The Rocky Ridge, with its malachite slopes, shelters the true gem of the Digor Gorge – the half-ruined Sedanov fortress. A touching legend is connected to it, which the Ossetians reverently pass down from mouth to mouth.
In a beautiful valley, hidden behind the powerful back of the Rocky Ridge, lie the oldest auls of Ossetia. One of the most famous here is the mountain village of Zadalesk, steeped in legends. There are two auls with this name – Upper and Lower. It is above the first that the fortress rises, unparalleled in Digoria.
The peculiarity of the Sedanov fortress is that the half-ruined walls stand on a cliff inaccessible from three sides – around it gape dark abyssal drops. The only way to get here is along a sharp, sword-like stone spur, but without climbing gear, it is impossible. They say there used to be a drawbridge here, but it has not survived. How the Sedanov brothers, who according to legend lived here in the early Middle Ages, managed to build a fortification in such an inaccessible location remains a mystery, but the fortress fully served its purpose. Even almost ruined, it commands considerable respect.
Looking at the facts, the Sedanov family, along with the Ikaevs and Godzhievs, really existed and were considered old-timers of the Digor Gorge. So the fortress’s past is linked not only to colorful myths.
Among the ancestral towers of Ossetia, the fortress of the seven Sedanov brothers is wrapped in the most attractive historical-heroic aura, with a slight mythological tint. So, the legend says that around the 13th century, the cruel and power-hungry Shah Nadir treacherously attacked the fortress.
Initially, attempts were made to storm the fortress, but the assault failed spectacularly. Then the enraged ruler ordered a siege of the tower, intending to wait until the warriors, exhausted by hunger and thirst, surrendered. Perhaps the plan would have worked, but the Sedanovs had three beautiful sisters. Only they knew the secret rocky passage leading to a pure spring – from there the girls brought water to their brothers. After some time, the shah suspected something was wrong and ordered the sisters to be tracked down. The beauties were captured and tortured for a long time, but they did not reveal the secret passage.
Then the ruler ordered the girls to be executed and their bodies to be thrown in plain sight near the fortress. Here the legend splits into two versions. According to one, the brothers, seeing their dead sisters, rushed to the exit to die fighting the enemy and avenge the girls. But their father stopped them and ordered them to shoot at the rock holding back large boulders from falling.
When the enemy noticed the brothers shooting at the cliff, they were surprised – perhaps the poor men had gone mad with grief? But eventually, the boulder cracked, and the enemy camp was buried under a massive stone river.
The second version of the legend is more mystical. According to it, on the night after the execution, a terrible thunderstorm broke out: terrifying lightning flashed and rain poured continuously. Then, at one moment, the mountain on which the shah’s camp stood suddenly split open and swallowed the enemy army.
By the way, in connection with the Sedanov brothers’ fortress, it is worth mentioning three stone tsyrts, which echo the ancient legend. On the memorial monuments are depicted those very sisters who, under threat of death, did not betray their brothers. Silent witnesses of fierce battles and peaceful Ossetian life that passed here over the last few centuries serve as a tangible reminder of turbulent and dangerous times.
Sources:
https://club-voshod.com/info/pohodnoe_info/dostoprimechatelnosti/severnaya_osetiya/krepost_semi_bratev_sedanovyh/
