used mainly in Georgian, Armenian and Arabic sources in the 9th-18th centuries, in which most researchers identify the Durdzuks as the ancestors of modern Chechens and Ingush. Some researchers localize the Durdzuks in the mountainous Ingushetia and identify them with the Ingush, others believe that during the Middle Ages the population of Chechnya was known to the South Caucasian peoples under the name "Durdzuks" (or "Dzurdzuks"), and the population of Ingushetia under the names "Gligvi", "giligii". The Georgian historian V. N. Gamrekeli claims that "Durdzuk" is definitely and, with all its references, uniformly localized, between Didoet-Dagestan in the east and the gorge of the Terek River, in the west.

The Durdzuks are mentioned in the 7th-century work '' Geography of Armenia'' by Anania Shirakatsi as the ''Dourtsk'' ().

History

According to the Georgian royal annals:

''Durdzuk'' was mentioned by the ''Chronicles'' as "the most distinguished among the descendants of Kavkas", who led his people, the Durdzuks, into the mountains, where they would become the ancestors of today's Vainakh peoples.Anchabadze, George
"The Vainakhs."
(2009). Before his death, Targamos ogarmahdivided the country amongst his sons, with Kavkasos aucas the eldest and most noble, receiving the Central Caucasus. Kavkasos engendered the Vainakh tribes, and his descendant, Durdzuk, who took residence in a mountainous region, later called "Dzurdzuketia" after him, established a strong state in the fourth and third centuries BC.

N. G. Volkova, based on data from Georgian sources, concludes that in the early period the ethnonym "Dzurdzuki" covered all the Vainakhs, that is, the Ingush and Chechens as a whole. Further, she clarifies that by the late Middle Ages, the ethnic content of the name "dzurdzuki" had changed and meant only the Ingush. In particular, Vakhushti Bagrationi in his work “Descriptions of the Georgian Kingdom” mentions the regions “Dzurdzuketia”, “Kistetia” and “Gligvetia”, linking them with the territory of modern Ingushetia

In the Armenian adaptation of ''Georgian Chronicles'', the Durdzuks defeated the Scythians and became a significant power in the area in the region in the first millennium BC.

According to ''Georgian Chronicles'', the Durdzuks allied themselves with Georgia, and helped the first Georgian king Pharnavaz I of Iberia consolidate his reign against his unruly vassals. The alliance with Georgia was cemented when King Pharnavaz married a Durdzuk girl.

The Durdzuks are said to have raided Kakheti and Bazaleti during the reign of Mirian I, who invaded and ravaged the land of the Durdzuks in retaliation. Later on, the Durdzuks are mentioned fighting the Mongols alongside their Georgian allies as well as the Ossetians.Howorth, Henry Hoyle. History of the Mongols, from the 9th to the 19th century. No. 85. Burt Franklin, 1888. Page 11. Durdzuk soldiers are also mentioned fighting alongside Georgians against the troops of Jalal al-Din Mangburni. Queen Tamar of Georgia was highly esteemed, and the Durdzuks named daughters as well as bridges and other buildings after her.WAKIZAKA, KEISUKE. "LIVING AS “NORTH CAUCASIANS” IN GEORGIA: IDENTITY AND INTEGRATION IN GEORGIA AMONG THE OSSETIAN AND THE CHECHEN-KIST COMMUNITIES." (2019). Page 78: "According to Kartlis Tskhovreba (History of Georgia) and works of the Georgian historian Leonti Mroveli in the 11th century, these relations began before Christ. In these sources, Vainakhs are called “Nachkhs”, “Ghlighvs”, “Dzurdzuks” and “Durdzuks”. At the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C., Parnavaz, the king of Iberia, married a woman from a Vainakh tribe in order to get support from the Highlanders.209 They fought alongside the Georgian kings for centuries. Vainakhs loved Queen Tamar and named their daughters, bridges and other constructions after her. In this way, high-level interaction and fusion among Vainakhs, Georgians and many other highlander tribes existed in history .210 In the process of Vainakhs’ settlement in Georgia, they were assimilated into Georgian society. In fact, there are tribes who insist that their origins are based on Chechnya and Ingushetia among Tushs, Khevsurs, Pshavs and Georgians in Kakheti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti. Some tribes in Chechnya and Ingushetia insist that they are Georgian-origin and that they emigrated to Chechnya and Ingushetia afterward..."

The "Gate of Durdzuks" mentioned in Georgian sources is thought to have been in the Assa gorge of Ingushetia, which is a path connecting the North and South Caucasus regions.

See also

* Dvals
*Peoples of the Caucasus

References

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Further reading

*Гамрекели В. Н., Двалы и Двалетия в I-XV вв. н. э., Тб., 1961
*Шавхелишвили А. И., Из истории взаимоотношений между грузинским и чечено-ингушским народами (С древнейших времён до XV века), Грозный, 1963

History of the North Caucasus
Peoples of the Caucasus