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Nikolay JAVAKHISHVILI
D.Sc. (Hist.),
Professor at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University;
Chief Research Associate at the Department of Modern and Recent History, the Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology
(Tbilisi, Georgia).
LITTLE-KNOWN PAGES OF THE HISTORY OF GEORGIAN-BALTIC RELATIONS IN THE 10TH-18TH CENTURIES
Abstract
T
he author looks at the key aspects of the history of the military, political, trade, and economic contacts between Geor-
gia and the Baltic Region in the 10th-18th centuries, which until quite recently remained beyond the scope of large-scale studies.
I n L i e u o f a n I n t r o d u c t i o n
Contacts between Georgians and the Baltic nations go back to the 10th century, but an interest in their history was not shown until relatively recently. To date, we have published six essays dealing with outstanding facts from the millennia of Georgian-Baltic military, political, trade and economic relations.1
Back in the Beginning: the 10th-11th Centuries
Until the 8th century, the strongest powers, engaged in incessant wars with each other, kept the trade routes under their control; the Caliphate, a product of the Arabs’ military inroads, established its control over the routes (which by that time had extended far and wide). Judging by the hoards archeol-
1 See: N. Javakhishvili, “From the History of Georgian-Latvian Relations,” in: Problems of Modern and Contemporary History, Collection of scholarly papers, Department of Modern and Recent History, the Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology, Vol. V, Tbilisi, 2009; “At the Beginning of Georgian-Baltic Relations (10th-11th centuries),” in: Problems ofModern and Recent History, Vol. VI, Tbilisi, 2009; “From the History of Military-Political Relations between Georgia and the Baltic Countries (late 15th Century),” in: Problems ofModern and Recent History, Vol. VI; “From the History of Trade and Economic Relations between Georgia and the Baltic Countries (the first third of the 17th Century),” in: Problems ofModern and Recent History, Vol. VI; “Regions and Cities of the Baltic Area as Seen by the Great Georgian Scholar of the 18th Century,” in: Problems of Modern and Recent History, Vol. VI; “Georgian Trace in the Baltic Area (17th-19th Centuries),” in: Problems ofModern and Recent History, Vol. VII, Tbilisi, 2010 (all in Georgian).
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
ogists find all over the world, Georgia was part of the vast geography of East-West and North-South trade. Dirhems (dirhams), silver coins the Arabs minted in some of the conquered countries, gradually developed into an international means of payment between the East and the European countries. This means of payment was readily accepted in western and northern countries where hoards of dirhems are found in many places. Not infrequently, such hoards contain coins minted in Georgia, at the Tbilisi Mint in particular. They have already been found in the Baltic countries, outside Minsk (in Belarus), in Tula and Kursk in the Russian Federation, all of which are situated at considerable distances from Georgia.
These coins were minted in Tbilisi in 704-1028, however most of them date to the 10th-11th centuries. The latest of them dates to 418 of the Hijra (A.D.1027/1028), and they weighed from 2.48 to 3.90 grams.2
Recently, the Georgian scholarly community learned about one more coin3 found among the silver coins with Arabic inscriptions during excavations organized by the State Museum of History of Latvia in 1936-1937 near Riga (at a burial-site in the Salaspils-Laukskola settlement). The coins were identified as Cufi dirhems4; one of them was minted in Georgia in 363 of the Hijra, that is, in A.D. 973/ 974.5 The coin had a bail attached to it, meaning it was used as a pendant for a woman’s necklace.
It was at that time, as well as in the mid-10th century and later, that Emir Jafar ibn Mansur, one of the Jaffarid emirs of Tbilisi, coined dirhems which bore his name. It appeared next to the name of the Arab caliph, which means that the Tbilisi emirs were in fact independent rulers at that time.
The coins’ obverse bore the Arab inscription, “this dirhem was minted in Tbilisi,” which gives no doubt to their place of origin.6
Minting faithfully reflected the social and political progress in Georgia in the 10th-11th centuries.
It was at that time that David III Kuropalates, member of the millennium-old Bagratid dynasty (who ruled in the latter half of the 10th century and died in 1001), potentate of Tao-Klarjeti (the southwestern province of Georgia, now part of Turkey), and king of the Georgians, minted a silver dram that differed from the Arab-type coins of the Tbilisi emirs. They weighed 3.1 to 3.5 grams and bore the holy cross and an inscription in Georgian, “Lord, have mercy upon David Kuropalates.”
Only four coins have been found, however there is every reason to believe that they were used in international trade since all of them were discovered far from Georgia; in northern Germany, the Baltic area, Sweden, and Russia.7
In 1910, Russian historian Evgeny Pakhomov wrote: “So far, only three coins of this rare issue have been found, all of them far from Georgia: one of them turned up in a hoard found in 1859 in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, close to Schwaan. It was sent to the Museum of Schwerin. Another was unearthed in 1878 close to Lodeynoe Pole, the Olonets Gubernia; it went first to Yu.B. Iversen’s collection and, later, to the Hermitage. According to A.K. Markov, the third coin was part of the hoard discovered in the 1900s at Vollya, the Liefland Gubernia. It disappeared, only to resurface later in the hands of a Hamburg merchant who sold it to the Berlin Museum.”8
This means that the silver coins described above—the dirhems of the Tbilisi emirs and the drams of the potentate of Tao-Klarjeti (later king of the Georgians) David III Kuropalates were found in Scandinavia and neighboring countries: northern Germany, the Baltic area, and Russia.
This suggests that some of them were brought there by Arabs, while others reached these parts by very different routes.
2 See: D. Kapanadze, Georgian Numismatics, Tbilisi, 1969, pp. 56-59; N. Javakhishvili (coauthor), Money in Georgia, Catalogue, Second revised edition, Tbilisi, 2003, pp. 23-25 (in Georgian).
3 See: N. Javakhishvili, “At the Beginning of Georgian-Baltic Relations (10th-11th centuries),” p. 34.
4 See: T. Berga, Monety v arkheologicheskikh pamiatnikakh Latvii IX-XII vv., Riga, 1988, pp. 16-17.
5 Ibid., Table III, coin No. 13.
6 See: N. Javakhishvili (coauthor), op. cit.
7 See: Ibid., pp. 23-26; D. Kapanadze, op. cit., p. 62.
8 E. Pakhomov, Monety Gruzii, Tbilisi, 1970, p. 53.
This makes us wonder who, apart from the Arabs, could bring Georgian coins to the north?
A Georgian historical work Matiane Kartlisai (Chronicles of Kartli) dated to the 11th century told of “Varangians” (three thousand warriors) arriving in Georgia.9
Georgian historians identified the “Varangians” as Scandinavian warriors; some of them were Vikings (Normans) who reached Georgia in the 1040s.10
Some think that this fact mentioned in the Chronicles of Kartli was connected, to some extent, with the travels of Ingvar, the story of which is told by Icelandic sagas. For the same reason, the Vikings who arrived in Georgia are identified with the Scandinavian warriors the Byzantines captured when Russians marched on Constantinople in 1043. In 1046, the prisoners were set free; some of the Vikings arrived in Georgia on an invitation from the Georgian king.11
Some Georgian historians believe that Vikings arrived in Georgia in the summer of 1046 on an invitation from King of united Georgia Bagrat IV, who hired them. As mercenaries they joined the royal army and fought in the battle of Sasireti (in Kartli, Central Georgia) against Liparit Bagvashi, a feudal lord who refused to obey Bagrat IV.12
Another fact is worth mentioning: in 1045, Crown Prince Harold Hardrade, another personage from the Icelandic sagas and a future konung (king) of Norway, who had been away from his country in search of his destiny, was traveling back home from Constantinople across the Black Sea.13 The above gives reason to believe that Prince Harold and his contingent also fought at Sasireti.14
We know that the Vikings left Georgia after the battle.15
This suggests that some of the coins reached the northern lands in 1046 together with the Vikings who fought in Georgia and were paid in local silver coins.
The fact that Georgian coins of the 10th-11th centuries were regularly discovered in several north European countries (northern Germany, the Baltic area, Sweden, and Russia) proves beyond a doubt that not only Vikings (Normans) remained in Georgia for some time in 1046, but also that Georgia had contacts with these regions (the Baltic area among them) ten centuries ago.
From the History of Military and Political Relations between Georgia and the Baltic Area in the Late 15th Century
In 1453, Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople, routed the Byzantine Empire, and established their control over the Straits, which made them the closest neighbors of Southern Europe and Georgia.
Several popes, one after another, tried to organize crusades against the Ottoman Turks; the Georgian kings readily responded to the call of Pope Pius II to organize an anti-Ottoman coalition, but the European countries were too deeply embroiled in their local squabbles to follow the Pope.
9 See: “Matiane Kartlisai” (Chronicles of Kartli), in: Kartlis tskhovreba (History of Georgia), the Georgian text based on all the main manuscripts was prepared for publication by S. Kaukhchishvili, Vol. I, Tbilisi, 1955, p. 301 (in Georgian).
10 See: N. Vachnadze, G. Cheishvili, “New Figures in the History of Georgia,” in: Dedicatio. Historical-philological Studies, Collection of scholarly papers, Dedicated to the 75th birth anniversary of Academician Mariam Lortkipan-idze, Tbilisi, 2001, pp. 92-123 (in Georgian).
11 See: V. Goiladze, “Vikings in Georgia,” Mnatobi (Tbilisi), No. 4, 1986, p. 170 (in Georgian).
12 See: D. Samushia, Vikings in Georgia and the Battle of Sasireti, Tbilisi, 2008, pp. 15-16 (in Georgian).
13 See: K. Fledelius, “Royal Scandinavian Travelers to Byzantium: The Vision of Byzantium in Danish and Norwegian Historiography of the Early 13th Century and in the Danish Historical Drama of the Early 19th Century,” in: BYZANTIUM, Identity, Image, Influence, XIX International Congress of Byzantine Studies, University of Copenhagen, 18-24 August, 1996. Major papers, ed. by K. Fledelius in cooperation with P. Schreiner, Copenhagen, 1996, pp. 213.
14 See: N. Vachnadze, G. Cheishvili, op. cit., pp. 106-115.
15 See: D. Samushia, op. cit., p. 25.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
In 1494-1495, Georgia, encouraged by the news about Spain’s revival, turned to its old plans to launch a joint campaign against the Ottoman Turks once more. Monk-priest Kir-Nil, who was very much respected at the royal court of Constantine II of the Bagratid family (1479-1505) and had just returned from Egypt, was dispatched to Spain and Rome.
In 1495, Constantine II not only tried to establish a military-political alliance with Spanish Queen Isabella I (1474-1504), but also instructed his ambassador to start negotiations with the Pope. The Ambassador had to inform the Pope about the intention of the king and his subjects to seek protection of the Church of Rome.
The Georgian and Spanish ambassadors delivered the letter to the Spanish queen together; they traveled across Lithuania and Poland, a route determined not merely by Georgia’s desire to find an outlet to Europe. Late in the 15th century, the Georgians knew that the Lithuanian and Polish rulers were hostile toward the Ottoman Turks; this explains why the Georgian ambassador was instructed to enter into secret talks with them.
So far we have not found the letter that the ambassador presented to the rulers of Lithuania and Poland; Georgian historian Prof. Yase Tsintsadze believes that the absence of this letter might mean that the ambassador was instructed to convey the position of the Georgian king verbally.
The fact that the letter of the king of Kartli to the Spanish queen was translated and registered in the Lithuanian Metrica confirms that the Georgian ambassador did inform the Polish ruler about the planned anti-Turkish coalition and that a special meeting was hastily convened at the Polish royal court. All important documents relating to Lithuania’s domestic and foreign policy (such as texts of business correspondence discussed at the State Council) invariably found their way to the Lithuanian Metrica.
It has been established that the Georgian and Spanish ambassadors verbally informed the rulers of Lithuania and Poland of the content of King Constantine II’s letter to Spanish Queen Isabella I, which dwelled on the interests shared by all Christian nations; later the text was handed over to the Lithuanian Metrica.16 Outstanding Georgian historian Academician Ivane Javakhishvili, in turn, wrote about the letter and proved that it had been written and dispatched in 1495.17
At that time, Poland was ruled by Jan I Olbracht, one ofthe Jagiellons (1492-1501); Alexander ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1492-1506). Beginning in 1501, both countries were ruled by one monarch.18
This means that the military and political contacts between Georgia and the Baltic countries date back to 1495 when the ambassador of King of Kartli Constantine II visited Lithuania and Poland and handed over his monarch’s letter.19
From the History of Georgian-Baltic Trade and Economic Relations in the First Third of the 17th Century
In 1569, under the Union of Lublin, Lithuania and Poland became one state, Rzeczpospolita. The territory of the new state covered Poland and Lithuania, stretching to the north along the larger part of the Baltic coast and to the south along the northern shores of the Black Sea. It was
16 See: Ya. Tsintsadze, Materials to the History of Polish-Georgian Relations (15th-17th Centuries), Tbilisi, 1965, pp. 18-39 (in Georgian).
17 See: I. Javakhishvili, “History of the Georgian Nation, Book III, Part II (15th Century),” in: I. Javakhishvili, Collected Works, in 12 volumes, Vol. III, Tbilisi, 1982, pp. 153-162 (in Georgian).
18 I
19 See: N. Javakhishvili, Georgians under the Polish Flag (from the History of Polish-Georgian Military-Political
See: N. Sychev, Kniga dinastiy, Moscow, 2006, p. 160 See: N. Javakhishvili, Georgians u Union), Tbilisi, 1998, pp. 4-6 (in Georgian)
there that the Georgians, who were looking for a new outlet to Europe, since the Straits had been closed off by the Ottoman Turks, established contacts with the new and strong state. The sides, which were resolved to stand opposed to the Ottoman threat, had common trade and economic interests.
In the first third of the 17th century, the Georgian kingdoms and princedoms maintained fairly active contacts with Rzeczpospolita.20 In 1627, Italian traveler Pietro della Valle reported to Pope Urban VIII that the monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom had friendly relations with the potentates of Western Georgia Gurieli (the prince of Guria) and Dadiani (the ruler of Megrelia); they frequently exchanged letters and were engaged in trade across the Black Sea.21
It was at this time that the coins of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom were widely used in Georgia: the hoards of European coins found in Georgia at different times suggest that local people used silver coins of small denomination (orts and poltoraks minted in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom), as well as gold ducats, thalers, orts, and poltoraks minted in Brandenburg-Prussia.22
In 1608, the mint of Gdansk (Danzig) started issuing orts (which contained 10 grozsy); the coin became popular to the extent that in 1616 the Sejm ruled that orts should be produced in the mints of Warsaw, Krakow, and Bydgoszcz. Under the new rule, 1 grivna of alloyed silver was to produce 28 orts (7.6 grams each). Very soon orts became used even more extensively in Europe, which forced the mints of Brandenburg and Prussia to produce their own coins of the same type.23
In Georgia, orts circulated together with poltoraks (coins of smaller denominations), which were also minted in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom; in Brandenburg and Prussia, the locally minted poltoraks were known as dreipolkers.
So far, 11 hoards of orts and 1 hoard of poltoraks have been discovered in Georgia; the State Museum of Georgia (now the National Museum of Georgia) keeps only 4 hoards.
The twelve hoards contained coins of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom enumerated below in chronological order:
(1) In 1895, 4 European coins, one of them minted in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, were found in the village of Tskordza, the Akhaltsikhe Uezd (Samtskhe-Javakheti);
(2) Early in the 20th century, a hoard of coins minted in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom was unearthed during ploughing near the village of Zedaubani, the Ozurgeti Uezd (Guria);
(3) In 1942, repair of the tram rails at the Tbilisi Tram Depot revealed a hoard of 22 silver coins, 19 of them were poltoraks minted in Bydgoszcz in 1621-1626 in the name of Sigismund III (1587-1632);
(4) In 1944, outside the village of Jagira, the Tsalenjikha District (Megrelia), a silver coin minted in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom was found at the edge of a washed-away road;
(5) In about 1945-1950, some people found a hoard of silver coins in Western Georgia; after dividing the find among themselves, they brought two of them to the State Museum of Georgia; one of the two had been minted in the name of Sigismund III;
(6) In 1950, an ort minted in the name of Sigismund III in 1624 was found in the village of Nojikhevi, the Martvili District (Megrelia); today it is exhibited in the Museum of Local Lore of Martvili;
20 See: Ibid., p. 6.
21 See: Iveria (Tiflis), No. 3, 1899, pp. 56-57 (in Georgian).
22 See: R. Kebuladze, Circulation of European Coins in Georgia in the 15th-18th Centuries, Tbilisi, 1971, p. 111 (in Georgian).
23 See: M. Gumowski, Mennica Bygoska, Torun, 1950, pp. 112-116.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
(7) In 1954, in Zestafoni (Imeretia) excavation work at a ferroalloy plant unearthed a clay jug which contained 33 silver coins, 30 of which were orts minted in 1621-1626 in the name of Sigismund III; 21 of them were minted in Bydgoszcz and the other 9 in Gdansk.
(8) In 1955, ploughing in the village of Shindisi (Kartli) not far from Tbilisi unearthed 25 silver orts minted in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom; 3 of them are exhibited in the State Museum of Georgia. The coins were minted in the name of Sigismund III: 2 of them in Gdansk in 1623 and 1625 and the other in Bydgoszcz in 1624;
(9) In 1958, an ort minted in the name of Sigismund III was found in the village of Tiseli, the Akhaltsikhe District (Samtskhe-Javakheti);
(10) In 1958, land ploughing in the village of Chalkati, the Lanchkhuti District (Guria), revealed a hoard of 84 silver coins; 2 of the orts had been minted in 1622-1623 in Bydgoszcz in the name of Sigismund III;
(11) In about 1960-1963, construction workers digging a foundation in the Abastumani Forest, the Adigeni District (Samtskhe-Javakheti), found silver coins minted in 1622-1626 in Bydgoszcz and Gdansk in the name of Sigismund III; the hoard was bought by the Akhaltsikhe Museum of Local Lore24;
(12) In 2007, people exploring the ruins of the Church of St. Theodore in the village of Abano, the Kareli District (Kartli), found a hoard of European silver coins; they included 18 orts minted in 1617-1624 in Bydgoszcz and Gdansk in the name of the same Sigismund III.25
Numismatist Revaz Kebuladze wrote: “Most of the orts and poltoraks found in Georgia were minted in Poland; a much smaller number were made in Brandenburg-Prussia: so far only 4 orts and 3 dreipolkers have been found. It seems that these coins were not brought to Georgia directly from Brandenburg and Prussia, but reached Georgia via Poland. This explains why discussions about the circulation of these coins focus on the ones from Poland. Even if the wide circulation of Polish coins cannot be explained by a political alliance between Georgia and Poland, the presence of these coins in Georgia is explained by the two countries’ shared political interests. Silk trade with Poland across the Black Sea and the Dnieper and the Georgian monetary system of the 17th century also played an important part.”26
In the first third of the 17th century, silver coins of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom were in circulation in Georgia.
The content of the hoards of European coins found in Georgia suggest that the smaller silver coins of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom—orts and poltoraks—were widely used. This means that from early days the Georgian kingdoms and princedoms maintained political, trade, and economic relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom.
The Baltic Regions and Cities as Seen by an Outstanding Georgian Scholar of the 18th Century
The regions and cities of the Baltic coast were first described in Georgian works in the mid-18th century. This honor belongs to Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi (1696-1756), an outstanding Georgian
24 <
25 See: T. Kutelia, “A Hoard of European Coins from Kodaveti,” Kartvelian Studies (Tbilisi), No. 2, 2008, pp. 55-
1 See: R. Kebuladze, op. cit., pp. 112-122.
57 (in Georgian).
26 R. Kebuladze, op. cit., p. 123.
scholar, geographer, historian, and cartographer, the son of King of Kartli Vakhtang VI, who ruled in 1703-1714 and 1716-1724.
In 1752, Prince Vakhushti translated Kratkaia politicheskaia geografia (A Concise Political Geography) and the world atlas (27 maps showing all the countries known at that time) attached to it from Russian into Georgian. The prince supplied his translations with lavish comments, which made his effort an important contribution to geography and an important historical source. For a long time it was used as a geography textbook at the Telavi seminary.27
Today, the manuscript and the maps drawn by the prince are kept at the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts.28 The manuscript mentioned the Baltic Sea (Mare Balticume); Courland and Liefland, the cities of Mitava and Riga, etc. The complete maps of Europe and the Baltic coast that are part of the attached atlas serve as a very important historical source; they show Courland as separate from Poland (Polish territory stretches to Lithuania and Vilnius, Vilna according to Prince Vakhushti). Different colors were used for Courland and Poland (which also included Lithuania).29
Chapter XI “About the Kingdom of Prussians, as well as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Duchy of Courland” and its part “On the Duchy of Courland” offer a wealth of information about the boundaries of Courland and its settlements and towns.
The author wrote that Courland had a stretch of the Baltic coast and bordered on Liefland, Lithuania, etc. and mentioned the city of Mitava (today Jelgava), Libava (Liepaja), Glidiga (Kuldiga), and others.
Prince Vakhushti deemed it necessary to point out that the kindred peoples of Courland and Liefland did not have a united ruler.
He never concealed his disappointment with the political disunity of Courland and Liefland, two regions on the territory of contemporary Lithuania; his disillusionment is easily explained by the fact that Georgia of his time was a conglomerate of kingdoms and princedoms.
The prince described Mitava in the following way: “Mitava is the capital city of Courland and the seat of the Duke. It is not large, but it is well-built and protected by a wall which is now being renovated.”30
C o n c l u s i o n
The above has amply confirmed that the military, political, trade and economic relations between Georgia and the Baltic area go back more than ten centuries.
This fact is supported by the Georgian coins of the 10th-11th centuries which are regularly found in different countries in the north of Europe (northern Germany, the Baltic area, Sweden, and Russia).
Military-political relations began in 1495 when the ambassador of the King of Kartli Constantine II came to Lithuania and Poland with a letter from his monarch.
In the first third of the 17th century, silver coins were widely used in Georgia; the hoards of European coins found on Georgian territory suggest that the local people mainly used orts and pol-toraks—Polish-Lithuanian coins of small denomination, a sure sign of stable political, trade, and economic contacts between the Georgian kingdoms and princedoms and the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom.
27 See: A. Baramidze, L. Maruashvili, “Prince Vakhushti (Bagrationi),” in: The Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, Tbilisi, 1979, p. 339 (in Georgian).
28 See: The Georgian National Center of Manuscripts, Manuscript A-717 (in Georgian).
29 See: Ibid., pp. 7-8.
30 Ibid., pp. 90-94.
Beginning in the early 19th century, when the Georgian kingdoms and princedoms, one after another, found themselves part of the Russian Empire, these contacts intensified; the countries of the Baltic region became part of Russia even earlier, in the 18th century.
Sara KASUMOVA
D.Sc. (Hist.), Chief Research Fellow at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (Baku, Azerbaijan).
ON CHRISTIANITY IN MEDIEVAL AZERBAIJAN
Abstract
The author looks at Southern Azerbaijan, which is where the Christian Nestorian Church became particularly developed and widespread, as evidenced by the large number of church-administrative units (from episcopates to metropolitan sees) in this area. The chrono-
logical framework, the 4th to the first quarter of the 14th centuries, can be described as the most interesting period in the history of Christianity in Azerbaijan and a time of prominent church figures: Timothy I and Mar Jabalaha III, two Nestorian Catholi-coses.
I n t r o d u c t i o n
Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, or any other religion which served the feudal social system as the only vehicle of ideology played an important role in the Middle Ages. The religious principle came before the ethnic since each member of the feudal society regarded himself as the member of a church organization; he belonged to one of the religions, church language, and system of rites.
Territorial and economic ties were not strong enough; the people were not strong enough to stand up to conquerors, and this meant that the ethnic structure was too vulnerable to keep its members together. This meant that the church had an important unifying role to play.
All confessions looked for new members among the followers of other religions. Under the Sassanids, who ruled in Caucasian Albania, force was used to impose Zoroastrianism on the local Christians by “sword and fire.”
Its geographic location made Azerbaijan an important strategic toehold connected to the northern part of the Sassanian state (to which it belonged from the 3rd to the first half of the 7th centu-
