The Caucasus Mountains are generally perceived to be a dividing line between Asia and Europe, and territories in Caucasia are alternately considered to be in one or both continents. The highest peak in the Caucasus is Mount Elbrus (5,642 m) which, in the western Ciscaucasus in Russia, is generally considered the highest point in Europe.
The Ciscaucasus contains the larger majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range, also known as the Major Caucasus mountains. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. All of Armenia, Azerbaijan (excluding the northern parts) and Georgia (excluding the northern parts) are in South Caucasus.
Located on the peripheries of Turkey and Russia, the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, and cultural rivalries and expansionism for centuries. Throughout its history, the Caucasus was usually incorporated into the Iranian world. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire conquered the territory from the Qajars.[5]
Ancient kingdoms of the region included Armenia, Albania, Colchis and Iberia, among others. These kingdoms were later incorporated into various empires, including Media, Achaemenid Empire, Parthian Empire, and Sassanid Empire. By this time, Zoroastrianism had become the dominant religion of the region; however, the region would go through two other religious transformations. Owing to the rivalry between Persia and Rome, and later Byzantium, the latter would invade the region several times, although it was never able to hold the region. However, because Armenia and Georgia had become a Christian entity, Christianity began to overtake Zoroastrianism. With the Islamic conquest of Persia, the region came under the rule of the Arabs. Armenia and the majority of Georgia maintained Christianity and drove the Muslims out. The region would later be conquered by the Seljuks, Ottomans, Mongols, local kingdoms and khanates, as well as, once again, Persia, until its conquest by Russia.
In modern times, the Caucasus became a region of war among the Ottoman Empire, Iran and Russia, and was eventually conquered by the latter (see Caucasian Wars).
The region has many different languages and languages families. There are more than
50 ethnic groups living in the region.[6] No less than three language families are unique for the area, but also Indo-European languages such Armenian and Ossetic, and the Altaic language Azerbeijani are local to the area.
Today the peoples of the Northern and Southern Caucasus tend to be either Orthodox Christians or Sunni Muslims. Shia Islam has had many adherents historically in Azerbaijan, located in the eastern part of the region.
In Greek mythology the Caucasus, or Kaukasos, was one of the pillars supporting the world. After presenting man with the gift of fire, Prometheus was chained there by Zeus, to have his liver eaten daily by an eagle.
The Roman poet Ovid placed Caucasus in Scythia and depicted it as a cold and stony mountain which was the abode of personified hunger. The Greek hero Jason sailed to the west coast of the Caucasus in pursuit of the Golden Fleece, and there met the famed Medea.
