Chechen Medieval Towers-Obelisks to the Issue of Architectural Form Interpretation

Abstract

Stone constructions were built in Chechnya over the course of observable ancient history. Among them are the most common and well-known ones – towers. These are residential towers, watchtowers and towers-obelisks with pyramidal-stepped roofs classified as “military” in academic literature. This paper analyses the most accomplished towers in this line both esthetically and by the level of architectural mastery and construction technology – the so-called “military” towers. Those towers were constructed nearby inhabited dwellings as well as in most inaccessible places – on cliffs and steep slopes above rivers. They are built with no basement but in their foundation always have massive exceeding human height stones. The foundation square is 5 × 5 m narrowing greatly towards the top and reaching over twenty meters in height. The research conducted allows us to claim that the “military” towers were not capable of withstanding a siege, however brief, or protecting people seeking shelter within it. In our opinion, the “military” towers of Chechnya are in fact ceremonial constructions dedicated to the supreme god of Chechens’ pagan pantheon Dela. In the pre-Islamic period in the Chechen spiritual culture we observe an integral world picture with its own cosmogony, mythology and a pantheon of gods with the triad at the top – god of sun and light Dela, god of thunder Sela and goddess of fertility Tusholi. There are also material testimonies of spiritual practices of ancient Chechens that have reached our times - megaliths, sculptural images Tusholi, sanctuaries-selings devoted to Sela. Dela, undoubtedly, had his own temples that are the widespread in medieval Chechnya towers-obelisks with pyramidal-stepped roofs.