TheDarial Gorge[a] is a rivergorge on the border betweenRussia andGeorgia. It is at the east base ofMount Kazbek, south of present-dayVladikavkaz. The gorge was carved by the riverTerek, and is approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) long. The steepgranite walls of the gorge can be as much as 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) tall in some places.[1] TheGeorgian Military Road runs through the gorge.
The pass inLuigi Villari's bookFire and Sword in the Caucasus (1906).Georgian Orthodox Church of the Archangel in the Dariali Gorge near border with Russia.
The nameDarial originates fromDar-i Alān (در الان) meaning "Gate of theAlans" inPersian. TheAlans held the lands north of the pass in the first centuries AD. It was fortified in ancient times both by theRomans andPersians; the fortification was variously known as theIberian Gates[b] or theCaucasian Gates.[2] It was also frequently mistakenly referred to as the Caspian Gates in classical literature.[3] The pass is mentioned in the Georgian annals under the names of Darialani;Strabo calls itPorta Caucasica andPortaCumana;Ptolemy,FortesSarmatica; it was sometimes known asPorta Caucasica andPortae Caspiae (a name bestowed also on the "gate" or pass beside theCaspian Sea atDerbent); and theTatars call it Darioly.[4][1][4]
The Darial Pass was historically important as one of only two crossings of the Caucasus mountain range, the other being theDerbent Pass. As a result, Darial Gorge has been fortified since at least 150 BC.[1]
As the main border crossing between Georgia and Russia, it has been the site of Russians fleeing conscription for theRusso-Ukrainian War.[15]
^Sauer, Eberhard (2020).Dariali: The 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages. Oxbow Books. p. 3.ISBN9781789251951.
Banaji, Jairus (2019). "On the Identity of Shahrālānyōzān in the Greek and Middle Persian Papyri from Egypt". In Sijpesteijn, Petra; Schubert, Alexander T. (eds.).Documents and the History of the Early Islamic World. Brill. pp. 27–42.
Ognibene, Paolo (2022). "Beyond the Gate: Alans, Sasanians and the Caucasus".Sasanian Studies: Late Antique Iranian World.1 (1):207–214.doi:10.13173/SSt.1.207.
Sauer, Eberhard (2020).Dariali: The 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages. Oxbow Books. pp. 1–1088.ISBN978-1789251920.
Georgia
Russia
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Darial".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 832.