Alánia és a nemzetközi kereskedelem a korai középkorban : (8-10. század)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of Alania and the Western Caucasus region in the international trade and commercial contacts in the early Middle Ages. The territory of the Alanian Kingdom extended on the North-Western part of the Caucasus mountains. A part of the „Silk Road" from China and Central Asia to the Byzantine Empire led across Alania. There were very active commercial and political contacts between the Western Turk and the Byzantine Empires in the 6th and 7th centuries. The goal of this contacts was to isolate the Persian Empire from thé „Silk Road". This contacts between the two empires valorized the role of Alania. The Islamic conquest of Persia and Central Asia in the 8th century changed the international trade contacts of Eastern Europe. From the end of the 8th century the trade contacts became intensively between the Islamic world and Eastern Europa. The „Road of the furs" led across the Caucasian mountains. The two most important passes were the Darband and the Dariali (the latter was the „Alanian gate"). An important route led via Alania, and the Muslim merchants appeared in Alania in the 9th-10th centuries, but on the ground of the written sources could be pointed out that the eastern part of the Caucasus and the Caspian sea played key role in this trade.