Maghas

Maghas within medieval Alania (10th-12th century), according to Ossetian historian Ruslan Suleymanovich Bzarov.

Maghas or Maas --more properly, Mags/Maks--was the capital city of Alania,[1] a medieval kingdom in the Greater Caucasus. It is known exclusively from Islamic sources and its location is uncertain, with some authors favouring North Ossetia and others pointing to Arkhyz in modern-day Karachay–Cherkessia, where three 10th-century churches still stand. The destruction of Maghas is ascribed either to the Mongols. Some Russian geographers, like D.V. Zayats, point to Ingushetia:

“ Magas translated from Ingush as the City of the Sun. The choice of name was made in view of the fact that the ancient capital of the medieval Alania – the union of mountain peoples and tribes - also signifies Magas. According to the historical sources, Magas was destroyed in the beginning of 1239 by the hordes of Batu Khan. Historically Magas was located at approximately the same place on which the new capital of Ingushetia is now built. ”

D.V.Zayats, Russian education journal Pervoe Sentyabrya, Geography, 2001 [2]

Nowadays the capital city of Ingushetia is called Magas.

References

  1. ↑ 'The Jews of Khazaria' by Kevin Alan Brook
  2. ↑ D.V.Zayats (November 2001). "Magas-City of the Sun-new capital of Ingushetia" 1 (4).