Chola (historical city)

Several Byzantine, Armenian and Syriac authors recorded the name of province in their manuscript. Most common of those names is Čor ({{Langx|xcl|Ճոր}}), known from Agathangelos, Moses of Chorene, Yeghishe, Lazar Parpetsi, Ananias of Shirak, Movses Daskhurantsi and Sebeos.{{Cite book|last=Kettenhofen|first=Erich|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/darband-i-ancient-city|title=Darband|work=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=7|pages=13–19}}{{Cite journal|last=Guseynov|first=Garun-Rashid Abdul-Kadyrovich|date=2014-12-01|title=The Origin of the Name of the City of Derbent and the Toponymy of the Surrounding Area in the Context of Ethnolinguistic Situation in the Early Middle Ages|url=http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/VO_2014_2(17)/Guseynov%20Onomastic_2_2014_fin_sm.pdf|journal=Voprosy Onomastiki|language=en|volume=11|issue=2|pages=54–67|issn=1994-2400}} All other exonyms are variants of Armenian ones. A Greek variant of this name, Tzoúr ({{Langx|el|Tζούρ}}) was used by Byzantine authors like Procopius.{{Cite journal|last=Gadjiev|first=Murtazali|date=2017-06-21|title=Construction Activities of Kavād I in Caucasian Albania|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ic/21/2/article-p121_2.xml|journal=Iran and the Caucasus|volume=21|issue=2|pages=121–131|doi=10.1163/1573384X-20170202|issn=1609-8498}}{{Cite book|last=Alemany|first=Agustí|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bZ4c5oZpNAC|title=Sources on the Alans: A Critical Compilation|date=2000|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11442-5|pages=196|language=en}} Less used variants were Khorutzon ({{Langx|el|Χορουτζόν}}) or Tzon by Menander{{Cite book|last=Kettenhofen|first=Erich|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/darband-i-ancient-city|title=Darband|work=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=7|pages=13–19}} and Zouár ({{Langx|el|Ζουάρ}}). 5th century Georgian author Iakob Tsurtaveli names the city as Čora ({{Lang-ka|ჭორა}}) in his Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik. Islamic authors like Tabari and Ibn Khordadbeh referred to the city as Ṣūl ({{Langx|ar|صول}}), another derivation from Armenian version. Native endonym appears to be of Caucasian origin, Čoˁ (Caucasian Albanian: 𐕖𐕒𐔽).{{Cite journal|last=Gippert|first=Jost|title=The Albanian Inscriptions Revisited|url=https://www.academia.edu/32920468}} Though some authors also offered an Iranian source with meaning cognate to 'narrow gorge'.Murtazali Gadjiev, “[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sahrestan-yazdgerd ŠAHRESTĀN YAZDEGERD],” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2016 (accessed on 30 April 2017).

First researchers to equate Chola with Derbent were Nikolai Kuznetsov and Josef Markwart in 19th-20th centuries. Some Northeast Caucasian language speakers still refer to Derbent closer to this word, all meaning 'wall', such as {{Langx|lez|Цал|translit=Cal}} or {{Langx|tab|Цали|translit=Cali}}.Murtazali Gadjiev, “[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sahrestan-yazdgerd ŠAHRESTĀN YAZDEGERD],” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2016 (accessed on 30 April 2017).

Chola was located in domains of Maskut Principality, where St. Grigoris was martyred in 4th century. It was mostly populated by possibly Caucasian speaking Chilb people ({{Langx|hy|Ճիղբք|translit=Čiłbk‛}}), often equated with the Silvi in Pliny's Natural History.{{Cite book|last1=Dasxuranci|first1=Movses|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/445781|title=The history of the Caucasian Albanians|last2=Dowsett|first2=C. J. F|date=1961|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London; New York|pages=23|oclc=445781}} It was later incorporated to Caucasian Albania in 448 by Vachagan III and served as center of Church of Caucasian Albania until 552 when Catholicos Abas transferred the seat to Partav (modern Bərdə, Azerbaijan). A pedestal found in Mingachevir Church Complex from 558, refers to the city as the seat of a bishopric. Head of the Church was officially called Catholicos of Albania, Lupenia and Chola.{{Cite journal|last=Hewsen|first=Robert H.|title=On the Location of the Lupenians, A Vanished People of Southeast Caucasia |date=1997|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23658211|journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae|volume=50|issue=1/3|pages=111–116|jstor=23658211 |issn=0001-6446}} The city was sacked by Böri Shad in 627, captured by Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman in 654. The city had a considerable Christian population when it was visited by Bishop Israel, ambassador of Albania to Alp Iluetuer in 681–682.Murtazali Gadjiev, “[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sahrestan-yazdgerd ŠAHRESTĀN YAZDEGERD],” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2016 (accessed on 30 April 2017). Arabs later renamed Chola to Bab-al-Abwab and it became center of an emirate in 869.

Category:Caucasian Albania

Category:History of Derbent