Kerketen

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The Kerketen (Latin Kerketae, Cercetae), also called Kaschagen , Kaschaken , Kassogen (Russian: Kasogi), were an ancient and medieval tribal association that settled from the Taman Peninsula to the east along the northeast side of the western Caucasus . They are from the 4th century BC. Until the 14./15. Century AD repeatedly mentioned in historical sources that did not come from them themselves . There is the hypothesis - although the majority rejected it - that the foreign name " Circassian " (they call themselves adyge ) could perhaps be traced back to the name of the Kerketes, possibly mediated by the Ossetian language . It is undisputed in research that the Kerketes, like the neighboring Zichi, are direct forerunners of the Circassians, which is why they are assigned to Circassian history.

history

Outdated and incorrect map with "Casachia" (Kaschagien, Kassogien etc.) in the east. The Alans are actually to be looked for further east and the southern part of the area also belonged to the Kerkets.

The Kerkets were first discovered by Pseudo-Skylax around 330 BC. Next to other tribes in the region. Since that time they have been used by ancient Greek and Roman sources, e.g. B. Strabon, Pomponius Mela , Quintus Curtius Rufus , up to medieval Byzantine (e.g. Constantine VII. Porphyrogennetos), Armenian, Georgian, Muslim, Russian ( Nestorchronik ) and Genoese sources mentioned and described again and again. Originally, the Kerketes are described near the Sea of Azov , where they may have formed a sub-tribe or a neighboring tribe of the Maioten . According to the sources, they seem the cercetae / Kasch Agen / Kassogen from their original small settlement area on the northeast coast of the Black Sea with hinterland gradually from the 5th to the 10th century on their medieval settlement area of the environment of the Taman Peninsula along the Kuban to to have expanded to its upper reaches in the southeast. In doing so they seem to have assimilated or displaced the tribes of the Maioten and the probably Sarmatian Siraks , the mention of which from historical sources disappears. From the 6./7. In the 17th century, short inscriptions by the Kassogen in a rune-like script that can be read because they resemble the so-called Murfatlar runes of the Proto- Bulgarians, which show that the Kassogen were speaking in the West Caucasus . Linguistically, they were almost certainly early Circassians, as were the neighboring Zichi. It is possible that the symbols used by Circassian aristocratic families without a sound value were formed from these runes. It is a very recent invention that a phonetic systematic “old Circassian script” was formed from these. Jaimoukha equates the Kerketen largely with the later Circassian tribe of the Kabardines due to their late settlement area , which, however, many authors do not share.

Depiction of the duel between Reidade and Mstislaw in the Old Russian-Belarusian Radziwiłł Chronicle , a copy from the 15th century of an original from the 13th century

A well-known episode in Russian history is the duel between the Kassogen king Reidade (Rededja) and the old Russian prince Mstislav von Tschernigow and Tmutarakan in 1022 at Reidade's suggestion. As the Nestor Chronicle reports, Mstislav did not keep to the agreement to settle the dispute in single combat instead of in battle and let his warriors attack the Kassogen, who were thereby defeated. Later, however, the outpost of the Kievan Rus Tmutarakan was destroyed by Kassogen.

During the war campaigns of Timur , which caused part of the regional population to move to the mountains, the names of the Zichi and Kerketen disappeared from the sources and were replaced by the new collective name of the Circassians. Whether only the foreign names changed or whether there were also changes in the internal political tribal structures cannot be traced due to a lack of precise sources.

literature

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Article “ čarkas ” = Circassians in the Encyclopædia Iranica , 3rd paragraph, with further references.
  2. ↑ See e.g. B. Article of the Great Soviet Archeology . The view is not doubted in Caucasus and regional archeology.
  3. ^ Kadir I. Natho, p. 46
  4. ↑ Geographika XI 2.14
  5. ↑ Choreographia 1,12 (English translation), he erroneously locates it east of the Caspian Sea.
  6. ↑ The story of Alexander 6, 4
  7. ↑ Kadir I. Natho pp. 46-78.
  8. ↑ Kadir I. Natho, pp. 69-75
  9. ^ Amjad Jaimoukha: Mediaeval Kabardian Alphabet. ; he refers to P. Dobrev: inscriptions and alphabet of the Urbulgaren. Sofia 1995.
  10. ↑ Ibid, p. 6.
  11. ↑ See e.g. B. the opening words of this text .
  12. ↑ Amjad Jaimoukha A Brief History of Kabarda . The parts up to the 15th century deal with BC. a. with a traditional Kerketian history.
  13. ↑ Amjad Jaimoukha: Circassian History , pp. 12-15.