Departments

The Center's activities are aimed at creating a modern scientific picture of the medieval history of the peoples of the Caucasus and the Black Sea region as part of global history and culture.

The emphasis is on an integrated approach to solving scientific problems based on the analysis and generalization of various types of sources – narrative, archaeological, sphragistic, numismatic, as well as data from natural science disciplines.

Priority attention is given to the development of the fundamental problem of the history of Christianity in the North Caucasus in the Middle Ages. Within the framework of this direction, the staff of the Center studies the monuments of Greek writing on the history of the Black Sea region and the Caucasus and publishes their annotated translations, examines temple construction, the chronology of the processes of Christianization, the depth of penetration of the Christian religion and the nature of its interaction with local ancient cults and beliefs, the ethnocultural composition and demographic appearance of the population of the capitals of the Christian world of the Northwest Caucasus: Matarchi was the center of the diocese of Zikh, as well as a major seaport and an important military-strategic point of the Byzantine Empire on its northeastern borders, and Nizhny Arkhyz, the center of the Archdiocese of Alanya, which lay on the approaches to the mountain passes on the Caucasian segment of the Great Silk Road.

Within the framework of the general problems of the history of the medieval Caucasus, much attention is paid to the study of cultural and political ties, ethnographic features, analysis and reconstruction of social structures of ancient communities and historical and cultural processes that took place in the Caucasus, interregional relations, contacts with states and cultures of Transcaucasia, the Middle East and Europe.