Photo tribute to Caucasus

Rivkin · 17th December 2004, 10:25 PM

Native arms of Caucasians are small round shield, small spear, bow and arrows, chain mail, shashka (sabre like weapon with no guard), kindjal - short sword, and very old straight swords - palashes, characterstic to mountainous northern Georgia and southern Chechnya.

Due to decrease in rifle's calibers caucasian where able to create chainmail that at some distance would not be penetrated by most rifles till the second half of XIX century. This is the reason why many of them, mostly georgian-khevsurs did wear chain mails well into XX century.

Rivkin · 17th December 2004, 10:47 PM

Traditionally Caucasus divided into 2 parts - Northern Caucasus, inhabited mostly by Adygha (Circassian): shapsugs, adighe, kabarda, Dagestani (mostly Vainach) tribes - Dag, Lak, Avar, Lezgin, Turkish tribes - Balkars and Kipchaqs.

Southern Caucaus (TransCaucasian area) is populated by Georgian tribes - Megrels, Svans, Imereti, Guria, Khevsur, Pshav, Kacheti, Kartli per se etc,
Alan tribes - Osetians,
Armenians and
Turkish Azeris.

In between of this division are Chechens, Ingush and other tribes that change their alliance in between of Northern and Southern states.

Enclosed are the symbolics of Adyghe (Black Crosses, 3 arrows), Chechen (Wolf and Green Banner) and Georgian (Cross).

The latter one is from crusaders, who are deeply revered by both muslim and christians on the whole Caucasus. When Caucasus stood on the brink of destruction in front of assaulting turkish tribes, 300 members of the first crusade whent to Caucasus and together with Georgian Kings, who adopted Jerusalem Cross as their symbol they united cacuasian tribes in fight against the enemy.

Till XIX century especially valuable swords made by both muslim and christian weaponsmith would bear the "bee" - cross like shape, coming from tradition to use small parts of weapons of those who fought seljuks 1000 years ago as part of new weapons, supposedly to bestow them with magic powers.

Rivkin · 17th December 2004, 10:49 PM

Here is an example of typical khevsurian houses. Not made for comfort, made to kill people below. The last one is church (again, made to fight off the enemies after prayers).

Rivkin · 17th December 2004, 10:56 PM

Currently Caucasus is torn apart by wars, terrorism and occupation. Caucasians abroad are sometimes employed by various military organizations.

Examples below - circassian 14th squadron of Foreign Legion - was mostly involved in actions against arab insurgents in Lebanon and Syria, later fought against Germans/Vichy in the Middle East, jordanian honor guard (circassians and chechens) with jordanian royal prince.

Rivkin · 17th December 2004, 11:03 PM

Another nationality present in Caucasus are jews. They are divided into tats (farsi-speaking jews from Iran), Kipchaq jews who migrated with kipchaqs from Asia, Ashkenazi - european jews, and georgian jews.

Also important are muslim clans descending from jews. Approximately 15% of chechens (around Shatoi, Khasa-urt etc.) belong to clans that ether considered to be jewish (zhukti) or in some blood relationship with them. Another example are lezginians from Ahty, while today they are considered muslims and respectively chechens or lezgins they maintain some of their jewish traditions (shabbat etc.).

Enclosed are jewish or circassian (they used to serve in Israel army as mercenaries and later conscripts) in Jerusalem, and a tat couple.

For fun - mountain jews performing in chechen:
http://www.mountain-jews.co.il/Video/Shrek.asx

Rivkin · 17th December 2004, 11:06 PM

I bring my most sincere apologies to the moderator and esteemed members of the forum for this lengthy post.

Sincerely yours,

Kirill Rivkin

Jim McDougall · 18th December 2004, 01:23 AM

Apologies??!!!
Rivkin I think these posts are outstanding!!! Thank you for placing them here.
In the west there is little information concerning the Caucusus in world history, which is unfortunate as their history is magnificent and colorful.
I am amazed at these photos and your extremely interesting data on the ethnographic perspective of these fascinating people.

The weapons of the Caucusus are eagerly sought by many advanced collectors and the material you have posted here is extremely well placed. I was aware that Khevsurs wore chain link armour well into the 20th century (as described by Halliburton in his "Seven League Boots" narrative c.1935), but did not realize the application with regard to the firearms caliber. I have often wondered if the Khevsurs still maintain thier 'duelling' tradition with swords, buckler and mail, and if so, are there recent photos?

Well done Rivkin, thank you for sharing a fascinating pictorial of a very esoterically studied ethnographic region!

Best regards,
Jim

17th December 2004, 10:25 PM	#1
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Native arms of Caucasians are small round shield, small spear, bow and arrows, chain mail, shashka (sabre like weapon with no guard), kindjal - short sword, and very old straight swords - palashes, characterstic to mountainous northern Georgia and southern Chechnya. Due to decrease in rifle's calibers caucasian where able to create chainmail that at some distance would not be penetrated by most rifles till the second half of XIX century. This is the reason why many of them, mostly georgian-khevsurs did wear chain mails well into XX century. Attached Images

17th December 2004, 10:47 PM	#2
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Traditionally Caucasus divided into 2 parts - Northern Caucasus, inhabited mostly by Adygha (Circassian): shapsugs, adighe, kabarda, Dagestani (mostly Vainach) tribes - Dag, Lak, Avar, Lezgin, Turkish tribes - Balkars and Kipchaqs. Southern Caucaus (TransCaucasian area) is populated by Georgian tribes - Megrels, Svans, Imereti, Guria, Khevsur, Pshav, Kacheti, Kartli per se etc, Alan tribes - Osetians, Armenians and Turkish Azeris. In between of this division are Chechens, Ingush and other tribes that change their alliance in between of Northern and Southern states. Enclosed are the symbolics of Adyghe (Black Crosses, 3 arrows), Chechen (Wolf and Green Banner) and Georgian (Cross). The latter one is from crusaders, who are deeply revered by both muslim and christians on the whole Caucasus. When Caucasus stood on the brink of destruction in front of assaulting turkish tribes, 300 members of the first crusade whent to Caucasus and together with Georgian Kings, who adopted Jerusalem Cross as their symbol they united cacuasian tribes in fight against the enemy. Till XIX century especially valuable swords made by both muslim and christian weaponsmith would bear the "bee" - cross like shape, coming from tradition to use small parts of weapons of those who fought seljuks 1000 years ago as part of new weapons, supposedly to bestow them with magic powers. Attached Images

17th December 2004, 10:49 PM	#3
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Here is an example of typical khevsurian houses. Not made for comfort, made to kill people below. The last one is church (again, made to fight off the enemies after prayers). Attached Images

17th December 2004, 10:56 PM	#4
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Currently Caucasus is torn apart by wars, terrorism and occupation. Caucasians abroad are sometimes employed by various military organizations. Examples below - circassian 14th squadron of Foreign Legion - was mostly involved in actions against arab insurgents in Lebanon and Syria, later fought against Germans/Vichy in the Middle East, jordanian honor guard (circassians and chechens) with jordanian royal prince. Attached Images Last edited by Rick; 9th January 2005 at 06:14 PM.

17th December 2004, 11:03 PM	#5
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Another nationality present in Caucasus are jews. They are divided into tats (farsi-speaking jews from Iran), Kipchaq jews who migrated with kipchaqs from Asia, Ashkenazi - european jews, and georgian jews. Also important are muslim clans descending from jews. Approximately 15% of chechens (around Shatoi, Khasa-urt etc.) belong to clans that ether considered to be jewish (zhukti) or in some blood relationship with them. Another example are lezginians from Ahty, while today they are considered muslims and respectively chechens or lezgins they maintain some of their jewish traditions (shabbat etc.). Enclosed are jewish or circassian (they used to serve in Israel army as mercenaries and later conscripts) in Jerusalem, and a tat couple. For fun - mountain jews performing in chechen: http://www.mountain-jews.co.il/Video/Shrek.asx Attached Images Last edited by Rivkin; 17th December 2004 at 11:16 PM.

17th December 2004, 11:06 PM	#6
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	I bring my most sincere apologies to the moderator and esteemed members of the forum for this lengthy post. Sincerely yours, Kirill Rivkin

18th December 2004, 01:23 AM	#7
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,656	Apologies??!!! Rivkin I think these posts are outstanding!!! Thank you for placing them here. In the west there is little information concerning the Caucusus in world history, which is unfortunate as their history is magnificent and colorful. I am amazed at these photos and your extremely interesting data on the ethnographic perspective of these fascinating people. The weapons of the Caucusus are eagerly sought by many advanced collectors and the material you have posted here is extremely well placed. I was aware that Khevsurs wore chain link armour well into the 20th century (as described by Halliburton in his "Seven League Boots" narrative c.1935), but did not realize the application with regard to the firearms caliber. I have often wondered if the Khevsurs still maintain thier 'duelling' tradition with swords, buckler and mail, and if so, are there recent photos? Well done Rivkin, thank you for sharing a fascinating pictorial of a very esoterically studied ethnographic region! Best regards, Jim