CHILDREN OF ATUR

The author presents to the readers several chapters from her as yet uncompleted book.  The genre of the book is historical non-fiction.  The text is abridged specifically to fit into the format of the R+ magazine (part three).

Albanians

Multilingual hordes of Aryan tribes (26 tribes), which would later be called Albanians, arrived in this area in the Bronze Age.  After leaving behind a northern country covered in ice, they found shelter in the land of fire.  They were guided by the fires of the Caspian...  Or perhaps they were led by the genetic memory of the distant, fertile, "fiery" ancestral homeland?...  They were going to the land of Japheth, which was called Arran from time immemorial, which means the "land of the noble."

There are a great many mentions of Albania and Albanians.  The Egyptian Book of the Dead (2nd-3rd millennia BC) mentions them, and so does the Bible.  Many ancient and medieval historiographers - Agathius, Theophanes, Theophylactus Simocattes, Balazuri, Ibn Haukal, Zacharias Rhetor, Ibn Al-Faqih, Ibn Rustah, Ibn Masudi, Al-Muqaddasi and others.  Ancient historiographer Strabo wrote in his Geographica (11.4)L  "The Albanians are more inclined to the shepherd's life than the Iberians and are closer akin to the nomadic people, except that they are not ferocious.  

"The inhabitants of this country are unusually handsome and large. And they are frank in their dealings and not mercenary; for they do not in general use coined money, nor do they know any number greater than one hundred, but carry on business by means of barter and otherwise live an easy-going life. They are also unacquainted with accurate measures and weights, and they give no forethought to war or government or farming. But still they fight both on foot and on horseback, both in light armour and in full armour, like the Armenians.  The Albanians use javelins and bows; and they wear breastplates and large oblong shields and helmets made of the skins of wild animals, similar to those worn by the Iberians.  

"The Albanians are surpassingly respectful to old age, not merely to their parents, but to all other old people. And when people die it is impious to be concerned about them or even to mention them. Indeed, they bury their money with them, and therefore live in poverty, having no patrimony.  They send forth a greater army than that of the Iberians; for they equip sixty thousand infantry and twenty-two thousand horsemen, the number with which they risked their all against Pompey. Against outsiders the nomads join with the Albanians in war, just as they do with the Iberians, and for the same reasons; and besides, they often attack the people, and consequently prevent them from farming. 

" To the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea; but the tribe has now disappeared. The pass from Iberia into Albania leads through Cambysene, a waterless and rugged country, to the Alazonius River. Both the people and their dogs are surpassingly fond of hunting, engaging in it not so much because of their skill in it as because of their love for it.  

"They have twenty-six languages, because of this fact they have no easy means of intercourse with one another.  The office of priest is held by the man who, after the king, is held in highest honour; he has charge of the sacred land, which is extensive and well-populated, and also of the temple slaves, many of whom are subject to religious frenzy and who utter prophecies."  Another ancient author, Arrian, describing events during Alexander the Great's campaign (331 BC), mentions Albanians who took part in the battle of Gaugamela on the side of the Persians among the troops of Atropates, the Persian satrap of Media under Darius III.  There are mentions of Albanians in descriptions of military campaigns by Pompeius (66 BC).

The Bible, for its part, mentions Albania and Albanians in connection with the name of St Bartholomew, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.  Early in the 1st century AD, he visited the country on his way of India.  St Bartholomew brought the Christian faith to Zoroastrian Albania and met his death there.  He was executed by the Zoroastrian mobed [priest] approximately in 58 AD, presumably in Baku and presumably, on the steps of the Ahura Mazda temple (the Maiden Tower).  "The pagan priests were angered by the Holy Apostle, fearing that their gods were destroyed and paganism was drawing to an end" (Life of St Bartholomew).  At the place where St Bartholomew was executed, a chapel of St Bartholomew was built near the Maiden Tower, on the foundations of the Zoroastrian temple, which remained there until the 1930s.  It was demolished then together with some other temples - Muslim and Christian - as part of anti-religious propaganda.  However, the Christian Church of Azerbaijan commemorates the event annually.  The clergy hold sermons and lay wreaths at the site of St Bartholomew's death.  Yet another mention of Albania in the Bible is made in the context of the Christian saint, Elisha, disciple of Thadeus, who was crucified by the Armenian king Sanatruces.  Elisha was ordained by Joshua's brother, Jacob, to become a missionary [as published].  He initially converted a small number, but then increasing numbers, of the Albanian tribes to Christianity.  And the Albanian Church, with its apostolic origins, became not only the first Christian Church in the Caucasus, but also one of the first churches in Christendom.  The works of Christian educator Dimitry of Rostov, author of Monthly Readings, testify to this:  he describes in detail the process of the Christianization of Albania, mentioning even the names of the first proselytes.  And the first among them was Polimius, who was the chieftain of one of the Albanian tribes and who converted to Christianity with his entire family and servants.  The name of Polimius was included in the Feast.  Later, according to Dimitry, "some 10 cities or even more converted to Christianity, following their king's example."

The church building erected in the 1st century AD in the ancient town (now village) of Kish in the present-day Saki District of Azerbaijan, is thought to be one of the "foremothers of all churches" in Christendom.  Sanctified by Apostle Elisha, its first priest, the church building is still there.

There are notes about the baptism of Albania by Elisha in the works of Albanian church historiographers Mkhitar Gosh and Kirakos of Gandzak.  The Albanian Church, which was initially linked spiritually with the kyriarchal church of Jerusalem through the work of the Jerusalem Christians (Nazarenes) who settled in Albania, later came under the influence of the Syriac-Persian Eastern Church, according to Syriac and Persian registers of the Nestorian Congresses in the 5th-7th centuries.  Even later, it was influenced by Rome and, much later, by Byzantium.  By the early 2nd century AD, the Albanian archbishop, Blessed Jeremiah, had translated the Holy Bible into the Albanian language.  In the 5th century, the number of dioceses of the Albanian Church increased to 12 and the seat of the head of the Albanian Church moved to the new capital of Albania, Partav (the modern town of Barda).  Roughly from the same period, the Albanian church briefly adopted the monophysite doctrine, but eventually disowned the heresy.

One of the prominent clergymen of the Albanian Church, who contributed greatly to the spread of Christianity in the Caucasus and Asia Minor, including Armenia, was St Gregory the Illuminator, a Parthian, "son of Anak from the genus of Suran-Pahlav" (one of the seven noblest Persian families).  The Albanian kings, Esvagen, Vache II and Vachagan III the Righteous, helped the Albanian Church prosper.  In the 8th century, after the conquest of Arran by Arab invaders and the spread of the new official religion, Islam, through the area, the spiritual centre of the Albanian Apostolic Church moved from Barda to Armenia.

The ancient Christian Church, which proudly calls itself "Apostolic," is still present in Azerbaijan today, preserving its legacy.  The majority of its followers are Orthodox.  There are Catholic cathedrals too, although compared to the Orthodox, there are relatively few Catholics in Azerbaijan.

But let us go back to the Albanians.  Strabo, with his characteristic propensity for an emotional narration of history and for inaccuracies, probably exaggerates a little the primitiveness and carelessness of the Albanians.  The Albanians were great warriors and developed quite a strong statehood quite early on - many Greek and Roman historiographers say that the creation of the state was completed by the 1st century BC.  By that time, the Romans found there a well-established, dynastic, monarchic rule.  To the north, the borders of Caucasian Albania stretched to the Greater Caucasus Ridge (including southern areas of Dagestan), and in the east to the Caspian Sea.  In the west, Albanian territory stretched to the valley of the Iori river and in the south, it included the valley of the Araz river and the Mil and Mugan steppes.  In many historical sources, the names of Albanian kings are also mentioned, and the first king was called Arius.  Arius' face was on Albanian coins.  Besides royal rule, the Albanian system of government included a council of tribal leaders which included Albanian aristocrats and the most prominent Albanian warlords.  The king represented the legislative branch of power and headed the deliberative bodies of the secular and spiritual authorities, and was also the chief commander of the military forces of the state.  Ancient Albania had a legal system with codified laws which mainly regulated relations between the estates.  Thanks to its strong army and wise foreign policy, Albania maintained its sovereignty for a long period.  And even the Roman Empire, which made many attempts to conquer Albania, ultimately had to admit its power and might.  This was finally put into written form in a document created after talks between Albanian envoys and the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus.  Albania was not itself a conquering power.

But what about Albanian beliefs before the adoption of Christianity and, later, of Islam?  Initially the followers of ancient anthropomorphic cults, in which the cult of the god of Fire was important and, according to Strabo, "worshippers of Helios, Zeus and Selene" (gods of fire and the sun,  Otu the thunderer, Adad, god of the moon, Nanna, ancient Caspian cults (author's note)), the Albanians then adopted the first monotheistic, revelatory faith in the history of mankind, Zoroastrianism.  According to some theories, the great religious reformer and prophet, Zarathushtra, or, in Arran and Azerbaijani, Zardusht, was an Albanian.  It seems that according to Avesta texts he was born into a family of initiated priests, the mugh.  The ancient Caspians were the mugh.  And according to the same source, he was probably born in South Arran (Media-Atropatene), presumably near Lake Urmia.  Multiple archaeological excavations prove that the people who lived there had advanced culture and arts.  They also show that the Albanians had their own writing system which used their own Albanian alphabet of 52 letters.  The architecture of Albanian stone buildings, some of which still stand, is powerful and splendid and proves that they had advanced architectural and urban development skills.  One of the capital cities of Caucasian Albania was the legendary Qabala, which was later destroyed during the invasion by Safavid armies.  The ruins of Qabala, just like the recently restored ancient name of the town, exist to this day in the Qabala district of Azerbaijan.  The second capital was Partav (Barda).  For a brief period, Gandza (Ganca) too was the capital.

History has preserved the names of the tribes of Caucasian Albania.  There were in total 26 of them.  The tribal union was headed by the Albanian tribe.  There were also the As, Casp, Uti, Gell, Leg, Silv, Lupenians, Gargars, Yikians, Tsavdeans, Gardamaians, Didur, Sogd, Tavaspar, Khechmatak, Izhmakh, Gat, Gluar, Shichb, Balasich, Yegersvan, Sak and some other tribes whose names are lost.  Sometimes, the tribe of Amazons is added to the list of Albanian tribes:  they lived in the mountains of Gardman (Girdiman), although this has not been thoroughly researched yet.

In the 7th century AD, the Arabs formed a new state, Aturpatkan (Adorbadagan) ,from Albania and another Arran state, Mad-Aturpatkan (Media-Atropatene in Greek sources).  Adorbadagan became one of the vilayats of the Arab Caliphate, the Arran vilayat.  Eventually Arabs ceded it to the Persians and it became a Persian protectorate.

The Arabs introduced Islam to the Albanian lands.  It has to be said that neither the Jews nor the Christians were persecuted in religiously tolerant Albania by the Arabs.  There were persecutions, but only against Zoroastrians.  The Zoroastrian temples and altars were destroyed; the Zoroastrians were forcibly converted to Islam.  The texts of the Zoroastrian book of revelation, the Avesta, were destroyed back then.

Many people ask nowadays how we, the descendants of the fair-haired and blue-eyed Aryans, became "dark".  The point is that the process was two-phased.

First, the "fairness" of our ancestors was slightly diluted by an admixture of the Persian tribes which came to Arran territory from the ancient land of Elam.  According to the Old Testament, Elam was the lot of Shem, Noah's son, whose population the academics categorize as Dravidian, dark-skinned peoples.  The nomadic tribes of Pars, after settling on the borders of Arran, created the Persian kingdom in South Arran.  Or, to be more precise, the legendary king Cyrus II, a grandson of the Arran Median king Astyages, united the Persian tribes and, with their support, toppled his grandfather and installed himself on the Median throne.  And for political reasons he called his state, to which he initially added Parsagad (border areas populated by the nomadic Pars) and eventually the entire territory of Elam, Parsia.  "God enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem" (Genesis, 9:27).  Later, he created the great Persian Empire under the same name.

The second, much more considerable, "darkening" of the blue-eyed Arranians occurred during the period of the Arab Caliphate.  One political measure to consolidate their position in the conquered land was the establishment of their own colonies in Arran.  And the caliphate settled an Arab population in the area, giving them the best land and infringing the rights of the native Arranian population.  Eventually, the colonists were assimilated into the lands of Arran and remained here after the dissolution of the Arab Caliphate.  Our ancestors lost their fair complexion in this manner, after many centuries of the presence of, first, dark-haired Persians and later, of Arabs.  However, in the mountainous areas of Azerbaijan, one can sometimes see the light-skinned and fair-haired people of the Aryan race.

In 725-726, Arab caliphs conducted a census of the population and cattle.  Taxes were doubled and some of the taxes even tripled, which drove the population of Arran into extreme destitution and despair.  Besides all the other taxes, a tax on religious faith was also introduced.  The Zoroastrians were to pay more than the Christians and Jews.  But even those Arranians who adopted Islam were considered suspicious by the Arabs.  And the Arab saying which sounds strange today - "fear the blue-eyed Muslims!" - was coined precisely in that period.  For a long time, Arabs called the new Arranian converts to Islam "Muslims via the sword."  And the Albanians, together with all other Arranians, fought the Arabs for two decades.  There were 20 years of straightforward warfare with the Arabs and a whole century of poorly disguised recalcitrance.  That period left us the names of the heroes who defended their land against Arab conquerors.  One of the first people to put up resistance to the large Arab armies was the famous Albanian military commander Javanshir.  But the most formidable warrior, who literally inspired shivers and awe in the empire of the caliphs, was the national hero, Hassan.  The Zoroastrian priests and, after them, all the Arranians baptized him and gave him the sacred Zoroastrian name "Pa-pag" (in modern pronunciation - Babak).  As a very young man, Babak adopted the faith of the Arabs.  As he grew up amid the injustices and excesses which the Arabs perpetrated in Arran and seeing the suffering of his people, he denounced Islam and adopted Zoroastrianism again to head the Zoroastrian popular Khurramiyyah (fiery-bannered) movement.  He rallied militia regiments under the red Aryan banners for 20 years.  In 837 - according to one theory, as a result of treason by Persian feudal lords - Babak was seized by the Arabs and executed.  According to another theory, which is described in Arab and Armenian historical sources, he was betrayed by an Armenian merchant in Persia, whose name in Arab sources is Sahl ibn Sunbat al-Armani.  As Babak's associate, the merchant promised the Arabs that he would help them to seize him for the appropriate remuneration of 1,000 dirham and the post of caliph's governor in Iveria (Georgia).  Then he invited Babak and sent for Arab troops, so Babak and his brother were seized and quartered.  The popular uprising was literally quenched with blood.  And precisely from that period, the Azerbaijanis, when asked about their ethnicity, have answered for 14 centuries now:  "Man Musalmanam" ("I am a Muslim").  Some of the Albanian tribes moved to the mountains.  Most of them stayed and converted to Islam.  Twenty years of war and a century of resistance by the peoples of Arran against Arab expansion weakened the Arab Caliphate.  By the late 9th-early 10th century, the lands of medieval Azerbaijan were freed from their Arab conquerors.  The descendants of the ancient Albanians live in Northern Arran, that is, present-day Azerbaijan, and constitute the largest local ethnic group.  They sometimes ask one another:  "Haralisan?" ("Where are you from?"), in other words, which group do you belong to, who are you, an Aryan, Pars or Arab?  They do not realize the true meaning of the question which was asked in the same way so many centuries ago.

The spiritual centre of Zoroastrian Albania was the city of Bag-Van, or Baruka, or Bade, or Kube, or Baku.