The Land of Mountains” in the Chronicle “Ta’rikh al-Bab” and Protograph “Derbend-name” (11th Century)

The author presents the cognitive capabilities of cross-analysis and the method of system-logical verification of the multidimensional approach to the study of history, which he himself developed on the basis of empirical data – specific examples of the designation of Dagestan being mentioned as the “Land of mountains” in Muslim historical sources in Arabic graphic. Prior to the application of this approach, the region’s early Kipchak name Tavyaq ‘Mountain side’ in two of the most important sources on its history – the chronicle “Ta’rikh al-Bab” and the protographic “Derbend-name” (the second half of the 11th century) remained unidentified in the mass of historical data and therefore unused in reconstructions of the past. The cross-analysis of information from synchronous sources makes it possible to 1) recognise and identify the objects of source analysis, thereby generating new academic knowledge; 2) offer the most probable conjectures by comparing texts from different source lists; 3) establish synonyms and graphic variants of the spelling of local toponyms; 4) carry out cross-verification of established historical data. The general principles of the theoretical approach are developed on the basis of the study of empirical material, progressively but directly in the language of theory, using theoretical and methodological constructs. The explanatory models and conceptual schemes that have been developed in various ways are not only constantly tested on actual material, but also used to reconstruct facts and events of the past and to rethink complex or unclear passages in historical sources

Geography · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical and Linguistic Studies