A little something I wrote that discusses modern Zoroastrianism in the three countries. Nothing groundbreaking or new but a good starting point for those who may be interested, as these are mainly my own amateur research to satisfy my own curiosity.
Please find Zoroastrianism in Transcaucasia; here
Other articles;
Bunkturks - in ancient Georgian sources are called one of the oldest inhabitants of Transcaucasia.
There are several interpretations: E. Takaishvili, referring to the dictionaries of S. S. Orbeliani and D. Chubinov, considered this term as borrowed from the Armenian language: bun - "the handle of the spear", hence the Bun-Turks - "the Turk-spearmen"; M. Brosset translated this word as a turk-primitif; N. Marr explains that the word bun, borrowed in Georgian (as well as in Armenian) from Persian, means "native-born", hence the Bun-Turks are "indigenous, authentic Turks".
This point of view is supported by other authors. The first mentions about "fierce tribes of Bunturks living along the course of the Kura River in four cities with their suburbs" telling the oldest Georgian chronicle "Moktsevai Kartlisai" (written in the Xth century), about the events of the 4th-3rd centuries BC on the territory of Georgia and adjacent areas of the South Caucasus. Similar information is also found in the chronicle "Kartlis tskhovreba" by Leonti Mroveli (11th century):
"Alexander conquered all parts of the Earth. He passed from West to South, in the North he crossed the Caucasus and came to Kartli. And he found all the Kartlians the worst of all the tribes and clans, because they did not observe the kinship at the time of marriage, ate all sorts of things, ate their ashes, like dumb animals, and there are no words to describe their way of life... And seeing these inhabitants around this river of the Kura, the cruel pagan tribes, which we call Bunturks and Kipchaks, Alexander was amazed, because none of the tribes did anything like this". Givi Tsulaya believes that the term "bunturk" was used as pejorative for characterizing the Kartli population of the pre-Hellenistic period, and also for the Kipchaks.
Which is the better path? Stay with pirate stalin or form gulagsvile with beria? And by better i mean more buffs and just general OP focuses
