Pontic Steppe
76-551: The Kalašma language , or Kalasmaic , is an extinct Anatolian language spoken in the late Bronze Age polity of Kalašma , which lay on the northwest fringe of the Hittite Empire , likely in or around what is now the Turkish province of Bolu . The first (and thus far only) Kalasmaic text was discovered in 2023, by researchers at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg . Written on a clay tablet (indexed KBo 71.145), it
152-1086: A geminated pronunciation. By the first millennium, the lenis consonants seem to have been spirantized in Lydian, Lycian, and Carian. The Proto-Anatolian laryngeal consonant *H patterned with the stops in fortition and lenition and appears as geminated -ḫḫ- or plain -ḫ- in cuneiform. Reflexes of *H in Hittite are interpreted as pharyngeal fricatives and those in Luwian as uvular fricatives based on loans in Ugaritic and Egyptian, as well as vowel-coloring effects. The laryngeals were lost in Lydian but became Lycian 𐊐 ( χ ) and Carian 𐊼 ( k ), both pronounced [k], as well as labiovelars —Lycian 𐊌 ( q ), Carian 𐊴 ( q )—when labialized. Suggestions for their realization in Proto-Anatolian include pharyngeal fricatives , uvular fricatives, or uvular stops . Anatolian morphology
228-470: A split-ergative system based on gender, with inanimate nouns being marked in the ergative case when the subject of a transitive verb. This may be an areal influence from nearby non-IE ergative languages like Hurrian. The basic word order in Anatolian is subject-object-verb except for Lycian, where verbs typically precede objects. Clause-initial particles are a striking feature of Anatolian syntax; in
304-479: A blacksmith god, and Batradz , a mighty hero. The folklore of the Caucasus shows ancient Iranian Zoroastrian influence, involve battles with ancient Goths , Huns and Khazars , and contain many connections with ancient Indian , Norse Scandinavian , and Greek cultures. Caucasian folklore contains many links with the myths of the ancient Greeks. There are resemblances between the mother goddess Satanaya and
380-469: A derivational suffix * -h 2 , attested for abstract nouns and collectives in Anatolian. The appurtenance suffix * -ih 2 is scarce in Anatolian but fully productive as a feminine marker in Tocharian . This suggests the Anatolian gender system is the original for IE, while the feminine-masculine-neuter classification of Tocharian + Core IE languages may have arisen following a sex-based split within
456-555: A given sentence, a connective or the first accented word usually hosts a chain of clitics in Wackernagel's position . Enclitic pronouns, discourse markers, conjunctions, and local or modal particles appear in rigidly ordered slots. Words fronted before the particle chain are topicalized. The list below gives the Anatolian languages in a relatively flat arrangement, following a summary of the Anatolian family tree by Robert Beekes (2010). This model recognizes only one clear subgroup,
532-534: A gradual rise to power of the Anatolian language speakers over the native Hattians , until at last the kingship became an Anatolian privilege. From then on, little is heard of the Hattians, but the Hittites kept the name. The records include rituals, medical writings, letters, laws and other public documents, making possible an in-depth knowledge of many aspects of the civilization. Most of the records are dated to
608-582: A separate feminine agreement class from PIE. The two-gender system has been described as a merger of masculine and feminine genders following the phonetic merger of PIE a-stems with o-stems. However the discovery of a group of inherited nouns with suffix * -eh 2 in Lycian and therefore Proto-Anatolian raised doubts about the existence of a feminine gender in PIE. The feminine gender typically marked with -ā in non-Anatolian Indo-European languages may be connected to
684-510: A spit, heat it up, stab it into the giant's eye, and escape. There are also links with the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus . Many legends, widespread in the Caucasus, contain motifs shared with the Prometheus story. These motifs include a giant hero, his conflict with God or gods, the stealing of fire and giving it to men, being chained, and being tormented by a bird who pecks at his liver (or heart). The Adyge / Circassian Nart Nasran,
760-525: Is Hittite , which is considered the earliest-attested Indo-European language. Undiscovered until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they are often believed to be the earliest branch to have split from the Proto Indo-European family. Once discovered, the presence of laryngeal consonants ḫ and ḫḫ in Hittite and Luwian provided support for the laryngeal theory of Proto-Indo-European linguistics. While Hittite attestation ends after
836-515: Is a counter-relief impression of hieroglyphic signs carved or cast in relief on a seal. The resulting signature can be stamped or rolled onto a soft material, such as sealing wax. The HLuwian writing system contains about 500 signs, 225 of which are logograms , and the rest purely functional determinatives and syllabograms , representing syllables of the form V, CV, or rarely CVCV. Caucasus The Caucasus ( / ˈ k ɔː k ə s ə s / ) or Caucasia ( / k ɔː ˈ k eɪ ʒ ə / ),
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#1732780119956912-678: Is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia . It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea , mainly comprising Armenia , Azerbaijan , Georgia , and parts of Southern Russia . The Caucasus Mountains , including the Greater Caucasus range, have conventionally been considered as a natural barrier between Europe and Asia , bisecting the Eurasian landmass. Mount Elbrus , Europe 's highest mountain,
988-655: Is attested in two different scripts, cuneiform and Anatolian hieroglyphs , over more than a millennium. While the earlier scholarship tended to treat these two corpora as separate linguistic entities, the current tendency is to separate genuine dialectal distinctions within Luwian from orthographic differences. Accordingly, one now frequently speaks of Kizzuwatna Luwian (attested in cuneiform transmission), Empire Luwian (cuneiform and hieroglyphic transmission), and Iron Age Luwian / Late Luwian (hieroglyphic transmission), as well as several more Luwian dialects, which are more scarcely attested. The cuneiform corpus (Melchert's CLuwian)
1064-431: Is considerably simpler than other early Indo-European (IE) languages. The verbal system distinguishes only two tenses (present-future and preterite), two voices (active and mediopassive ), and two moods ( indicative and imperative ), lacking the subjunctive and optative moods found in other old IE languages like Tocharian , Sanskrit , and Ancient Greek. Anatolian verbs are also typically divided into two conjugations:
1140-609: Is considered by some sources to be the dividing line between Europe and Southwest Asia . According to that, the highest peak in the Caucasus, Mount Elbrus (5,642 meters) located in western Ciscaucasus, is considered the highest point in Europe. The Kuma-Manych Depression , the geologic depression that divides the Russian Plain from the North Caucasus foreland is often regarded by classical and non-British sources as
1216-558: Is likewise called the Caucasus by many." In the Tale of Past Years (1113 AD), it is stated that Old East Slavic Кавкасийскыѣ горы ( Kavkasijskyě gory ) came from Ancient Greek Καύκασος ( Kaúkasos ), which, according to M. A. Yuyukin, is a compound word that can be interpreted as the 'mountain of the seagull(s)' (καύ-: καύαξ, καύηξ, -ηκος, κήξ, κηϋξ 'a kind of seagull' + the reconstructed *κάσος 'mountain' or 'rock' richly attested both in place and personal names). In Georgian tradition,
1292-1233: Is part of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family as confirmed by Prof. Elisabeth Rieken at Philipps-Universität Marburg . Its place within the Anatolian languages is uncertain, but it has been hypothesized to be part of the Luwic subgroup. A detailed analysis of the text was published in November 2024 by Elisabeth Rieken, Ilya Yakubovich and Daniel Schwemer. Anatolian language Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European The Anatolian languages are an extinct branch of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Anatolia . The best known Anatolian language
1368-631: Is part of the Bogazköy Archive excavated at Hattusa , the Hittite capital. The tablet, written in Hittite cuneiform of the 13th century BCE, is one of many in the archive recording rituals of the empire's subjects and neighbouring peoples. Its Hittite-language introduction describes its main text as in "the language of the land of Kalašma" ( ka-la-aš-mi-li ). The language was deciphered by Prof. Daniel Schwemer, in his work "Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi (Cuneiform Texts from Boghazköi)" and
1444-643: Is recorded in glosses and short passages in Hittite texts, mainly from Boğazkale. About 200 tablet fragments of the approximately 30,000 contain CLuwian passages. Most of the tablets reflect the Middle and New Script, although some Old Script fragments have also been attested. Benjamin Fortson hypothesizes that "Luvian was employed in rituals adopted by the Hittites." A large proportion of tablets containing Luwian passages reflect rituals emanating from Kizzuwatna . On
1520-840: Is situated in the Western Caucasus area of Russia . On the southern side, the Lesser Caucasus includes the Javakheti Plateau and the Armenian highlands , part of which is in Turkey. The Caucasus is divided into the North Caucasus and South Caucasus , although the Western Caucasus also exists as a distinct geographic space within the North Caucasus. The Greater Caucasus mountain range in
1596-499: Is speculative given that Pelasgian is so poorly known. The term Caucasus is not only used for the mountains themselves but also includes Ciscaucasia (which is part of the Russian Federation ) and Transcaucasia . According to Alexander Mikaberidze , Transcaucasia is a "Russo-centric" term. The Transcaucasus region and Dagestan were the furthest points of Parthian and later Sasanian expansions, with areas to
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#17327801199561672-502: Is variously a one-eyed rock-throwing cannibal, who lives in a cave (the exit of which is often blocked by a stone), kills the hero's companions, is blinded by a hot stake, and whose flock of animals is stolen by the hero and his men, all motifs which (along with still others) are also found in the Polyphemus story. In one example from Georgia , two brothers, who are being held prisoner by a giant one-eyed shepherd called "One-eye", take
1748-694: The Achaemenid Empire , Parthia , and the Sassanid Empire , who would altogether rule the Caucasus for many hundreds of years. In 95–55 BC, under the reign of the Armenian king Tigranes the Great , the Kingdom of Armenia included Kingdom of Armenia, vassals Iberia, Albania, Parthia, Atropatene , Mesopotamia , Cappadocia , Cilicia , Syria , Nabataean kingdom , and Judea . By the time of
1824-674: The Bronze Age , hieroglyphic Luwian survived until the conquest of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms by the Semitic Assyrian Empire , and alphabetic inscriptions in Anatolian languages are fragmentarily attested until the early first millennium AD, eventually succumbing to the Hellenization of Anatolia as a result of Greek colonisation . The Anatolian branch is often considered the earliest to have split from
1900-741: The Georgian Amirani , the Chechen Pkharmat , and the Abkhazian Abrskil , are examples of such Prometheus-like figures. The Caucasus is an area of great ecological importance. The region is included in the list of 34 world biodiversity hotspots . It harbors some 6400 species of higher plants, 1600 of which are endemic to the region. Its wildlife includes Persian leopards , brown bears , wolves , bison , marals , golden eagles and hooded crows . Among invertebrates , some 1000 spider species are recorded in
1976-773: The Greater Caucasus mountain range. It consists of Southern Russia , mainly the North Caucasian Federal District 's autonomous republics and the Krais in Southern Russia, and the northernmost parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan . The North Caucasus lies between the Black Sea to its west, the Caspian Sea to its east, and borders the Southern Federal District to its north. The two Federal Districts are collectively referred to as "Southern Russia". The South Caucasus borders
2052-622: The Kartvelian , Northwest Caucasian , and Northeast Caucasian language families are indigenous to the area. Pliny the Elder 's Natural History (77–79 AD) derives the name of the Caucasus from a Scythian name, Croucasis , which supposedly means 'shimmering with snow'. German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word kruvesis also means 'frozen mud'. Isidore of Seville 's Etymologies ( c. 625 AD) also says
2128-745: The Muslim conquest of Persia , large parts of the region came under the rule of the Arabs , and Islam penetrated the region. In the 10th century, the Alans (proto- Ossetians ) founded the Kingdom of Alania , that flourished in the Northern Caucasus , roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia and modern North Ossetia–Alania , until its destruction by the Mongol invasion in 1238–39. During
2204-755: The Ottoman Empire . In the second half of the 19th century, the Russian Empire also conquered the North Caucasus. In the aftermath of the Caucasian Wars , the Russian military perpetrated an ethnic cleansing of Circassians , expelling this indigenous population from its homeland. Between the 1850s and World War I, about a million North Caucasian Muslims arrived in the Ottoman Empire as refugees. Having killed and deported most of
2280-971: The Proto-Indo-European language , from a stage referred to either as Indo-Hittite or "Archaic PIE"; typically a date in the mid-4th millennium BC is assumed. Under the Kurgan hypothesis , there are two possibilities for how the early Anatolian speakers could have reached Anatolia: from the north via the Caucasus , or from the west, via the Balkans ; the latter is considered somewhat more likely by Mallory (1989), Steiner (1990), and Anthony (2007). Statistical research by Quentin Atkinson and others using Bayesian inference and glottochronological markers favors an Indo-European origin in Anatolia , though
2356-606: The Simurgh . The Roman poet Ovid placed the Caucasus in Scythia and depicted it as a cold and stony mountain which was the abode of personified hunger. The Greek hero Jason sailed to the west coast of the Caucasus in pursuit of the Golden Fleece , and there met Medea , a daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis . The Caucasus has a rich folklore tradition. This tradition has been preserved orally—necessitated by
Kalašma language - Misplaced Pages Continue
2432-455: The mi conjugation and ḫi conjugation, named for their first-person singular present indicative suffix in Hittite. While the mi conjugation has clear cognates outside of Anatolia, the ḫi conjugation is distinctive and appears to be derived from a reduplicated or intensive form in PIE. The Anatolian gender system is based on two classes: animate and inanimate (also termed common and neuter). Proto-Anatolian almost certainly did not inherit
2508-690: The "inhabitants of the southern coast of the Black Sea ". It was also noted that in Nakh Ков гас ( Kov gas ) means "gateway to steppe". The modern endonym for the region is usually similar in many languages, and is generally between Kavkaz and Kaukaz . The North Caucasus region is also known as the Ciscaucasus , whereas the South Caucasus region is alternatively known as the Transcaucasus . The North Caucasus contains most of
2584-536: The 13th century BC (Late Bronze Age). They are written in cuneiform script borrowing heavily from the Mesopotamian system of writing. The script is a syllabary . This fact, combined with frequent use of Akkadian and Sumerian words, as well as logograms , or signs representing whole words, to represent lexical items, often introduces considerable uncertainty as to the form of the original. However, phonetic syllable signs are present also, representing syllables of
2660-464: The 19th century BC Kültepe texts, the Akkadian language records of the kârum kaneš , or "port of Kanes," an Assyrian enclave of merchants within the city of kaneš (Kültepe). This collection records Hittite names and words loaned into Akkadian from Hittite. The Hittite name for the city was Neša , from which the Hittite endonym for the language, Nešili , was derived. The fact that the enclave
2736-571: The Anatolian language group as a whole, or languages identified as Luvian by the Hittite texts. The name comes from Hittite luwili ( 𒇻𒌑𒄿𒇷 ). The earlier use of Luvic fell into disuse in favor of Luvian . Meanwhile, most of the languages now termed Luvian, or Luvic, were not known to be so until the latter 20th century. Even more fragmentary attestations might be discovered in the future. Luvian and Luvic have other meanings in English, so currently Luwian and Luwic are preferred. Before
2812-506: The Anatolian languages preserves distinctions lost in its sister branches of Indo-European. Famously, the Anatolian languages retain the PIE laryngeals in words such as Hittite ḫāran- (cf. Ancient Greek ὄρνῑς , Lithuanian eręlis , Old Norse ǫrn , PIE * h₃éron- ) and Lycian 𐊜𐊒𐊄𐊀 χuga (cf. Latin avus , Old Prussian awis , Archaic Irish ᚐᚃᚔ (avi), PIE * h₂éwh₂s ). The three dorsal consonant series of PIE also remained distinct in Proto-Anatolian and have different reflexes in
2888-742: The Armenians of Western Armenia during the Armenian genocide , the Turks intended to eliminate the Armenian population of Eastern Armenia . During the 1920 Turkish–Armenian War , 60,000 to 98,000 Armenian civilians were estimated to have been killed by the Turkish army. In the 1940s, around 480,000 Chechens and Ingush , 120,000 Karachay – Balkars and Meskhetian Turks , thousands of Kalmyks , and 200,000 Kurds in Nakchivan and Caucasus Germans were deported en masse to Central Asia and Siberia by
2964-578: The Caucasus region. As a result of her military campaigns and the temporary fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, Georgia became the strongest Christian state in the whole Near East area, encompassing most of the Caucasus stretching from Northern Iran and Northeastern Turkey to the North Caucasus. The Caucasus region was conquered by the Ottomans , Turco-Mongols , local kingdoms and khanates, as well as, once again, Iran . Up to and including
3040-712: The Caucasus was usually incorporated into the Iranian world . At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire conquered the territory from Qajar Iran . The territory of the Caucasus region was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era . In 1991, early Hominini fossils dating back 1.8 million years were found at the Dmanisi archaeological site in Georgia . Scientists now classify
3116-474: The Caucasus. Most of arthropod biodiversity is concentrated on Great and Lesser Caucasus ranges. The region has a high level of endemism and several relict animals and plants, the fact reflecting the presence of refugial forests, which survived the Ice Age in the Caucasus Mountains. The Caucasus forest refugium is the largest throughout the Western Asian (near Eastern) region. The area has multiple representatives of disjunct relict groups of plants with
Kalašma language - Misplaced Pages Continue
3192-421: The Greater Caucasus range and Southern Russia to its north, the Black Sea and Turkey to its west, the Caspian Sea to its east, and Iran to its south. It contains the Lesser Caucasus mountain range and surrounding lowlands. All of Armenia , Azerbaijan (excluding the northernmost parts), and Georgia (excluding the northernmost parts) are in the South Caucasus. The watershed along the Greater Caucasus range
3268-408: The Greek goddess of love Aphrodite . The story of how the trickster Nart Sosruquo, became invulnerable parallels that of the Greek hero Achilles . The ancient Greek Amazons may be connected to a Caucasian "warrior Forest-Mother, Amaz-an". Caucasian legends include stories involving giants similar to Homer 's Polyphemus story. In these stories, the giant is almost always a shepherd , and he
3344-438: The Luwic languages, e.g. Luwian where * kʷ > ku- , * k > k- , and * ḱ > z-. The three-way distinction in Proto-Indo-European stops (i.e. *p, *b, *bʰ ) collapsed into a fortis-lenis distinction in Proto-Anatolian, conventionally written as / p / vs. / b /. In Hittite and Luwian cuneiform, the lenis stops were written as single voiceless consonants while the fortis stops were written as doubled voiceless, indicating
3420-427: The Luwic languages. Modifications and updates of the branching order continue, however. A second version opposes Hittite to Western Anatolian, and divides the latter node into Lydian, Palaic, and a Luwian group (instead of Luwic). Hittite ( nešili ) was the language of the Hittite Empire , dated approximately 1650–1200 BC, which ruled over nearly all of Anatolia during that time. The earliest sources of Hittite are
3496-452: The Middle Ages, Bagratid Armenia , Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget , Kingdom of Syunik and Principality of Khachen organized local Armenian population facing multiple threats after the fall of antique Kingdom of Armenia . Caucasian Albania maintained close ties with Armenia and the Church of Caucasian Albania shared the same Christian dogmas with the Armenian Apostolic Church and had a tradition of their Catholicos being ordained through
3572-439: The Patriarch of Armenia. In the 12th century, the Georgian king David the Builder drove the Muslims out of the Caucasus and made the Kingdom of Georgia a strong regional power. In 1194–1204 Georgian Queen Tamar 's armies crushed new Seljuk Turkish invasions from the southeast and south and launched several successful campaigns into Seljuk Turkish-controlled Southern Armenia. The Georgian Kingdom continued military campaigns in
3648-433: The Russian Federation. The Russian divisions include Dagestan , Chechnya , Ingushetia , North Ossetia–Alania , Kabardino–Balkaria , Karachay–Cherkessia , Adygea , Krasnodar Krai , and Stavropol Krai , in clockwise order. Two territories in the region claim independence but are recognized as such by only a handful of entities: Abkhazia , and South Ossetia . Abkhazia and South Ossetia are largely recognized by
3724-445: The Southern Caucasus (except western Georgia), northwestern Iran, the northeastern Caucasus, eastern Turkey, and as far as Syria. Under Ashurbanipal (669–627 BC), the boundaries of the Assyrian Empire reached as far as the Caucasus Mountains. Later ancient kingdoms of the region included Armenia , Albania , Colchis and Iberia , among others. These kingdoms were later incorporated into various Iranian empires, including Media ,
3800-543: The Soviet security apparatus. About a quarter of them died. The Southern Caucasus region was unified as a single political entity twice – during the Russian Civil War ( Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic ) from 9 April 1918 to 26 May 1918, and under the Soviet rule ( Transcaucasian SFSR ) from 12 March 1922 to 5 December 1936. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia , Azerbaijan and Armenia became independent nations. The region has been subject to various territorial disputes since
3876-446: The area. Russian is used as a lingua franca most notably in the North Caucasus. The peoples of the northern and southern Caucasus mostly are Shia Muslims , Sunni Muslims , Eastern Orthodox Christians or Armenian Christians . Located on the peripheries of Turkey , Iran , and Russia , the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, and cultural rivalries and expansionism for centuries. Throughout its history,
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#17327801199563952-464: The assemblage of fossil skeletons as the subspecies Homo erectus georgicus . The site yields the earliest unequivocal evidence for the presence of early humans outside the African continent; and the Dmanisi skulls are the five oldest hominins ever found outside Africa . Kura–Araxes culture from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC enveloped a vast area of approximately 1,000 km by 500 km, and mostly encompassed, on modern-day territories,
4028-499: The class of topical nouns to provide more precise reference tracking for male and female humans. Proto-Anatolian retained the nominal case system of Proto-Indo-European, including the vocative, nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, genitive, and locative cases, and innovated an additional allative case . Nouns distinguish singular and plural numbers, as well as a collective plural for inanimates in Old Hittite and remnant dual forms for natural pairs. The Anatolian branch also has
4104-427: The closest relatives in Eastern Asia, southern Europe, and even North America. Over 70 species of forest snails of the region are endemic. Some relict species of vertebrates are Caucasian parsley frog , Caucasian salamander , Robert's snow vole , and Caucasian grouse , and there are almost entirely endemic groups of animals such as lizards of genus Darevskia . In general, the species composition of this refugium
4180-426: The collapse of the Soviet Union, leading to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994), the East Prigorodny Conflict (1989–1991), the War in Abkhazia (1992–93) , the First Chechen War (1994–1996), the Second Chechen War (1999–2009), Russo-Georgian War (2008), and the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (2020). In Greek mythology , the Caucasus was one of the pillars supporting the world. After presenting man with
4256-473: The early 19th century, most of the Southern Caucasus and southern Dagestan all formed part of the Persian Empire . In 1813 and 1828 by the Treaty of Gulistan and the Treaty of Turkmenchay respectively, the Persians were forced to irrevocably cede the Southern Caucasus and Dagestan to Imperial Russia . In the ensuing years after these gains, the Russians took the remaining part of the Southern Caucasus , comprising western Georgia, through several wars from
4332-419: The fact that for most of the languages involved, there was no alphabet until the early twentieth century—and only began to be written down in the late nineteenth century. One important tradition is that of the Nart sagas , which tell stories of a race of ancient heroes called the Narts. These sagas include such figures as Satanaya , the mother of the Narts, Sosruquo a shape changer and trickster, Tlepsh
4408-421: The first century BC, Zoroastrianism had become the dominant religion of the region; however, the region would go through two other religious transformations. Owing to the strong rivalry between Persia and Rome , and later Byzantium . The Romans first arrived in the region in the 1st century BC with the annexation of the kingdom of Colchis, which was later turned into the province of Lazicum . The next 600 years
4484-419: The form V, CV, VC, CVC, where V is "vowel" and C is "consonant". Hittite is divided into Old, Middle, and New (or Neo-). The dates are somewhat variable. They are based on an approximate coincidence of historical periods and variants of the writing system: the Old Kingdom and the Old Script, the Middle Kingdom and the Middle Script, and the New Kingdom and the New Script. Fortson gives the dates, which come from
4560-409: The gift of fire, Prometheus (or Amirani in the Georgian version ) was chained there by Zeus , to have his liver eaten daily by an eagle as punishment for defying Zeus's wish to keep the "secret of fire" from humans. In Persian mythology , the Caucasus might be associated with the mythic Mount Qaf which is believed to surround the known world. It is the battlefield of Saoshyant and the nest of
4636-451: The method's validity and accuracy are subject to debate. It has been theorized that Cernavodă culture , together with the Sredny Stog culture , was the source of Anatolian languages and introduced them to Anatolia through the Balkans after Anatolian split from the Proto-Indo-Anatolian language, which some linguists and archaeologists place in the area of the Sredny Stog culture. Petra Goedegebuure suggests Anatolian separated from PIE in
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#17327801199564712-430: The name means shining white like snow: "Thus, toward the east, where it rises to a greater height, it is called the Caucasus, due to the whiteness of its snow, for in an eastern language, caucasus means “white,” that is, shining white with a very thick snow cover. For the same reason the Scythians, who live next to this mountain range, call it Croacasim, for among them whiteness or snow is called casim. 3. The Taurus range
4788-429: The natural and historical boundary between Europe and Asia. Another opinion is that the rivers Kura and Rioni mark this border, or even that of the river Aras . The Caucasus is a linguistically , culturally and geographically diverse region. The nation states that compose the Caucasus today are the post-Soviet states Georgia (including Adjara and Abkhazia ), Azerbaijan (including Nakhchivan ), Armenia , and
4864-446: The north by 4500 BC and had arrived in Anatolia by about 2500 BC, via a migration route through the Caucasus. Melchert (2012) has proposed the following classification: Kloekhorst (2022) has proposed a more detailed classification, with estimated dating for some of the reconstructed stages: In addition, the Kalašma language is believed to be a Luwic language, though further analysis has yet to be published. The phonology of
4940-417: The north is mostly shared by Russia and Georgia as well as the northernmost parts of Azerbaijan . The Lesser Caucasus mountain range in the south is occupied by several independent states, mostly by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, but also extends to parts of northeastern Turkey , and northern Iran . The region is known for its linguistic diversity : aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages,
5016-414: The north of the Greater Caucasus range practically impregnable. The mythological Mount Qaf , the world's highest mountain that ancient Iranian lore shrouded in mystery, was said to be situated in this region. The region is also one of the candidates for the location of Airyanem Vaejah , the apparent homeland of the Iranians of Zoroaster . In Middle Persian sources of the Sasanian era, the Caucasus range
5092-484: The other hand, many Luwian glosses (foreign words) in Hittite texts appear to reflect a different dialect, namely Empire Luwian. The Hittite language of the respective tablets sometimes displays interference features, which suggests that they were recorded by Luwian native speakers. The hieroglyphic corpus (Melchert's HLuwian) is recorded in Anatolian hieroglyphs , reflecting Empire Luwian and its descendant Iron Age Luwian. Some HLuwian texts were found at Boğazkale, so it
5168-437: The reigns of the relevant kings, as 1570–1450 BC, 1450–1380 BC, and 1350–1200 BC respectively. These are not glottochronologic . All cuneiform Hittite came to an end at 1200 BC with the destruction of Hattusas and the end of the empire. Palaic , spoken in the north-central Anatolian region of Palā (later Paphlagonia ), extinct around the 13th century BC, is known only from fragments of quoted prayers in Old Hittite texts. It
5244-470: The term Luwic was proposed for Luwian and its closest relatives, scholars used the term Luwian in the sense of 'Luwic languages'. For example, Silvia Luraghi's Luwian branch begins with a root language she terms the "Luwian group", which logically is in the place of Common Luwian or Proto-Luwian. Its three offsprings, according to her are Milyan, Proto-Luwian, and Lycian, while Proto-Luwian branches into Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic Luwian. The Luwian language
5320-531: The term Caucasus is derived from Caucas ( Georgian : კავკასოსი Ḳavḳasosi ), the son of the Biblical Togarmah and legendary forefather of the Nakh peoples . According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the Ancient Greek word Καύκασος ( Kaukasos ) is connected to Gothic hauhs 'high' as well as Lithuanian kaũkas 'hillock' and kaukarà 'hill, top', Russian куча 'heap'. British linguist Adrian Room claims that * kau- also means 'mountain' in Pelasgian , though this
5396-417: The world community as part of Georgia. The region has many different languages and language families. There are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region. No fewer than three language families are unique to the area. In addition, Indo-European languages, such as East Slavic , Armenian and Ossetian , and Turkic languages , such as Azerbaijani , Kumyk language and Karachay–Balkar , are spoken in
5472-464: Was Assyrian, rather than Hittite, and that the city name became the language name, suggest that the Hittites were already in a position of influence, perhaps dominance, in central Anatolia . The main cache of Hittite texts is the approximately 30,000 clay tablet fragments, of which only some have been studied, from the records of the royal city of Hattuša , located on a ridge near what is now Boğazkale, Turkey (formerly named Boğazköy). The records show
5548-465: Was extinguished by the replacement of the culture, if not the population, as a result of an invasion by the Kaskas , which the Hittites could not prevent. The term Luwic was proposed by Craig Melchert as the node of a branch to include several languages that seem more closely related than the other Anatolian languages. This is not a neologism, as Luvic had been used in the early 20th century to mean
5624-515: Was formerly thought to have been a "Hieroglyphic Hittite". The contexts in which CLuwian and HLuwian have been found are essentially distinct. Annick Payne asserts: "With the exception of digraphic seals, the two scripts were never used together." HLuwian texts are found on clay, shell, potsherds, pottery, metal, natural rock surfaces, building stone and sculpture, mainly carved lions. The images are in relief or counter-relief that can be carved or painted. There are also seals and sealings. A sealing
5700-594: Was marked by a conflict between Rome and Sassanid Empire for the control of the region. In western Georgia the eastern Roman rule lasted until the Middle Ages. As the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia (an eponymous branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia ) was the first nation to adopt Christianity as state religion (in 301 AD), and Caucasian Albania and Georgia had become Christian entities, Christianity began to overtake Zoroastrianism and pagan beliefs. With
5776-612: Was referred to as Kaf Kof . The term resurfaced in Iranian tradition later on in a variant form when Ferdowsi , in his Shahnameh , referred to the Caucasus mountains as Kōh-i Kāf . "Most of the modern names of the Caucasus originate from the Greek Kaukasos (Lat., Caucasus ) and the Middle Persian Kaf Kof ". "The earliest etymon" of the name Caucasus comes from Kaz-kaz , the Hittite designation of
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