Update on documentary film

ariel · 29th June 2009, 11:24 PM

Western ignorance of the small Caucasian tribes and of Khevsurs in particular is astonishing.
Check, for example, the book by J. Christoph Amberger " The secret history of the sword" published in the US in 1996, p. 165-168.
There, he describes a tale told by the young American traveler Richard Halliburton, who allegedly went to the Caucasus and met these strange people. Halliburton's pictures of the Khevsurs ( he spell their name as Khevsoor) are reproduced by Amberger.
Then, Amberger writes :'... since his is the only published account of a Westerner having visited the region and observed some of the more picturesque traditions, I am tempted to believe at least the description of what he witnessed".
Having said that, he continues:" My attempt to verify the existence of the Khevsoor remained futile".

Well, their "existence" had been "documented" in multiple books, including the great " Twelve secrets in the Caucasus" by Essad Bey ( published in the 1920s).
And, being totally ignorant about their own non-existence, they lived happily in their ancestral homes, and their region was labeled as such on every map. Moreover, in the 1990s, every "Westerner" could have bought a plane ticket to Tbilisi, drive ~50 km ( 30 miles) and find himself right smack in the middle of the "lost crusaders".
Futile, my foot...
Lazy...

29th June 2009, 11:24 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Western ignorance of the small Caucasian tribes and of Khevsurs in particular is astonishing. Check, for example, the book by J. Christoph Amberger " The secret history of the sword" published in the US in 1996, p. 165-168. There, he describes a tale told by the young American traveler Richard Halliburton, who allegedly went to the Caucasus and met these strange people. Halliburton's pictures of the Khevsurs ( he spell their name as Khevsoor) are reproduced by Amberger. Then, Amberger writes :'... since his is the only published account of a Westerner having visited the region and observed some of the more picturesque traditions, I am tempted to believe at least the description of what he witnessed". Having said that, he continues:" My attempt to verify the existence of the Khevsoor remained futile". Well, their "existence" had been "documented" in multiple books, including the great " Twelve secrets in the Caucasus" by Essad Bey ( published in the 1920s). And, being totally ignorant about their own non-existence, they lived happily in their ancestral homes, and their region was labeled as such on every map. Moreover, in the 1990s, every "Westerner" could have bought a plane ticket to Tbilisi, drive ~50 km ( 30 miles) and find himself right smack in the middle of the "lost crusaders". Futile, my foot... Lazy...