Origin of the Abkhaz people. Early Christianity in the history of Abkhazia

(self-name - Ansua), people, indigenous population of Abkhazia. They also live in Russia (6 thousand people) and other countries. The Abkhazian language is of the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of the North Caucasian family of languages. The believers are mostly Sunni Muslims, with some Orthodox Christians.

Language

They speak the Abkhaz language of the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of the North Caucasian language family. There are dialects: Abzhuy (underlies the literary language) and Bzyb. Writing on a Russian graphic basis.

The Abkhazian language belongs to the Western Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe) language group. It has two dialects - Abzhuy (the basis of the modern literary language) and Bzyb. Abkhazian writing developed on the basis of the alphabet created in 1862 by linguist P.K. Uslar. Later it was improved by Abkhaz scientists. The basis of the national alphabet is the Cyrillic alphabet.

Religion

Abkhaz believers are Orthodox Christians (from the 4th century) and Sunni Muslims (from the 16th century).

Story

Abkhazians are the autochthonous population of the Caucasus. In the 8th century they developed statehood, which to one degree or another lasted until their annexation to Russia in 1810. In the 1870s. more than half of the population of Abkhazia, dissatisfied with the policies of the autocracy, moved to Turkey.

In 1921, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Abkhazia was formed, which became part of Georgia on the basis of a union treaty. In 1931, the status of Abkhazia was downgraded to the level of an autonomous republic. The growth of Abkhaz-Georgian contradictions in the late 1980s. led to a serious political crisis.

Representatives of the Abkhaz people appeared on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the 1930s (16 people). In the post-war period, their numbers gradually increased: 1970 - 68 people, 1979 - 89, 1989 - 124.

In the 1990s, the diaspora decreased by half and numbered 60 people by the end of 2002. The Abkhaz community of Krasnoyarsk is characterized by a double predominance of men and the absolute dominance of city dwellers (88%).

Life and activities

The main traditional occupations of the Abkhazians are agriculture, transhumance and grazing; auxiliary occupations are beekeeping and hunting. In the 20th century The cultivation of tobacco, tea, and citrus fruits (tangerines) has been mastered. Crafts were developed - making utensils, clothing, metal and horn products, wood carving, inlay, embroidery, weaving.

Traditional men's clothing - beshmet, circassian coat, skinny trousers, burka, bashlyk, papakha, stacked belt with a dagger; for women - a fitted dress with a wedge-shaped neckline on the chest, closed with metal fasteners, a belt, and a scarf on the head.

The national food of the Abkhazians is hard corn porridge mamalyga (abysta), boiled beans, milk and dairy products, various types of meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, honey. Characteristic are spicy gravies and sauces, the famous seasoning adjika. Alcoholic drinks - dry wine and grape vodka.

Famous Abkhazians

• Apsha Leon
• Ali Bey - Sultan of Egypt 1763-1773.
• Ardzinba, Vladislav Grigorievich - Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Abkhaz SSR (1990-1992), Chairman of the Supreme Council (1992-1994) and President of the Republic of Abkhazia (1994-2005).
• Arshba, Otari Ionovich (father's side) - Russian entrepreneur.
• Bagapsh, Sergei Vasilievich - Prime Minister (1997-1999) and President of the Republic of Abkhazia (2005-2011).
• Gablia, Varlam Alekseevich - Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Gogua, Alexey Nochevich - prose writer.
• Gulia, Georgy Dmitrievich - Russian Soviet writer, Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR (1943), Honored Artist of the Abkhazian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1971).
• Gulia, Dmitry Iosifovich - writer, people's poet of Abkhazia (1937); founder of Abkhaz written literature.
• Daraselia, Vitaly Kukhinovich - Soviet football player, midfielder, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.
• St. Eustathius
• Iskander, Fazil Abdulovich - Soviet and Russian prose writer and poet.
• Kokoskeria, Yason Basyatovich - Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Lakerbay, Mikhail Aleksandrovich - writer, playwright, theater critic, Honored Artist of the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1961).
• Lakoba, Nestor Apollonovich - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the SSR Abkhazia (1922-1936), Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Abkhaz ASSR (1930-1936).
• Orbay, Rauf - Prime Minister of Turkey (1922-1923).
• Papaskiri, Ivan Georgievich - Abkhaz Soviet writer, Honored Worker of Culture of the Georgian SSR (1968).
• Hareiddin Pasha - Prime Minister of Tunisia, author of the Tunisian Constitution of 1861.
• Shinkuba, Bagrat Vasilievich - writer and poet, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1958-1979).

• Among all the regions of the USSR, the record holder for the number of centenarians per capita was Abkhazia. In 1956, there were 2,144 people aged 90 years and older living in the Abkhaz SSR; of these, 270 are over a hundred, and 11 are over 120 years old. Among the Abkhaz long-livers there were no gloomy and angry people; The Abkhazians have a saying: “Evil people do not live long.”

Illustrated encyclopedia of the peoples of Russia. St. Petersburg, 1877.

Abkhazians - (self-name Apsua) autochthonous population of the Caucasus.

Literature: Janashia N.S., Articles on the ethnography of Abkhazia, Sukhumi, 1960; Inal-Iia Sh., Abkhazians, 2nd ed., Sukhumi, 1965; Chursin G.F., Materials on the ethnography of Abkhazia, Sukhumi, 1956. See also lit. to the article Abkhaz ASSR. Abkhazians / ot. ed. Yu.D. Anchabadze, Yu.G. Argun; Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology named after. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay RAS; Abkhaz Institute of Humanitarian Studies named after. DI. Gulia. - M.: Nauka, 2007. - 547 p. - (Peoples and cultures). Read the following materials here:

Smirnova Y.S. Abkhazians

ABKHAZ (self-name - Apsua) - nation, indigenous population of the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Some Abkhazians live in the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as in Turkey. The number of Abkhazians in the USSR is 65 thousand people (1959). The ancestors of the Abkhazians, mentioned in Assyrian sources of the 11th century BC. e. under the name Abeshla, and among ancient authors of the 1st and 2nd centuries under the name Abazgians and Apsils, they are among the most ancient inhabitants of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. The process of formation of the Abkhazian people, which emerged mainly by the 8th century, can be traced back to the 18th century.

Abkhazians. Family: structure and internal organization

Historical data - literary, historical and statistical, as well as obtained by the method of ethnographic reconstructions, indicate that until relatively recently among the Abkhazians, the most common form of organization of family-related groups was the large family. Given the low level of productive forces, the existence of a large family team was a real necessity, because the extensive transhumance form of cattle breeding, which was the leading branch of agriculture in mountainous Abkhazia at that time, required a significant number of workers.

Akaba L. Traditional religious beliefs of [Abkhazians]

The traditional religion of the Abkhazians is a system of polytheistic beliefs that are multi-layered in nature, with a very large pantheon of deities and objects of sacred veneration included in the scenarios of ramified cult practices. The function of the supreme deity belongs to Anzea. He is the creator of nature and people (often the epithet “who gave birth to us” is attached to his name), the ruler and omnipotent ruler of the universe. Possesses all perfections: omnipotence, omniscience, absolute goodness, limitlessness, immutability, etc. Anzea resides in the sky (often given the epithet “above”). When it descends from the sky, thunder rumbles, when it rises, lightning flashes. Thunder and lightning are his punishing powers. On the one hand, there is the idea of ​​Anzea as a deity devoid of any specific external features; on the other hand, he is represented either as a young handsome man or as a gray-haired old man...

Filatov K.A. Lazy

The Lazy are an ancient tribe, related to the Georgians, who occupied the fertile and rich valley of the river. Fasis (modern Rioni), called Muhirisi. The ancient Greeks called this country Colchis. Most of the internal Laz cities were located in the Muhirisi region - Rhodopolis, Kutaisi, Vashnari, Apsar, etc. Fasis (modern Poti), a significant trading city on the Black Sea, at the mouth of the river, was also connected with Muhirisi. Rioni. In the 4th century. the sovereign prince Lazov subjugated the Abazgs, Apsils and other smaller tribes, and by the end of the 4th century. and Svans. Thus arose a new kingdom, which the Romans called Lazica.

A.I. Broido, R.M. Bartsyts. Byzantine expansion and the legend of Abryskil.

The bright dominant of the Abkhaz national mentality - Apsadgyl bziabara, which became one of the ethnopsychological factors in the victory in the Patriotic War of the people of Abkhazia in 1992-1993, reveals the presence of a corresponding archetype in the ethnic collective unconscious, which is revealed in folklore and epic materials. Among them, a special place is occupied by the legend of Abryskil, the defender of the fatherland from foreign conquerors.

Rumyantsev V.B. Great Pitiunt and its surroundings. (Travel notes of a Great Russian about Abkhazia).

It was just dawn, my wife and I packed our things, walked out through the wrought iron door from the fortress walls, passed the main gate and the flat battlemented tower, locked at such an early hour, crossed a small square and got into a minibus, ready to head to the Russian border. Our state was somewhat nervous - we had to get to the border, cross it, that is, go through the control of the border guards on this and that (Russian) side, then drive through the traffic jam to the airport, go through a “search” there and have things scanned at the airport itself... In short, we had to spend the entire day solving an equation with many unknowns. It was supposed to end with a safe landing at Vnukovo airport and a happy meeting with relatives, which, thank God, eventually happened. In the meantime, we only walked the first fifty meters of the long journey, sat in soft chairs and waited for the minibus trailer to be filled to capacity with people - after all, until the cabin is completely filled, the driver here won’t lift a finger. There is nowhere for him to rush here...

The territory of modern Abkhazia was inhabited by people in ancient times, as evidenced by rich archaeological material. Since ancient times, ancient Greek, and after them ancient Roman written sources report about the ancient Abkhazian tribes inhabiting Abkhazia - Apsils, Abasgians, Sanigs, Misimians, etc., as well as about the territories in which they lived: Apsilia (in modern southern Abkhazia), Abasgia (central and northern Abkhazia), Sanigi (northwestern Abkhazia to Sochi), Misiminia (mountainous regions of northeastern Abkhazia). The name of the Apsila tribe has been preserved to this day in the self-name of the Abkhaz people - Apsua and in the Abkhaz name of their country - Apsny. The name Abasgi became the basis for the names “Abkhaz” and “Abkhazia”. However, this information is clearly not enough to talk about the origin of the ancient Abkhazian tribes. The answer to these questions can be given by studying the Abkhaz language. The Russian linguist Trubetskoy, who is supported by the majority of Soviet scientists, argues that today in the Western Caucasus there are 2 neighboring unrelated families of languages: 1) Kartvelian; 2) North Caucasian. The North Caucasian family of languages, along with Dagestan and Vainakh, includes the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of languages.

Division of branches of the Abkhaz-Adyghe language

Abaza Abkhaz Ubykh Adyghe Kabardian

Abkhazian branch

Adyghe branch

There are a number of theories regarding the origin of the ancient Abkhazian tribes. The most interesting of them are:

1. Northern - according to which the ancestors of the Abkhaz tribes came from the territory of the North-West Caucasus.

2. Southern or Malaysian - the ancestors of the Abkhaz tribes came from the territory of Asia Minor.

3. Local theory - according to this theory, the formation of the ancient Abkhazian tribes occurred without the intervention of external factors.

4. Ethiopian-Egyptian according to which the ancestors of the Abkhazians came from areas of Africa.

5. Local migration according to which the origin of the ancestors of the ancient Abkhazian tribes is associated with the interaction of local and alien tribes.

The validity of this theory is proven by the following factors.

Scientists claim that at the beginning of 3 thousand BC. On the territory of Asia Minor, a powerful alliance of the Kashki and Abeshla tribes was formed, which took part in the destruction of the Khat state. Apparently these tribes became carriers of elements of the Khat culture, including the language. At the turn of the 2nd - 1st millennium, due to overpopulation in former habitats (Asia Minor), part of the Kashki and Abeshla tribes began to develop new territories, thus reaching not only the territory of modern Abkhazia, but also further to the North Caucasus (in the Settlement Area modern Adyghe and Kabardians). Apparently the Kashki and Abeshla tribes were not only more numerous than the local tribes, but stood at a higher level of development. That is why the culture of the alien tribes won.

The origin of the Abkhazians and their place among other peoples of the world has long been of interest to researchers. There are not many written sources from which they draw their knowledge. And archeology, without the availability of appropriate written data, cannot paint a true picture of the origins of the people. The possibilities of ethnology and anthropology are further narrowed. Experts believe that language is a kind of unwritten chronicle of the centuries-old memory of the people. It contains information about economic activities, the way of life of distant ancestors, their connections with other peoples and much other interesting information. All this helps to understand the linguistic kaleidoscope of the peoples of the Caucasus, which, due to the mountainous landscape, played a preservative role in contrast to the expansive steppes. Therefore, the Caucasus is united in its diversity and many-sided in its unity, which must always be taken into account. It is recognized that the Abkhaz language is one of the oldest languages ​​in the world. It, together with other closely related languages ​​(Abaza, Ubykh, Adyghe, Circassian, Kabardian) forms the Western Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe) language group, numbering several million people today.

The Abkhaz-Adyghe group of languages ​​is related in origin to the East Caucasian languages ​​(Vainakh and Dagestan). Both of these groups form a single Caucasian family of languages.

Researchers of the Abkhaz language note that it is the most difficult for outsiders. Until recently, in the hunting environment, the Abkhaz-Adygs had a special “forest” or “hunting” language.

Relationship with the Hutts. The collapse of the Abkhaz-Adyghe proto-language into three main branches (Abkhaz-Adyghe-Ubykh) is believed to have begun approximately 5 thousand years ago. In modern science, the hypothesis about the relationship of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages ​​with the Hutt language, whose speakers lived in Asia Minor (in the territory of modern Turkey), has received wide recognition. The direct connections of the ancient population of the Western Caucasus with Asia Minor and Western Asia, with the civilizations of the Ancient East are indicated by the famous monuments of Maikop (until the second half of the 3rd millennium BC) and megalithic (dolmens, cromlechs - second half of the 3rd millennium BC .) archaeological cultures. The well-known “Maikop” and “Esher” epigraphic inscriptions can also testify to the traditional connections of the Abkhaz-Adygs with ancient Eastern civilizations. The signs of these texts show a certain similarity both with the writings found in Byblos (XIII century BC), in Phenicia, and with the signs of the Hittite hieroglyphic writing (II-I millennium BC).

The people, who spoke the proto-language of the Abkhaz-Adyghe, were engaged in agriculture, raised livestock, made various handicrafts, and processed metals. This is confirmed by archaeological materials from Abkhazia. There is an opinion that the Hutts were the inventors of iron metallurgy and that their name iron found its way into many languages ​​of the world (in particular, the Russian word “iron” comes from it). Words such as “sea”, “shore”, “fish”, “mountain (wooded )", "forest (deciduous)", "forest (coniferous)", "fir", "beech", "dogwood", "chestnut", etc. Toponymic names indicate the same thing. For example, names of rivers that include the element “dogs” - water, river (Aripsa, Supsa, Akampsis, Apsar, Lagumpsa), as well as words with the name “kua” - “ravine”, “beam”, “river”, etc. And the archeological data of Abkhazia indicate the continuity of local cultures in time and space before and after the mention of ancient Abkhazian tribes in ancient written sources in the first centuries of our era.

Ecological niche and ethnogenesis of ancient Abkhazians. In the origin of peoples, the role of natural conditions (features) should also be taken into account, i.e. geographical environment. For the history of the Abkhaz-Adygs, the preservative and differentiating processes that took place in the Western Caucasus gorges and mountain passes were very important.

Language decays usually occur during the movement of part of the speakers of the proto-language to another geographically isolated (mountains, rivers) area - the so-called ecological niche.

There is an opinion that the ancestral home of the Abkhaz-Adygs was the Colchis ecological niche and the adjacent northeastern regions of Asia Minor, where in the second - early first millennium BC. e. Kashki-Abeshla, related to the Abkhaz-Adygs, lived (they most likely spoke the Hutt language). Then, perhaps, there was a movement along the coast through the eastern Black Sea corridor (Meoto-Colchian road) and through the passes of the direct linguistic ancestors of the Circassians to the northern slopes of the Western Caucasus. The ancestors of the Zikh-Ubykhs occupied a niche between the Gagra ridge and Tuapse, connected with neighboring territories by difficult-season paths. The Proto-Abkhazian tribes, as the primary part of the community, continued to live in Colchis, where ancient authors found them in the person of the Apsils, Abasgians and Sanigs. Experts believe that cultural advances from Colchis along the Black Sea coast to Eastern Transcaucasia and the northern slopes of the Central Caucasus reached their peak in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. This time coincides with the heyday of the “Colchis-Koban metallurgical province.” As for the ancient non-Kartvelian tribes: Kardu-Kart, Kulha-Kolhi, Lusha-Laz, etc., they, there is an opinion, even before the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. lived in the northeastern regions of Asia Minor. And only then did these tribes advance through the river gorge. Chorokhi along the coast or along the river gorge. Kura to the Kolkhida ecological niche. The historical plausibility of this option may be indicated by its primacy in Transcaucasia before the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Proto-North Caucasian “Hurrito-Urartian” element, related to the East Caucasian languages ​​(Nakh-Dagestan).

Speaking about the origin of the Abkhaz people, it is important to always remember that since the settlement of the Western Caucasus by humans, southern influences have traditionally prevailed here - from Asia Minor. From there, in ancient times, speakers of the Abkhaz-Adyghe proto-language moved into the Western Caucasian valleys.

Taking into account the geographical factor and many other things, we should not forget that no people can develop independently, without interaction with other neighboring peoples. Abkhazians are no exception in this regard.

Bridge between Europe and Asia. The territory inhabited by Abkhazians has always served as a kind of bridge between the North Caucasus and the Black Sea coast. The second direction of connections was determined by the sea, along the shores of which ships moved towards Asia Minor and Crimea. In this regard, we can recall such coastal civilizations as, for example: Greece, Rome, Byzantium, Genoa, with which the ancient ancestors of the Abkhazians were also in close contact (by the way, in the village of Tamysh a clay model of a boat was found in the 8th century layer. BC.). An important role was also played by the fact that the base of the triangle of space occupied by the Abkhazians was open to influences from the southeast, from where the foothill “Abkhazian road” led, which was used by merchants and conquerors. It is possible that in the late Middle Ages this path was protected by the Great Abkhazian (Kelasur) Wall, as evidenced by its configuration, the architectural features of the towers themselves and curtains (the fortress wall between the towers), as well as the accompanying archaeological material.---

Geniochi Tribal Union and its components. The population of Abkhazia and adjacent regions, as evidenced by ancient written sources, was in the 1st millennium BC. e. a rather powerful and at the same time motley union of Geniochian tribes. Nevertheless, they were close to each other linguistically and culturally. At least, the ancient cities of Dioscurias (modern Sukhum) and Fasis (modern Poti) were located on the land of the Geniokhs.

In the first centuries of our era, the Geniokhian union broke up into smaller ancient Abkhazian tribes: Sanigs, Abasgians, Apsils (the latter gave the Abkhazians the self-name Aps-ua). In the VI century. n. e. The Misimians emerged from the Apsils. At this time, the ethnopolitical border between the ancient Abkhazian and ancient Kartvelian tribes (Laz) ran approximately along the river. Ingur. This is how it was in the 7th - early 8th centuries, before the formation of the Abkhazian kingdom. In the I-VI centuries. all of the listed ancient Abkhaz tribal associations were early class state formations (“principalities” or “kingdoms”) - Sanigia, Apsilia, Abasgia and Misiminia (from the 6th century). They became the basis for the formation of first the Abkhazian (Abasgian) principality, and then the Abkhazian kingdom (8th century). This was facilitated by the unity of the ancient Abkhaz tribes, which led to the creation of a single Abkhaz feudal nation - the common ancestor of both Abkhazians and Abazins (this process could have begun back in the 7th century, or maybe a little earlier, after the official adoption of Christianity in Abkhazia in the 30-50s of the 6th century). It should be remembered that during the period of the “kingdom of the Abkhazians and Kartlians”, back at the end of the 12th century, the language of the ancestors of modern Abkhazians (Apsaras - Apsua) was well known and respected at the royal court.

Subsequently, the ancestors of some of the modern Abazas (Tapanta), having crossed the spurs of the Main Caucasus Range, settled in the valleys of the North Caucasus devastated by the Mongol invasion. Relocation there of another Abazin tribe - the Ashkharians, who call themselves ap-sua, i.e. Abkhazians, happened even later. Therefore, the speech of the Ashkharians, unlike the Tapants, is less different from the Abkhazian. In a word, the Abkhaz and Abaza actually speak close dialects of the single Abkhaz-Abaza language.

This is how today we can briefly imagine the rather complex process of the origin of the Ab-Khaz people, one of the most ancient peoples of the world.