Beshtau

{{short description|Mountain in Stavropol Krai, Russia}}

{{expand Russian|date=October 2024}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Mount Beshtau

| other_name = {{Lang|ru|Бештау}}

| photo = Бештаугорский_заказник_на_закате_с_квадрокоптера.jpg

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| map = Caucasus mountains

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| elevation_m = 1401

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| coordinates = {{coord|44|4|36.62|N|43|0|53.64|E|display=it}}

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| etymology = from Turkic beş 'five' and tau 'mountain'

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| native_name = {{native name|ru|Бештау}}

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| subdivision1 = Stavropol Krai

| subdivision1_type = Federal subject

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| settlement = near Pyatigorsk

| settlement_type = City

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| range = Greater Caucasus

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| type = Volcano

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Beshtau ({{Langx|ru|Бештау}}, from Turkic beş 'five' and tau 'mountain') is an isolated five-domed igneous mountain (volcano) in the northern vicinity of Pyatigorsk in the Northern Caucasus.{{Cite web |title=Пятигорье |url=https://www.booksite.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/094/609.htm |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=www.booksite.ru}}{{Cite web |title=Зимнее восхождение на гору Бештау совершат около 800 человек |url=https://tass.ru/severnyy-kavkaz/4903119 |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=tass.ru}}{{Cite web |title=Пятигорье - это... Что такое Пятигорье? |url=https://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/125433/%D0%9F%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B5 |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=Словари и энциклопедии на Академике |language=ru}} It gave name to the historical region of {{ill|Pyatigorye|ru|Пятигорье}} (literally "area of five mountains"), the town of Pyatigorsk, and the ethnonym {{ill|Pyatigoryan Circassians|ru|Пятигорские черкасы}} or Pyatigortsy (Circassi Quinquemontani on old Western European maps).

File:Вид на гору Бештау с вершины горы Машук.jpg

Its height is {{convert|1401|m|abbr=on}}. The slopes are forested with ash, oak, hornbeam, and beech deciduous forests, and the summit is treeless. Beshtau used to have uranium mines managed by the {{ill|Mine Administration No. 10|ru|Рудоуправление № 10}} of the Ministry of Medium Machine-Building (an euphemism for the Soviet nuclear industry), which were operating during 1950 – 1988.

By the foothill of the mountain there is the {{ill|Second Athos Monastery of the Dormition|ru|Второафонский Успенский монастырь}}.