Scenes, landscapes, customs and costumes of the Caucasus drawn from nature by Prince G. Gagarin.
TheGrebensky Cossacks orGrebentsy was a group of Cossacks formed in the 16th century fromDon Cossacks who left the Don area and settled in the northern foothills of theCaucasus. The Greben Cossacks are part of theTerek Cossacks. They were influenced byChechen andNogai culture and most were bilingual in theRussian language and theNogai language.
According to the article on Grebentsy inЭСБЕ (1893), whose author — a writerV. E. Rudakov [ru] — is referring to some historians, who, in turn, allegedly relied on materials from «Book to the Big Drawing [ru]» and the legend of the Grebensky icon[a], claimed that Grebensky Cossacks descended from theDon Cossacks who settled in theCaucasus, whose community originally lived in the interfluveSeversky Donets andKalitva [de;es;it;ru] near a hill called theGrebensky mountains, hence the name of these Cossacks —Grebensky.[1]
Modern scholars have no information about the settlement area ofGrebentsy on the right side of the Terek River (old RussianTerka /Terki). Basic facts about these Cossacks appear after their relocation to the left bank of the river. In 1712[b] the Grebensky Cossacks moved to the left bank of the Terek River in the area of the fortification of the Terka / Terki[c] (Sunzhensky fortification).
^According to the "Chronicle of the Guards Cossack Units" of 1912, the Grebens moved from the right bank of the Terek to the left earlier - in 1711.[2]
^There is a mistake in the "Soviet Military Encyclopedia": instead of aTerka/Terki a fortification-fortress, to which the Grebens moved, named aTarka.[3]
Казачьи войска (Хроники гвардейскихъ казачьихъ частей помѣщены въ книгѣ ИМПЕРАТОРСКАЯ Гвардія). СПб.: Справочная книжка ИМПЕРАТОРСКОЙ Главной Квартиры. 1912.. Подъ редакціей В. К. Шенкъ, составилъ В. Х. Казинъ
"Гребенские казаки".Советская военная энциклопедия [в 8 томах]. Vol. 3 (Гражданская — Йокота) (Министерство обороны СССР. Институт военной истории ed.). Moscow: Воениздат. 1977.. Председатель Гл. ред. комиссии Н. В. Огарков
