Imam Shamil Foundation, a foundation for supporting the Culture, Traditions and Languages of Dagestan. Makhachkala: IIAE DNC RAS, 2010, 155 p. (in Russian)

The reviewed book was published by the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Dagestan Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Foundation for Support of Culture, Traditions and Languages of Dagestan. One of the authors, Professor T. M. Aitberov, is known for his research on various regions and ethnic groups of Dagestan. His fundamental work on Hunzakh is widely known among the scientific community and needs no special introduction (Aitberov, 1990).

The reviewed paper contains epigraphic material from Yelisu and Kakha, Belokan and Zakatal, and documents from the first half of the 17th century. in Persian from these places, epistles of the Sultans of Elisui to various authors dating from the XVIII century, rare maps and cartographic material of the XIX century. Most of these documents were found by the authors of the book personally in Yelisu itself and the surrounding villages. The appendices contain transcripts and translations of the texts of the Kusur tombstone (presumably the second half of the XII century), the Tarasan inscription of the same period, the Kusur Persian inscription of the first half of the XIII century, the message in Persian of Gazisultan-Shamkhal (XVI century) to the inhabitants of the village of Tsakhur, a photo of the seal of Gazisultan with the date 906 AH (1500-1501 A.D.), a translation of the little-known manuscript "History of Maz" (first half of the XVIII century), the text of the tombstone of Muhammad, son of Ali of Keleb (late XVII century), the message of Aslangirei Khan of Crimea to the inhabitants of Tlenseruh-Avars (first half of the XVIII century) and a list of 35 manuscripts of various contents from the Kusur mosque.

Of particular value is the field material collected by T. M. Aitberov and Sh. M. Khapizov in the Zakatal and Kakh districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan, whose population in the XIX-early XX centuries was Avars and Lezgins, residents of the so-called free Dzharo-Belokan jamaats. The authors conclude that the "Lezgin language" of the Belokan, Zakatal and Kakh districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan corresponds to the Avar Dagestan dialect Bulkhadar. In the area of Gorny Magal (upper reaches of the Samur River), the Tsakhur language (khyaltag) is more widespread. The Laks who lived in the village of Khulisma controlled pastures and arable land, gardens and vegetable gardens on the left bank of the Alazani River. In Gorny Magal, Yelisu and Kakhi, the language of interethnic communication among local residents until the 1950s and 1960s was mainly Avar, sometimes Tsakhur. The situation began to change dramatically in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Turkic-speaking dialect of other regions of Azerbaijan replaced the Avar and Tsakhur languages of local residents. The Azerbaijani language is already the main means of communication of the local population in these three districts.

The villages of Tsakhur (from the 12th century), Tsakhur Mishlesh (from the 12th-13th centuries), Avar Tarasan (from the 12th - 13th centuries) and Kusur (from the 12th-13th centuries) confirm the presence of Avars, Lezgins, Tsakhurs and Laks with their epigraphic material (tombstone inscriptions). Since the 15th century, there are references to the Emirs of Yelisu (gruz. - Eniseli). In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Avar villages in Djaro-Belokani were under Georgian influence and even built Orthodox churches here (for example, in Tarasan).

The campaigns of the Ghazi detachments of Sheikh of the Safaviyyeh Order Juneyd (1447-1460) and Sheikh Haidar (1460-1488) in the Belokan, Zakatal and Kakhi regions cleared the way for the migration of Dagestani peoples who occupied the left bank of the Alazani river to these regions, and already in the XVI century, when the Iranian Safavid dynasty established its rule in Shirvan (1538) and Shakki (1551) [Markaryan, 2010, p. 246], we find in Persian documents the name of the "ruler of Jar" Adikurklu from 1562 (p.152), the son of Alibek, the son of Utsumi from the Dagestan village of Khots [Shikhsaidov, 1984, p. 232]. The Adikurklu family entered into a dynastic relationship with the Georgian princely Vakhvakhishvili family from Kakha. The kings of Kakheti in the XVI-XVIII centuries recognized the right to rule the leks (gruz. - Dagestanis, Avars, residents of Belokan, Dzhar, Kakhi) representatives of the Adikurklu family.

On the borders with Christian Georgia, Iran is creating new administrative units-sultanates, which were subordinated to Beglyarbek Shirvan and Shakki.

According to Vakhushti Bagrationi, the administrative divisions into beglyarbekts, khanates, and sultanates (as the smallest political and administrative units) were introduced in Eastern Transcaucasia by Shah Tahmasp (1524-1576) after the campaign of 1556 (Bagrationi Vakhushti, 1976, pp. 37-38). Apparently, the appearance of the "ruler of Jar" Adikurklu in 1562 can be attributed to the policy of the Shah, who sought to oppose yesterday's allies to each other. After all, back in 1520-1522, the Georgian - Kakheti people repeatedly opposed the troops of Shahanshah Ismail together with the Avars, Lezgins and Tsakhurs tribes invited from Dagestan [History of Georgia, part 1, 1946, p. 320]. The Avar origin of the Adikurklu family, which apparently crossed the Caucasus Range to the Dzhar region from the village of Chardakha in Dagestan at the beginning of the 16th century, is beyond doubt among the authors of the study. Adikurklu's son Alibek (1607 - 1616) became the first sultan of Jarah. The Elysian sultans were descended from him.

Both the Djaro-Belokan communities of Avars and Lezgins, and the Elisui Sultanate in the XVII-XVIII centuries were administratively reassigned by Shahanshah Abbas I the Great (1587-1629) from the Shirvan Beglyarbek kingdom to the Georgian Kakheti kings. The kings of Kakheti, beginning with Levan I (1520-1574), by their skilful policy of external complete submission to the Safavids, their gifts and maneuvering, managed to create the impression among the Iranian shahs that they were more reliable vassals than other khans and sultans in the South Caucasus. Apparently, under Alibek (Alisultan), the Yelisuy Sultanate was finally formed.

The authors ' assumption about the origin of the name Yelisu (Elisha?) is interesting. As is known, the Armenian historian Movses Kalankatuatsi has preserved a story about the missionary activity among the mountaineers of the North Caucasus of one of the disciples of the Apostle Thaddeus, St. Elisha, "the enlightener of three countries: Chokha, Lpinia and Albania" (Kalankatuatsi Movses, 1984, p. 170). It can be assumed that the name Yelisu is connected with the historical memory of the local mountaineers about the preaching activities of St. John the Baptist. Elisha in the South and North Caucasus. The name Eliseni (Eniseni) is first mentioned in a postscript dated 1318 in the Georgian Gospel, published in 1895. Therefore, the authors of the reviewed book disagree with those scholars who date the foundation of Yelisu to the 1720s (p. 39).

According to the authors, the Avar and Lezgian population of the inhabitants of Yelisu (Azerbaijan - Ilisu) today, although they mainly speak the Azerbaijani (Turkic) language, recognizes themselves as Avars who have lost the language of their ancestors. Since the language of communication of the population in this republic is considered a constant in the formation of a modern unified Azerbaijani nation, official publications in it recognize the presence of only Azerbaijanis in the Belokans, Kakhs, and Zakatals (p.15), although they have Avar and Lezghi origin in the past. By the way, there are more Lezgins in Azerbaijan itself than in Dagestan: in 1989 there were more than 200 thousand of them. [Chenciner, 1997, p. 274], and at present - not less than 250 - 270 thousand people.

The authors do not agree with the popular view of some Orientalists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the inhabitants of Yelisu are a special Muslim ethnic group that speaks Avar, but is strongly Turkified, and cite materials confirming that the population of Yelisu and Zakatal speaks the Turkic (Azerbaijani) language, but that the population of Yelisu and Zakatal is not native to Azerbaijan. at the same time, it has a high level of Avar self-identification and self-awareness.

The paper analyzes toponymy and onomastics in some detail: rivers, pastures, neighborhoods in Yelisu (their names with Avar and Lezgian roots), surnames of people living in Zakatalys, Yelisu (more than 90 surnames of Dagestani origin), female names with the ending with the letter " t " (Jariyat, Asiyat, Muminat, etc.), which, according to the authors of the work, in terms of anthroponymy provides evidence for their Avar-Lezghian origin.

When analyzing the structure of the surnames of Kusura, the authors of the work speak about the origin of the bearers of the surname Gurdulilal from Georgian Armenians. However, traces of Armenians in Dagestan are not so rare (p. 123), and this can be seen from the example of epigraphic inscriptions of the X century in the village of Attal (on the very border with the Zakatala region of Azerbaijan) and in the cities of Derbent, Kizlyar, Buinaksk and Makhachkala (from the VI to XVIII-XIX centuries), as well as from in the village of Nyugdi, where numerous inscriptions, ruins of churches, Armenian cemeteries are preserved [Poghosyan, 2010, pp. 92-96; Chenciner, 1997, p. 275]. In my opinion, this indicates intensive cultural and trade contacts between the inhabitants of Dagestan and Armenia since the Sasanian period of the region's history [Shikhsaidov, 1984, p. 235], which were preserved until the beginning of the XX century . And only in the XX century between Dagestan and Armenia everything is connected-

zis were minimized and extremely difficult for various political reasons.

In conclusion, I would like to note that, as in any publication, there were annoying typos and technical inconsistencies in the reviewed work. Thus, on page 10, in the story about the Rutul Avars, an unfortunate expression is used: "They were a powerful ethno-political unit in the second half of the XVII - first half of the XVIII century." On the same page, a non-literary expression is used: "correction of human character". In my opinion, it is incorrect to call the Ottoman Turkish Empire simply " Ottomans "(p.21), and the term" empire " in relation to Safavid Iran, or the Timurid powers, is groundless, since the empires had a number of characteristic features that are absent in these states.

All of this does not detract from the value of this study. The collected data on topography and onomastics, copies of the correspondence of Avar rulers, and documents from the Kusur mosque tell us about the authors ' extensive and painstaking work. It remains to wish the authors to continue their scientific research on Avars and Lezgins outside of Dagestan.

list of literature

Aitberov T. M. Drevny Khunzakh i khunzakhtsy [Ancient Khunzakh and Khunzakhtsy]. Makhachkala: Izd. universiteta i Dagtsentr RAS, 1990.

Bagrationi Vakhushti. Istoriya tsardva Gruzinskogo [History of the Georgian Kingdom]. and edited by N. T. Nakashidze. Tbilisi: Metsniereba Publ., 1976.

Kalankatuatsi Movses. Istoriya strany Aluank [History of the Aluank Country]. Yerevan: Matenadaran Institute of Manuscripts. 1984.

History of Georgia. From ancient times to the beginning of the XIX century / Ed. by N. Berdzenishvili, I. Javakhishvili, S. Dzhanashiya. Tbilisi: Gosizdat-GSSR, 1946.

Markarian S. A. History of Iran in the middle ages. Rostov-on-Don: Kniga CJSC, 2010.

Poghosyan (Khakhbakyan) G. On the issue of monuments of the Armenian heritage in the Republic of Dagestan. Yerevan: Institute of Political Studies, 2010. N2.

Shikhsaidov A. R. Epigraphic monuments of Dagestan of the X-XVII centuries as a historical source. Moscow: GRVL, 1984.

Chenciner R. Daghestan: Tradition and Survival. Richmond: Curzon Press, UK. 1997.

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