Tsanars

Tsanars were a Caucasian people predominantly mentioned in Arab sources of 8th–10th centuries. They originally lived near Darial Gorge, north of Tbilisi, but later expanded to Kakheti. In 9th and 10th centuries, centres of Tsanars migrated to region of the passes connecting Kakheti with Dagestan, near Shakki.
Nomenclature
Tsanars are named Sanaroi by Pliny the Elder in 1st century AD. The Armenian name Tsanar(k') (Ծանար(ք)) is found in the 7th century work Ashkharhatsuyts. According to the same work, the Alans called Tsanars tselkan. The same name is found in the 10th century Georgian chronicle Conversion of Kartli which mentions the Tselkans along side Pkhovelians, Mtiulians and Tchartalians (inhabitants of Chartalis-Khevi River, a tributary of the Aragvi). In the 10th century Arabic work Hudud al-'Alam, Tsanars are named Ṣanār.
The name is possibly found in the ethnonymy and toponymy of Central Caucasus. According to German scientist Julius Klaproth, the Ossetians called the Mokhevians Tsona, and the entire region spanning from Darial Gorge to Kobi—Sona-Sena. Soviet and Russian historian and caucasologist recorded the Ossetian name for Kazbek as Sæna in the village of Kobi in 1970. The Kabardian name for Svans, and sometimes the entire population south of the , is sonē. It's quite possible that these names are comparable to the ethnonym of Tsanars.
Contemporary documentation
Early mentions
Tsanars were already known to Ptolemy. Pliny the Elder mentioned Tsanars in 1th century as the ones who occupied Darial Gorge and the territory to the south. Following mention of the Tsanars is in 7th century in the work Ashkharhatsuyts. They're mentioned as Tsanark' (Ծանար(ք)), the neighbors of Tushs and Dvals, and on whom land are the mountain passes of Alans and Tselkans.
Arab invasions
In Muslim historiography, stories about unrest among the Tsanars have been preserved. According to Arab authors like al-Ya'qubi, the warlike mountaineers Tsanars became especially active in the second half of the 8th and early 9th centuries. Their often rebellions worried the Arab administration of Arminiya.
According to the story of 8th century historian Al-Baladhuri, Yazid ibn Asid had marched to the Bāb al-Lān (Gates of Alans) and had defeated rebelling Tsanars, afterwards imposing kharaj ('land tax') on them. Historians Mikhail Artamonov and Aram Ter-Ghevondyan relate this battle among other events to the first period of the reign of Yazid ibn Asid in Arminiya (752 – 754). This dating is dismissed by who notes that in the story of Al-Baladhuri, it's said that this battle happened "when al-Mansur became the caliph."
According to the story of al-Ya'qubi, how Amr ibn Ismail arrived at the request of the ruler of Arminiya and led a 20,000-strong army against Tsanars, killing 16 000 of them in one day and moving to Tbilisi. He also mentions how under the ruler of al-'Abbas ibn Zufar al-Hilali, appointed by Harun al-Rashid, Tsanars again rebelled. According to the story Kitabul Futuh by Ibn A'tham al-Kufi, al-Hasan ibn Qahtab led a 30,000-strong army against Tsanars, killing 10,000 of them. He then marched on the rebellious inhabitants of Javakhit (Javakheti-Javakhk) and conquered them.
After the death of Ishaq ibn Isma'il, Abbasid commander Bugha al-Kabir conducted a military campaign to Ishaq's allies, Tsanars. The Georgian Chronicles claims that Bugha's army was 120,000-strong. Tsanars were effective against his troops, defeating him multiple times in short succession. In total, Bugha fought Tsanars either sixteen or nineteen times in nine days
and his repeated losses were humiliating. Tovma Artsruni explains that after the lose, Bugha invaded Caucasian Albania.
Although, Tovma Artsruni doesn't mention any outside help, Ya'qubi claims that Tsanars requested help from Byzantines, Khazars and the Saqāliba (Slavs) against Bugha. Faced with this army, Bugha wrote to al-Mutawakkil who sent Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Shaybani as governor over the North. This calmed Tsanars enough to seek peace. Joseph Laurent and Marius Canard note that their
main goal was to maintain the Kura River as a territorial divide. The later allies of Tsanars indicate that
they were involved in power struggles between various groups of Arabs in the North. al-Yaqubi confirms their good connections to other non-Georgian, both Christian and
non-Christian, ethnic groups of the Caucasus and beyond.
Ethnicity and localization
The ethnicity of Tsanars is debated. Historians Vladimir Minorsky, Anatoly Novoseltsev and others connect them with the Vainakhs (Chechens and Ingush). Other historians like Sargis Kakabadze and Mariam Lortkipanidze connect them with the Svans. Historian disagrees that the ethnicity of Tsanars is debatable. He argues that this point of view is "too categorical to be accepted unconditionally". According to him, the Tsanars were a ethnic group of Eastern Georgia. According to al-Masudi, the Tsanars "claim to be descended from the Arabs, namely from Nizār b. Maʿadd b. Muḍar, and a branch (fakhdh) of ʿUqayl, settled
there since olden times." Vladimir Minorsky dismisses this claim, stating that the Tsanars "certainly had nothing to do with Arab tribes." Commenting to Hudud al-'Alam, Vasily Bartold suggested a genetic connection of Tsanars with North Dagestanis. Soviet and Russian historian and caucasologist dismisses versions precisely attributing Tsanars to Vainakhs, Dagestanis or Georgians due to the lack of direct evidence of the linguistic affiliation. However, based on the ethnic situation in this region in the ancient and early medieval periods, it could be assumed that the Tsanars were an Ibero-Caucasian speaking group. The Tsanars gradually merged with the Georgians later.
The territory of Tsanars is debated. However, they're predominantly localized in Kakheti (Georgia) and Shakki (Caucasian Albania). Al-Masudi places them between Tbilisi and Bāb al-Lān (modern day Darial Gorge) Apperantly referring to al-Masudi, anonymous author of Hudud al-'Alam places Tsanars between Tbilisi and Shaki; the length of their country is measured 20 s. The Darband-nāmeh merely explains
that they lived in Jurzān, a term which usually refers to Kartli (Georgia). Historian Cyril Toumanoff notes that the word Ṣanāriya "was used by Arabs to designate Kaxetia in general [...] In Georgian sources, on the other hand, the Canars are encountered only in the narrow sense of the term." Vladimir Minorsky explains that Tsanars originally inhabited the Darial Gorge but later expanded eastwards into Kakheti. In 9th and 10th centuries, the centres of Tsanars must have moved eastward to the region of the passes connecting Kakheti with Dagestan, near Shakki.
Notes
References
Sources
History of the Caucasus
History of Georgia (country)
History of Ingushetia
History of Chechnya
Chechen people
Ingush people
Classical antiquity
Late antiquity
Early Middle Ages