Photo tribute to Caucasus

Rivkin · 17th December 2004, 11:06 PM

I bring my most sincere apologies to the moderator and esteemed members of the forum for this lengthy post.

Sincerely yours,

Kirill Rivkin

Jim McDougall · 18th December 2004, 01:23 AM

Apologies??!!!
Rivkin I think these posts are outstanding!!! Thank you for placing them here.
In the west there is little information concerning the Caucusus in world history, which is unfortunate as their history is magnificent and colorful.
I am amazed at these photos and your extremely interesting data on the ethnographic perspective of these fascinating people.

The weapons of the Caucusus are eagerly sought by many advanced collectors and the material you have posted here is extremely well placed. I was aware that Khevsurs wore chain link armour well into the 20th century (as described by Halliburton in his "Seven League Boots" narrative c.1935), but did not realize the application with regard to the firearms caliber. I have often wondered if the Khevsurs still maintain thier 'duelling' tradition with swords, buckler and mail, and if so, are there recent photos?

Well done Rivkin, thank you for sharing a fascinating pictorial of a very esoterically studied ethnographic region!

Best regards,
Jim

Rivkin · 18th December 2004, 11:25 PM

Glad you liked it. Yes, they still do have these duels, like japanese still have their martial arts, only khevsurs keep it way more "real".

I know that there used to be a documentary made in 1982 on this duels, plus khevsurian boxing and khevsurian kastet (heavy ring actually) fighting. It's hard, but possible to order a copy.

What I really would like to see is a photo of khevsurian house with chopped off hands on it - but it seems that they took down and buried all the hands during 1930s.

But today it's very hard to get to khevsuria - even in summer some of it is covered in snow and the neighbours - chechens have a big war on their hands.

Attached images - megrelian (georgian) assasins, chechen village (tower-houses) on the border with khevsuria and chechen islamists performing islamist's war dance - zikr.

The weapon used is kaldam - adopted chechen version of a khevsurian palash.

Yannis · 19th December 2004, 11:03 AM

Rivkin thank you very much for all this work. It is amazing!

For the moment please notice my avatar

Rivkin · 20th December 2004, 01:14 AM

Very rare artifact Yannis, indeed.

The question to all is do they want this series to be continued ? I have a little material left - starts with the blade dancing.

btw, I don't know if the translation into english is any good, but there is _the_ great georgian poet Vazha Pshavela. He created two poems that becailly define khevsurian ideals - "Host and Guest" and "Aluda Ketelauri".

I would guess that commentaries would be needed to understand these poems.

18th December 2004, 11:25 PM	#3
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Glad you liked it. Yes, they still do have these duels, like japanese still have their martial arts, only khevsurs keep it way more "real". I know that there used to be a documentary made in 1982 on this duels, plus khevsurian boxing and khevsurian kastet (heavy ring actually) fighting. It's hard, but possible to order a copy. What I really would like to see is a photo of khevsurian house with chopped off hands on it - but it seems that they took down and buried all the hands during 1930s. But today it's very hard to get to khevsuria - even in summer some of it is covered in snow and the neighbours - chechens have a big war on their hands. Attached images - megrelian (georgian) assasins, chechen village (tower-houses) on the border with khevsuria and chechen islamists performing islamist's war dance - zikr. The weapon used is kaldam - adopted chechen version of a khevsurian palash. Attached Images

17th December 2004, 11:06 PM	#1
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	I bring my most sincere apologies to the moderator and esteemed members of the forum for this lengthy post. Sincerely yours, Kirill Rivkin

18th December 2004, 01:23 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,661	Apologies??!!! Rivkin I think these posts are outstanding!!! Thank you for placing them here. In the west there is little information concerning the Caucusus in world history, which is unfortunate as their history is magnificent and colorful. I am amazed at these photos and your extremely interesting data on the ethnographic perspective of these fascinating people. The weapons of the Caucusus are eagerly sought by many advanced collectors and the material you have posted here is extremely well placed. I was aware that Khevsurs wore chain link armour well into the 20th century (as described by Halliburton in his "Seven League Boots" narrative c.1935), but did not realize the application with regard to the firearms caliber. I have often wondered if the Khevsurs still maintain thier 'duelling' tradition with swords, buckler and mail, and if so, are there recent photos? Well done Rivkin, thank you for sharing a fascinating pictorial of a very esoterically studied ethnographic region! Best regards, Jim

19th December 2004, 11:03 AM	#4
Yannis Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Athens Greece Posts: 479	Rivkin thank you very much for all this work. It is amazing! For the moment please notice my avatar

20th December 2004, 01:14 AM	#5
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Very rare artifact Yannis, indeed. The question to all is do they want this series to be continued ? I have a little material left - starts with the blade dancing. btw, I don't know if the translation into english is any good, but there is _the_ great georgian poet Vazha Pshavela. He created two poems that becailly define khevsurian ideals - "Host and Guest" and "Aluda Ketelauri". I would guess that commentaries would be needed to understand these poems.