# Darial Gorge

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Mountain pass in Georgia (country)

Darial Gorge Caucasian Gates Geography Country Georgia Russia Coordinates 42°44′41″N 44°37′21″E / 42.74472°N 44.62250°E / 42.74472; 44.62250 River Terek Interactive map of Darial Gorge

The **Darial Gorge**[a] is a river [gorge](/source/Gorge) on the border between [Russia](/source/Russia) and [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(country)). It is at the east base of [Mount Kazbek](/source/Mount_Kazbek), south of present-day [Vladikavkaz](/source/Vladikavkaz). The gorge was carved by the river [Terek](/source/Terek_River), and is approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) long. The steep [granite](/source/Granite) walls of the gorge can be as much as 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) tall in some places.[1] The [Georgian Military Road](/source/Georgian_Military_Road) runs through the gorge.

## History

The pass in [Luigi Villari](/source/Luigi_Villari)'s book *Fire and Sword in the Caucasus* (1906).

[Georgian Orthodox](/source/Georgian_Orthodox) Church of the Archangel in the Dariali Gorge near border with Russia.

The name *Darial* originates from *Dar-i Alān* (در الان) meaning "Gate of the [Alans](/source/Alans)" in [Persian](/source/Persian_language). The [Alans](/source/Alans) held the lands north of the pass in the first centuries AD. It was fortified in ancient times both by the [Romans](/source/Ancient_Rome) and [Persians](/source/Sassanian_Empire); the fortification was variously known as the **Iberian Gates**[b] or the **Caucasian Gates**.[2] It was also frequently mistakenly referred to as the Caspian Gates in classical literature.[3] The pass is mentioned in the Georgian annals under the names of Darialani; [Strabo](/source/Strabo) calls it *Porta Caucasica* and *Porta [Cumana](/source/Cumans)*; [Ptolemy](/source/Ptolemy), *Fortes [Sarmatica](/source/Sarmatia)*; it was sometimes known as *Porta Caucasica* and *[Portae Caspiae](/source/Gates_of_Alexander)* (a name bestowed also on the "gate" or pass beside the [Caspian Sea](/source/Caspian_Sea) at [Derbent](/source/Derbent)); and the [Tatars](/source/Tatars) call it Darioly.[4][1][4]

[Josephus](/source/Josephus) wrote that [Alexander the Great](/source/Alexander_the_Great) built [iron gates](/source/Gates_of_Alexander) at an unspecified pass[5] which some Latin and Greek authors identified with Darial.[6]

Darial Pass fell into Sassanid hands in 252–253, when the [Sassanid Empire](/source/Sassanid_Empire) conquered and annexed [Iberia](/source/Kingdom_of_Iberia_(antiquity)).[7] The control of the Darial Pass switched to the [Western Turkic Kaganate](/source/Western_Turkic_Kaganate) in 628, when [Tong Yabgu Kagan](/source/Tong_Yabghu_Qaghan) signed a treaty with Iberia, transferring over to the Kaganate the control of all its cities and fortresses, and establishing free trade.[8] Control of Darial Pass switched to the Arab [Rashidun Caliphate](/source/Rashidun_Caliphate) in 644.[9] Afterwards, it was controlled by the [Kingdom of Georgia](/source/Kingdom_of_Georgia). There was a battle point between the [Ilkhanate](/source/Ilkhanate) and the [Golden Horde](/source/Golden_Horde), then indirectly controlled by [Safavids](/source/Safavid_dynasty) and [Qajar state](/source/Qajar_dynasty)[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]. in 1597, [it was invaded and occupied by Kabardians](/source/Daryal_war). until it was captured by [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) after annexation of [Kingdom of Georgia](/source/Kingdom_of_Georgia) in 1801–1830. It remained a strategic Russian outpost under Russian control until the dismemberment of the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union).

## Importance

The Darial Pass was historically important as one of only two crossings of the Caucasus mountain range, the other being the [Derbent Pass](/source/Gates_of_Alexander). As a result, Darial Gorge has been fortified since at least 150 BC.[1] In Greco-Roman imagination in the late Antiquity, the Darial Pass was a boundary between the known world (oikoumene) and the unknown world where barbarians lived.[10]

As the main border crossing between Georgia and Russia, it has been the site of Russians fleeing conscription for the [Russo-Ukrainian War](/source/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine).[11]

## See also

- [Gates of Alexander](/source/Gates_of_Alexander)

- [Iberian Gates](/source/Iberian_Gates)

- [Ambush in Darial Gorge](/source/Ambush_in_Darial_Gorge)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Georgian](/source/Georgian_language): დარიალის ხეობა, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Georgian): darialis kheoba; [Ingush](/source/Ingush_language): Даьра Аьле, Тийрк-чӀож, romanized: *Dära Äle/Tiyrk-Chozh*; [Iron Ossetic](/source/Iron_Ossetic_language): Арвыком, romanized: *Arvykom*; [Russian](/source/Russian_language): Дарьяльское ущелье, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Russian): *Daryalskoe ushchelye*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** "Garrison of the Iberians" (Greek: *Iouroeipaach*, *Biraparach*, from Armenian) [https://iranicaonline.org/articles/darband-i-ancient-city](https://iranicaonline.org/articles/darband-i-ancient-city)

## References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Darial Gorge](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Darial_Gorge).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-EB1911_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-EB1911_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-EB1911_2-2) One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain): [Chisholm, Hugh](/source/Hugh_Chisholm), ed. (1911). "[Darial](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Darial)". *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 832.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-readersnatural_4-0)** Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980). [*Natural Wonders of the World*](https://archive.org/details/naturalwondersof00sche). United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. pp. [116](https://archive.org/details/naturalwondersof00sche/page/116). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-89577-087-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-89577-087-3).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Sauer, Eberhard (2020). *Dariali: The 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages*. Oxbow Books. p. 3. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781789251951](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781789251951).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEVan_DonzelSchmidt201051–52_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEVan_DonzelSchmidt201051–52_6-1) [Van Donzel & Schmidt 2010](#CITEREFVan_DonzelSchmidt2010), pp. 51–52.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Van Donzel, Emeri; Andrea Schmidt (2010). [*Gog and Magog in Early Syriac and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall*](https://archive.org/details/gogmagogearlyeas00schm). Brill Academic Publishers. p. [11](https://archive.org/details/gogmagogearlyeas00schm/page/n28). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9004174160](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9004174160).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Reynolds, Gabriel Said (2007). *The Qur'an in its Historical Context*. Routledge. p. 186. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0415428996](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0415428996).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Ehsan Yarshater. *The Cambridge history of Iran*, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, 1983. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-521-20092-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-20092-X), 9780521200929, p. 141

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Movses Kagankatvatsi](/source/Movses_Kagankatvatsi). *History of Agvans* (Russian trans. and ed. by [Patkanov](/source/Patkanov)). St. Petersburg, 1861, pp. 121

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Akram A.I. *The Muslim Conquest of Persia*, Ch:16 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-597713-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-597713-4)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Michel_2024_12-0)** Michel, Cédrik (2024). ["How Did All These Barbarians Get Here? The (Im)Permeable Gates of the Caucasus in Late Antiquity in Jerome's Letter 77 and Claudian's Against Rufinus"](https://doi.org/10.60131%2Fphasis.27.2024.9060). *PHASIS*. **27** (27): 33–66. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.60131/phasis.27.2024.9060](https://doi.org/10.60131%2Fphasis.27.2024.9060). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [2346-8459](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2346-8459).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Ivanova, Ksenia; Porter, Catherine (2022-10-01). ["Panic, Bribes, Ditched Cars and a Dash on Foot: Portraits of Flight From Russia"](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/01/world/europe/escape-from-russia.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2022-10-02.

**Bibliography**

- Van Donzel, Emeri J.; Schmidt, Andrea Barbara (2010). [*Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall*](https://books.google.com/books?id=PtxOXRlPMA0C). Brill. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-9004174160](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-9004174160).

## Further reading

- Banaji, Jairus (2019). "On the Identity of Shahrālānyōzān in the Greek and Middle Persian Papyri from Egypt". In Sijpesteijn, Petra; Schubert, Alexander T. (eds.). *Documents and the History of the Early Islamic World*. Brill. pp. 27–42.

- [Dunlop, D.M.](/source/Douglas_Morton_Dunlop) (1960). ["Bāb al-Lān"](https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/bab-al-lan-SIM_0969). In [Gibb, H. A. R.](/source/H._A._R._Gibb); [Kramers, J. H.](/source/Johannes_Hendrik_Kramers); [Lévi-Provençal, E.](/source/%C3%89variste_L%C3%A9vi-Proven%C3%A7al); [Schacht, J.](/source/Joseph_Schacht); [Lewis, B.](/source/Bernard_Lewis) & [Pellat, Ch.](/source/Charles_Pellat) (eds.). *[The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition](/source/The_Encyclopaedia_of_Islam#2nd_edition,_EI2).*Volume I:*A–B*. Leiden: E. J. Brill. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [495469456](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/495469456).

- Ognibene, Paolo (2022). "Beyond the Gate: Alans, Sasanians and the Caucasus". *Sasanian Studies: Late Antique Iranian World*. **1** (1): 207–214. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.13173/SSt.1.207](https://doi.org/10.13173%2FSSt.1.207).

- Sauer, Eberhard (2020). *Dariali: The 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages*. Oxbow Books. pp. 1–1088. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1789251920](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1789251920).

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