Ancient Khorezm is a lost world. History of Khorezm History of Khorezm from ancient times
Extremely eventful will be trips to the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Karakalpakstan, or to Northern Khorezm, a region that is undoubtedly interesting for the most amazing monuments.
There are especially many monuments of the ancient period in Karakalpakstan. This is the settlement of Gyaur-kala (IV century BC - IV century AD) and a fortress with the same name, but located at a great distance from each other. Dakhma Chilpyk (I-IV centuries BC - IX-XI century AD) - the place of the ceremonial assuary burial of Zoroastrians, Mizdakhkan (IV centuries BC - XIV century AD) - a complex of ancient and medieval settlements. Toprak-kala settlements (I century AD - IV century AD), Guldursun (IV - III centuries BC), Akhshakhan-kala (IV century BC - IV century AD) ), a fortress and at the same time the temple of Koykrylgan-kala (IV century BC - IV century AD), the temple of fire Tashkyrman-tepe (IV-III century BC - III-IV century AD), Beautiful pearl Khiva. In the city of Urgench, visit the museum and monument, Avesta, because many scholars agree that this sacred book was written in Khorezm.
If you find yourself in Urgench or Nukus, and you are interested in ancient history, do not think which way to go. You can go to any of the four corners of the world - everywhere there are monuments of Zoroastrianism. Or at least ruins - unforgettable remnants of a great religion and civilization of wise thinkers and astrologers, philosophers and magicians.
AVESTA is the sacred book of Zoroastrianism - the pre-Islamic religion of the ancient peoples of Turan and Iran, which for the first time in the history of mankind proclaimed the idea of monotheism. Thanks to her, from time immemorial, evidence has come down to us about the representation of the structure of the universe by our ancestors. The name "Avesta" means something like "Basic Saying".
The creator of the book is Zoroaster, this is how his name sounds in Greek, Zarathushtra (Zarathustra) - in Iranian and Pahlavi, or Zardusht, in the language of the inhabitants of Central Asia. He is the prophet of Ahura Mazda - the supreme deity of the Zoroastrian religion, was born either in Iran, or in Khorezm.
The son of Pourushaspa, from the Spitam clan, Zarathushtra is known primarily for the Gathas - the seventeen great hymns that he composed. These hymns were conscientiously preserved by his followers. The Gathas are not a collection of teachings, but inspired, passionate sayings, many of which are addressed to God. "In truth, there are two primary spirits - these are twins, famous for their opposite. In thought, in word and in action, they are both good and evil. When these two spirits clashed for the first time, they created being and non-being. And what awaits in the end, those who follow the path of falsehood - this is the worst, and those who follow the path of good, the best awaits. And of these two spirits, one, following the lie, chose evil, and the other spirit, bright, holy, clothed in the strongest stone, chose righteousness, and let everyone know who will constantly please Ahura Mazda with righteous deeds ("Yasna", 30.3). The main scourge of mankind is death. It forces the souls of people during the era of "Mixing" to leave the material world and return temporarily into an imperfect immaterial state."
Zoroaster believed that every soul, parting with the body, is judged for what it did during life. He taught that both women and men, and servants, and masters can dream of paradise, and the "barrier of time" - the transition from one world to another - "The Destroyer Bridge", became his revelation, a place of judgment, where the sentence to every soul does not depend on many and generous sacrifices during earthly life, but on her moral achievements.
Thoughts, words, and deeds of each soul are weighed on the scales: good ones on one bowl, bad ones on the other. If there are more good deeds and thoughts, then the soul is considered worthy of paradise. If the scales are tilted towards evil, then the bridge narrows and becomes the edge of the blade. The sinner experiences "a long age of suffering, bad food and mournful dreams" ("Yasna", 32, 20).
Zoroaster was the first to teach about the judgment of every person, about heaven and hell, about the coming resurrection of bodies, about the universal Last Judgment and about the eternal life of the reunited soul and body.
These instructions were subsequently adopted by the religions of mankind, they are borrowed by Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
According to Zoroaster, the salvation of each person depends on his thoughts, words and deeds, in which no deity can interfere and change, out of compassion or at his own whim. In such a teaching, faith in the Day of Judgment fully acquires its terrifying meaning: each person must be responsible for the fate of his own soul and share the responsibility for the fate of the world.
AVESTA says: "Marakanda is the second of the best places and countries"... The first is Khorezm (not within modern borders, but in the bosom of Tejen and.)". Anahita (locally - Nana) - Mother - Earth - the goddess of the settled. Mithra - the Fleet-footed Sun - God of nomadic tribes. The main hypostasis of Mitra is Truth, because without truth, without camaraderie, one cannot win in battle. "The one who lied to Mithra will not ride away on a horse..." Worship of Truth, reaching the level of religiosity, worship of Friendship is the eternal law of nomads.
The immortal spirit and history of the people are manifested in culture and art, which determine the unique image of any nation, clearly reflect its unique features.
And therefore, the whole world knows the art of the people of Khorezm, in which the motives of the ancient AVESTA were embodied. A monumental monument was erected to this greatest book in Urgench.
But, let's remember other monuments of a bygone civilization and visit the Chilpyk dakhma. It is located on the right bank of the Amu Darya, on the top of a conical hill-outlier up to forty meters high. A lot of mysteries and legends of the Zoroastrians hover over the Chilpik dakhma today. When Vayu, the God of death, comes, the body of the deceased is taken to the dakhma. Dahma is the place where the Zoroastrians carried the dead to cleanse the remains from soft covers.
And Ahura Mazda said:
"Put the body on the highest of places,
Above the wolf and the fox
Not flooded with rain water.
Dakhma Chilpyk has the shape of an irregular circle with a diameter of sixty to eighty meters. Its fifteen-meter walls still guard the ritual burials founded by the Zoroastrians.
Along the perimeter of the wall was a sufa - a place where the dead were laid for purification.
In order not to defile the water and land with decomposition, the bodies were left to be eaten by wild animals, birds of prey and the sun. After purification, the bones were put in ossuaries, special receptacles for the remains, and buried in the ground or in crypts - nauses. This method of burial was the most important aspect of faith in Ahura Mazda - the highest purity of thoughts, words and deeds, strict faith in the purity of nature.
An ancient legend says that Chilpyk was once a fortified castle. A princess lived in it, in love with a slave and fled here from the wrath of her father. Another legend says that the hero Chilpyk built this fortress. When building a castle, he dropped clay, from which a hill was formed, on which the dakhma stands.
The third is that dakhma is the work of Dev Haji Mulyuk, the enemy of Ahura Mazda, who waged an eternal struggle with the forces of light.
The ancient city of Mizdahkan, which is located in the Khodjeyli region of Karakalpakstan, two dozen kilometers from Nukus. It originated 400 years before our era. There is a necropolis on the eastern hill of the settlement. From the ninth century AD, it began to serve as a burial place for Muslims. And before that, ancient Zoroastrians performed rituals on the hill. As nowhere else, layers of time intertwined here, and a crossroads of civilizations was formed.
Next to the necropolis of Mizdahkan, which is interesting in itself, with its medieval structures - Nazlym Khan Sulu, Shamun Nabi, on the western hill stands the settlement of Gyaur-kala. Founded three hundred years before our era, it existed for almost a century, having survived the rise and fall of the Kushan state... Gyaur-kala was the largest city of ancient Khorezm, once called Airyan Vejo. Daityi flowed nearby - the modern Amu Darya. Archaeological finds of household utensils and pottery testify to the flourishing of crafts in Gyaur-Kale. The ditches and canals tell us that the Avestans possessed excellent knowledge of land irrigation. Behind the powerful walls of Gyaur-kala lived people who preached the ideas of Zarathushtra - the Prophet of Zoroastrianism.
Vertragna - God of victory was the patron of the fortress-city, another Gyaur-kala, which is known from the fourth century BC and stood almost until the XIII century AD. It was a border fortress that closed the road to enemies from the north to the territory of upper Khorezm. Its powerful walls are cut through by two rows of arrow-shaped loopholes, behind which the Zoroastrian warriors hid, repelling the enemy. And now, when the sacred fire flares up in the altar of the "Rich Hall" - the son of Ahura Mazda, the shadows of long-gone warriors appear. Incorporeal, they continue to guard the impregnable fortress of Gyaur-kala.
And only against the Oxus (Amu Darya) the fortress could not resist. Its walls were washed away by a violent river.
“The warriors cry out to Mithra, Bowing down to the horse's manes, Asking for their health, Strength for the horses in teams. And to defeat them All hostile enemies And every enemy ... ". The impregnable fifteen-meter walls of Gyaur-kala are made of clay bricks, forty by forty in size and ten centimeters thick.
And although their age is almost two and a half thousand years, they are still strong to this day, as if they were put together quite recently.
There is an age-old and formidable symbol of Zoroastrianism, covered with glory and desert winds - the Gyaur-kala fortress, which has survived centuries.
Toprak-kala ancient settlement, or "Earth city" is still surrounded by fertile lands, which are cultivated by farmers of the Turtkul region of Karakalpakstan.
Toprak-kala appeared in the first century AD. Its inhabitants revered the powerful Ardvi - the goddess of fertility or, in other words, the mighty Amu Darya. Toprak-kala is surrounded by powerful nine-meter-high walls. One of the quarters of the city was entirely occupied by temple buildings. Behind the palace complex was a city of commoners, protected by a wall with quadrangular towers. Often it was visited by high priests and rulers. More often this happened on the holiday of the revival of nature - Navruz. The city was two-tiered. Now only fragments remain of the city walls. About a hundred rooms on the first floor and several buildings on the second floor survived. The sky turns purple. Like visions, images of the past appear. Sacred fire flares up in the former sanctuaries. Sacred rites and mysteries are performed again.
Sculptures and bas-reliefs of kings and warriors reflect the military glory and fortune of the victors who lived in this city.
Avestan priests with barsmans in their hands conduct liturgies in honor of Ahura Mazda and Zoroaster. This is the majestic city of Toprak-kala, which has retained its grandeur to this day.
And Ahura Mazda said:
"Do not touch! Three-toed Serpent of Dahak,
Fire Ahura - Mazda
To this, inaccessible,
If you encroach,
Then I will destroy you
The settlement of Guldursun-kala has been known since the fourth century BC. It is an irregular rectangle that stretches for more than five hundred meters from east to west and more than three hundred meters from north to south.
Its ancient walls and towers are made of pakhsa and raw bricks. As in all buildings of the Zoroastrians, standard brick sizes are used: forty by forty and ten centimeters thick.
Fifteen-meter fortress walls are well preserved. Remote towers were connected with the city by underground passages. The powerful fortification of the fortress allowed the city to stand for almost a century and repel all the raids of the invaders. And only the fierce conquerors of Genghis Khan in the fourteenth century managed to break the resistance of Guldursun.
According to an ancient legend, it bore the name “Gyulistan” - “flower garden of roses”, until its inhabitants were betrayed by a beautiful princess, giving her love to the enemy ... And then it began to be called the “cursed place” ... The grandiose ruins of Guldursun are covered with legends and tales . There was a belief that an underground passage to innumerable treasures was hidden in the fortress. But, the treasure guarded by the dragon will surely lead to the death of anyone who encroaches on the treasures of Guldursun.
Zoroastrians are called fire worshipers. They sacredly honored the regulations and rituals prescribed by the great prophet of Fire - Spitama Zarathushtra. The knowledge he received from Mazda - Higher wisdom, is still alive in the customs and rituals of modern people.
And Ahura Mazda said:
"O faithful Zarathushtra,
my name is the questioner
and Truth, and Reason, and Teaching.
Koi-Krylgan-kala, in translation - the fortress of dead sheep, appeared in the fourth century BC. This is an outstanding monument of the funeral and astral cults of ancient Khorezm.
Initially, it was a round two-story building with a diameter of about forty-five meters. The main temple was surrounded by two walls, fifteen meters away from the central building, with a shooting gallery.
On the ground floor there were rooms for religious ceremonies. These halls are two isolated complexes. In the upper rooms there were temple utensils and terracotta statues of the Gods.
On two stairs opposite each other, the priests descended from the shooting gallery of the second floor.
Koi-Krylgan-kala survived two periods of existence. Initially, it was a fortified temple-tomb. Funeral ceremonies were performed there. But, most importantly, astronomical observations were carried out here.
During the period of desolation, it was used by artisans, in particular potters. And in empty rooms they kept ossuaries with the remains of the dead.
And they constituted the core of the population of ancient Khorezm (Khwārezm), whose continuous presence in Central Asia is attested from the middle of the first millennium BC. e. They were part of the union of the Sako-Massaget tribes. Along with other historical Eastern Iranian peoples, they are one of the ancestors of modern Tajiks. They were part of the union of the Sako-Massaget tribes. The ancient Khorezmians were one of the components in the formation of the Uzbeks.
Story
Khorezm
History of the period BC. e., is incomplete and scattered. Due to the geographical position of ancient Khorezm, the territory was always attacked from outside. From some studies of Khorezm according to the Avesta, in the dictionary of the Iranian scientist Dekhkhod, the word "Khorezm", described as short for "Cradle of the peoples of the Aryans".
However, there are many versions of the origin of the name Khorezm, for example, "feeding land", "low land", "a country where there are good fortifications for livestock".
People
Biruni claimed that in Khorezm before the arrival of Siyavush there was a kingdom of the Turks:
"...Keihusrau and his descendants, who moved to Khorezm and extended his power to the kingdom of the Turks..."
In his historical works "Chronology" (Asar al-bakiya "ani-l-kurun al-khaliya) Al Biruni, refers the ancient Khorezmians to the Persian tree:.
He writes about the Turks as about the ancient inhabitants of Khorezm. [ quote not provided 398 days ] The exact dates of the appearance of the Khorezmians, as well as the ethnonym, are unknown. Hecateus of Miletus was the first to write: “The Chorasmians are those of the Parthians who inhabit the eastern lands, and the plains, and the mountains; these mountains are covered with vegetation, including wild horseradish, dog thorn (κυνάρα), willows, tamarisk.
The first mention of the Khorezmians is found in the Behistun inscription (522-519 BC) of Darius I. There are also carved reliefs of Eastern Iranian warriors, including a Khorezmian warrior, next to the Sogdian, Bactrian and Saka warriors, indicating the participation of the Khorezmians in the military campaigns of the rulers of the Achaemenid state [ ] . But already at the end of the 5th century BC, the Khorezmians gained independence from the Achaemenids and in 328 BC sent their ambassadors to Alexander the Great.
Silver dish, seventh century, Khorezm
Opinion of scientists
- According to the works of Al-Biruni, the Khorezmians began their chronology from the beginning of the settlement of their country, in 980, before the invasion of Alexander the Great into the Achaemenid Empire, that is, before the beginning of the Seleucid era - 312 BC. e. - starting from 1292 BC e. At the end of this era, they adopted another: from 1200 BC. e. and the time of the arrival in their country of the mythical hero of the Avesta and the ancient hero of the Iranian epic, which is described in "Shahnameh" Firdousi - Siyavush, who subjugated Khorezm, and Kay-Khosrov, the son of Siyavush, became the founder of the dynasty of Khorezmshahs, who ruled Khorezm until the 10th century. n. e.
- S.P. Tolstov - historian and ethnographer, professor, wrote the following:
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Language
The Khwarezmian language, which belongs to the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family, was related to the Sogdian language and Pahlavi. Khwarezmian fell into disuse by at least the 13th century, when it was gradually replaced by Persian for the most part, as well as several dialects of Turkic. According to the Tajik historian B. Gafurov, in the 13th century Turkic speech prevailed over Khorezmian in Khorezm. According to ibn Battuta, Khorezm in the first half of the 14th century was already Turkic-speaking. He describes the capital of Khorezm - Urgench: "This is the greatest, most beautiful, largest city of the Turks with beautiful bazaars, wide streets, numerous buildings and impressive views"
Literature
Khorezmian literature is considered the most ancient in Central Asia [ ] . After the conquest of the region in the 8th century by the Arabs, the Persian language begins to spread, after which all East Iranian dialects, including Khorezmian, give way to Persian and Turkic languages.
Religion
Various pagan cults were widespread in Khorezm, but Zoroastrianism prevailed. The Khorezmians buried the bones of the dead in ossuaries (vessels and boxes of various shapes containing the bones of the dead, previously cleaned of soft tissues), which were placed in nauses - a type of mausoleums. Many dozens of various ossuaries were found in Khorezm, among them the oldest in Central Asia (the turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC), as well as in the form of hollow ceramic statues and ossuaries bearing ancient Khorezmian inscriptions and drawings. One of the inscriptions contained a text read by V. A. Livshits: “The year 706, the month of Ravakin, the day of Ravakin. This ossuary of Sruvuk, whose soul possesses a Kawian farn. May (his) soul be escorted to a beautiful paradise.” In Sasanian Iran, where Zoroastrianism was a dogmatic religion, almost no ossuaries and nauses have been found. Obviously, this tradition was characteristic of the Zoroastrians of Central Asia, namely Khorezm.
see also
Notes
- ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA (unavailable link since 08-08-2018 )
- C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1998. excerpt from page 23:
"Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages. stock and they spoke an Eastern Iranian language called Khwarezmian. The famous scientist Al-Biruni, a Khwarezm native, in his Athar ul-Baqiyah الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية (p.47) specifically verifies the Iranian origins of Khwarezmians when he wrote: أهل خوارزم [...] کانوا غصناً من دوحة الفرس ("The people of the Khwarezm were a branch from Persian tree.")
- TSB-KHORESMIANS
- Tajikistan: History / Encyclopedia Britannica
The Tajiks are the direct descendants of the Iranian peoples whose continuous presence in Central Asia and northern Afghanistan is attested from the middle of the 1st millennium bc . The ancestors of the Tajiks constituted the core of the ancient population of Khwarezm (Khorezm) and Bactria, which formed part of Transoxania (Sogdiana). Over the course of time, the eastern Iranian dialect that was used by the ancient Tajiks eventually gave way to Persian, a western dialect spoken in Iran and Afghanistan.
Khorezm
History of the period BC. e., is incomplete and scattered. Due to the geographical position of ancient Khorezm, the territory was always attacked from outside. From some studies of Khorezm according to the Avesta, in the dictionary of the scientist Dekhkhod, the word "Khorezm", described as short for "Cradle of the peoples of the Aryans" However, there are many versions of the origin of the name Khorezm, for example, "feeding land", "low land", "a country where there are good fortifications for livestock".
People
In his historical works "Chronology" (Asar al-bakiya "ani-l-kurun al-khaliya) Al Biruni, relates the ancient Khorezmians to the Persian tree. He writes about the Turks as the ancient inhabitants of Khorezm. Biruni distinguished the Khorezmian language from Persian when he wrote "reproach in Arabic is dearer to me than praise in Persian ... this dialect is suitable only for Khosroev's stories and nightly tales."
The exact dates of the appearance of the Khorezmians, as well as the ethnonym, are unknown, but the first written mention is found by Darius I in the Behistun inscription 522-519 BC. e. . There are also carved reliefs of Eastern Iranian warriors, including a Khorezmian warrior, next to the Sogdian, Bactrian and Saka warriors, indicating the participation of the Khorezmians in the military campaigns of the rulers of the Achaemenid state. But already at the end of the 5th century BC, the Khorezmians gained independence from the Achaemenids and in 328 BC sent their ambassadors to Alexander the Great.
Opinion of scientists
- According to the works of Al-Biruni, the Khorezmians began their chronology from the beginning of the settlement of their country, in 980, before the invasion of Alexander the Great into the Achaemenid Empire, that is, before the beginning of the Seleucid era - 312 BC. e. - starting from 1292 BC e. At the end of this era, they adopted another: from 1200 BC. e. and the time of the arrival in their country of the mythical hero of the Avesta and the ancient hero of the Iranian epic, which is described in "Shahnameh" Firdousi - Siyavush ibn-Key-Kaus, who subjugated the "kingdom of the Turks", and Kay-Khosrov, the son of Siyavush, became the founder of the dynasty of Khorezmshahs, who ruled Khorezm until the 10th century. n. e.
- S.P. Tolstov - historian and ethnographer, professor, wrote the following:
In his work, he writes about direct connections between the Hittites and the Massagets, not excluding the fact that the tribes of the Goths were also in this chain. The researcher comes to the conclusion that the Khorezmian Japhetids (Kavids) act as one of the links in the chain of ancient Indo-European tribes, surrounding the Black and Caspian Seas at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e.
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Language
The Khwarezmian language, which belongs to the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family, was related to the Sogdian language and Pahlavi. Khwarezmian fell into disuse by at least the 13th century, when it was gradually replaced by Persian for the most part, as well as several dialects of Turkic. According to the Tajik historian B. Gafurov, in the 13th century Turkic speech prevailed over Khorezmian in Khorezm. According to ibn Battuta, Khorezm in the first half of the 14th century was already Turkic-speaking.
Literature
Khorezmian literature, along with Sogdian (Iranian languages) is considered the most ancient in Central Asia. After the conquest of the region in the 8th century by the Arabs, the Persian language begins to spread, after which all the Eastern Iranian dialects, including Khorezmian, give way to the Western Iranian dialect, as well as the Turkic language.
see also
Write a review on the article "Khorezmians"
Notes
- C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1998. excerpt from page 23: "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages. stock and they an Eastern Iranian spoken language called Khwarezmian. The famous scientist Biruni, a Khwarezm native, in his Athar ul-Baqiyah(p. 47) (p. 47)
- Peoples of Russia. Encyclopedia. Editor-in-Chief V. I. Tishkov. Moscow: 1994, p.355
- لغتنامهٔ دهخدا، سرواژهٔ "خوارزم". (Persian.)
- Rapoprot Yu. A., Brief essay on the history of Khorezm in antiquity. // Aral region in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Moscow: 1998, p.28
- Abu Reyhan Biruni, Selected Works. Tashkent, 1957, p.47
- Biruni. Collection of articles edited by S. P. Tolstov. Moscow-Leningrad: publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1950, p.15
- THE USSR. Chronology- article from .
- Gafurov B. G., Tajiks. Book two. Dushanbe, 1989, p.288
- Uzbeks- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
- Rapoprot Yu. A., Brief essay on the history of Khorezm in antiquity. // Aral region in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Moscow: 1998, p.29
- Encyclopedia Iranica, "The Chorasmian Language", D.N. Mackenzie. Online access at June, 2011: (eng.)
- Andrew Dalby, Dictionary of Languages: the definitive reference to more than 400 languages, Columbia University Press, 2004, pg 278
- MacKenzie, D. N. "Khwarazmian Language and Literature," in E. Yarshater ed. Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. III, Part 2, Cambridge 1983, pp. 1244-1249 (English)
- (Retrieved on December 29, 2008)
- Gafurov B. G., Tajiks. Book two. Dushanbe, 1989, p.291
- Ibn Battuta and his travels in Central Asia. M. Science. 1988, pp.72-74
An excerpt characterizing the Khorezmians
People began to disperse. This time, the execution was incomprehensible to them, since no one announced who the executed person was and what he was dying for. Nobody bothered to say a word. Yes, and the condemned himself behaved rather strangely - usually people screamed with wild cries until the heart stopped from pain. This one was silent even when the flames devoured him... Well, any crowd, as you know, does not like the incomprehensible. Therefore, many preferred to get away "away from sin", but the Papal guards returned them, forcing them to inspect the execution to the end. Dissatisfied grumbling began ... Caraffa's people grabbed me by the arms and forcibly shoved me into another carriage, in which the “blessed” Pope himself was sitting ... He was very angry and annoyed.“I knew he would leave!” Go! There is nothing more to do here.
- Have mercy! I have the right to at least see it to the end! – I was indignant.
– Do not pretend, Isidora! - Papa waved angrily, - You know very well that he is not there! And here a piece of dead meat just burns out!.. Let's go!
And the heavy carriage set off from the square, not even allowing me to watch how the earthly body of an innocently executed, wonderful person was burning alone ... my father ... For Caraffa, he was just a “piece of dead meat”, as he himself just put it " Holy Father”... But my hair began to stir from such a comparison. There must have been some kind of limit even for Caraffa! But, apparently, this monster had no limit and nothing...
The terrible day was coming to an end. I sat by the open window, not feeling or hearing anything. The world has become frozen and bleak for me. It seemed that it existed separately, not breaking into my tired brain and not touching me in any way... On the windowsill, playing, the restless "Roman" sparrows were still chirping. Down below, there were human voices and the usual daytime noise of a bustling city. But all this reached me through some kind of very dense “wall”, which almost did not let in sounds ... My usual inner world was empty and deaf. He became completely alien and dark... Sweet, affectionate father no longer existed. He followed Girolamo...
But I still had Anna. And I knew that I had to live in order to save at least her from a sophisticated killer who called himself the "viceroy of God", the holy Pope ... It was hard to even imagine if Caraffa was just his "viceroy", then what kind of beast he must have been turn out to be his beloved God?!. I tried to get out of my "frozen" state, but as it turned out - it was not so easy - the body did not obey at all, not wanting to come to life, and the tired Soul was looking only for peace ... Then, seeing that nothing worthwhile came of it, I just decided to leave myself alone, letting everything take its course.
Thinking nothing more, and deciding nothing, I simply “flew away” to where my wounded Soul was striving to be saved ... To at least have a little rest and forget, having gone far from the evil “earthly” world to where only light reigned ...
I knew that Karaffa would not leave me alone for a long time, despite what I had just experienced, on the contrary, he would believe that the pain had weakened and disarmed me, and perhaps at that very moment he would try to make me give up by inflicting some another terrifying blow...
The days went by. But, to my greatest surprise, Caraffa did not appear ... This was a huge relief, but, unfortunately, it did not allow me to relax. For every moment I expected what new meanness his dark, evil soul would come up with for me...
The pain gradually dulled every day, mainly due to an unexpected and joyful incident that happened a couple of weeks ago and completely stunned me - I had the opportunity to hear my dead father! ..
I could not see him, but I heard and understood every word very clearly, as if my father was next to me. At first I did not believe this, thinking that I was just delirious from complete exhaustion. But the call was repeated... It was, indeed, the father.
For joy, I could not come to my senses and was still afraid that suddenly, right now, he would simply take it and disappear! .. But my father did not disappear. And little by little I calmed down, I was finally able to answer him ...
“Is it true, you!?” Where are you now?.. Why can't I see you?
- My daughter... You can't see, because you're completely exhausted, dear. Here Anna sees, I was with her. And you will see, dear. You just need time to calm down.
Pure, familiar warmth spread throughout my body, enveloping me with joy and light...
- How are you, father!?. Tell me what it looks like, this other life?.. What is it like?
- She is wonderful, dear! .. Only as yet unaccustomed. And so unlike our former, earthly!.. Here people live in their own worlds. And they are so beautiful, these "worlds"! .. Only I can't do it yet. Apparently, it's still too early for me... - the voice fell silent for a second, as if deciding whether to speak further.
- Your Girolamo met me, daughter ... He is as lively and loving as he was on Earth ... He misses you very much and yearns. And he asked me to tell you that he loves you there just as much... And he is waiting for you whenever you come... And your mother is also with us. We all love and are waiting for you, dear. We really miss you ... Take care of yourself, daughter. Do not give Caraffe the joy of mocking you.
“Will you still come to me, father?” Can I still hear you? – fearing that he would suddenly disappear, I pleaded.
- Calm down, daughter. Now this is my world. And the power of Caraffa does not extend to him. I will never leave you or Anna. I will come to you whenever you call. Calm down, dear.
- What do you feel, father? Do you feel anything? .. - I asked a little embarrassed by my naive question.
– I feel everything that I felt on Earth, only much brighter. Imagine a pencil drawing that suddenly fills with colors - all my feelings, all my thoughts are much stronger and more colorful. And one more thing... The feeling of freedom is amazing!.. It seems that I am the same as I have always been, but at the same time completely different... I don’t know how to explain it to you more accurately, dear... As if I can immediately embrace the whole world, or just fly far, far, to the stars... Everything seems possible, like I can do anything I want! It is very difficult to tell, to convey in words ... But believe me, my daughter - it's wonderful! And more... I now remember all my lives! I remember everything that once happened to me ... All this is amazing. As it turned out, this “other” life is not so bad... Therefore, do not be afraid, daughter, if you have to come here, we will all be waiting for you.
- Tell me father ... Is it possible that people like Caraffa will also have a wonderful life there? .. But, in this case, this is again a terrible injustice! will never get retribution?!
- Oh no, my joy, there is no place for Caraffa here. I've heard people like him go to a terrible world, but I haven't been there yet. They say - this is what they deserve! .. I wanted to see, but have not had time yet. Don't worry, daughter, he'll get his due here.
“Can you help me from there, father?” I asked hopefully.
– I don’t know, my dear… I haven’t understood this world yet. I'm like a baby taking its first steps... I have to "learn to walk" first before I can answer you... And now I have to go. I'm sorry, honey. First I must learn to live between our two worlds. And then I will come to you more often. Take heart, Isidora, and never give up to Caraffe. He will definitely get what he deserves, trust me.
Father's voice became quieter until it became thinner and disappeared... My soul calmed down. It really was HE!.. And he lived again, only now in his posthumous world, still unfamiliar to me... But he still thought and felt, as he himself had just said - even much brighter than when he lived on earth. I could no longer be afraid that I would never know about him ... That he left me forever.
But my female soul, in spite of everything, still grieved for him ... About the fact that I could not just humanly hug him when I got lonely ... That I could not hide my longing and fear on him wide chest, wishing for peace... That his strong, affectionate palm could no longer stroke my tired head, as if saying that everything would be settled and everything would definitely be fine... I madly missed these small and seemingly insignificant, but such expensive, purely "human" joys, and the soul was starving for them, unable to find peace. Yes, I was a warrior... But I was also a woman. His only daughter, who always knew before that even the worst thing happened - her father would always be there, always be with me ... And I painfully yearned for all this ...
Tours to the sights of Urgench.
“Only one thing can be said: the ties between the peoples of Central Asia and the Western Asian ethnographic world go back to deep, pre-Indo-European antiquity, and without taking into account the role of the Central Asian tribes, the question of the origin of the Japhetic peoples of ancient Western Asia and the states they created can hardly be fully resolved. - Whatever the direction of these ties, Khorezm - “Land of Khvarri (Harri)” cannot but be taken into account in resolving the Hurrian problem in its entirety”
S.P. Tolstov . "Following the traces of ancient Khorezmian civilization". Part II. Ch. v.
Photo tours of the monuments of Khorezm.
Khorezm (Uzb. Xorazm, Persian خوارزم) is an ancient region of Central Asia with a center in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya - an area of developed irrigation agriculture, crafts and trade. The Great Silk Road passed through Khorezm.
From the end of the 3rd century, the capital of Khorezm was the city of Kyat, at the end of the 10th century the capital was transferred to the city of Urgench.
pre-Achaemenid period.
Archaeological excavations record the existence of the Neolithic Kelteminar culture of ancient fishermen and hunters (IV - III millennium BC) on the territory of ancient Khorezm.
The direct descendant of this culture is the Bronze Age Tazabagyab culture dating back to the middle of the 2nd millennium, cattle breeding and agricultural. There are also reports of ancient authors about the contacts of the inhabitants of Khorezm with the peoples of Colchis on the trade routes along the Amu Darya and the Caspian Sea, along which Central Asian and Indian goods went to the Caucasian possessions through the Euxine Pontus (Εὔξενος Πόντος - the ancient Greek name of the Black Sea).
This is also confirmed by the material culture, elements of which are found in the excavations of ancient monuments of the Central Asian Mesopotamia and the Caucasus.
Since the sites of the Suyargan culture, as well as part of the Tazabagyab ones, are located on takyrs lying above the buried dunes, there is reason to believe that around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. there was a drainage of this area, possibly associated with the breakthrough of the Amu-Darya through the western segment of the Sultan-Uizdag and the formation of a modern channel.
It may be that these changes in the geography of the upper delta of the Amu Darya caused its secondary settlement and the colonization movement of the southern tribes, who clashed here with the tribes of the surroundings of the South Khorezm lake and, judging by the signs of the Tazabagyab influence in the ceramics of the Suyargan and later Amirabad culture, assimilated with them.
“There is every reason to believe that these tribes constituted the eastern branch of the peoples of the Japhetic system of languages, which includes the modern Caucasian peoples (Georgians, Circassians, Dagestanis, etc.) and to which the creators of the most ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Syria and Asia Minor belonged” S.P. . Tolstov. “Following the traces of the ancient Khorezmian civilization. Part II. Ch. V".
The sites of the Suyargan culture also belong to the middle of the 2nd millennium. According to al-Biruni, the ancient Khorezmian chronology systems began counting years in the 13th century. BC e.
A number of researchers identify with the ancient Khorezm the northern country “Airyanem-vejo” mentioned in the Avesta. Here, according to legend, the founder of Zoroastrianism, the legendary Zarathushtra, was born.
By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. refers to the emergence of the Amirabad culture. The settlements of this period are huge pens for the protection of livestock with "living walls", in which several thousand people lived; descriptions of such settlements are contained in the Avesta.
The name of the country Khorezm is first found in surviving sources from the 8th - 7th centuries BC. There are different interpretations of the name Khorezm. According to one etymology "feeding land", according to another - "low land". S.P. Tolstov believed that the name Khorezm is translated as "Country of the Hurrians" - Khwarizam.
Around the VIII - VII centuries. BC e. Khorezm entered a new era in its history, when the Khorezmians, according to al-Biruni, began to keep track of the years of the reign of kings. During this period, Khorezm becomes a powerful state with a noticeable centralization, as evidenced by the buildings built in the 8th - 6th centuries. BC e. grandiose irrigation facilities.
From the Achaemenid Empire to Antiquity.
In the middle of the VI century. BC e. Khorezm becomes part of the Achaemenid Empire. Apparently, he was conquered by Cyrus. Cyrus appointed his son Tanoxiark as governor of Khorezm, Bactria and Parthia. Khorezm is mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Darius I.
Herodotus in the "History" reports that Khorezm was part of the 16th satrapy of the Persian Empire, and also that the Khorezmians took part in the campaign of Xerxes in 480 BC. e. to Greece. The Khorezmians took part in the construction of the capital of the Achaemenid Empire - Persepolis.
Khorezmian warriors served in the Achaemenid army in different parts of the empire. One of them, named Dargoman, is mentioned in Upper Egypt. On the Behistun rock, images of ancient Khorezmians have been preserved.
Even before the campaigns of Alexander the Great in Central Asia, Khorezm gained independence from the Achaemenids. In the 5th century BC e. Khorezmian writing was developed on the basis of the Aramaic script.
At the site of the ancient settlement of Toprak-kala, archaeologists discovered the remains of an archive of documents in the Khorezmian language. The Khorezmian script was used until the 8th century. The main religion of the ancient Khorezmians was Zoroastrianism.
During archaeological research of the monuments of ancient Khorezm, ossuaries were found - clay boxes for burying the bones of dead people. As a result of the aggressive campaigns of Alexander the Great, the Achaemenid state was destroyed.
In 328 BC. e. the ruler of Khorezm, Farasman, sent ambassadors to Alexander, led by his son Frataphernes. Alexander was asked to make a joint campaign in Transcaucasia, but the king of Macedonia had other plans and he refused.
Khorezm in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.
Khorezm 4th century BC e. - I century. n. e. was a powerful state. Of the most ancient kings of Khorezm, the names of the rulers who issued their coins are still known. This is Artav, the ruler of the 1st century AD.
Of the subsequent kings, Artramush is known at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century AD. e. Vazamar, second half of the 3rd century AD. e. and others. During this period, many fortified cities with powerful walls and towers were erected, representing a single system of fortresses that protected the border of the oasis from the desert.
A huge number of loopholes, each of which fires only a narrow space, due to which a special archer had to stand at each loophole, indicates that the whole people were still armed and the leading role was played not by a professional army, but by a mass militia.
About 175 BC. n. e. Khorezm became part of the Kangyui. In the last third of the 1st c. BC e. Khorezm as part of Kangyui acts as a powerful ally of the Western Huns. The power of Khorezm extends at this time far to the northwest.
According to the "History of the Younger Han Dynasty", dating back to the very beginning of BC. e., Khorezm (which is described here as Kangyuy - "the country of the Kangls") subjugates the country of the Alans, which at that time stretched from the northern Aral Sea to the eastern Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov.
According to sources, in the century of our era, the Khorezmian era was introduced and a new calendar was introduced. According to the great Khorezmian scholar Abu Reykhan al-Biruni (973-1048), the Khorezmian chronology was first introduced in the 13th century BC.
It is believed that from the middle of the 1st century AD. e. Until the end of the 2nd century, Khorezm was under the influence of the Kushan kingdom. This period is characterized by fortresses erected by the central government and occupied by garrisons of a standing army. At the beginning of the 4th century, under padishah Afriga, the city of Kyat became the capital of Khorezm.
In the next era, between the 4th and 8th centuries, the cities of Khorezm fell into disrepair. Now Khorezm is a country of numerous castles of the aristocracy and thousands of fortified peasant estates. From 305 to 995 Khorezm was ruled by the Afrigid dynasty, whose representatives bore the title of Khorezmshah.
Between 567 - 658 years Khorezm was a certain dependence on the Turkic Khaganate. In Chinese sources, it was called Khusimi.
From the Arab conquest to the Seljuk conquest.
The first Arab raids on Khorezm date back to the 7th century. In 712, Khorezm was conquered by the Arab commander Kuteiba ibn Muslim, who inflicted cruel reprisals on the Khorezmian aristocracy. Kuteiba brought down especially cruel repressions on the scientists of Khorezm.
As al-Biruni writes in the Chronicles of Past Generations, “and by all means Kuteyb scattered and destroyed everyone who knew the writing of the Khorezmians, who kept their traditions, all the scientists that were among them, so that all this was covered with darkness and there is no true knowledge about what was known from their history at the time of the coming of Islam to them.
Arabic sources say almost nothing about Khorezm in the following decades. On the other hand, it is known from Chinese sources that Khorezmshah Shaushafar sent an embassy to China in 751, which was at war with the Arabs at that time. During this period, a short-term political unification of Khorezm and Khazaria took place.
Nothing is known about the circumstances of the restoration of Arab sovereignty over Khorezm. In any case, only at the very end of the 8th century, the grandson of Shaushafar takes the Arabic name of Abdallah and mints the names of the Arab governors on his coins.
In the 10th century, a new flowering of urban life in Khorezm began. Arab sources paint a picture of the exceptional economic activity of Khorezm in the 10th century, and the surrounding steppes of Turkmenistan and western Kazakhstan, as well as the Volga region - Khazaria and Bulgaria, and the vast Slavic world of Eastern Europe become the arena for the activity of Khorezm merchants.
The growth of the role of trade with Eastern Europe put forward the city of Urgench (now Kunya-Urgench) in the first place in Khorezm, which became the natural center of this trade. In 995, the last Afrigid, Abu-Abdallah Muhammad, was captured and killed by the emir of Urgench, Mamun ibn-Muhammad. Khorezm was united under the rule of Urgench.
Khorezm in this era was a city of high learning. Natives of Khorezm were such outstanding scientists as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Ibn Iraq, Abu Reikhanal-Biruni, al-Chagmini. In 1017, Khorezm was subordinated to Sultan Mahmud Gaznevi, and in 1043 it was conquered by the Seljuk Turks.
State of Khorezmshahs.
The founder of a new dynasty in Khorezm was the Turk Anush-Tegin, who rose to prominence under the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah (1072-1092). He received the title of shihne of Khorezm. Since the end of the 11th century, there has been a gradual liberation of Khorezm from the Seljuk protectorate and the annexation of new lands.
The ruler of Khorezm, Qutb ad-Din Muhammad I, in 1097 takes the ancient title of Khorezmshah. After him, his son Abu Muzaffar Ala ad-din Atsiz (1127 - 1156) ascended the throne. His son Taj ad-Din Il-Arslan in 1157 completely liberates Khorezm from the Seljuk guardianship.
State of Khorezmshahs in 1220.
Under the Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Tekesh (1172-1200), Khorezm turns into a huge empire. In 1194, the army of the Khorezmshah defeated the army of the last Iranian Seljuk Togrul-bek and asserted the sovereignty of Khorezm over Iran, in 1195 the Baghdad caliph Nasir was defeated in a battle with the Khorezmians and recognized Tekesh's authority over eastern Iraq.
Successful campaigns to the east, against the Karakitays, open the way for Tekesh to Bukhara. Son of Tekesh Ala ad-Din Mohammed II in 1200 - 1220. completes his father's work. He takes Samarkand and Otrar from the Karakitays, extends his power to a distant region
Ghazni in the south of Afghanistan, subjugates western Iran and Azerbaijan. The army of Muhammad undertakes a campaign against Baghdad, which failed, however, because of the onset of early winter, which closed the passes, and because of the news of the appearance of a Mongol army on the eastern borders of the Khorezm Empire.
Mongolian period.
In 1218, Genghis Khan sent an embassy to Khorezm with a proposal for an alliance. Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Mohammed II refused to make a deal with the "infidels" and, at the suggestion of the ruler of Otrar, Kaiyr Khan, executed the merchant ambassadors, sending their heads to the khan.
Genghis Khan demanded the extradition of Kaiyr Khan, but in response, Muhammad again executed one of the participants in the next Mongol embassy. In the spring of 1219, without completing the conquest of China, Genghis Khan sent a 200,000-strong army to Khorezm.
Khorezmshah did not dare to give a general battle, leaving his army scattered in separate detachments throughout the cities and fortresses of the entire state. One by one, under the onslaught of the Mongols, all the major Khorezm cities fell. All of them were destroyed, and many Khorezmians were destroyed.
Khorezmshah with the remnants of the army first retreated to his Persian possessions, after which he fled with a small detachment to the Caspian region and died on the island of Abeskun in the delta of the Kura River in the Caspian Sea. The state of Khorezmshahs ceased to exist.
The son of Khorezmshah Jalal ad-Din Manguberdy continued to fight the Mongols until 1231. He twice defeated the Mongol army in the territory of modern Afghanistan, but was defeated by Genghis Khan himself at the battle of the Indus. Jalal ad-Din Manguberdy died in 1231 in Transcaucasia.
The last descendant of the Anushteginid Khorezmshahs was Sayf-ad-din Kutuz, who briefly managed to come to power in Egypt in 1259. His troops, led by the commander Baibars, were finally able to stop the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260.
In 1220, Khorezm became part of the Mongol Empire, then to the ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde). During this period, Urgench was rebuilt and became one of the main trading centers of Central Asia. The culture of the Khorezmians played a significant role in the cultural development of the Golden Horde.
In 1359, Khorezm, led by representatives of the Sufi-Kungrat dynasty, gained independence from the Golden Horde. In the 1370s, the ruler of Khorezm was Khusain Sufi, the son of Tongdai, from the Kungrat clan, who was at enmity with Tamerlane.
In 1372, Tamerlane undertook a campaign against Khorezm. His army left Samarkand, passed through Bukhara and captured the Khwarezmian fortress of Kyat. Husayn Sufi could no longer resist Tamerlane and died in the besieged Khorezm.
After the death of Husayn Sufi, his younger brother, Yusuf Sufi, sat on the throne. In 1376, Khorezm became part of Timur's empire, and its rulers fled to the Golden Horde.
Khorezm in the 16th - the first half of the 18th century.
In 1505, after a months-long siege (November 1504 - August 1505), Muhammad Sheibani Khan captured Urgench, and Khorezm became part of the Sheibanid state. In 1512, a new dynasty of Uzbeks, who had fallen away from the Sheibanids, stood at the head of an independent khanate of Khorezm.
Initially, the capital of the state was Urgench. In 1598, the Amu Darya retreated from Urgench and the capital was moved to a new location in Khiva. In connection with the change in the channel of the Amu Darya in 1573, the capital of Khorezm was moved to Khiva.
Since the 17th century, in Russian historiography, Khorezm began to be called the Khiva Khanate. The official name of the state was the ancient name - Khorezm. Khorezm in the second half of the 18th - early 20th centuries.
Khiva Khanate.
In the 1770s, representatives of the Uzbek Kungrat dynasty came to power in Khorezm. The founder of the dynasty was Muhammad Amin-biy. During this period, masterpieces of the architecture of Khorezm were built in the capital Khiva. In 1873, during the reign of Muhammad Rakhim Khan II, Khorezm became a vassal of the Russian Empire. The Kungrats ruled until 1920, when, after two wars with Soviet Turkestan, they were overthrown as a result of the victory of the Red Army.
The capital is transferred to the city of Urgench.
Pre-Achaemenid period
Archaeological excavations record the existence of the Neolithic Kelteminar culture of ancient fishermen and hunters on the territory of ancient Khorezm (4th-3rd millennium BC). The direct descendant of this culture is related to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Tazabagyab culture of the Bronze Age, pastoral and agricultural. There are also reports of ancient authors about the contacts of the inhabitants of Khorezm with the peoples of Colchis on trade routes along the Amu Darya and the Caspian Sea, along which Central Asian and Indian goods went to the Caucasian possessions through the Euxine Pontus (Εὔξενος Πόντος - other Greek name for the Black Sea). This is also confirmed by the material culture, elements of which are found in the excavations of ancient monuments of the Central Asian Mesopotamia and the Caucasus.
Since the sites of the Suyargan culture, as well as part of the Tazabagyab ones, are located on takyrs lying above the buried dunes, there is reason to believe that around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. there was a drainage of this area, possibly associated with the breakthrough of the Amu-Darya through the western segment of the Sultan-Uizdag and the formation of a modern channel. It may be that due to these changes in the geography of the upper delta of the Amu Darya, its secondary settlement is associated with the colonization movement of the southern tribes, who collided here with the tribes of the surroundings of the South Khorezm lake and, judging by the signs of the Tazabagyab influence in the ceramics of the Suyargan and later Amirabad culture, assimilated with them. There is every reason to believe that these tribes constituted the eastern branch of the peoples of the Japhetic system of languages, to which the modern Caucasian peoples (Georgians, Circassians, Dagestanis, etc.) belong, and to which the creators of the most ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Syria and Asia Minor belonged.
During this period, many fortified cities with powerful walls and towers were erected, representing a single system of fortresses that protected the border of the oasis from the desert. A huge number of loopholes, each of which fires only a narrow space, which is why each loophole had to have a special archer, suggests that the whole people were still armed and the leading role was played not by a professional army, but by a mass militia. Around 175 BC. n. e. Khorezm became part of the Kangyui.
In the last third of the 1st century BC. e. Khorezm as part of Kangyui acts as a powerful ally of the Western Huns. The power of Khorezm extends at this time far to the northwest. According to the "History of the Younger Han Dynasty", dating back to the very beginning of BC. e., Khorezm (which is described here as Kangyuy - "the country of the Kangls") subjugates the country of the Alans, which at that time stretched from the northern Aral Sea to the eastern Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov.
According to sources in the 1st century AD. e. the Khorezmian era was introduced and a new calendar was introduced. According to the great Khorezmian scholar Abu Reykhan al-Biruni (973-1048), the Khorezmian chronology was first introduced in the 13th century BC. e.
It is believed that from the middle of the 1st century AD. e. until the end of the 2nd century Khorezm was under the influence of the Kushan Kingdom. This period is characterized by fortresses erected by the central government and occupied by garrisons of a standing army. At the beginning of the 4th century, under padishah Afriga, the city of Kyat became the capital of Khorezm. In the next era, between the 4th and 8th centuries, the cities of Khorezm fell into disrepair. Now Khorezm is a country of numerous castles of the aristocracy and thousands of fortified peasant estates. From 995 Khorezm was ruled by the Afrigid dynasty, whose representatives bore the title of Khorezmshah. Between 567-658, Khorezm was in a certain dependence on the Turkic Khaganate. In Chinese sources, it was mentioned under the name Khusimi (呼似密).
From the Arab conquest to the Seljuk conquest
The first Arab raids on Khorezm date back to the 7th century. In 712, Khorezm was conquered by the Arab commander Kuteiba ibn Muslim, who inflicted cruel reprisals on the Khorezmian aristocracy. Kuteiba brought down especially cruel repressions on the scientists of Khorezm. As al-Biruni writes in the Chronicles of Past Generations, “and by all means Kuteyb scattered and destroyed everyone who knew the writing of the Khorezmians, who kept their traditions, all the scientists that were among them, so that all this was covered with darkness and there is no true knowledge about what was known from their history at the time of the coming of Islam to them.
Arabic sources say almost nothing about Khorezm in the following decades. But from Chinese sources it is known that Khorezmshah Shaushafar in 751 sent an embassy to China, which at that time was at war with the Arabs. During this period, a short-term political unification of Khorezm and Khazaria takes place. Nothing is known about the circumstances of the restoration of Arab sovereignty over Khorezm. In any case, only at the very end of the 8th century, the grandson of Shaushafar takes the Arabic name of Abdallah and mints the names of the Arab governors on his coins.
State of Khorezmshahs
The founder of a new dynasty in Khorezm was the Turk Anush-Tegin, who rose under the Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah (-). He received the title of shihne of Khorezm. Since the end of the XI century, there has been a gradual liberation of Khorezm from the Seljuk protectorate and the annexation of new lands. The ruler of Khorezm, Qutb ad-Din Muhammad I, in 1097 takes the ancient title of Khorezmshah. After him, his son Abu Muzaffar Ala ad-din Atsiz (-) ascended the throne. His son Taj ad-Din Il-Arslan in 1157 completely liberates Khorezm from the Seljuk guardianship.
Under Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Tekesh (-) Khorezm turns into a huge empire. In 1194, the army of the Khorezmshah defeated the army of the last Iranian Seljukid Togrul-bek and asserted the sovereignty of Khorezm over Iran; in the city of Baghdad, Caliph Nasir is defeated in battle with the Khorezmians and recognizes Tekesh's authority over eastern Iraq. Successful campaigns to the east, against the Karakitays, open the way for Tekesh to Bukhara.
In 1512, a new dynasty of Uzbeks, who had fallen away from the Sheibanids, stood at the head of an independent khanate of Khorezm.
Initially, the capital of the state was Urgench.
In 1598, the Amu Darya retreated from Urgench and the capital was moved to a new location in Khiva.
In connection with the change in the channel of the Amu Darya in 1573, the capital of Khorezm was moved to Khiva.
From the 17th century, in Russian historiography, Khorezm began to be called the Khiva Khanate. The official name of the state was the ancient name - Khorezm.
Khorezm in the second half of the 18th - early 20th century
In the 1770s, representatives of the Uzbek Kungrat dynasty came to power in Khorezm. The founder of the dynasty was Muhammad Amin-biy. During this period, masterpieces of the architecture of Khorezm were built in the capital Khiva. In 1873, during the reign of Muhammad Rakhim Khan II, Khorezm became a vassal of the Russian Empire. The Kungrats ruled until 1920, when, after two wars with Soviet Turkestan, they were overthrown as a result of the victory of the Red Army.
Rulers of Khorezm
Rulers of Khorezm Name Years of government Titles Siyavushid dynasty Kaykhusraw approx. - 1140 BC Khorezmshah saxafar approx. - 517 BC Khorezmshah Farasman approx. - 320 BC Khorezmshah Khusrav approx. 320 BC - ? Khorezmshah Afrighid dynasty Afrig - ? Khorezmshah Baghra ? Khorezmshah Sahhasak ? Khorezmshah Askadjamuk I ? Khorezmshah Askajavar I ? Khorezmshah Sahr I ? Khorezmshah Shaush ? Khorezmshah Hamgari ? Khorezmshah Buzgar ? Khorezmshah Arsamukh ? Khorezmshah Sahr II ? Khorezmshah Sabri ? Khorezmshah Askajavar II ? Khorezmshah Askadjamuk II - ? Khorezmshah Shaushafar ? Khorezmshah Turkasabas ? Khorezmshah Abd-Allah ? Khorezmshah Mansur ibn Abd-Allah ? Khorezmshah Iraq ibn Mansur ? Khorezmshah Ahmad ibn Iraq ? Khorezmshah Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ? - Khorezmshah Mamunid dynasty Abu Ali Mamun ibn Muhammad -
-Amir Gurganj
KhorezmshahAbu-l-Hasan Ali ibn Mamun - Khorezmshah Ain ad-Dawla Abu-l-Abbas Mamun ibn Ali - Khorezmshah Abu-l-Haris Muhammad Khorezmshah Altuntash dynasty Altuntash - Khorezmshah Harun ibn Altuntash - Khorezmshah Ismail ibn Altuntash - Khorezmshah Anushtegin dynasty (Bekdili) Qutb al-Din Muhammad I - Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Atsiz - ,
-Khorezmshah Taj ad-Din Il-Arslan - Khorezmshah Jalal ad-Din Sultan Shah Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Tekesh - Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Muhammad II - Khorezmshah Qutb ad-Din Uzlag Shah - Valiahad, Sultan of Khorezm, Khorasan and Mazandaran Jalal ad-Din Manguberdy -
-Sultan of Ghazni, Bamiyan and Ghur
KhorezmshahRukn al-Din Gursanjti - Sultan of Iraq Ghiyath ad-Din Pir Shah - Sultan of Kerman and Mekran see also
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Notes
Literature
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- Vinogradov A. V. Millenniums buried by the desert. M.: Education, 1966.
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- B. Grozny. Proto-Indian writings and their interpretation. Bulletin of ancient history 2 (11). 1940.
- Tolstov S.P. In the footsteps of ancient Khorezmian civilization. M.-L.: 1948.
- Kydyrniyazov M.-Sh. Material culture of the cities of Khorezm in the XIII-XIV centuries. Nukus: Karakalpakstan, 1989.
- "Trinity Variant" No. 60, p. 8 (2010)
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- A. Paevsky.
Antiquity Turkic states (II century BC -) Persian conquest (-) Islamic conquest (-) Turkic states (-) Mongol conquest (-) new time Newest time An excerpt characterizing Khorezm
Denisov, grimacing, as if smiling and showing his short, strong teeth, began to ruffle his black, thick hair, like a dog, with both hands with short fingers.
- Chog "t me money" zero to go to this kg "yse (nickname of the officer)," he said, rubbing his forehead and face with both hands. "You didn't.
Denisov took the lighted pipe handed to him, clenched it into a fist, and, scattering fire, hit it on the floor, continuing to shout.
- The sempel will give, pag "ol beats; the sempel will give, pag" ol beats.
He scattered the fire, smashed the pipe and threw it away. Denisov paused, and suddenly, with his shining black eyes, looked merrily at Rostov.
- If only there were women. And then here, kg "oh how to drink, there is nothing to do. If only she could get away."
- Hey, who's there? - he turned to the door, hearing the stopped steps of thick boots with the rattling of spurs and a respectful cough.
- Wahmister! Lavrushka said.
Denisov frowned even more.
“Squeeg,” he said, throwing a purse with several gold pieces. “Gostov, count, my dear, how much is left there, but put the purse under the pillow,” he said and went out to the sergeant-major.
Rostov took the money and, mechanically, putting aside and leveling heaps of old and new gold, began to count them.
- A! Telyanin! Zdog "ovo! Inflate me all at once" ah! Denisov's voice was heard from another room.
- Who? At Bykov's, at the rat's? ... I knew, - said another thin voice, and after that Lieutenant Telyanin, a small officer of the same squadron, entered the room.
Rostov threw a purse under the pillow and shook the small, damp hand extended to him. Telyanin was transferred from the guard before the campaign for something. He behaved very well in the regiment; but they did not like him, and in particular Rostov could neither overcome nor hide his unreasonable disgust for this officer.
- Well, young cavalryman, how does my Grachik serve you? - he asked. (Grachik was a riding horse, a tack, sold by Telyanin to Rostov.)
The lieutenant never looked into the eyes of the person with whom he spoke; His eyes were constantly moving from one object to another.
- I saw you drove today ...
“Nothing, good horse,” answered Rostov, despite the fact that this horse, bought by him for 700 rubles, was not worth even half of this price. “I began to crouch on the left front ...” he added. - Cracked hoof! It's nothing. I will teach you, show you which rivet to put.
“Yes, please show me,” said Rostov.
- I'll show you, I'll show you, it's not a secret. And thank you for the horse.
“So I order the horse to be brought,” said Rostov, wanting to get rid of Telyanin, and went out to order the horse to be brought.
In the passage, Denisov, with a pipe, crouched on the threshold, sat in front of the sergeant-major, who was reporting something. Seeing Rostov, Denisov frowned and, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb into the room in which Telyanin was sitting, grimaced and shook with disgust.
“Oh, I don’t like the good fellow,” he said, not embarrassed by the presence of the sergeant-major.
Rostov shrugged his shoulders, as if to say: "So do I, but what can I do!" and, having ordered, returned to Telyanin.
Telyanin sat still in the same lazy pose in which Rostov had left him, rubbing his small white hands.
"There are such nasty faces," thought Rostov, entering the room.
“Well, did you order the horse to be brought?” - said Telyanin, getting up and casually looking around.
- Velel.
- Come on, let's go. After all, I only came to ask Denisov about yesterday's order. Got it, Denisov?
- Not yet. Where are you?
“I want to teach a young man how to shoe a horse,” said Telyanin.
They went out onto the porch and into the stables. The lieutenant showed how to make a rivet and went to his room.
When Rostov returned, there was a bottle of vodka and sausage on the table. Denisov sat in front of the table and cracked pen on paper. He looked gloomily into Rostov's face.
“I am writing to her,” he said.
He leaned on the table with a pen in his hand, and, obviously delighted with the opportunity to quickly say in a word everything that he wanted to write, expressed his letter to Rostov.
- You see, dg "ug," he said. "We sleep until we love. We are the children of pg`axa ... but you fell in love - and you are God, you are pure, as on the peg" day of creation ... Who else is this? Send him to the chog "tu. No time!" he shouted at Lavrushka, who, not at all shy, approached him.
- But who should be? They themselves ordered. The sergeant-major came for the money.
Denisov frowned, wanted to shout something and fell silent.
“Squeeg,” but that’s the point, he said to himself. “How much money is left in the wallet?” he asked Rostov.
“Seven new ones and three old ones.
“Ah, skweg,” but! Well, what are you standing, scarecrows, send a wahmistg “a,” Denisov shouted at Lavrushka.
“Please, Denisov, take my money, because I have it,” said Rostov, blushing.
“I don’t like to borrow from my own, I don’t like it,” grumbled Denisov.
“And if you don’t take money from me comradely, you will offend me. Really, I have, - repeated Rostov.
- No.
And Denisov went to the bed to get a wallet from under the pillow.
- Where did you put it, Rostov?
- Under the bottom cushion.
- Yes, no.
Denisov threw both pillows on the floor. There was no wallet.
- That's a miracle!
“Wait, didn’t you drop it?” said Rostov, picking up the pillows one at a time and shaking them out.
He threw off and brushed off the blanket. There was no wallet.
- Have I forgotten? No, I also thought that you were definitely putting a treasure under your head, ”said Rostov. - I put my wallet here. Where is he? he turned to Lavrushka.
- I didn't go in. Where they put it, there it should be.
- Not really…
- You're all right, throw it somewhere, and forget it. Look in your pockets.
“No, if I didn’t think about the treasure,” said Rostov, “otherwise I remember what I put in.”
Lavrushka rummaged through the whole bed, looked under it, under the table, rummaged through the whole room and stopped in the middle of the room. Denisov silently followed Lavrushka's movements, and when Lavrushka threw up his hands in surprise, saying that he was nowhere to be found, he looked back at Rostov.
- Mr. Ostov, you are not a schoolboy ...
Rostov felt Denisov's gaze on him, raised his eyes and at the same moment lowered them. All his blood, which had been locked up somewhere below his throat, gushed into his face and eyes. He couldn't catch his breath.
- And there was no one in the room, except for the lieutenant and yourself. Here somewhere,” said Lavrushka.
- Well, you, chog "those doll, turn around, look," Denisov suddenly shouted, turning purple and throwing himself at the footman with a menacing gesture. Zapog everyone!
Rostov, looking around Denisov, began to button up his jacket, fastened his saber and put on his cap.
“I’m telling you to have a wallet,” Denisov shouted, shaking the batman’s shoulders and pushing him against the wall.
- Denisov, leave him; I know who took it,” said Rostov, going up to the door and not raising his eyes.
Denisov stopped, thought, and, apparently understanding what Rostov was hinting at, grabbed his hand.
“Sigh!” he shouted so that the veins, like ropes, puffed out on his neck and forehead. “I’m telling you, you’re crazy, I won’t allow it. The wallet is here; I will loosen my skin from this meg'zavetz, and it will be here.
“I know who took it,” Rostov repeated in a trembling voice and went to the door.
“But I’m telling you, don’t you dare do this,” Denisov shouted, rushing to the cadet to restrain him.
But Rostov tore his hand away and with such malice, as if Denisov was his greatest enemy, directly and firmly fixed his eyes on him.
– Do you understand what you are saying? he said in a trembling voice, “there was no one else in the room except me. So, if not, then...
He could not finish and ran out of the room.
“Ah, why not with you and with everyone,” were the last words that Rostov heard.
Rostov came to Telyanin's apartment.
“The master is not at home, they have gone to the headquarters,” Telyanin’s orderly told him. Or what happened? added the batman, surprised at the junker's upset face.
- There is nothing.
“We missed a little,” said the batman.
The headquarters was located three miles from Salzenek. Rostov, without going home, took a horse and rode to headquarters. In the village occupied by the headquarters, there was a tavern frequented by officers. Rostov arrived at the tavern; at the porch he saw Telyanin's horse.
In the second room of the tavern the lieutenant was sitting at a dish of sausages and a bottle of wine.
“Ah, and you stopped by, young man,” he said, smiling and raising his eyebrows high.
- Yes, - said Rostov, as if it took a lot of effort to pronounce this word, and sat down at the next table.
Both were silent; two Germans and one Russian officer were sitting in the room. Everyone was silent, and the sounds of knives on plates and the lieutenant's champing could be heard. When Telyanin had finished breakfast, he took a double purse out of his pocket, spread the rings with his little white fingers bent upwards, took out a gold one, and, raising his eyebrows, gave the money to the servant.
“Please hurry,” he said.
Gold was new. Rostov got up and went over to Telyanin.
“Let me see the purse,” he said in a low, barely audible voice.
With shifty eyes, but still raised eyebrows, Telyanin handed over the purse.
"Yes, a pretty purse... Yes... yes..." he said, and suddenly turned pale. “Look, young man,” he added.
Rostov took the wallet in his hands and looked at it, and at the money that was in it, and at Telyanin. The lieutenant looked around, as was his habit, and seemed to suddenly become very cheerful.
“If we’re in Vienna, I’ll leave everything there, and now there’s nowhere to go in these crappy little towns,” he said. - Come on, young man, I'll go.
Rostov was silent.
- What about you? have breakfast too? They are decently fed,” continued Telyanin. - Come on.
He reached out and took hold of the wallet. Rostov released him. Telyanin took the purse and began to put it into the pocket of his breeches, and his eyebrows casually rose, and his mouth opened slightly, as if he were saying: “Yes, yes, I put my purse in my pocket, and it’s very simple, and no one cares about this” .
- Well, what, young man? he said, sighing and looking into Rostov's eyes from under his raised eyebrows. Some kind of light from the eyes, with the speed of an electric spark, ran from Telyanin's eyes to Rostov's eyes and back, back and back, all in an instant.
“Come here,” said Rostov, grabbing Telyanin by the hand. He almost dragged him to the window. - This is Denisov's money, you took it ... - he whispered in his ear.
“What?… What?… How dare you?” What? ... - said Telyanin.
But these words sounded a plaintive, desperate cry and a plea for forgiveness. As soon as Rostov heard this sound of a voice, a huge stone of doubt fell from his soul. He felt joy, and at the same moment he felt sorry for the unfortunate man who stood before him; but it was necessary to complete the work begun.
“The people here, God knows what they might think,” muttered Telyanin, grabbing his cap and heading into a small empty room, “we need to explain ourselves ...
“I know it, and I will prove it,” said Rostov.
- I…
Telyanin's frightened, pale face began to tremble with all its muscles; his eyes still ran, but somewhere below, not rising to Rostov's face, and sobs were heard.
- Count! ... do not ruin the young man ... here is this unfortunate money, take it ... - He threw it on the table. - My father is an old man, my mother! ...
Rostov took the money, avoiding Telyanin's gaze, and, without saying a word, left the room. But at the door he stopped and turned back. “My God,” he said with tears in his eyes, “how could you do this?
“Count,” said Telyanin, approaching the cadet.
“Don’t touch me,” Rostov said, pulling away. If you need it, take this money. He threw his wallet at him and ran out of the inn.In the evening of the same day, a lively conversation was going on at Denisov's apartment among the officers of the squadron.
“But I’m telling you, Rostov, that you need to apologize to the regimental commander,” said, turning to the crimson red, agitated Rostov, the high headquarters captain, with graying hair, huge mustaches and large features of a wrinkled face.
The staff captain Kirsten was twice demoted to the soldiers for deeds of honor and twice cured.
"I won't let anyone tell you I'm lying!" cried Rostov. He told me that I was lying, and I told him that he was lying. And so it will remain. They can put me on duty even every day and put me under arrest, but no one will make me apologize, because if he, as a regimental commander, considers himself unworthy of giving me satisfaction, then ...
- Yes, you wait, father; you listen to me, - the captain interrupted the staff in his bass voice, calmly smoothing his long mustache. - You tell the regimental commander in front of other officers that the officer stole ...
- It's not my fault that the conversation started in front of other officers. Maybe I shouldn't have spoken in front of them, but I'm not a diplomat. I then joined the hussars and went, thinking that subtleties are not needed here, but he tells me that I am lying ... so let him give me satisfaction ...
- That's all right, no one thinks that you are a coward, but that's not the point. Ask Denisov, does it look like something for a cadet to demand satisfaction from a regimental commander?
Denisov, biting his mustache, listened to the conversation with a gloomy look, apparently not wanting to intervene in it. When asked by the captain's staff, he shook his head negatively.
“You are talking to the regimental commander about this dirty trick in front of the officers,” the headquarters captain continued. - Bogdanich (Bogdanich was called the regimental commander) laid siege to you.
- He didn’t siege, but said that I was telling a lie.
- Well, yes, and you said something stupid to him, and you need to apologize.
- Never! shouted Rostov.
“I didn’t think it was from you,” the headquarters captain said seriously and sternly. - You do not want to apologize, and you, father, not only before him, but before the whole regiment, before all of us, you are to blame all around. And here's how: if only you thought and consulted how to deal with this matter, otherwise you directly, but in front of the officers, and thumped. What should the regimental commander do now? Should we put the officer on trial and mess up the entire regiment? Shame the entire regiment because of one villain? So, what do you think? But in our opinion, it is not. And well done Bogdanich, he told you that you are not telling the truth. It’s unpleasant, but what to do, father, they themselves ran into it. And now, as they want to hush up the matter, so you, because of some kind of fanabery, do not want to apologize, but want to tell everything. You are offended that you are on duty, but why should you apologize to an old and honest officer! Whatever Bogdanich may be, but all honest and brave, old colonel, you are so offended; and messing up the regiment is okay for you? - The voice of the captain's staff began to tremble. - You, father, are in the regiment for a week without a year; today here, tomorrow they moved to adjutants somewhere; you don’t give a damn what they will say: “Thieves are among the Pavlograd officers!” And we don't care. So, what, Denisov? Not all the same?
Denisov remained silent and did not move, occasionally glancing with his shining black eyes at Rostov.
“Your own fanabery is dear to you, you don’t want to apologize,” continued the headquarters captain, “but we old people, how we grew up, and God willing, will die in the regiment, so the honor of the regiment is dear to us, and Bogdanich knows it. Oh, how dear, father! And this is not good, not good! Take offense there or not, but I will always tell the truth to the uterus. Not good!
And the captain's staff stood up and turned away from Rostov.
- Pg "avda, chog" take it! shouted Denisov, jumping up. - Well, G "skeleton! Well!
Rostov, blushing and turning pale, looked first at one officer, then at another.
- No, gentlemen, no ... don’t think ... I understand very well, you shouldn’t think so about me ... I ... for me ... I am for the honor of the regiment. but what? I’ll show it in practice, and for me the honor of the banner ... well, it’s all the same, really, it’s my fault! .. - Tears stood in his eyes. - I'm to blame, all around to blame! ... Well, what else do you want? ...
“That’s it, count,” the captain shouted, turning around, hitting him on the shoulder with his big hand.
“I’m telling you,” Denisov shouted, “he’s a nice little one.
“That’s better, Count,” repeated the captain of the staff, as if for his recognition he was beginning to call him a title. - Go and apologize, your excellency, yes s.
“Gentlemen, I’ll do everything, no one will hear a word from me,” Rostov said in an imploring voice, “but I can’t apologize, by God, I can’t, as you wish!” How will I apologize, like a little one, to ask for forgiveness?
Denisov laughed.
- It's worse for you. Bogdanych is vindictive, pay for your stubbornness, - said Kirsten.
- By God, not stubbornness! I can't describe to you the feeling, I can't...
- Well, your will, - said the headquarters captain. - Well, where did this bastard go? he asked Denisov.
- He said he was sick, zavtg "and ordered pg" and by order to exclude, - Denisov said.
“This is a disease, otherwise it cannot be explained,” said the captain of the staff.
- Already there, the disease is not a disease, and if he doesn’t catch my eye, I’ll kill you! Denisov shouted bloodthirstyly.
Zherkov entered the room.
- How are you? the officers suddenly turned to the newcomer.
- Walk, gentlemen. Mack surrendered as a prisoner and with the army, absolutely.
- You're lying!
- I saw it myself.
- How? Have you seen Mac alive? with arms or legs?
- Hike! Campaign! Give him a bottle for such news. How did you get here?
“They sent him back to the regiment, for the devil, for Mack. The Austrian general complained. I congratulated him on the arrival of Mack ... Are you, Rostov, just from the bathhouse?
- Here, brother, we have such a mess for the second day.
The regimental adjutant entered and confirmed the news brought by Zherkov. Tomorrow they were ordered to speak.
- Go, gentlemen!
- Well, thank God, we stayed too long.Kutuzov retreated to Vienna, destroying the bridges on the rivers Inn (in Braunau) and Traun (in Linz). On October 23, Russian troops crossed the Enns River. Russian carts, artillery and columns of troops in the middle of the day stretched through the city of Enns, along this and that side of the bridge.
The day was warm, autumnal and rainy. The expansive vista that opened up from the elevation where the Russian batteries stood defending the bridge was suddenly covered by a muslin curtain of slanting rain, then suddenly expanded, and in the light of the sun objects, as if covered with varnish, became far and clearly visible. You could see the town under your feet with its white houses and red roofs, the cathedral and the bridge, on both sides of which, crowding, the masses of Russian troops poured. At the turn of the Danube one could see ships, and an island, and a castle with a park, surrounded by the waters of the confluence of the Enns with the Danube, one could see the left bank of the Danube, rocky and covered with pine forests, with a mysterious distance of green peaks and blue gorges. The towers of the monastery could be seen, standing out from behind a pine, seemingly untouched, wild forest; far ahead on the mountain, on the other side of the Enns, the enemy patrols could be seen.
Between the guns, at a height, stood in front the head of the rearguard, a general with a retinue officer, examining the terrain through a pipe. A little behind, sitting on the trunk of the gun, Nesvitsky, sent from the commander-in-chief to the rearguard.
The Cossack accompanying Nesvitsky handed over a purse and a flask, and Nesvitsky treated the officers to pies and real doppelkumel. The officers joyfully surrounded him, some on their knees, some sitting in Turkish on the wet grass.
- Yes, this Austrian prince was not a fool that he built a castle here. Nice place. What don't you eat, gentlemen? Nesvitsky said.
“I humbly thank you, prince,” answered one of the officers, talking with pleasure to such an important staff official. - Beautiful place. We passed by the park itself, saw two deer, and what a wonderful house!
“Look, prince,” said another, who really wanted to take another pie, but was ashamed, and who therefore pretended to look around the area, “look, our infantrymen have already climbed there. Over there, on the meadow, behind the village, three people are dragging something. "They're going to take over this palace," he said with visible approval.
“This and that,” said Nesvitsky. “No, but what I would like,” he added, chewing the pie in his beautiful wet mouth, “is to climb up there.
He pointed to a monastery with towers, visible on the mountain. He smiled, his eyes narrowed and lit up.
“It would be nice, gentlemen!
The officers laughed.
- If only to scare these nuns. Italians, they say, are young. Really, I would give five years of my life!
"They're bored, after all," said the bolder officer, laughing.
Meanwhile, the retinue officer, who was standing in front, pointed out something to the general; the general looked through the telescope.
“Well, it’s true, it’s true,” the general said angrily, lowering the receiver from his eyes and shrugging his shoulders, “it’s true, they’ll start hitting the crossing. And what are they doing there?
On the other side, with a simple eye, the enemy and his battery were visible, from which a milky white smoke appeared. Following the smoke, a long-range shot rang out, and it was clear how our troops hurried at the crossing.
Nesvitsky, panting, got up and, smiling, approached the general.
“Would your Excellency want to have a bite to eat?” - he said.
- It's not good, - said the general, without answering him, - ours hesitated.
“Would you like to go, Your Excellency?” Nesvitsky said.
“Yes, please go,” said the general, repeating what had already been ordered in detail, “and tell the hussars to be the last to cross and light the bridge, as I ordered, and to inspect the combustible materials on the bridge.
“Very well,” answered Nesvitsky.
He called a Cossack with a horse, ordered him to put away his purse and flask, and easily threw his heavy body onto the saddle.
“Really, I’ll stop by the nuns,” he said to the officers, who looked at him with a smile, and drove along the winding path downhill.
- Nut ka, where he will inform, captain, stop it! - said the general, turning to the gunner. - Get rid of boredom.
“Servant to the guns!” the officer commanded.
And a minute later the gunners merrily ran out of the fires and loaded.
- First! - I heard the command.
Boyko bounced 1st number. The cannon rang metallically, deafeningly, and a grenade flew whistling over the heads of all our people under the mountain and, far from reaching the enemy, showed the place of its fall with smoke and burst.
The faces of the soldiers and officers cheered up at this sound; everyone got up and took up observations of the visible, as in the palm of your hand, movements below our troops and in front - the movements of the approaching enemy. The sun at that very moment completely emerged from behind the clouds, and this beautiful sound of a single shot and the brilliance of the bright sun merged into one cheerful and cheerful impression.Two enemy cannonballs had already flown over the bridge, and there was a crush on the bridge. In the middle of the bridge, dismounted from his horse, pressed with his thick body to the railing, stood Prince Nesvitsky.
