Derbent (Caspian Gates)
The walled Caspian city whose Persian fortifications were long identified with the barrier built against Gog and Magog.
- Location
- Narrow pass between the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, Dagestan
- Modern country
- Russia
- Fortifications
- Stone walls and citadel built under the Sasanian Persians, from the 5th century CE
- Name
- Persian darband, 'barred gate'
- Legend
- Associated with the wall of Alexander / Dhul-Qarnayn against Gog and Magog
- Status
- UNESCO World Heritage Site (2003)
What is Derbent known for?
Derbent, in the Russian republic of Dagestan, controls a narrow strip of land between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea. Its name comes from Persian for 'barred gate'. From the 5th century CE the Sasanian Persians, and later Khosrow I in the 6th century, built massive stone walls running from the Naryn-Kala citadel down to the sea and into the hills, to keep northern nomads out. The citadel and old city are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ancient and medieval writers used 'Caspian Gates' for more than one Caucasus pass, and Derbent became the most famous. Legends attributed its walls to Alexander the Great, who was said to have shut out the unclean peoples of the north. In Islamic tradition this merged with the story in Surah 18 of Dhul-Qarnayn building an iron barrier against Gog and Magog.
Historians date the existing walls to the Sasanian period, long after Alexander. Derbent remains one of several real places proposed for the Qur'anic wall.
Modern readers propose the Caspian Gates at Derbent as Dhul-Qarnayn's wall against Gog and Magog.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeDhul-Qarnayn
- PersonSallam the Interpreter
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'Citadel, Ancient City and Fortress Buildings of Derbent'Reference
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Derbent'Reference
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Caspian Gates'Reference
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