Shible / Шыблэ

Adyghe a.k.a. Circassians and everything related to them.

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

Hello everyone!

This is our first episode of our podcast Shible in English!

Hope you will like it!

https://t.co/1qYFZNTHaC

[OC Media @OCMediaorg]

Mantas Kvedaravičius’s 2011 documentary traces a system of disappearances in post-war Grozny that the Russian state would later deploy in Ukraine.

🔗 Read more: https://t.co/rpD7a1BTWC

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

I’m here with fascinated news! I got the CD from an uncle! Let’s learn Circassian!

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

Just opened an old memory. How about you?!
Still remember the music when you open the game :)

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

For those, who wondered where I again disappeared. I did an internship in Tbilisi with OC Media. Here my latest feature about the Kosovo Circassians. There is also more of some local news and another feature about the Circassian New Year.
Enjoy, start a membership with OC Media

[OC Media @OCMediaorg]

For Kosovo Circassians, returning to Adygea was meant to be a homecoming — yet for many, coming back after 150 years brought new challenges.

🔗Read more: https://t.co/OFl1XyRLUs

[alp like the mountains🌋 Цей @nihilismisok]

Circassian Fire -

Naphtha, a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture, may hold the key to solving the thousand-year mystery of Greek fire. The Greek word νάφθα (naphtha) derives from Old Persian 𐎴𐎳𐎫 (naft). According to Constantine VII's 10th-century work De Administrando Imperio, the secret of Greek fire was revealed through divine intervention—an angel and the first Christian Emperor Constantine appeared to Constantine VII in a prophetic dream.

While Constantine VII kept the exact composition secret, he revealed crucial information about a key ingredient: petroleum naphtha (νάφθα). He identified its source as wells located in "Pàghai," a city in the northwestern Caucasus Range in Zikhia and its surrounding region. Constantine VII also noted that access to these wells depended on maintaining good relations with the Zikhians.

The Caucasus region, particularly around modern-day Chechnya and Dagestan, is rich in natural petroleum deposits. Ancient oil seeps and naphtha wells were documented in this area for centuries, making Constantine VII's account geographically plausible.

The Byzantines guarded the Greek fire formula so zealously that they restricted knowledge to the imperial family. Constantine VII's emphasis on maintaining diplomatic relations with Zikhia suggests the empire's dependence on this external source—a vulnerability they couldn't eliminate.

Naphtha's characteristics align with descriptions of Greek fire: it's highly flammable, can float on water and continue burning, and was known to ancient peoples. Mixed with other substances like quicklime or sulfur, it could produce the devastating effects described in naval battles.

Other ancient sources, including Herodotus and Strabo, documented petroleum products and natural bitumen deposits in the Caucasus region, establishing a long history of knowledge about these substances in the area.

The Zikhians/Circassians occupied a strategic position controlling access to these natural resources. Their role as gatekeepers to the naphtha wells would have given them significant leverage in relations with Byzantium, explaining why Constantine VII stressed the importance of their goodwill.

The northwestern Caucasus provided Byzantine ships access via the Black Sea, making it a viable supply route despite the distance from Constantinople. This logistical feasibility strengthens the plausibility of regular naphtha procurement from Zikhia.

"There is there yet another spring yielding naphtha, in the village called Chamouch. Chamouch is the name of the man of olden times who founded the village; for this reason that village was called Chamouch''.

''In Zikhia, near the place called Pagi, which is in the region of Papagia and is inhabited by Zichians, are nine wells yielding naphtha, but the oils of the nine wells are not of the same colour, some of them being red, some yellow, and some blackish."

The connection is striking: just as Prometheus stole fire from the gods in the Caucasus Mountains, the mysterious and nearly divine weapon of Greek fire originated from the same region—the land the Circassians called Zikhia. The convergence of mythology, geography, and historical documentation suggests that the "divine" nature of Greek fire may have been as much about its inaccessible source as its devastating effectiveness.

Aside from mythology and history I can also add the linguistic point open to discussion; which is the phonetic similarity between the Circassian word for fire—мафӀэ (mafIe) in Kabardian and машӀо (mashIo) in Adyghe—and the word 'naphtha' (Persian: naft, Greek: naphtha) hints at a deeper, possibly ancient connection between the Caucasian peoples and the naming of this fire-producing substance. While mainstream etymology traces 'naphtha' to Akkadian (𒉌𒆳𒊏) and Persian roots meaning 'wet' or 'burning,' the fact that Circassians lived directly above these petroleum deposits and their word for 'fire' echoes the international term for this flammable substance suggests a linguistic mystery worthy of further investigation. Whether through ancient substrate languages, trade contact, or independent development, the convergence of sound and meaning—fire and naphtha, both in Circassian lands—is too striking to ignore.

(revised from older post)

https://t.co/iaVGf4tu5D

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. De Administrando Imperio. Chapter 53, pp. 284-285.

⋰Ẍ⋱
#Circassia #Adyghe #Caucasus #Cerkes

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

Updates soon. The X account will at first stay the same but after the relaunch I will update the Name and everything connected to it. Thank you for being part of this!

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

News! our Russian-language Шыблэ podcast (and related projects) are going on pause. Thank you for 3.5 years of support!
Our biggest achievement is the community and connections we built. Thank you for the support, shares, and listens!

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

Because we’re restarting, I’ll be removing the early podcast and relaunching with a clearer structure (seasons, stronger research, better storytelling).
The goal: fewer “quick uploads”, more episodes I can actually be proud of. Same heart, better craft.

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

I disappeared again. But there will be some major updates these days. So stay tuned.

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

I know we disappeared again — but we got this mark today! Huge thanks to everyone who keeps supporting us, even when we go quiet.

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

May 21

Today is a day of remembrance and mourning — the most important day for all of us. Every year on this date, all channels, chats, and statuses remind us of the events of the past, of the collective trauma and the attempts to comprehend it.

We have gathered for you several video messages filmed by Dr. Batiray Yedic (Özbek) for his personal archive. We hope these messages will move you as deeply as they moved us.

The videos were recorded in the 1980s in the studio of the artist Felix Petuvash.

Message authors:
Yemizh Muliat
Chirg Askhad
Bedanyqo Nikhyad
Kukan Murat
Zekhov Zaurbiy

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

@AmMaryana Yeah, that is exactly what I mean.

Ары!

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

One thing I will never understand: being part of an Adyghe Xase in a European country and doing everything in Turkish. I get it — Adyghe might be hard to learn (though that’s not an excuse), and not everyone speaks it. But why does everyone just assume that everyone speaks Turkish?

My father was one of the founders of the European Xase. Watching the old videos from gatherings in Germany and other countries, I see people speaking Adyghe. Now? It’s only Turkish.

I was once invited to Mannheims Xase. Everything there was in Turkish. Sure, my dad spoke Turkish, but he never taught it to us. My sister and I speak Adyghebze. After the official part, some of the new leaders asked me if I liked the event. I answered honestly: “It felt like a Turkish Xase, not an Adyghe one.” Their reply? “Not everyone speaks Adyghe.”
And I said: “Well, not everyone speaks Turkish either — but most people at least understand German.”

There are many Adyghe from the Caucasus living here in Europe. But I know that many of them — myself included — don’t attend these events anymore, because everything is in Turkish.

Without the language, it honestly feels wrong to claim you’re Adyghe. That’s my opinion — and the opinion of many elders I personally know, who built our community here. Learn and speak Adyghebze. That’s our culture. That’s the only way we can remain a nation in a time when small communities are disappearing.

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

@BotanixB @ADoolotkeldieva It’s ok ;)

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

@BotanixB @ADoolotkeldieva Ahah no I live in Germany but not in Potsdam. Currently studying in Bremen) I’m attending a conference in Potsdam once a year, where I tell about Circassians)

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

@BotanixB Wow! Thank you!
I definitely need to learn polski :)
Not only to research about the family of my grandfather who were Polish, but also because of all these Circassian-Polish relationships in several ways.

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

@adigauk I was maybe 5 or 6 when I played it. It’s really a core memory!!!!! I’ll definitely write an email to the support team. Hope that at least the mail works. We need to say “thank you” because we had this masterpiece before all the AI stuff!

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

Three Years with Shible!

Time flies when you’re doing what you love!

Happy birthday to us!

This year, I hope to do even more for our English-speaking followers.

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

@DigitalBorz I have it as a book. Didn’t see it as a pdf. But of course it would be very great to translate it so others could read it. It’s one of the best books about Circassian in the field now)

[Shible / Шыблэ @thashible]

Pirates of the Caucasus

A hidden chapter of Circassian history — seafaring and piracy in the Black Sea. Who were the Circassian pirates? What drove them to the waves? Discover a whole new side of the Caucasus.

Listen now:
https://t.co/kjlmd26ks7