Khamekits
Khamekits were an ancient tribe mentioned by Strabo in his work Geographica during the first century AD.[1] According to most researchers, Khamekits are ancestors of Ingush that lived in vast area of mountainous Ingushetia, including the Dorkhe Valley with a center in Khamkhi.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Khamkhi | |
|---|---|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Ingushetia | |
| Languages | |
| Ingush language | |
| Religion | |
| Vainakh religion |
Ethnonym and localization
The first and only mention of the ethnonym is in work of Strabo, Geographica. He described the Khamekits as the inhabitants of very fertile lands. It's no coincidence that that the region of Khamkhins and in particular the fertile valley of Dorhe was always considered the breadbasket of mountainous Ingushetia. In this area, several mountain rivers flow into the Assa river and mountains surround a fertile valley on all sides. From the book of Strabo it is clear that the Khamekits coexist with troglodytes, polyphages and isadiacs. The name "Khamekits" is comparable with the name of the largest Ingush village Khamkhi in the upper reaches of the Assa river basin and its derivative names — the large Ingush teip Khamkhoy and Khamkhin shahar. A huge number of archaeological sites are localized in this area, including Cyclopean buildings of the 2nd millennium BC.[8][9] The well-known Caucasian scholar, historian V.B. Vinogradov, wrote about the Khamekits:
"All of the above allows to confidently consider the Strabo Khamekits to be an ancient Vainakh tribe - the ancestors of the Ingush, having the name of the locality of the village of Khamkhi in the upper reaches of Assa as the basis of their name."[2]
See also
References
- Мищенка 1879, p. 516.
- Виноградов & Чокаев 1966, p. 67.
- Крупнов 1971, p. 28.
- Волкова 1973, p. 169.
- Anchabadze 2001, p. 20.
- Jaimoukha 2005, p. 32.
- Тесаев, pp. 35–39.
- Мужухоев М. Б., Бекбузаров Х. Т. Циклопические постройки у селений Карт и Дошхакле в горной Ингушетии - в кн.: Новые памятники эпохи бронзы в Чечено-Ингушетии. Грозный, 1982 г.
- "Мегалитические стены Ингушетии — Вокруг Света".
Bibliography
- Мищенка, Ф. Г. (1879). География Страбона в семнадцати книгах [Geography of Strabo in seventeen books] (in Russian). Москва: К. Т. Солдатенков. pp. 1–1177.
- Крупнов, Е. И. (1971). Средневековая Ингушетия [Medieval Ingushetia] (in Russian). Москва: Наука. pp. 1–211.
- Волкова, Н. Г. (1973). Этнонимы и племенные названия Северного Кавказа [Ethnonyms and tribal names of the North Caucasus] (in Russian). Москва: Наука. pp. 1–210.
- Виноградов, В.; Чокаев, К. 3. (1966). Древние свидетельства о названиях и размещении нахских племен. ИЧИНИИ, т. VII, вып. 1 (in Russian). Грозный: Чечено-Ингушское Книжное Издательство.
- Anchabadze, George (2001). Vainakhs (The Chechen and Ingush). Tbilisi: Caucasian House. pp. 1–76.
- Jaimoukha, Amjad M. (2005). The Chechens: A Handbook. Psychology Press. pp. 1–320. ISBN 0415323282.
- Тесаев, Амин. К вопросу локализации племен Содов-Исадиков и Хамекитов античных авторов [On the issue of localization of the Sodov-Isadik and Khamekite tribes of ancient authors] (in Russian). pp. 35–39.