Ghalghai Koashke or Ghalghai Na'arghe () is the name of ancient

Ingush Ingush may refer to: * Ingush language, Northeast Caucasian language * Ingush people, an ethnic group of the North Caucasus See also *Ingushetia (disambiguation) Ingushetia is a federal republic and subject of Russia. Ingushetia may also refer ...

outposts in the Assa valley of the

Dzheyrakhsky District Dzheyrakhsky District (; , ) is an administrative and municipalLaw #5-RZ district (raion), one of the four in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. It is located in the south of the republic. The area of the district is .Official website of the Re ...

Ingushetia Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country o ...

, historically also known as the Durdzuk Gates or Gates of Durdzuketi. The entire territory is included in the Dzheyrakh-Assa State Historical-Architectural and Natural Museum-Reserve and is under state protection.

Etymology

Ghalghai Koashke is a composition of the words —

Ghalghai Ghalghai (, , sg. ГIалгIа, ) is the self-name (endonym) of the Ingush people. There's no consensus among scholars on the etymology of the ethnonym as there exists different theories and speculations on its etymology. However, it is most of ...

, which is the self-name of the

Ingush people Ingush (, pronounced ), historically known as ''Durdzuks'', ''Gligvi'' and ''Kists (ethnonym), Kists'', are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Republic of Ingushetia in central Caucasus, but a ...

and ''koashke'', which is the local plural form of the

word ''kov'', meaning "fortified settlement" or "outpost". According to professor Doshluko Malsagov this was used by the ancients to refer to ''gates'' in

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

gorges.

History

The Durdzuk Gates, also known as the ''Assa Gates'', are reportedly known in Georgian chronicles since the VI century AD. D. Malsagov suggests that the IX century geographer

Ibn al-Faqih Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani () (fl. 902) was a 10th-century Persian historian and geographer, famous for his ''Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan'' ("Concise Book of Lands") written in Arabic. In the 1870s the Dutch orientalist Micha ...

's report of the building of 12 gates and stone fortifications in the country of the

Durdzuks The Durdzuks ( ka, დურძუკები, tr), also known as Dzurdzuks, was a medieval exonym of the 9th-18th centuries used mainly in Georgian, Arabic, but also Armenian sources in reference to the Vainakh peoples (Chechens and Ingush). ...

by the Persian king Anushirvan, which A. Genko locates in the region of the Assa Gorge, is connected with old Ingush legends about folk heroes ''Koloy-Kant'', ''Pẋagal Bärē'', ''Seska Solsa'', et al., who guarded the Assa Gorge from the invasion of enemies from the plane. N. Yakovlev, notes that the Ingush have lived in the Ghalghai (Assa) Gorge from

time immemorial Time immemorial () is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, "ancient beyond memory or record". The phrase is used in legally significant contexts as well as in common parlance. ...

. A stone wall was made across the gorge by them, and their guards stood at the only entrance. No one could leave or enter without the permission of the guards. Among the defenders of these outposts, were many Ingush clans (

teips A ''teip'' (also ''taip'', ''tayp'', ''teyp''; Chechen and Ingush: тайпа, romanized: ''taypa'' , ''family'', ''kin'', ''clan'', ''tribe''Нохчийн-Оьрсийн словарь (Chechen-Russian Dictionary, A.G. Matsiyev, Moscow, 19 ...

), notably the nearby Egakhoy, Targimkhoy, Khamkhoy, Gäginäqan, Barkhanoy, Barakhoy, Barkinkhoy, Yovloy and Kokurkhoy (Ferta Shouli).

Geography

Many stone outposts and settlements can still be found on both banks of the Assa River in mountainous

. The most known outpost is located on a rocky ledge at the exit from the Assa Gorge. According to legend, the tower complex was badly damaged as a result of a terrible collapse. The remains of the once five-story battle tower and residential buildings have been preserved in the fortress.

External links

ГIалгIай НаIарге (Ghalghaï Gates): 3D virtual tour

Ворота Дзурдзуков (the Dzurdzuk Gates) , ''Ghalghaï Koashke''

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{Rural localities in Ingushetia History of Ingushetia Rural localities in Ingushetia History of the North Caucasus