Durdzuks

The Durdzuks (Georgian: დურძუკები), also known as Dzurdzuks, was a Georgian name from The Georgian Chronicles used to describe a people in the North Caucasus, unanimously identified as the Vainakh peoples. However, The Georgian chronicles definitely indicate that the Dzurdzuks are Chechens, and the Ingush are Gligvs: «Georgian missionaries are staying in mountainous Ingushetia, Christian churches are being built here, mentions of Dzurdzuks and Gligvs (Chechens and Ingush) appear in Georgian annals.»[1]

Map of Caucasus 1676, Dzurdzukia located north-east «Zuirie».

According to the Georgian royal annals:

ხოლო შვილთა ზედა კავკასისთა იყო უფალ დურძუკ, ძე ტირეთისი.
And as for upon the sons of Caucasus there was a lord Durdzuk, son of Tiretis.[2]

Durdzuk was mentioned by the Chronicles as "the most distinguished among the descendants of Kavkas", who led his people, the Durdzuks, into the mountains, where they would become the ancestors of today's Vainakh peoples.[3] However, The Georgian Chronicles definitely indicate that the Dzurdzuks are Chechens, and the Ingush are Gligvs: «Georgian missionaries are staying in mountainous Ingushetia, Christian churches are being built here, mentions of Dzurdzuks and Gligvs (Chechens and Ingush) appear in Georgian annals.»[1] The mighty state of Durdzuketi has been known since the 4th century BC.[4]

The name Durdzuk traces back to the ancient city north of Lake Urmia, not far from Nakhichevan / Nakhchivan.[4] Durdzuks and Nakhchmateans were remnants of the Urartians.[4]

In the Armenian Chronicles, the Durdzuks defeated Scythians and became a significant power in the area in the region in the first millennium BC.[4]

ხოლო დურძუკ, რომელი უწარჩინებულეს იყო შვილთა შორის კავკასისთა, მივიდა და დაჯდა ნაპრალსა შინა მთისასა, და უწოდა სახელი თჳსი დურძუკეთი.
And as for this Durdzuk, who was one of the most honorable sons of the Caucasus, came and set at the mountains, and gave it the name of his as Durdzuketi.[5]

Durdzuks allied themselves with Georgia, and helped the first Georgian king Pharnavaz I of Iberia consolidate his reign against his unruly vassals. The alliance with Georgia was cemented when King Pharnavaz married a Durdzuk girl.[3]

და მოიყვანა ცოლი დურძუკელთა, ნათესავი კავკასისი.
And married he [Pharnavaz] a Durdzuk wife, a relative of the Caucasus.[6]

Later on, the Durdzuks are mentioned fighting the Mongols alongside their Georgian allies as well as the Osses.[7] Durdzuk soldiers are mentioned fighting alongside Georgians against the troops of Jalal-ad-Din of Khwarezm.[3] Queen Tamar of Georgia was highly esteemed, and the Durdzuks named daughters as well as bridges and other buildings after her.[8]

The "Gate of Durdzuks" mentioned in Georgian sources is thought to have been in the Assa gorge of Ingushetia, which is a path connecting the North and South Caucasus regions.[3]

Among the Chechen teips, the teip Zurzakoy, consonant with the ethnonym Dzurdzuk, living in the Itum-Kale region of Chechnya. In 1926, on the Vashndar river in the Argun gorge of Chechnya, there was a Chechen aul (rural settlement) Zurzuk,[9] now a tract southeast of the village of Ulus-Kert.

The Durdzuks were known as the Dourts in the Geography of Armenia.[3]