Ambazoukes and the Gatekeepers of the Darial Pass during Late Antiquity
Résumé
This article deals with a Caucasian ruler mentioned by Procopius, named Ambazoukes, exercising control over the Darial Gorge at the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries CE. This historical figure may have found a legendary echo in the couple of Ossetian brothers Bazuk and Abazuk evoked in the Georgian chronicle titled Life of the Kings of K'art'li. A comparison can also be drawn with the characters of the Nart saga, the brothers Æhsar and Æhsærtæg. Onomastics as well as the circulation of accounts about the military role of the Ossetians seem to suggest the existence of epic traditions in the Late-Ancient and Early Medieval Caucasia.
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