Targu in Dagestan

This city is confidently identified with the Targun settlement on the Gamriozen river in Dagestan.

The first permanent settlements on this site appear at the beginning of the 2nd century BC with the arrival of scythian-sarmatians.

In the 3rd century of the New Faith, the settlement acquired the first fortifications, which were built here by the huns, who by this time had organized the movement of trade caravans across the Kumyk plain.

In the 6th century, the city received an additional impetus in its development, since the entire area of the Kumyk plane falls into the sphere of interests of the persian shahinshahs. A fortress is being built here, in which a military garrison, mainly of local men, has settled.

The task of the garrisons of the Tersk-Sulak interfluve was to ensure the safety of trade caravans, most of which belonged to the caravans of the Great Silk Road. In addition, it was necessary to counteract the movement of the hunnic tribes towards the Chora Gate and their transition to Transcaucasia.

At the fortress, a village of local artisans quickly emerges who served the military garrison and the needs of the caravans who stopped here to rest. The area of the city changed at different times, but reached an average of 40 hectares.

The Kumyk intermountain has always been characterized by a mild climate, which made it possible for the local population to engage in cattle breeding all year round.

Archaeologists estimate the area of the city at 30 hectares. In the city, on its elevated part, there was a small Citadel with a stone wall. The owners of the city and their families were located here. Behind the Citadel there was a military town with an area of 7 hectares, where the military garrison was located. This part was also protected by a fortress wall, behind which there were villages with workshops and homes of artisans.

In the city of Targu for several centuries there was a military and customs garrison, which was constantly in need of weapons and their repair. Over time, it developed its own weapons production.

In addition to raising livestock, people here were engaged in agriculture. Wheat, barley, millet, oats, and rice were grown from cereals here. Cotton and silk were also grown for their own needs.

From the beginning of the establishment of the Kingdom of the huns, a tribal core based on an autochthonous population with an alien hunno-savir substratum, called kumyks, began to form in its depths.

Kumyks enjoyed authority among the mountaineers, their khagans and shamkhals always stood at the head of local detachments when they had to participate in the eastern campaigns of the huns, khazars and persians.

During these campaigns, the Kumyks were in frequent relations with the asians in the east, with Rus in the north, with the turan tribes, while perceiving many elements of their culture, which allowed them to stand out among the mountain peoples.

Urban kumyk wears generally mountain clothing, but with elements of european dress. Kumyk folklore is distinguished by reasonableness and observation.

With the arrival of the khazars in the Kumyk plain, all fortified points along the entire caravan route were connected into a single system that served not only external tasks, but internal ones. Here its own commodity market arose, and with it the political ambitions of the local Mountain Princes began to appear. From time to time, vague state formations began to appear, calling themselves Republics, Principalities, Kingdoms, etc.

The arabists believe that the word «targu» is of arabic origin and can mean dairkan, that is, the self-name of the local dominant people. Representatives of various ethnic groups have lived in the city since the presence of scythians, sarmatian alans, persians, turks, and arabs, but the local peoples, dargins, kumyks, and lakzas, have always been ethno-forming.

The first recorded mention of the city of Targu appears in Gewond's history of the caliphs. Arab historians of the 8th century wrote about Targu, describing the vicissitudes of the arab-khazar war.

In 713, Maslama tried to conquer it, having ingloriously stood at the walls of the city for almost a month.

In 721, another arab force led by Jarrah came under the walls of Targu.

In 738, the future Caliph Mervan was able to defeat the impregnable walls of Targu by cunning, tracking down how the defenders of the city get water from the source.

In khazar times, the city of Targu was at one time the capital of the Kingdom of Khamzin, which belonged to Khazaria. This Kingdom united up to a hundred fortresses and villages on the Kumyk plain, which allowed the Khazar khagans to solve their military and strategic tasks in the North Caucasus and carry out their expansion in Transcaucasia.

In Targu, as in many other cities of the Kumyk plain, pagan gods of natural elements were worshipped. Legendary people were also revered here, who committed acts that personified the desire of local peoples for independence, for the preservation of their ethnicity..

One of these legends, which is repeated with slight variations in most cities that stood in a single defensive system of various historical eras since the scythian-sarmatian presence, was the legend of lovers who tried to separate either for political reasons or according to local customs.

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