Darial Gorge
The
Darial Gorge is found in
the
Caucasus in modern day
Georgia near the border
with
Russia. It is at the east base
of
Mount Kazbek, pierced by the river Terek for a distance of 8 meters between vertical walls of rock (5900 feet). It is mentioned in the
Georgian annals under the names of Ralani, Dargani,
Darialani; the Persians and Arabs knew it as the Gate of the
Alans; Strabo calls it Porta Caucasica and Porta Cumana;
Ptolemy, Fortes Sarmatica; it was sometimes known as Portae
Caspiae (a name bestowed also on the "gate" or pass beside
the
Caspian Sea at Derbent); and the
Tatars call it Darioly.
Being the only available passage across the Caucasus, it has
been long fortified -- at least since 150 B.C.
In Russian poetry it has been immortalized by
Lermontov. The
Russian fort, Darial, which guarded this section of
the
Georgian Military Road, is at the northern end of the
gorge, at an altitude of 4746 feet.
Reference