Introduction. The article deals with the issue of Christian communities of different denominations to have resided in the city of Majar, the latter localized around Majar hillfort on the Kuma riverside. Christian cult objects have been discovered in the commercial and crafts quarter of the hillfort. Archaeological and written sources make it possible to identify certain groups of Christians — Orthodox, Catholic, and Gregorian (Armenian) ones — within the city’s population. Goals. The study aims to summarize data on Christians in Majar. Nowadays, there is archaeological evidence confirming Majar had been also inhabited by ethnic Russians and Armenians. Materials and methods. The work analyzes the First Sophia Chronicle, sources on Latin missionary activity in the Golden Horde published by Ph. Bruun, A. Malyshev, and R. Hautala, a 1774 map of the Caucasus compiled by Georg Treitel, and archaeological materials. The study employs a number of research methods, such as the historical/systemic, historical/comparative, and cartographic ones. Results. The year 1245 had witnessed earliest contacts between the papacy and the Mongol Empire. In 1260, relations between the Golden Horde and the Byzantine Empire were set up. And in 1267, Metropolitan Kirill II of Kiev received a jarlig from Khan Mengu-Timur. Rulers of the Golden Horde were seeking to achieve various domestic and foreign policy goals through the agenda of religious tolerance. Franciscan missions, parishes of the Alan Metropolitanate, Diocese of Sarai, and the Armenian Church were functioning across the early 14th-century North Caucasus. Some 16th–18th century written sources attest to the presence of a Christian temple within the hillfort of Majar. Materials published by Ph. Bruun, A. Malyshev, and R. Hautala provide evidence Majar and its neighborhood used to host several Franciscan missions throughout the 14th century. Christian cult objects (encolpion cross, copper icon) discovered in the territory of Majar’s trade and crafts quarter testify to that Orthodox Christians had also lived there and had a temple of their own. The Armenian cross-stone (khachkar) which had been part of a church and found at the ancient site suggests there may have been an Armenian community and an Armenian temple too. Conclusions. The available evidence of the presence of different Christian denominations in Majar insufficiently reveals their role in the city’s life. And it gets urgent to localize the Christian quarter at the ancient site of Majar. So, the search for archival materials and archaeological explorations of the site should be continued.
The article studies the history of local history of Stavropol Territory and the North Caucasus in the 1920s, the period of formation of local history in the country. The purpose of the study is to restore the history of the first local history organizations and institutions in the Stavropol Territory based on documents from central and regional archives, museum collections, to identify their role in national history, culture, the development of scientific knowledge, and the preservation of historical and cultural heritage. For the first time, based on documentary heritage the role of the Stavropol Ethnological and Archaeological Commission in the development of the local history movement not only in Stavropol, but also in the North Caucasus is shown. The main activities of the ethnological and archaeological commission for the ethnographic study of the Stavropol province, the Kalmyks, the Nogais, the Turkmens, Russian settlers, German colonists living in it are analyzed; archaeological research of the region in order to identify, fix and register ancient monuments; cultural and protective activities; educational work with the population; archaeographic and archival research. The role of the Stavropol Ethnological and Archaeological Commission in coordinating local lore forces in the study of the North Caucasus region, establishing close scientific contacts with local historians of Krasnodar, Vladikavkaz, Rostov-on-Don, Nalchik, Pyatigorsk is shown. The article introduces the sources related to the activities of G.N. Prozritelev, one of the founders of the Stavropol Museum-Reserve of Local Lore, a well-known public figure and Caucasian scholar of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The study shows how the system of local history organizations took shape in the North Caucasus, the role played by the Central Bureau of Local History (CBLH) formed in 1922, which contributed to the beginning of the ―golden decade‖ in the history of local history.
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