TRAVELS IX CIKCASSIA. 397 



mined to punish them for such contumacious conduct, 

 and sent a picked force to Souchoum Kaleh. The 

 Abkhasians took refuge in a strong castle which 

 crowned a hill overlooking a steep gorge which issues 

 from the mountains a little to the right of Souksou, 

 and which still partially exists under the name of 

 Anakopi. Had we known, when we saw it in the 

 distance, what interesting associations have attached 

 to it, Ave might have attempted to visit it. The 

 Abkhasians, however, notwithstanding the strength 

 of the place, did not hold out against the military 

 tact of the Roman general, and the castle was taken 

 and burned ; but this spot owes its chief celebrity 

 throughout the country to the still older tradition 

 which attaches to it; for here, it is said, are laid 

 the bones of Simon the Canaanite. 



The result of the war between Justinian and 

 Khosroes was to place more decidedly than ever 

 the Transcaucasian provinces under the suzerainty 

 of the Byzantine Empire. 



Abkhasia, as well as the other provinces, felt this 

 influence, and between the fifth and tenth centuries 

 made considerable progress in civilisation. The greater 

 part of those churches and forts, the ruins of which 

 add so much to the picturesque character of the scenery, 

 date from this period. Hitherto the princes of Ab- 

 khasia, though owning allegiance to the Gfreek empe- 

 rors, were independent of the neighbouring provinces. 

 Towards the close of the tenth century, however, the 



