Zaur (village)

Zaur or Zaurovo[note 1] is a medieval Ingush village, which was located on the right bank of the Terek and in the Tarskoy Valley. According to most sources on its territory the fortress Vladikavkaz was founded in 1784,[note 2] while according to other sources Vladikavkaz was built near Zaur.[note 3]

Etymology

Zovr-kov translates from the Ingush as "frontier outpost". Russian historian Pyotr Butkov described the Ingush village as a settlement that occupied a terrain from which the surroundings to distant space were visible. The village laid on the path leading across the Caucasus from north to south, and according to Butkov, was called by the Armenians Zura, by the Byzantines Tzur, and by Arab writers Suariag and Saul.[1]

History
The Ingush village Zaurovo and the fortress Vladikavkaz on Johann Vogt's map (1784).
Kisty-Ingoschofski (Ingush) on Jacob von Staehlin's map in 1771, over a decade prior to the establishment of the fortress Vladikavkaz on the right bank of the Terek river.
Деревни Унгушевскïе (Ingush villages) on Trescot's map in 1783, the year before Vladikavkaz was founded.
Burnashev's map (1784) illustrates the Ingush village Zaur (Заур) just below the newly built fortress Vladikavkaz.
On the 24th of December we continued our route along the right bank of the Terek. We left Vladikavkaz with a far smaller escort than had attended us thither, being accompanied by no more than 30 Cossacks and 12 Jägers. After proceeding four versts we had the Ingush village of Saukqua, now called by the Russians Saurowa, on our left. It is seated on the steep bank of the Terek, about two versts from the first range of the Caucasus. No part of this village is to be seen from the valley, except a lofty conical tower built of very white calcareous stone. I rode up the hill to it, in order to examine it more closely. It had no door at the bottom, but a large oblong aperture at the height of about 12 feet, to which it was impossible to ascend without a ladder.
  • Semyon Bronevsky (1823):[3]
By the names of their principal villages, Russians call them Zaurovtsy and Dzheïrakhi, and in general Kistins, separately from the name Ingushi; but by the same Ingush mountain people, they are all called Galgaï.
  • Dmitry Rakovich (1911):[4]
The well-known writer of the 19th century P. Butkov, says that before the arrival of the Russians, on the site where the fortress Vladikavkaz was founded — was the Ingush village Zaur. Some printed sources claim that the Vladikavkaz fortress was built on the site of the Ossetian village of Kap-Koy. This is incorrect. The land on right bank of the Terek belonged to the Ingush people from time immemorial. The Ossetians could not have had a village on foreign land of hostile tribes. Ultimately, with their name for Vladikavkaz — Dzaudzhi-Kau, Ossetians confirm Butkov's statement, since the name Dzaug in actuality refers to Zaur, and Kau means village; thus, the village of Zaur. Ossetians would settle near Vladikavkaz only after the establishment of the fortress, by the appeal of Knyaz Potëmkin.
...the Ingush, with the bulk of their population and resources in the piedmont and lowlands, suffered tremendous civilian losses in the Russian conquest. The Ingush piedmont town of Zaur was turned into the Russian fort of Vladikavkaz; the highland Ingush were deported to the lowlands to clear the area of the Darial Pass of possible sympathizers with the allies of Shamil; lowlanders were forced off their land and replaced with Russian settlers; massacres of indigenous civilians by Russian troops were numerous; at the end of the war much of the surviving Ingush and Chechen population was deported to the Ottoman Empire.

Notes
    • Ingush: Зовр, Зовр-ков, romanized: Zovr, Zovr-kov
    • Бутков 1869, p. 131: "Весной 1784 года, для сообщенія Грузіи съ Моздокомъ, основана у входа въ Кавказскіе горы, въ урочищѣ Заурѣ, Владикавкаская крепость, оттуда по пути къ Моздоку, редуты: Потемкинскій при рѣкѣ Терекѣ, Кумбелейскій при рѣкѣ Кумбелей, Григоріополискій въ Малой Кабардѣ."
    • Терскія вѣдомости 1911a: "Сегодня мы празднуемъ 50-​летіе города Владикавказа. Раньше, на томъ мѣстѣ, гдѣ нынѣ расположенъ г. Владикавказъ, существовалъ ингушскій аулъ Зауръ​, но въ 1784 г., по распоряженію князя Потемкина​, на мѣстѣ, гдѣ существовалъ этотъ аулъ, для охраненія Военно-Грузинской дороги, служившей единственнымъ удобнымъ путемъ для соединенія съ Закавказьемъ, была устроена крѣпость Владикавказъ, а въ 1785 г. по указу Императрицы Екатерины II, отъ 9 мая, въ крѣпости была выстроена первая православная церковь. Какъ только была устроена эта крѣпость, часть осетинской народности спустилась съ горъ и поселилась у стѣнъ этой крѣпости, подъ защитою мѣстныхъ войскъ. Образовавшійся осетинскій аулъ сталъ называться «​Капкай», что въ переводѣ на русскій языкъ означаетъ «​Горные ворота»."
    • Ракович 1911, p. 3: "[...] на том месте, где стояло селение Зауръ, была воздвигнута русскими сильная Владикавказская крепость [...] В некоторых печатных источниках говорится, что Владикавказская крепость была построена на месте осетинского селения Капъ-Кой. Это не так. Правый берег Терека принадлежал, какъ это мы видили ингушамъ и кистамъ; не могли осетины на чужой земле враждебных имъ племен иметь свой аулъ; наконец своим наименованіем Владикавказа Дзауджи-Кау, осетины подтверждаютъ это мненіе, т. к. Дзауагъ — есть имя собственное Зауръ, а Кау — значитъ селеніе; иначе — селеніе Заура."
    • Кавказский горец 1924, p. 49: "В 1784 г. на месте галгаевского аула Дзаура-Юрта на правом берегу Терека, русскими войсками была построена крепость Владикавказ, имевшая назначение служить охранным пунктом путей сообщения России с Грузией."
    • Крупнов 1971, p. 166: "[...] известно, что сын главы этого вяра Мальсага — Дзавг (Дзауг) основал на плоскости ингушский аул Заур [...] На этом месте 1784 г. возник г. Владикавказ (ныне г. Орджоникидзе) [...]"
    • Бутков 1869, p. 165: "Прежде всего, для связи кавказской линіи с Грузіею, въ 1784 году построена отрядомъ войскъ крѣпость Владикавказъ у Терека, при входѣ в ущелье Кавказскихъ горъ, при ингушевской деревнѣ Заурѣ и названа Владикавказомъ [...]"
    • Терскій календарь 1895, p. 14: "Въ 1784 году, для соединенія Кавказской линіи съ Грузіею, построена отрядомъ войскъ крѣпость у Терека, при входѣ в ущелье Кавказскихъ горъ, около ингушскаго урочища Зауръ и названа Владикавказомъ."
    • Терскія вѣдомости 1911b: "Собственно Владикавказъ, какъ населенное мѣсто этого име­ни, возникъ гораздо раньше: въ 1784 г. для соединенія Кавказ­ской линіи с Грузіей на берегу Терека около ингушского селенія Зауръ, отрядъ русскихъ войскъ построилъ крѣпость, которая была названа Владикавказомъ и вооружена 12 пушками."
    • Поспелов 2003, p. 98: "Весной 1784 г. при ингуш. д. 3ауре основана крепость Владикавказ"
    • Поспелов 2008, p. 141: "Весной 1784 г. при ингуш. д. 3ауре основана крепость Владикавказ"

References
  1. Бутков 1837, p. 8.
  2. Klaproth 1814, pp. 656–657.
  3. Броневскій 1823, p. 160.
  4. Ракович 1911, pp. 3–4.
  5. Nichols & Sprouse 2004, p. 2.

Bibliography
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