Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 6. (Budapest, 1963)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Ferenczy, László: Daghestan Bronze Cauldrons
The famous Daghestan metallurgy, which was very advanced, possessed its own traditions as well. In order to understand its connections the chief events of the history of Caucasian Albania and the neighbouring countries must be sketched briefly. The historical sources relating to the early history of Caucasian Albania have been recently analyzed by K. V. Trever in her comprehensive work. 16 The name of Caucasian Albania, situated on the shores of the Caspian Sea in the territory of the modern Daghestan and Azerbaïdjan Republics may be traced back to the age of the cuneiform inscriptions of Urartu. In connection with the said territories it is mentioned by the Greek sources at first. The same sources reveal the fact that even the high mountain regions of the Caucasus were inhabited in the sixth and the fifth centuries B. C. According to the statements of Strabon and the archeological material uncovered so far we learned that in the centuries immediately preceding our era Albania was inhabited by an agricultural and nomadic cattle-breeding people living in the transitional period leading to a slave-holding society. Continuous incursions by nomadic horsemen, among them the Huns, were made on the country. Together with Armenia and Iberia, Albania steadily fought against the conquering policy of the Sasanids in the following centuries. From the fifth century onwards her rulers propagated Christianity as a state religion. After the Arab conquest, in the seventh and eighth centuries, Islam began to spread in the country almost completely dominating it by the end of the 12th century. Neither religion could, however exert an influence strong enough to make people forget their earlier Zoroastrian creed or age-old local beliefs connected with nature-worship. The development of feudal relations was rather hastened by the Arab conquest. In 1064 Alp Arslan occupied the capital of Armenia, thus Transcaucasia also came under the power of the Seljuks. Their empire soon became divided into small independent princedoms. The 12th century marked the zenith of the history of neighbouring Georgia. In the period of Queen Tamara Georgian literature, architecture and several other branches of art entered a golden age. The Armenian capital, Ani, acquired a great significance in commerce. At this time the closest commercial and cultural relation existed between the two countries and Iran. Many common features are found in their arts, in architectural decoration, pottery and metalwork among others. Many Iranian masters w r orked in the Transcaucasian lands and vice versa. The development of Northern Albania was seriously affected, and the isolation of the country was brought about by the fact that in the 12th century the caravan route leading to the Black Sea changed its direction: it by-passedPartavin Albania and went towards the old Armenian capital, Dvin, through Ani. By the end of the 12th century Albania lost her independence, and her territory was divided between Armenia and Georgia. Later, from the 15th to the 19th century, the country became the battleground for the Turkish-Iranian wars. Her multilingual tribes became even more isolated. A part of the original population became the ancestors of the present inhabitants of Azerbaïdjan, while another part was assimilated by the Armenians. In the mountains of multilingual, multinational Daghestan (in places as high as 4000 meters) ancient forms of objects could survive together with the elements of ancient religions. Some tribes, forced to leave better fields for others, found asylum in the high mountains. Multilingual inscriptions, written in various (Pehlevi, Arabic and Georgian) scripts, reflect the changes in their history.
