Siege of Derbent in 1173 or 1174 was a successful

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

Derbent Derbent, also historically known as Darband, or Derbend, is the southernmost city in Russia. It is situated along the southeastern coast of the Dagestan, Republic of Dagestan, occupying the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucas ...

, by the Shirvanese and Georgian allies against

Rus' Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

and Kipchak raiders.

History

Akhsitan I Akhsitan I (also spelled Akhsatan; ) was the 20th Shirvanshah after 1160, and thought to have reigned until the years 1197–1203/04. He was the son and successor of Manuchihr III (). His mother was Tamar, a Georgian princess from the Bagratio ...

's reign saw raids of

which sailed from

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

and threatening shores of river Kura. They crossed the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

on 73 ships and, having dropped anchor near island Ruinas (Sari), went up the Kura to Lemberana. At the same time, the

Kipchaks The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Russian annals, were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the eighth cent ...

occupied Derbent and, having proceeded to the south, occupied the citadel Shabran. During the period Sharvan had established close matrimonial ties with the Christian

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia (), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a Middle Ages, medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in Anno Domini, AD. It reached Georgian Golden Age, its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign ...

, and the Georgian kings had several times supported Sharvan in its struggle against al-Bab (Derbent). Akhsitan called his ally

George III of Georgia George III ( ka, გიორგი III, tr) (died 27 March 1184), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 8th King ('' mepe'') of Georgia from 1156 to 1184. He became king when his father, Demetrius I, died in 1156, which was preceded by his brother ...

, which in 1173 or 1174 accompanied the Georgian army on an expedition to

Shirvan Shirvan (from ; ; Tat: ''Şirvan'') is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, as known in both pre-Islamic Sasanian and Islamic times. Today, the region is an industrially and agriculturally developed part of the Republic of Azerbaijan ...

up to the Caspian shores, where George with the future

Byzantine 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 the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

emperor Andronicus recaptured the fortress of Shabaran from the invaders from Dernemt for his cousin, the

Shirvanshah The Shirvanshahs (Arabic/) were the rulers of Shirvan (in present-day Azerbaijan) from 861 to 1538. The first ruling line were the Yazidids, an originally Arab and later Persianized dynasty, who became known as the Kasranids (also referred t ...

and strengthened the Georgian dominance in the area. Yevgeni Pakhomov and

Vladimir Minorsky Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (; – 25 March 1966) was a White Russian academic, historian, and scholar of Oriental studies, best known for his contributions to the study of history of Iran and the Iranian peoples such as Persians, Lurs, and ...

thought the invasion was initiated by the ruler of Darbent, Bek-Bars b. Muzaffar. According to Minorsky, "the initiative of Bek-Bars was independent of Kiev, and he must have used bands of free-lances (

Brodnici The Brodnici (, ) were a tribe of disputed origin. Etymology In some opinions, the name, as used by foreign chronicles, means a person in charge of a ford (water crossing) in Slavic language (cf. Slavic ''brodŭ''). The probable reason for the n ...

) who were roaming in the south, as a prototype of the future

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

". Georgian sources speak of the Khazars, but do not mention Rus' in connection with this event. Peter Golden argued that the Rus' mentioned by Khaqani were Volga pirates who came in 73 ships.

References

Works cited

* * {{cite journal , last1=Minorsky , first1=V. , title=Khāqānī and Andronicus Comnenus , journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London , date=1945 , volume=11 , issue=3 , pages=550–578 , jstor=609336 , doi=10.1017/S0041977X0007227X , s2cid=161748303 12th century in the Kingdom of Georgia