ABOUT EARLY MEDIEVAL CITY TSRI OF CAUCASIAN ALBANIA (Based on studies of source data and historical - archeological investigations)

Abstract

There existed a number of cities shown in the sources of Caucasian Albania. Especially a number of living settlements of Caucasian Albania existed in early medieval period. The places of not all living settlements that were shown in the sources have not been determined yet. That is why the study of early medieval living settlements of Caucasian Albania still preserves its scientific actuality. One of the early medieval cities of Caucasian Albania shown in the sources is Tsri city. There are different views about the localization of Tsri city among explorers. Y.Cafarov who is one of the explorers of Tsri city which was one of the biggest cities of Caucasian Albania during early medieval identifies Tsri city with Sor village of Khojavend region, K.Patkanov identifies it with Serir in Dagistan region, A.Kudryavtsev identifies it with Derbend, M.Hajiyev identifies it with Sakhur. According F.Mammadova whe is the explorer of Albania studies Tsri city is situated in the south of Gabala city. Detailed and broad information about Tsri city was given in Moisey Kalankatuklu’s work “History of Albania”. This work has not been preserved nowadays in the native language of local population it is difficult to say a scientific thought about the original name of Tsri city. According to Moisey Kalankatuklu’s information becomes clear that Tsri city which was one of the famous city of Caucasian Albania existed in historical Arsak province, to be more exact in the area of modern Khojavend region. According to source data, it becomes clear that Tsri city is situated in Haband district of Arsak province, as well as near the city of Amaras. While dealing with Tsri city Moisey Kalankatuklu characterizes it as one of the biggest cities of Albania. Archeological exploration cannot be carried in this place as this area was captured by Armenian invaders. If it was possible to carry out archeological excavations it would be possible to discover the ruins of Tsri city in thes place.