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Colchisეგრისი Egrisi
13th century BC–131 AD
Colchis and Iberia
Capital	Aea
Common languages	Greek–Aramaic (language of governance, numismatics and culture), Karto-Zan and Svan (native languages), many others
Historical era	Iron Age, Classical antiquity
• Consolidation of Colchian tribes	13th century BC
• Conquest of Diauehi	750 BC
• Two invasions of Sardur II of Urartu	744/743 BC
• Cimmerian and Scythian invasions	720 BC
• Conquest of Mithridates VI	After 70 BC
• Disestablished	131 AD
Preceded by Succeeded by Colchian culture Lazica
Today part of	Georgia Russia Turkey

Part of a series on the
History of Georgia
Prehistoric Georgia Shulaveri–Shomu culture Kura–Araxes culture Legend of Kartlos Trialeti culture Colchian culture Diauehi Mushki
Ancient history Colchis Aryan Kartli Kingdom of Iberia Pharnavazid dynasty Georgia in the Roman era Artaxiad dynasty of Iberia Campaign of Pompey Iberian–Armenian War Lazica Arsacid dynasty of Iberia Sasanian Iberia Chosroid dynasty Christianization of Iberia
Middle Ages Iberian War Lazic War Principality of Iberia Umayyad invasion of Georgia Arab rule in Georgia Emirate of Tbilisi Duchy of Tao Duchy of Klarjeti Bagrationi dynasty Kingdom of Hereti Kingdom of the Iberians Kingdom of Abkhazia Theme of Iberia Duchy of Kldekari Unification of the Georgian realm Kingdom of Georgia Duchy of Racha Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti Byzantine–Georgian wars Great Turkish Invasion Georgian–Seljuk wars Georgian Golden Age Mongol invasions of Georgia Kingdom of Eastern Georgia Kingdom of Western Georgia Armenia within the Kingdom of Georgia Timurid invasions of Georgia Turkoman invasions of Georgia Duchy of Aragvi Collapse of the Georgian realm
Early modern history Duchy of Ksani Samtskhe-Saatabago Kingdom of Kartli Kingdom of Kakheti Kingdom of Imereti Principality of Guria Principality of Svaneti Principality of Mingrelia Principality of Abkhazia Safavid Georgia Childir Eyalet Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti
Modern history Georgia within the Russian Empire 1832 Georgian plot Gurian Republic Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic Democratic Republic of Georgia Red Army invasion of Georgia Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic Georgia since 1991 Russo-Georgian War
History by topic Etymology Monarchs States Tbilisi Military history Wars Battles Chronology

In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (/ˈkɒlkɪs/; Ancient Greek: Κολχίς) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi (Georgian: ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia.

Its population, the Colchians, are generally thought to have been mainly an early Kartvelian-speaking tribe ancestral to contemporary western Georgians, namely Svans and Zans. According to David Marshall Lang: "one of the most important elements in the modern Georgian nation, the Colchians were probably established in the Caucasus by the Middle Bronze Age."

It has been described in modern scholarship as "the earliest Georgian formation", which, along with the Kingdom of Iberia, would later contribute significantly to the development of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Georgian nation.

Colchis is known in Greek mythology as the destination of the Argonauts, as well as the home to Medea and the Golden Fleece. It was also described as a land rich with gold, iron, timber and honey that would export its resources mostly to ancient Hellenic city-states. Colchis likely had a diverse population. According to Greek and Roman sources, between 70 and 300 languages were spoken in Dioscourias (modern Sukhumi) alone.

According to Rayfield, the first mention of Colchis is during the reign of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1245–1209 BC) when he mentions "40 kings by the Upper Sea". Colchis territory is mostly assigned to what is now the western part of Georgia and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Adjara, Svaneti, Racha; Abkhazia; modern Russia's Sochi and Tuapse districts; and present-day Turkey’s Artvin, Rize, and Trabzon provinces.

Geography and toponyms

Colchis, Kolkha, Qulḫa, or Kilkhi, which existed from the c. 13th to the 1st centuries BC, is regarded as an early ethnically Georgian polity; the name of the Colchians was used as the collective term for early Kartvelian tribes which populated the eastern coast of the Black Sea in Greco-Roman ethnography.

According to Donald Rayfield, the ethnic makeup of Colchis is "obscure" and Kartvelian names "are conspicuously absent from the few anthronyms found in Colchian burials." Instead, Greek, Anatolian, Iranian, and possibly Abkhaz names are present.

At the beginning of the XX century, a researcher of ancient history Peter Ushakov notes: "In ancient times, during the 15th-18th centuries BC, the tribes of the Abkhazian-Circassian group inhabited the entire space of the western half of the Caucasus from the Black Sea province through the whole of Colchis in a continuous strip to the sources of the Euphrates and were divided into four branches: the people of Mitanni, Colchians, Abasgi and Ubykhs."

The name Colchis is thought to have derived from the Urartian Qulḫa. In the mid-eighth century BC, Sarduri II, the King of Urartu, inscribed his victory over Qulḫa on a stele; however, the exact location of Qulḫa is disputed. Some scholars argue the name Qulḫa (Colchís) originally referred to a land to the west of Georgia. Others argue Qulḫa may have been located in the south, near modern Göle, Turkey.

According to Levan Gordeziani, while the Greek Colchis etymologically descends from Urartian Qulḫa, the Greeks may have applied the name to a different region (and/or cultures) than the preceding Urartians had. Further confusion rests in possible differences in the Greeks' own usage of the name Colchis in political and mythological contexts (i.e. the relationship between "Aia-Colchis" and "the land of Colchis").

According to the scholar of Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff:

Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer. Colchis can be justly regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian (West Georgian) kingdom. ... It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation.

According to most Classical-era sources, Colchis was bordered on the south-west by Pontus, on the west by the Black Sea, as far as the river Corax. To its north was the Greater Caucasus, beyond which was Sarmatia. On its east it bordered the Kingdom of Iberia and Montes Moschici (now the Lesser Caucasus). The south of Colchis bordered Armenia. The westward extent of the country is considered differently by different authors: Strabo makes Colchis begin at Trabzon, while Ptolemy, on the other hand, extends Pontus to the Rioni River.

Although some ancient authors consider Dioscurias to be the extreme northern settlement point of Colchians (in an ethnic sense), nevertheless "they consider it as a point located on the territory of non-Colchian tribes (Heniochi, Sanigs)". Since in a later era the name "Colchians" was organically connected with the name "Lazi", it should be remembered that Byzantine sources saw the northern limit of the spread of Laz people somewhere between the Phasis (modern. Poti) and Dioscurias".

The Greek name Kolchís (Κολχίς) is first used to describe a geographic area in the writings of Aeschylus and Pindar. Earlier writers speak of the "Kolchian" (Κολχίδα) people and their mythical king Aeëtes (Αἰήτης), as well as his eponymous city Aea or Aia (Αἶα), but don't make explicit references to a Kolchis nation or region. The main river was known as the Phasis (now Rioni) and was, according to some writers the southern boundary of Colchis, but more probably flowed through the middle of that country from the Caucasus west into the Euxine, and the Anticites or Atticitus (now Kuban). Arrian mentions many others by name, but they would seem to have been little more than mountain torrents: the most important of them were Charieis, Chobus or Cobus, Singames, Tarsuras, Hippus, Astelephus, Chrysorrhoas, several of which are also noticed by Ptolemy and Pliny. The chief towns were Dioscurias or Dioscuris (under the Romans called Sebastopolis, now Sukhumi) on the seaboard of the Euxine, Sarapana (now Shorapani), Phasis (now Poti), Pityus (now Pitsunda), Apsaros (now Gonio), Surium (now Vani), Archaeopolis (now Nokalakevi), Macheiresis, and Cyta or Cutatisium or Aia (now Kutaisi), the traditional birthplace of Medea. Scylax mentions also Mala or Male, which he, in contradiction to other writers, makes the birthplace of Medea.

Physical-geographic characteristics

In physical geography, Colchis is usually defined as the area east of the Black Sea coast, restricted from the north by the southwestern slopes of the Greater Caucasus, from the south by the northern slopes of the Lesser Caucasus in Georgia and Eastern Black Sea (Karadeniz) Mountains in Turkey, and from the east by Likhi Range, connecting the Greater and the Lesser Caucasus. The central part of the region is Colchis Plain, stretching between Sukhumi and Kobuleti; most of that lies on the elevation below 20 m (66 ft) above sea level. Marginal parts of the region are mountains of the Great and the Lesser Caucasus and Likhi Range.

Its territory mostly corresponds to what is now the western part of Georgia and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Adjara, Abkhazia, Svaneti, Racha; the modern Turkey’s Rize, Trabzon and Artvin provinces (Lazistan, Tao-Klarjeti); and the modern Russia’s Sochi and Tuapse districts.

The climate is mild humid; near Batumi, annual rainfall level reaches 4,000 mm (160 in), which is the absolute maximum for continental western Eurasia. The dominating natural landscapes of Colchis are temperate rainforests, yet degraded in the plain part of the region; wetlands (along the coastal parts of Colchis Plain); subalpine and alpine meadows.

Colchis has a high proportion of Neogene and Palaeogene relict plants and animals, with the closest relatives in distant parts of the world: five species of Rhododendrons and other evergreen shrubs, wingnuts, Caucasian salamander, Caucasian parsley frog, eight endemic species of lizards from the genus Darevskia, the Caucasus adder (Vipera kaznakovi), Robert's snow vole, and endemic cave shrimp.

Economy, agriculture and natural resources

Millet was the main staple crop in Colchis. Wheat grew in certain regions and was also imported by sea. Similarly, local wines were produced and some wines were brought from overseas. The Colchian plain provided ample grazing land for cattle and horses, with the name of Phasis associated with fine horses. The wetlands were a home for waterfowl, while Colchian pheasants were exported to Rome and became a symbol of excess condemned by Roman moralists. The Colchian hinterland lacked salt and demand was satisfied partially by local production on the coast and partially by imports from the northern coast of the Black Sea.

Colchis provided slaves as a tribute to the Achaemenid Empire and Colchian slaves are also attested in Ancient Greece.

History

Prehistory and earliest references

The eastern Black Sea region in antiquity was home to the well-developed Bronze Age culture known as the Colchian culture, related to the neighbouring Koban culture, that emerged toward the Middle Bronze Age. In at least some parts of Colchis, the process of urbanization seems to have been well advanced by the end of the second millennium BC. The Colchian Late Bronze Age (fifteenth to eighth century BC) saw the development of significant skill in the smelting and casting of metals. Sophisticated farming implements were made, and fertile, well-watered lowlands and a mild climate promoted the growth of progressive agricultural techniques.

The earliest attestations of the name of Colchis can be found in the 8th century Greek poet Eumelus of Corinth as Κολχίδα and earlier, in Urartian records as Qulḫa mentioned by the Urartian kings, who conquered it in 744 or 743 BC before the Urartians and their territories were themselves conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

According to Svante Cornell, "What could be conceived as the proto Georgian statehood emerged mainly in the Western parts of today's Georgia, with the kingdom of Colchis (Kolkheti) in the sixth century BC."

Colchis was inhabited by a number of tribes whose settlements lay along the shore of the Black Sea. Chief among those were the Machelones, Heniochi, Zydretae, Lazi, Chalybes, Tibareni/Tubal, Mossynoeci, Macrones, Moschi, Marres, Apsilae, Abasci, Sanigae, Coraxi, Coli, Melanchlaeni, Geloni and Soani (Suani). The ancients assigned various origins to the tribes that inhabited Colchis.

Herodotus regarded the Colchians as "dark-skinned (μελάγχροες) and woolly-haired" and calls them Egyptians. Herodotus states that the Colchians, with the Ancient Egyptians and the Ethiopians, were the first to practice circumcision, a custom which he claims that the Colchians inherited from remnants of the army of Pharaoh Sesostris (Senusret III). Herodotus writes:

For it is plain to see that the Colchians are Egyptians; and what I say, I myself noted before I heard it from others. When it occurred to me, I inquired of both peoples; and the Colchians remembered the Egyptians better than the Egyptians remembered the Colchians; the Egyptians said that they considered the Colchians part of Sesostris' army. I myself guessed it, partly because they are dark-skinned and woolly-haired; though that indeed counts for nothing, since other peoples are, too; but my better proof was that the Colchians and Egyptians and Ethiopians are the only nations that have from the first practised circumcision.

These claims have been widely rejected by modern historians. It is in doubt if Herodotus had ever been to Colchis or Egypt, and no Egyptian army ever set foot in the Caucasus, a region shielded by states to the south of the Caucasus too powerful for any Egyptian army to pass through, such as Urartu, Hittia, Assyria and Mitanni.

According to Pliny the Elder:

The Colchians were governed by their own kings in the earliest ages, that Sesostris king of Egypt was overcome in Scythia, and put to fight, by the king of Colchis, which if true, that the Colchians not only had kings in those times, but were a very powerful people.

Many modern theories suggest that the ancestors of the Laz-Mingrelians constituted the dominant ethnic and cultural presence in the region in antiquity, and hence played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of the modern Georgians.

Pausanias, a 1st-century BC Greek geographer, citing the poet Eumelos, assigned Aeëtes, the mythological first king of Colchis, a Greek origin.

Persian rule

The tribes living in the southern Colchis (Macrones, Moschi, and Marres) were incorporated into Persia and formed the 19th satrapy, while the northern tribes submitted "voluntarily" and had to send to the Persian court 100 girls and 100 boys every five years. In 400 BC, shortly after the Ten Thousand reached Trapezus, a battle was fought between them and the Colchis in which the latter were decisively defeated. The influence exerted on Colchis by the vast Achaemenid Empire with its thriving commerce and wide economic and commercial ties with other regions accelerated the socio-economic development of the Colchian land.

Subsequently, the Colchis people appear to have overthrown the Persian Authority, and to have formed an independent state. According to Ronald Suny this western Georgian state was federated to Kartli-Iberia, and its kings ruled through skeptoukhi (royal governors) who received a staff from the king. According to David Braund's reading of Strabo's account, the native Colchian dynasty continued ruling the country in spite of its fragmentation into skeptoukhies.

Gocha R. Tsetskhladze explains that although Colchis and neighboring Iberia were once viewed as not having been under Achaemenid rule, "ever more evidence is emerging to show that they were, forming a lesser part of the Armenian satrapy".

• Second century BC Greek bronze torso from Colchis, Cinquantenaire Museum
• Colchian pendants, riders and horses on wheeled platforms, Georgian National Museum

Under Pontus

Mithridates VI quelled an uprising in the region in 83 BC and gave Colchis to his son Mithridates, who, soon being suspected in having plotted against his father, was executed. During the Third Mithridatic War, Mithridates VI made another of his sons, Machares, king of Bosporus and Colchis, who held his power, but only for a short period. On the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus in 65 BC, Colchis was occupied by Pompey, who captured one of the local chiefs (sceptuchus) Olthaces, and installed Aristarchus as a dynast (63–47 BC). On the fall of Pompey, Pharnaces II, son of Mithridates, took advantage of Julius Caesar being occupied in Egypt, and reduced Colchis, Armenia, and some part of Cappadocia, defeating Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, whom Caesar subsequently sent against him. His triumph was, however, short-lived. Under Polemon I, the son and heir of Zenon, Colchis was part of the Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom. After the death of Polemon (8 BC), his second wife Pythodorida of Pontus retained possession of Colchis as well as of Pontus, although the kingdom of Bosporus was wrested from her power. Her son and successor, Polemon II of Pontus, was induced by Emperor Nero to abdicate the throne, and both Pontus and Colchis were incorporated in the Province of Galatia (63) and later, in Cappadocia (81). Phasis, Dioscurias and other Greek settlements of the coast did not fully recover after the wars of 60-40 BC and Trebizond became the economical and political centre of the region.

Under Roman rule

Despite the fact that all major fortresses along the sea coast were occupied by the Romans, their rule was relatively loose. In 69, the people of Pontus and Colchis under Anicetus staged a major uprising against the Roman Empire, which ended unsuccessfully. The lowlands and coastal area were frequently raided by fierce mountain tribes, with the Svaneti and Heniochi being the most powerful of them. Paying a nominal homage to Rome, they created their own kingdoms and enjoyed significant independence.

Under Hadrian, the Romans established relations with Colchian tribes. Hadrian sent his advisor, Arrian, to tour Colchis and Iberia. Arrian depicted a turbulent fluctuation of tribal powers and boundaries, with various hostile and anarchic tribes in the area. The Laz controlled most of coastal Colchis, while other tribes such as the Sanigs and Abasgoi escaped Roman jurisdiction. Other tribes, like the Apsilae, were becoming powerful and their king with the Romanised name Julianus was recognized by Trajan. Arrian listed the following peoples in his Periplus of the Euxine Sea written in 130-131 (from south to north): Sanni, Machelones, Heniochi, Zudreitae, Lazi, Apsilae, Abasgoi, Sanigs and Zilchi.

According to traditional accounts Christianity began to spread in the early first century by Andrew the Apostle, Simon the Zealot, and Saint Matthias. A change in burial patterns in the 3rd century was possibly due to Christian influence. The Hellenistic civilization, local paganism and Mithraic Mysteries would, however, remain widespread until the fourth century. Goths, dwelling in the Crimea and looking for new homes, raided Colchis in 253, but were repulsed with the help of the Roman garrison of Pitsunda. By the first century BC, the Lazica (or the Laz) kingdom was established in the region. Lazica became known as Egrisi in 66 BC when Egrisi became a vassal of the Roman Empire after the Caucasian campaign of Pompey.

Numismatics

Colchian coins, the oldest of which were dated to the middle of the 6th century BC, served as the primary source of evidence for the Colchian state. A reassessment of the coins, however, has revealed that these early "Colchian" coins actually represent the production of a Achaemenid satrapy.

Rulers

Little is known of the rulers of Colchis.

In mythology

From the fifth century B.C.E. onwards, Colchis was identified as Aea, the mythical home of Aeëtes, Medea, the Golden Fleece, and the fire-breathing Colchis bulls and was the destination of the Argonauts.

Colchis also is thought to be a possible homeland of the Amazons. Amazons also were said to be of Scythian origin from Colchis.

According to the Greek mythology, Colchis was a fabulously wealthy land situated on the mysterious periphery of the heroic world. Here in the sacred grove of the war god Ares, King Aeëtes hung the Golden Fleece until it was seized by Jason and the Argonauts. Colchis was also the land where the mythological Prometheus was punished by being chained to a mountain while an eagle ate at his liver for revealing to humanity the secret of fire.

Apollonius of Rhodes named Aea as the main city (Argonautica, passim). The main mythical characters from Colchis are:

• Absyrtus, son of Aeëtes
• Aeëtes, King of Colchis, son of the sun-god Helios and the Oceanid Perseis (a daughter of Oceanus), brother of Circe and Pasiphae, and father of Medea, Chalciope, and Absyrtus
• Chalciope, daughter of King Aeëtes
• Circe, sister of King Aeëtes
• Idyia, Queen of Colchis, mother of Medea, Chalciope, and Absyrtus
• Medea, daughter of King Aeëtes
• Pasiphaë, sister of Aeëtes

See also

• Lazica
• Caucasian Iberia
• Pontus
• Roman Georgia
• Zygopolis

Explanatory notes

1. or Kolchis; /ˈkɒlkɪs/; Ancient Greek: Κολχίς, Kolkhís, Ancient Greek pronunciation: [kolkʰís]
2. Colchis was not an established and structurally institutionalized monarchy.
3. Also known as Egri, Egr, Eguri and Egros in The Georgian Chronicles and Conversion of Kartli chronicles. In the Old Armenian geography Ashkharhatsuyts, it is referred to as Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text (pos 5)/Latn script subtag mismatch (help) (Կողքիս) or Eger (Եգեր).

Citations

1. Morritt, R. D. (2010). Stones that Speak. Cambridge Scholars. p. 99. ISBN 9781443821766. The tribes in Colchis consolidated during the 13th century BCE. This was at this period mentioned in Greek mythology as Colchis as the destination of the Argonauts and the home of Medea in her domain of sorcery. She was known to Urartians as Qulha (Kolkha or Kilkhi).
2. Asatiani, Nodar; Janelidże, Otar (2009). History of Georgia: From Ancient Times to the Present Day. University of Michigan: Petite. p. 17. ISBN 9789941906367.
3. David Braund. Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC – AD 562. pp. 5,180.
4. Braund, David (2003). Georgia in Antiquity A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562. pp. 126–127.
5. Tsetskhladze 1993, p. 235, 240.
6. ^ Javakhishvili, Ivane. A History of the Georgian Nation. Book I. pp. 44–47. Colchis was mainly inhabited by Megrelian-Laz speaking tribes. Then Colchians conquered the land of the Svans.
7. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 14.
8. Morritt, R. D. (2010). Stones that Speak. Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 9781443821766. they absorbed part of Diaokh (c.750 BCE)
9. Assatiani, Nodar; Bendianachvili, Alexandre (1997). Histoire de la Géorgie. Paris: L'Harmattan. p. 31. ISBN 2-7384-6186-7.
10. Asatiani, Nodar; Janelidże, Otar (2009). History of Georgia. Tbilisi: Petite. p. 16.
11. Christansen, Birgit (2019). "Granaries in Urartu and Neighboring States and the Monumentalization of Administrative Records". In Avetisyan, Pavel S.; Dan, Roberto; Grekyan, Yervand H. (eds.). Over the Mountains and Far Away: Studies in Near Eastern History and Archaeology Presented to Mirjo Salvini on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday. Archaeopress. p. 141.
12. ^ Cook, Stanley Arthur; Charlesworth, Martin Percival; Bury, John Bagnell; Bury, John Bernard. The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. p. 350.
13. Rayfield 2012, p. 17.
14. Ronald Grigor Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation, 2nd ed., p 7
15. Savalli-Lestrade, I. (1998). Les philoi royaux dans l'Asie hellenistique. Droz: École pratique des hautes études: Sciences historiques et philologiques. p. 182. ISBN 9782600002905.
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25. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 15.
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48. David, Braund (1994). Georgia in Antiquity. A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC AD 562. Calendon Press. pp. 54–58. ISBN 0198144733.
49. David, Braund (1994). Georgia in Antiquity. A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC AD 562. Calendon Press. p. 67. ISBN 0198144733.
50. Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Gilmour, Brian J. J.; Khakhutaishvili, Nana (2014-09-01). "Late Bronze and Early Iron Age copper smelting technologies in the South Caucasus: the view from ancient Colchis c. 1500–600BC". Journal of Archaeological Science. 49: 147–159. Bibcode:2014JArSc..49..147E. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.034. ISSN 0305-4403.
51. Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Gilmour, Brian J. J.; Khakhutaishvili, Nana (2017-09-01). "Copper production landscapes of the South Caucasus". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 47: 109–126. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2017.03.003. ISSN 0278-4165.
52. Lordkipanidzé Otar, Mikéladzé Teimouraz. La Colchide aux VIIe-Ve siècles. Sources écrites antiques et archéologie. In: Le Pont-Euxin vu par les Grecs : sources écrites et archéologie. Symposium de Vani (Colchide), septembre-octobre 1987. Besançon : Université de Franche-Comté, 1990. pp. 167-187. (Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon, 427); https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_1990_act_427_1_1252
53. According to some scholars, ancient tribes such as the Absilae (mentioned by Pliny, 1st century CE) and Abasgoi (mentioned by Arrian, 2nd century CE) correspond to the modern Abkhazians (Chirikba, V., "On the etymology of the ethnonym apswa 'Abkhaz'", in The Annual of the Society for the Study of Caucasia, 3, 13-18, Chicago, 1991; Hewitt, B. G., "The valid and non-valid application of philology to history", in Revue des Etudes Georgiennes et Caucasiennes, 6-7, 1990-1991, 247-263; Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Larousse, tome 1, 1985, p. 20). However, this claim is controversial and no academic consensus has yet been reached. Other scholars suggest that these ethnonyms instead reflect a common regional origin, rather than emphasizing a distinct and separate ethnic and cultural identity in antiquity. For example, Tariel Putkaradze, a Georgian scholar, suggests, "In the 3rd-2nd millennia BC the Kartvelian, Abhaz-Abaza, Circassian-Adyghe and Vaynakh tribes must have been part of a great Ibero-Caucasian ethnos. Therefore, it is natural that several tribes or ethnoses descending from them have the names derived from a single stem. The Colchian Aphaz, Apsil, Apšil and north Caucasian Apsua, Abazaha, Abaza, existing in the 1st millennium, were the names denoting different tribes of a common origin. Some of these tribes (Apsils, Apshils) disappeared, others mingled with kindred tribes, and still others have survived to the present day." (Putkaradze, T. The Kartvelians, 2005, translated by Irene Kutsia)
54. "Liddell, Scott, Jones Ancient Greek Lexicon".
55. "Herodotus, the Histories, Book 2, chapter 104".
56. Fehling 1994, p. 13; Marincola 2001, p. 34.
57. The Shrines and Sepulchres of the Old and New World: Records of Pilgrimages in Many Lands, and Researches Connected with the History of Places Remarkable for Memorials of the Dea, Or Monuments of a Sacred Character; Including Notices of the Funeral Customs of the Principal Nations, Ancient and Modern, Volume 1, Richard Robert Madden, Newby, 1851, p. 293
58. An Universal History, From the Earliest Account of Time, Volume 10, George Sale, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell, John Swinton, p. 136 B.II.
59. Plin, I, xxxiii, c. 3.
60. Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States, James Minahan, p. 116
61. Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 80
62. Pausanias, Description of Greece (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2)
63. Rayfield 2012, p. 18-19.
64. Rayfield 2012, p. 19.
65. The Making of the Georgian Nation, 2nd Ed., Ronald Grigor Suny, p 13
66. David, Braund (1994). Georgia in Antiquity. A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC AD 562. Calendon Press. p. 154. ISBN 0198144733.
67. Tsetskhladze 2021, p. 665.
68. Pompey, Nic Fields p. 29
69. Rayfield 2012, p. 28.
70. ^ Rayfield 2012, p. 33.
71. Arrian; Falconer, Thomas (1805). Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea: Translated and Accompanied with a Geographical Dissertation and Maps: to which are Added Three Discourses, I. On the Trade to the East Indies by Means of the Euxine Sea, II. On the Distance which the Ships of Antiquity Usually Sailed in Twenty-four Hours, III. On the Measure of the Olympic Stadium. J. Cooke. p. 9.
72. West, Barbara A. (2009). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. New York: Facts on File. pp. 461. ISBN 978-0-8160-7109-8.
73. ^ Tsetskhladze 2022, p. 534.
74. Pindar Pythian Odes 4.11, 4.212; Simonides PMG545 (Schol. Eur. Med. 19); The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, George Stanley Faber p. 409
75. The Facts on File Companion to Classical Drama, John E. Thorburn "Colchian Bulls" p. 145
76. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire, Trevor Bryce p. 171
77. World Mythology: An Anthology of Great Myths and Epics, Donna Rosenberg p. 218
78. Celebrate the Divine Feminine: Reclaim Your Power with Ancient Goddess Wisdom, Joy Reichard p. 169
79. John Canzanella, Innocence and Anarchy p. 58
80. Margaret Meserve, Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought, p. 250
81. Diane P. Thompson, The Trojan War: Literature and Legends from the Bronze Age to the Present p. 193
82. Andrew Brown, A New Companion to Greek Tragedy p. 66
83. Mark Amaru Pinkham, The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom "The Amazons, The Female Serpents"
84. William G. Thalmann, Apollonius of Rhodes and the Spaces of Hellenism "Apollonius of Rhodes", p. 130
85. Casiday, A. (2012). The Orthodox Christian World: Routledge Worlds. Taylor & Francis. p. 59. ISBN 9781136314841.
86. Rapp, S.H. (2003). Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium: Subsidia. Peeters. p. 10. ISBN 9789042913189. Known in Old Georgian as Egrisi, this realm gained legendary repute with the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts whose adventure brought them to ;Colchis' (i.e., Egrisi) in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.
87. Hewsen, Robert H. (1992). The Geography of Ananias of Širak (Ašxarhac῾oyc῾): The Long and the Short Recensions. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. p. 125. ISBN 3-88226-485-3.

General and cited sources

• Braund, David (1994). Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC–AD 562. Clarendon Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-814473-3.
• Fehling, Detlev (1994). "The art of Herodotus and the margins of the world". In von Martels, Z.R.W.M. (ed.). Travel Fact and Travel Fiction: Studies on fiction, literary tradition, scholarly discovery, and observation in travel writing. Brill's Studies in Intellectual History Volume 55. Leiden, NL: Brill. pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-90-04-10112-8.
• Otar Lordkipanidze. Phasis: The River and City of Colchis. Geographica Historica 15. Franz Steiner, 2000. ISBN 3-515-07271-3.
• Marincola, John (2001). Greek Historians. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-922501-9.
• Melamid, Alexander (January 1993). "Colchis Today". The Geographical Review. 83 (1): 79–83. Bibcode:1993GeoRv..83...79M. doi:10.2307/215382. JSTOR 215382.
• Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911). "Colchis" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). pp. 662–663.
• Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires : A History of Georgia. Reaktion Books.
• Thordarson, Fridrik (1993). "COLCHIS". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VI, Fasc. 1. pp. 41–42.
• Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. "Pichvnari and Its Environs, 6th c BC–4th c A". Annales Littéraires de l'Université de Franche-Comté, 659, Editeurs: M. Clavel-Lévêque, E. Geny, P. Lévêque. Paris: Presses Universitaires Franc-Comtoises, 1999. ISBN 2-913322-42-5.
• Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. (2021). "The Northern Black Sea". In Jacobs, Bruno; Rollinger, Robert (eds.). A companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 665. ISBN 978-1119174288.
• Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. (1993). "On the numismatics of Colchis: the classical archaeologist's perspective". Dialogues d'histoire ancienne Année. 19–1: 233–256 (235). doi:10.3406/dha.1993.2084. A small percentage of the Colchian Type В hemidrachms are complete with Greek letters. The Greek language was widespread in Colchis and decrees were even issued in that language.
• Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. (2022). "Classical Archeology of the Pontus in the Archaic Period: Some Current Problems and Prospective Solutions". In Colombi, Camilla; Parisi, Valeria; Dally, Ortwin; Guggisberg, Martin; Piras, Giorgio (eds.). Comparing Greek Colonies: Mobility and Settlement Consolidation from. Walter de Gruyter.
• Akaki Urushadze. The Country of the Enchantress Media, Tbilisi, 1984 (in Russian and English).

External links

• "Colchis" in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD)
• Colchian coins
• Strabo on Colchis
• Herodotus on Colchis
• Pliny on Colchis
• Golden graves, archeological evidences Archived 2017-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Colchis (in German)
• Colchis at the Piano (amarcord.be) (in Dutch)

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