Svani biography

They Iberus by origin and speak Georgian. Strabo posted them next door to Dioscuria, and Pliny wrote: "The Kobi River from the Caucasian mountains flows through the lands of the Svan." Also today, Svans live in the upper stream of the Hobi River, the name of which is more accurately written by Arrian than Pliny. Ptolemy calls this people weddings. Here is the information left by Pliny and Strabo about this people.

The text of Pliny: “Once in Colchis, SBOP reigned, who, the first to conquer Svanov, got a lot of gold and silver there, as well as in the kingdom, famous for the golden rune. They say that the beams, columns and reliefs in its palace were made of gold and silver. He was defeated by Sesostis - the king of Egypt will see what Strabo says about this people. Strabo's text: “Svans - neighbors of the fatierophages and no less unclean, but they are superior to their power, as well as courage.

They live on the top of the Caucasus located above Dioscuria, and in the areas that form a circle with this peak in the center. They have a king and advice consisting of a person. Since all their men wear weapons, they assure thousands of infantrymen as they say. They assure that gold flows in their rivers and they collect it in a trough with holes something like a sieve and put it in sheep's skins.

It was because of this that the legend of the golden rune was born or, perhaps, we are talking about Western Iberians, bearing the same name as these, whose lands are also very rich in metals. At the Svan, the arrows are moistened with poison, which penetrates the wounds and causes an intolerable stench. ” It can be seen from the text that the Svans living in the highlands of the Caucasus are real Georgians, since Strabo also gives them the name “Iber”.

Indeed, they speak one of the dialects of the Georgian language, and their appearance is the same as that of Georgians. The treatise on the embassies of the protector minander says that the Byzantines and the Persians fought for the mastery of Swannia in the year, and Khosrov told the ambassadors that the country of Svanov was completely unworthy of the attention of the Byzantines and they could not get any profit from it.

In Svaneti there is a mountain pass that was used before, and now use to cross the Caucasus. In the year, Zemarh returned from his [] embassy trip to the Khan of the Turks Ektag Altai, Sarodiy, the Alan Ossetian prince, advised him not to walk through the Mindian country, as the Persians arranged a trap in the neighborhood of Svanitia, and rather a radiove to choose the road Darinyan Daryal to return home.

They say that once the Svans submitted to Georgia, but at least it is known for sure that they were part of the Kingdom of Laz. Those who live on Tskhenis-Tsgali are subject to Mingrelian Prince Dadiani. On the contrary, those who live on Inguri have their own more or less independent princes. Svans profess Christianity from very ancient times, in their mountains there are still churches in good condition; Svans with Tskenis-Zgali recognize the jurisdiction of the bishop with lechkami.

The name of the Svans calls themselves “Shnau”, and Georgians, Imeretins and Mingrelors call them “Svans”, or “Sony”, and their country is Svanitia. Svans now occupy the southern alpine meadows of the Caucasus; First, they can be found east of Mount Jumantau, located about 40 miles south of the Karachais settlement. Svans live in the upper reaches of this river flowing through their lands under the name Lashkhuri, as well as in the upper reaches of the Khopi and Inguri rivers, which flows into the Black Sea near Anaklia.

In the west, Svana border the Abkhazians. Lasheti is in a short crossing from the village of Sardmeli, located in the Racauli stream in the Racauli stream, which at some distance from here flows into Rioni on the left side. The appearance of Svan residents is a tall, beautiful, well -built people, but one of the most unscrupulous in the entire Caucasus. Outwardly, Svans are similar to Georgians, nevertheless, their [] adverb is very different from the Iberian and Mingrelian and contains a large number of other people's words.

This is probably due to the fact that Swanes are separated from these peoples for such a long time, but numerals, pronouns and other words are similar to Mingrelian and Georgian. The dwellings of the Svan house are built of stones without a fixing solution or from a braid coated with clay; There are no windows in them. The light penetrates through the hole in the center of the roof and smoke comes out.

The roof is built of thick beams, horizontally laid on four walls; The roof is covered with earth. The whole family is sleeping with cattle on straw. Svan's clothes do not have the custom to wear shirts, they put on two or three narrow Beshmeta one on the other, leaving an open chest, forearm and knees. The apron replaces their pants, and the strips of cloth, wrapped around the legs from the ankle to the hips, are stockings.

They wrap the feet with raw skin, folding in front in a sharp nose. Some of them wear an Imereta hat, although often their heads are not covered, and most of them never comb their hair. Svan girls never wear anything on their heads, and women, getting married, cover their heads with a red scarf, and they close not only the darkness and back of the head, but also the face, only ears remain open.Women at Svan wear long narrow dresses, usually from a red canvas, with a tie in the front; In winter, they throw a raincoat made of coarse cloth over dresses, and in the summer they wear cloaks from red canvas.

Swanets are considered prejudice, and their morals are not very harsh: it was once considered shameful for the woman if she did not have several lovers. They cook very dirty, in the ash. Bread is baked from wheat, barley, and in the summer it is replaced by a very thick, cooked in water. Svan has large flocks of goats and a lot of birds. Despite their unscrupulousness and poverty of clothing, they are all - both men and women - love to decorate themselves, as far as products allow, gold and silver chains.

In each house and in every family, as a rule, there is only one vessel for drinking, which is used together in turn, usually a vessel is silver. Their guns are decorated with silver plates, some more, some less. The land of Svan is rich in the deposits of lead and copper, which they can melt, the same cannot be said about the gland. They themselves make gunpowder, having all the substances that are part of it, and sell it to the Karachais, from which they receive in exchange salt, which they are exchanged in Russia.

They produce rough cloth that are sold in Imeres. They have everything they need for life, with the exception of salt, but since they need both clothes and a all kinds of galangter, they are forced to go crowds to Mingrelia and Imereti at the beginning of summer to offer their hands to work on the plain. They return after harvesting and bring money for labor as a fee for labor that would be useless for them, but plates of copper, iron, boilers, canvases, fabrics, carpets and salt.

The territory of Swannia is divided into 4 districts, namely: 1. Tsiokho - 7 thousand inhabitants. Tatarshan - 5 thousand inhabitants. These two districts are controlled by two princes with the same names - Tsiokho and Tatarshan - from the family of Dadashkillov; The first of them obeys Russia, and the second is going to follow the example of the first, listening to the persuasion of the ruling prince Mingrelia Dadiani.

Free Svans - 8 thousand inhabitants, some of whom again adopted Christianity in the year. Prince Dadiani bowed them to obey, and they sent a deputation to Tiflis for negotiations about this. Svans related to Mingrelia and called “Svans-Dadiani”, since they are subordinate to the ruling prince of Mingrelia Dadiani-up to 5 thousand souls. New information about the Svans was received in April of the year: the borders and location of the Caucasian array in the direction from the north-west to the southeast forms near the Elbrus Mountain, called the Svan, the angle, the top of which is facing the Kuban, and the eastern side passes along the vertices of the Naka and the floor, where it ends.

The branches of the ridge, connecting to the mountains of the Supist, Kitlash, Kugub, etc. From the Pasis-Mta Mountain, the name in the Svan language sounds like that, and in Ossetian Bassian-Gog, where there are the sources of two significant rivers-Rioni and Inguri Ancient Singamis-a large spur, which stretches to the southwest in the direction of almost parallel to the snow chain. The highest peaks of this spur - Satskhen, Azhi, Taber, Lashhat, Leshniul, Omiash and Namzhoga; They are the southern border of Svan and separate them from Mingrelia and Imereti; A wide and very deep gorge is formed between them and the snow ridge, along the bottom of which Inguri flows towards the east to the west, then the river flows into the Black Sea near the fortress of Anaklia.

On the western side of the lands of the Svans are separated from Abkhazia by a large spur, departing from the Caucasian ridge in the southwestern direction and called the ridge of Joesyuki. The steep slopes of the mountains, from all sides, surrounding the country of Svan, cut through deep hollows and give rise to the countless streams and streams that fall into Inguri; The main of them fall on the right side of the river, following the flow - Shir, Dahmara, Kedler, Khen, Tubi, Tskemara, Meler, Gester, Maulash, Nizuber, Chuber, Side.

If we take into account the greater height of the mountains of Swannia, their slopes should occupy the area, much larger than the grounds, and, therefore, the ratio of the number of inhabitants and area should not be considered only taking into account the territory occupied by the Suns, judging by the map. The division of Svans is divided into three tribes, namely: 1.

The land of independent Svan, who call themselves “loud” without gentlemen, extends to the west of the Mount Pasis-MTA by 45 versts along both shores of Inguri and borders on the territory of Tatarshan Dadeshkilyanov. The territory of Prince Tatarskhan Dadeshkalyanov is located between the lands of free Svan and the lands of Prince Tsiokho Dadeshkillov, from which it is separated by the tributary of Inguri - Khen.

In these settlements, there are to yards. The territory of Prince Tsiokho Dadeshkalyanov occupies the western part of Swanetia and is limited in the east of the Khen River, and in the south - Mingrelia. The Svans of Prince Tsiojo occupy a square in square versts along both shores of Inguri, they have 21 villages. In these villages there are near the yards.The population assumes that in each family there are 7 people, you can count the souls of the population in Swannia, but the new data gives the number of inhabitants to a person, namely: Svans Tsiokho Dadeshkillanov - free Svans - total: NOTE.

There is also the fourth tribe of Svanov by a number of souls, but since they live in the high -mountain valleys of Mingrelia, south of their relatives, and are dependent on Prince Mingrelia Dadiani, we will talk about them, but not when describing this area. The climate, household exercises and crafts of Swannia are very harsh, since this area is one of the most highly supported in the Caucasus and is surrounded by mountains, some of which are covered with eternal snow, and the other is open to cold ruthless winds.

The fogs here are very frequent and so thick that the pedestrian, suddenly captured by fog, does not dare to continue the path to fall into the abyss, but forced to stop and stand until the winds dissipate the clouds. From all of the above, we can conclude that nature here is not very generous with its gifts. Winter begins in October and continues until May, when the Svans is sown by barley, in June they process the fields of millet and flax, in August they laid on the threshing ground, and in early September - the rest of the grain.

Without the slightest idea of ​​agriculture and from childhood, accustomed to need, Svans grow only that amount of wheat, [] which is necessary for a meager nutrition of the family; They are so accustomed to hunger that they are enough for them one -libs of bread a day and, when they go on a hike, one small churek is enough for them to eat for three days.

Field work in Svaneti is very painful both in summer and in winter; All transportation of grains, forests and other things is carried out with the help of a sled, similar to a sled [] of our peasants. They plow the earth with a plow, in which the bulls are harnessed, but the one who owns such an end of the Earth, where the bulls can pass, since the rest should process small shreds of the earth with their own hands.

The harsh cold that reigns in Svaneti for most of the year prevents residents from actively engaging in livestock, nevertheless, they sell it in Mingrelia and Imereti, receiving salt and iron in exchange.

They also change to silver cloth, which they do themselves. The princes of Svanov are almost as poor as their subjects, but they sometimes have the right to sell someone from them. They take sheep for a man, and for a beautiful woman - sheep. Some of the sheep are food for them, and the other is sold in Mingrelia, where silk fabric and other luxury items are bought in return.

Free Svans are richer than the subjects of the princes of the Dadeshkilian, since they often arrange robber raids on their neighbors. Those of the free Svan who come to trade in the village of Lenteli on the territory of the Mingrelian prince Dadiani, instead of tax, give a two -liter mercury of gunpowder and several sheep. Mount Lakura on the territory of Prince Tatarshan Dadeshkillanov is rich in lead; Several times there were plots of native silver, which residents use to decorate their weapons.

Mount Latley in the territory of Free Svan is distinguished by the same properties. Ingistavus gives sulfur, and Svans make gunpowder of good quality. The appearance and character of Svan's face Svan are similar to the Russians, most of them have blond hair, they leave them and do not shave off from their heads, as Circassians do, on which they look like a manner of dressing.

On their checks on each side of the chest is located twelve tubes to insert cartridges. Their weapons are the same as the rest and excellent quality. Swans are brave, their morals are rude and are distracted by unbridled licentiousness, which makes them brave and enterprising.