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Anacopia Fortress
Anakopia Fortress ( ka, ანაკოფია, tr) is an ancient military citadel in New Athos (as it is currently known) in the disputed Abkhazia, Georgia located some 22 km (14 miles) by road along the coast from Sukhumi. The site, approximately 450 × 150 meters in dimensions, is located a mile or so inland, at the top of the Iverian Mountain. It is the most complete surviving building of ancient Anakopia, the former capital of the Kingdom of Abkhazia. History A military structure was constructed here between the second and fourth centuries. At the end of the seventh century, walls were constructed around the site of the citadel, with support from the Byzantines who had become alarmed by the Islamic Caliphate's expansionism. The walls, up to 60 centimeters (~2 feet) thick, are constructed of largely tightly assembled and carefully hewn limestone blocks. There is a single entrance, a small gate on the south side of the enclosure. At the centre lies a Roman-styled tower, fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Athos
New Athos or Akhali Atoni is a town in the Gudauta Municipality of Abkhazia situated some from Sokhumi by the shores of the Black Sea. The town was previously known under the names Nikopol, Acheisos, Anakopia, Nikopia, Nikofia, Nikopsis, Absara, and Psyrtskha. New Athos Cave is one of Abkhazia's tourist attractions. History The excavations at the Anakopia Fortress which is located at the edge of the town showed that it functioned in the 5–12 centuries CE, though some archeologists date the construction of the defences to 7th century. Anakopia is associated with the fortress of Tracheia mentioned by Prokopius. Anakopia was the capital of the Abkhazian princedom in the orbit of the Byzantine Empire and then of the Abkhazian Kingdom after the archon Leon II declared himself a king in the late 8th century. Later, the capital was moved to Kutaisi. Anakopia was ceded to Byzantine Empire by Demetre in 1033 but was retaken by Georgians in 1072 among the other territories Georgi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Muslim Conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia that expanded rapidly under the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate, culminating in Muslim rule being established on three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe) over the next century. According to historian James Buchan: "In speed and extent, the first Arab conquests were matched only by those of Alexander the Great, and they were more lasting." At their height, the territory that was conquered by the Arab Muslims stretched from Iberian Peninsula, Iberia (at the Pyrenees) in the west to Indian subcontinent, India (at Sind (caliphal province), Sind) in the east; Muslim control spanned Sicily, most of the Middle East and North Africa, and the Caucasus and Central Asia. Among other drastic changes, the early Muslim conquests brought about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortifications In Abkhazia
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ("strong") and ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large cyclopean stone walls fitted without mortar had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marwan Ibn Muhammad's Invasion Of Georgia
The Umayyad invasion of Georgia, known in Georgian historiography as the Invasion of Marwan the Deaf ( ka, მურვან ყრუს შემოსევა, tr) took place from 735 to 737, initiated by last Umayyad caliph Marwan II against the Principality of Iberia. The goals of the campaign are disputed among historians. The Georgian historiography insists its main purpose was to finally break the stiff Georgian resistance against Arab rule, however, the Western historians such as Cyril Toumanoff, Toumanoff, Cyril, "Iberia between Chosroid and Bagratid Rule", in ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', Georgetown, 1963, p. 405. Accessible online at and Ronald Suny, Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition'', p. 28. Indiana University Press, view it as a general campaign directed at both the Byzantine Empire, who exerted its domination over Western Georgia, and the Khazars, whose repeated raids affected not only Iberia (Eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marwan II
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan (; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 744 until his death. His reign was dominated by a Third Fitna, civil war, and he was the last Umayyad ruler to rule the united Caliphate before the Abbasid Revolution toppled the Umayyad dynasty. Birth and background Marwan ibn Muhammad was a member of the Marwanid household of the Umayyad Caliphate. His grandmother was named Zaynab. Marwan's father was Muhammad ibn Marwan, who was the son of the fourth Umayyad Caliph Marwan I (), and hence half-brother to fifth Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ().Zetterstéen (1993), p. 408 His mother was a woman who's mostly unnamed, however sometimes is called Rayya or Tarubah, and is likely of non-Arab origin (a Kurds, Kurd according to most accounts). Some have referenced that his mother was already pregnant with Marwan before his legal father, Muhammad, bed her, thus making the chi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member of the clan. The family established dynastic, hereditary rule with Mu'awiya I, the long-time governor of Bilad al-Sham, Greater Syria, who became caliph after the end of the First Fitna in 661. After Mu'awiya's death in 680, conflicts over the succession resulted in the Second Fitna, and power eventually fell to Marwan I, from another branch of the clan. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, with Damascus as their capital. The Umayyads continued the Early Muslim conquests, Muslim conquests, conquering Ifriqiya, Transoxiana, Sind (caliphal province), Sind, the Maghreb and Hispania (al-Andalus). At its greatest extent (661–750), the Umayyad Caliphate covered , making it one of the largest empires in history in terms of ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arab–Byzantine Wars
The Arab–Byzantine wars or Muslim–Byzantine wars were a series of wars from the 7th to 11th centuries between multiple Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire. The Muslim Arab Caliphates conquered large parts of the Christian Byzantine empire and unsuccessfully attacked the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. The frontier between the warring states remained almost static for three centuries of frequent warfare, before the Byzantines were able to recapture some of the lost territory. The conflicts began during the early Muslim conquests under the expansionist Rashidun Caliphate, part of the initial spread of Islam. In the 630s, Rashidun forces from Arabia attacked and quickly overran Byzantium's southern provinces. Muslim conquest of the Levant, Syria was captured in 639 and Arab conquest of Egypt, Egypt was conquered in 642. The Exarchate of Africa was Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, gradually captured between 647 and 670. From the 650s onwards, Arab navies entered the Medit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Christianity
Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The first followers of Christianity were Jews who had Proselyte, converted to the faith, i.e. Jewish Christians, as well as Phoenicia, Phoenicians, i.e. Christianity in Lebanon, Lebanese Christians. Early Christianity contains the Apostolic Age and is followed by, and substantially overlaps with, the Patristic era. The Apostolic sees claim to have been founded by one or more of the Apostles in the New Testament, apostles of Jesus, who are said to have Dispersion of the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichthys
The ichthys or ichthus (), from the Greek (, 1st cent. AD Koinē Greek pronunciation: , "fish") is, in its modern rendition, a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish. It has been speculated that the symbol was adopted by early Christians as a secret symbol; a shibboleth to determine if another was indeed Christian.Robert Mowat, “ΙΧΘΥΣ,” in Atti del II° congresso internazionale di archeologica cristi-ana tenuto in Roma nell’ aprile 1900 (Rome: Spithöver, 1902), 1–8Rasimus, T. ,2011''Revisiting the Ichthys: A Suggestion Concerning the Origins of Christological Fish Symbolism'' Pp 327-348 in '' Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices.'' Biblical Studies, Ancient Near East and Early Christianity E-Books Online. "Such solutions, once popular, include the fish as a secret symbol for persecuted Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia (country), Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is Inflow (hydrology), supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe. The Black Sea, not including the Sea of Azov, covers , has a maximum depth of , and a volume of . Most of its coasts ascend rapidly. These rises are the Pontic Mountains to the south, bar the southwest-facing peninsulas, the Caucasus Mountains to the east, and the Crimean Mountains to the mid-north. In the west, the coast is generally small floodplains below foothills such as the Strandzha; Cape Emine, a dwindling of the east end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th centuryAD, it endured until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. The term 'Byzantine Empire' was coined only after its demise; its citizens used the term 'Roman Empire' and called themselves 'Romans'. During the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the western provinces were Romanization (cultural), Latinised, but the eastern parts kept their Hellenistic culture. Constantine the Great, Constantine I () legalised Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople. Theodosius I, Theodosius I () made Christianity the state religion and Greek gradually replaced Latin for official use. The empire adopted a defensive strategy and, throughout its remaining history, expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abkhazia
Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It covers and has a population of around 245,000. Its capital and largest city is Sukhumi. The political status of Abkhazia is a central issue of the Abkhazia conflict and Georgia–Russia relations. Abkhazia has been International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, recognised as an independent state only by 5 states: Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria. Georgia (country), Georgia and other countries consider Abkhazia as a Georgia's sovereign territory.Olga Oliker, Thomas S. Szayna. Faultlines of Conflict in Central Asia and the South Caucasus: Implications for the U.S. Army. Rand Corporation, 2003, .Emmanuel Karagiannis. Energy and Security in the Caucasus. Routledge, 2002. . Lacking effective control over the Abkhazian territ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
