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ALBANIA (Ancient country) GEORGIA
Albania (he Albania: Eth. and Adj. Albanos, Albanios, Albanus, Albanius),
a country of Asia, lying about the E. part of the chain of Caucasus. The first
distinct information concerning it was obtained by the Romans and Greeks through
Pompey's expedition into the Caucasian countries in pursuit of Mithridates (B.C.
65); and the knowledge obtained from then to the time of Augustus is embodied
in Strabo's full description of the country and people (pp. 501, foll.). According
to him, Albania was bounded on the E. by the Caspian, here called the Albanian
Sea (Mare Albanum, Plin.); and on the N. by the Caucasus, here called Ceraunius
Mons, which divided it from Sarmatia Asiatica. On the W. it joined Iberia: Strabo
gives no exact boundary, but he mentions as a part of Albania the district of
Cambysene, that is, the valley of the Camnbyses, where he says the Armenians touch
both the Iberians and the Albanians. On the S. it was divided from the Great Armenia
by the river Cyrus (Kour). Later writers give the N. and W. boundaries differently.
It was found that the Albanians dwelt on both sides of the Caucasus, and accordingly
Pliny carries the country further N. as far as the river Casius (vi. 13. s. 15);
and he also makes the river Alazon (Alasan) the W. boundary towards Iberia (vi.
10. s. 11). Ptolemy (v. 12) names the river Soana (Soana) as the N. boundary;
and for the W. he assigns a line which he does not exactly describe, but which,
from what follows, seems to lie either between the Alazon and the Cambyses, or
even W. of the Cambyses. The Soana of Ptolemy is probably the Sulak or S. branch
of the great river Terek (mth. in 43° 45? N. lat.), S. of which Ptolemy mentions
the Gerrhus (Alksay?); then the Caesius, no doubt the Casius of Pliny (Koisou);
S. of Which again both Pliny and Ptolemy place the Albanus (prob. Samour), near
the city of Albana (Derbent). To these rivers, which fall into the Caspian N.
of the Caucasus, Pliny adds the Cyrus and its tributary, the Cambyses. Three other
tributaries of the Cyrus, rising in the Caucasus, are named by Strabo as navigable
rivers, the Sandobanes, Rhoetaces, and Canes. The country corresponds to the parts
of Georgia called Schirvan or Guirvan, with the addition (in its wider extent)
of Leghistan and Daghestan. Strabo's description of the country must, of course,
be understood as applying to the part of it known in his time, namely, the plain
between the Caucasus and the Cyrus. Part of it, namely, in Cambysene (on the W.),
was mountainous; the rest was an extensive plain. The mud brought down by the
Cyrus made the land along the shore of the Caspian marshy, but in general it was
extremely fertile, producing corn, the vine, and vegetables of various kinds almost
spontaneously; in some parts three harvests were gathered in the year from one
sowing, the first of them yielding fifty-fold. The wild and domesticated animals
were the finest of their kind; the dogs were able to cope with lions: but there
were also scorpions and venomous spiders (the tarantula). Many of these particulars
are confirmed by modern travellers.
The inhabitants were a fine race of men, tall and handsome, and more
civilised than their neighbours the Iberians. They had evidently been originally
a nomade people, and they continued so in a great degree. Paying only slight attention
to agriculture, they lived chiefly by hunting, fishing, and the produce of their
flocks and herds. They were a warlike race, their force being chiefly in their
cavalry, but not exclusively. When Pompey marched into their country, they met
him with an army of 60,000 infantry, and 22,000 cavalry. (Plut. Pomp. 35.) They
were armed with javelins and bows and arrows, and leathern helmets and shields,
and many of their cavalry were clothed in complete armour. (Plut.; Strab. p. 530.)
They made frequent predatory attacks on their more civilised agricultural neighbours
of Armenia. Of peaceful industry they were almost ignorant; their traffic was
by barter, money being scarcely known to them, nor any regular system of weights
and measures. Their power of arithmetical computation is said to have only reached
to the number 100. (Eustath. ad Dion. Perieg. 729.) They buried the moveable property
of the dead with them, and sons received no inheritance from their fathers; so
that they never accumulated wealth. We find among them the same diversity of race
and language that still exists in the regions of the Caucasus; they spoke 26 different
dialects, and were divided into 12 hordes, each governed by its own chief, but
all, in Strabo's time, subject to one king. Among their tribes were the Legae
(Aegai), whose name is still preserved in Leghistan, and Gelae (Gelai) in the
mountains on the N. and NW. (Strab. p. 503), and the Gerrhi (Gerrhoi) on the river
Gerrhus (Ptol.).
The Albanians worshipped a deity whom Strabo identifies with Zeus,
and the Sun, but above all the Moon, whose temple was near the frontier of Iberia.
Her priest ranked next to the king: and had under his command a rich and extensive
sacred domain, and a body of temple-slaves (hierodouloi), many of whom prophesied
in fits of frenzy. The subject of such a paroxysm was seized as he wandered alone
through the forests, and kept a year in the hands of the priests, and then offered
as a sacrifice to Selene; and auguries were drawn from the manner of his death:
the rite is fully described by Strabo.
The origin of the Albanians is a much disputed point. It was by Pompey's
expedition into the Caucasian regions in pursuit of Mithridates (B.C. 65) that
they first became known to the Romans and Greeks, who were prepared to find in
that whole region traces of the Argonautic voyage. Accordingly the people were
said to have descended from Jason and his comrades (Strab. pp. 45, 503, 526; Plin.
vi. 13. s. 15; Solin. 15); and Tacitus relates (Ann. vi. 34) that the Iberi and
Albani claimed descent from the Thessalians who accompanied Jason, of whom and
of the oracle of Phrixus they preserved many legends, and that they abstained
from offering rams in sacrifice. Another legend derived them from the companions
of Hercules, who followed him out of Italy when he drove away the oxen of Geryon;
and hence the Albanians greeted the soldiers of Pompey as their brethren. (Justin.
xlii. 3.) Several of the later writers regard them as a Scythian people, akin
to the Massagetae, and identical with the Alani; and it is still disputed whether
they were, or not, original inhabitants of the Caucasus.
Of the history of Albania there is almost nothing to be said. The
people nominally submitted to Pompey, but remained really independent.
Ptolemy mentions several cities of Albania, but none of any consequence
except Albana (Derbend), which commanded the great pass on the shore of the Caspian
called the Albaniae or Caspiae Pylae (Pass of Derbend). It is formed by a NE.
spur of Caucasus, to which some geographers give the name of Ceraunius M., which
Strabo applied to the E. part of Caucasus itself. It is sometimes confounded with
the inland pass, called Caucasiae Pylae. The Gangara or Gaetara of Ptolemy is
supposed to be Bakou, famous for its naphtha springs. Pliny mentions Cabalaca,
in the interior, as the capital. Respecting the districts of Caspiene and Cambysene,
which some of the ancient geographers mention as belonging to Albania, see the
separate articles. (Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2, pp. 561, &c.; Georgii, vol. i. pp.
151, &c.)
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DIOSKOURIAS (Ancient city) ABKHAZIA
Dioscurias (Dioskorias, Steph. B.; Ptol. v. 10; Isid. Orig. xvi.;
Dioskouris, Scyl. p. 22), one of the numerous colonies of Miletus, at the E. extremity
of the Euxine (Arrian, Peripl. pp. 10, 18) on the mouth of the river Anthemus,
to the N. of Colchis (Plin. vi. 5). It was situated 100 M.P. (Plin. l. c.) or
790 stadia to the NW. of the Phasis, and 2260 stadia from Trapezus (Arrian). The
wild tribes of the interior, whose barbarous idiom was unintelligible to one another,
made this their great trading place. The Greeks were so astonished at the multiplicity
of languages which they encountered, and the want of skilful interpreters was
so Strongly felt, that some asserted that 70 different tongues were spoken in
the market of Dioscurias. (Strab. xi. p. 497.) Timosthenes, the historian, had
exaggerated the amount to 300, but Pliny, who quotes him, contents himself by
saying that the traders required 130 interpreters. (Comp. Gibbon, vol. iv. p.
102.) In B.C. 66, when Mithridates was compelled to plunge into the heart of Colchis
from the pursuit of Pompeius, he crossed the Phasis and took up his winter quarters
at Dioscurias, where he collected additional troops and a small fleet. (Appian,
Mithr. 101.) Upon or near the spot to which the twin sons of Leda gave their name
(Mela, i. 19. § 5; comp. Amm. Marc. xxii. 8. § 24) the Romans built Sebastopolis
(Steph. B.; Procop. B.G. iv. 4), which was deserted in the time of Pliny (l. c.)
but was afterwards garrisoned by Justinian (Procop. Aed. iii. 7). The Soteriopolis
(Const. Porph. de Adm. Imp. c. 42) of later times has been identified with it.
The position of this place must be looked for near the roadstead of Isksuria.
Chardin (Trav. pt. i. pp. 77, 108) described the coast as uninhabited except by
the Mengrelians, who come to traffic on the same spot as their Colchian ancestors,
and set up their tents or booths of boughs. For a curious coin of Dioscurias,
which, from the antiquity of its workmanship, is inferred to be older than the
age of Mithridates, see Rasche, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 318.
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FASSIS (Ancient city) KOLCHIS
Phasis (Phasis), the easternmost town on the coast of the Euxine,
on the southern bank, and near the mouth of the river Phasis, which is said to
have received this name from the town having previously been called Arcturus.
(Plot. de Fluv. s. v.; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 689.) It was situated in a plain
between the river, the sea, and a lake, and had been founded by the Milesians
as a commercial establishment. (Strab. xi. p. 498; Steph. B. s. v.) The country
around it was very fertile, and rich in timber, and carried on a considerable
export commerce. In the time of Ammianus Marcellinus (xxii. 8), the place still
existed as a fort, with a garrison of 400 picked men. It contained a temple of
Cybele, the great goddess of the Phasiani. (Comp. Arrian, Peripl. Pont. Eux. p.
9; Scylax, p. 32; Strab. xi. pp. 497, 500; Ptol. v. 10. § 2, viii. 19. § 4; Pomp.
Mela, i. 19; Plin. vi. 4; Zosim. ii. 33.) Some geographers regard Phasis and Sebastopolis
as two names belonging to the same place. The name of the town and river Phasis
still survives in the languages of Europe in the wood pheasants (phasianae aves),
these birds being said to have been introduced into Europe from those regions
as early as the time of the Argonauts. (Aristoph. Acharn. 726; Plin. ii. 39, 44,
x. 67; Martial, iii. 57, 16; Suet. Vit. 13; Petron. 93.)
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IBERIA (Ancient country) GEORGIA
Iberia (he Iberia), the extensive tract of country which lies between
the Euxine and Caspian seas, to the S. of the great chain of the Caucasus, and
which, bounded on the W. by Colchis, on the E. by Albania, and the S. by Armenia,
is watered by the river Cyrus (Kur). (Strab. xi. p. 499, comp. i. pp. 45, 69;
Pomp. Mel. iii. 5. § 6; Plin. vi. 11; Ptol. v. 11.) From these limits, it will
be seen that the Iberia of the ancients corresponds very nearly with modern Georgia,
or Grusia, as it is called by the Russians. Strabo (p. 500) describes it as being
hemmed in by mountains, over which there were only four passes known. One of these
crossed the Moschichi Montes, which separated Iberia from Colchis, by the Colchian
fortress Sarapana (Scharapani), and is the modern road from Mingrelia into Georgia
over Suram. Another, on the N., rises from the country of the Nomades in a steep
ascent of three days' journey (along the valley of the Terek or Tergl); after
which the road passes through the defile of the river Aragus a journey of four
days, where the pass is closed at the lower end by an impregnable wall. This,
no doubt, is the pass of the celebrated Caucasian Gates, described by Pliny (vi.
12) as a prodigious work of nature, formed by abrupt precipices, and having the
interval closed by gates with iron bars. Beneath ran a river which emitted a strong
smell (Subter medias (fores), amne diri odoris fluente, Plin. l. c.). It is identified
with the great central road leading from the W. of Georgia by the pass of Dariyel,
so named from a fortress situated on a rock washed by the river Terek, and called
by the Georgians Shevis Kari, or the Gate of Shevi. The third pass was from Albania,
which at its commencement was cut through the rock, but afterwards went through
a marsh formed by the river which descended from the Caucasus, and is the same
as the strong defile now called Derbend or narrow pass, from the chief city of
Daghestn, which is at the extremity of the great arm which branches out from the
Caucasus, and, by its position on a steep and almost inaccessible ridge, overhanging
the Caspian sea, at once commands the coast-road and the Albanian Gates. The fourth
pass, by which Pompeius and Canidius entered Iberia, led up from Armenia, and
is referred to the high road from Erzrum, through Kars, to the N.
The surface of the country is greatly diversified with mountains,
hills, plains, and valleys; the best portion of this rich province is the basin
of the Kur, with the valleys of the Aragavi, Alazan, and other tributary streams.
Strabo (p. 499) speaks of the numerous cities of Iberia, with their houses having
tiled roofs, as well as some architectural pretensions. Besides this, they had
market-places and other public buildings.
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KOLCHIS (Ancient country) GEORGIA
Colchis (he Kolchis: Eth. Kolchos: Adj. Kolchikos), a district of
western Asia bounded on the SW. by the province of Pontus, from which it was separated
by the river Phasis, on the W. by the Pontus Euxinus as far as the river Corax,
on the N. by the chain of the Caucasus, which lay between it and Asiatic Sarmatia,
on the E. by Iberia and Mts. Moschici, and on the S. by Armenia. There is some
little difference in authors as to the extent of the country westward: thus Strabo
(xii. p. 498) makes Colchis begin at Trapezus, while Ptolemy, on the other hand,
extends Pontus to the river Phasis. It may be gathered from Strab. xi. p 497;
Plin. vi. 5. s. 5; Theodor. Hist. Eccl. v. 34; Procop. B. G. iv. 4; Zosim. i.
32, that Pityus was the last town to the S. in Colchis, and from Strabo, l. c.,
Arrian Peripl. p. 11. (ed. Huds.); Mela, i. 19; Ammian. xxii. 15; Ptol. v. 10;
that the position of Dioscurias (which, according to Arrian and some other writers,
was subsequently called Sebastopolis) was in the northern part of Colchis, and
distant from Pityus, according to Strabo 366, and according to Arrian 350 stadia.
The order of the tribes on this eastern coast of the Euxine was according to Strabo,
and commencing from the N., the Zygi, Heniochi, Cercetae, Moschi and Colchi; it
would, however, appear that the whole district popularly known as Colchis occupied
the greater part of the territory on which these smaller tribes or subdivisions
of people were settled; and may, therefore, as stated, be considered roughly to
extend from Trapezus to Dioscurias. The district comprehends the modern provinces
of Mingrelia and part of Abbasia, south and west of Mt. Elburz. Aeschylus and
Pindar appear to be the earliest authors who have given to this land its historical
name of Colchis. The earlier writers only speak of it under the name of Aea, the
residence of the mythical king Aeetes. The inhabitants, called Colchi, were according
to the opinion of Herodotus (ii. 104, 105) and Diodorus (i. 28) the remains of
the army of Sesostris, and therefore of Egyptian origin. Herodotus argues that
the people of Colchis were the relics of this army, because of the many customs
which were similar to them and to the Egyptians, and not in use originally in
other nations, as the rite of circumcision, and the working of linen (which the
Greeks called Sardonic, or, as Larcher thinks, Sardian, from Sardes), and also
from their language, from the natural complexion of their skin, which was of a
dusky colour, like that of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of the Nile,
and from their having curly hair. Strabo alludes to, but seems hardly to credit,
this story. Yet many modern scholars have held that there is some truth in it,
and have attempted variously to account for the connection, between the two people.
(Comp. Heeren, Ideen, vol. i. pt. 1 p. 405; Michaelis, Laws of Moses, vol. iv.
p. 185, &c.) Herodotus is so far a good authority, that he does not speak from
hearsay, but from personal observation. Pindar (Pyth. 4.378). too, calls the Colchians
dark-complexioned. Ammianus (xxii. 8) probably merely copies the words of Herodotus.
Dionysius Perieg. (v. 689) confirms the general tradition of the Egyptian descent
of the Colchians.
The Colchi were subdivided into numerous tribes, chiefly settled,
as we have stated, along the coast of the Euxine: as the Machelones, Heniochi,
Zydretae, Lazi, to the S. of the river Phasis: the Apsidae, Abasci, Samigae, Coraxi,
to the N. of it; the Coli, Melanchlaeni, Geloni, and Suani, along the mountain
range of the Caucasus to the N.and W.,and the Moschi to the SE., among the Moschici
Montes, an outlying spur of the same great chain. It may be remarked here, that
of these tribes, the Lazi gave their name to the Regio Lazica, a title whereby
the whole country was known at a late period of history (Procop. B. P. ii. 15,
Goth. iv. 1; Ptol. v. 10. § 5, as compared with Arrian, Periplus, p. 11), and
that the Abasci have no doubt perpetuated their name in the modern Abbasia (Rennell's
Map) or Abkhasia (Ritter). It may also be noticed that the names Coli, and Colias,
are found in connection with the Indian Colchis; not impossibly through the carelessness
of transcribers or editors. The only river of any importance was the Phasis (now
Faz or Rioni), which was according to some writers the S. boundary of Colchis,
but more probably flowed through the middle of that country from the Caucasus
W. by S. to the Euxine, and the Anticites or Atticitus (now Kuban). Arrian (Periplus,
p. 10) 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) on the sea-board of the Euxine, Sarapana (now
Scharapani), Surium, Archaeopolis, Macheiresis, and Cyta or Cutatisium (now Kchitais),
the traditional birth-place of Medea.
The country itself was celebrated, as we have seen, from the earliest
times for its cultivation of the trade in linen (Her. ii. 105; Strab. xi. p. 498).
During the time of the Romans, and still later under Constantine, many castles
and factories occupied its coasts, so as to maintain the general trade of the
district (Procop. B. G. iv. 2, B. P. ii. 28; Zosim. ii. 33); which produced, besides
linen, timber for ship-building, hemp, flax, wax, pitch, and gold dust. (Strab.
xi. p. 498; Appian. Mithr. c. 103.) Among many of the poets of antiquity, and
especially among those of the later and Roman times, Colchis, as the scene of
the parentage of Medea, and of the subsequent voyage of the Argonauts and the
capture of the Golden Fleece, was the an native seat of all sorceries and witchcrafts.
(Horat. Carm. ii. 13. 8, Epod. v. 21, xvi. 57; Juv. vi. 643; Propert. ii. l. 53;
Martial. x. 4. 35.) The existence and growth in the country of the Iris plant
(Dioscor. in Proem. lib. vi.; Plin. xxviii. 9), from the bulbous root of which
the medicine we call Colchicum is extracted, may have led to some of the tales
of sorcery attributed to Medea. (Ovid. A. Am. ii. 89; Lucan vi.441.)
We have occasional notices of the history of Colchis incidentally
recorded in various passages of the classical writers, from which we may gather:
1. That during the time of Herodotus it was the northern limit of
the Persian empire (Her. iii. 97); though subsequently the people appear to have
thrown off this yoke, and to have formed an independent state (Xen. Anab. iv.
8. 9, vii. 8. § 2.5). Still later, in the time of Alexander the Great, the Colchians
were not included in the sway of the Persians. (Arrian, Anab. iv. 15. § 4.)
2. During the period of the contests between Mithridates and the Romans,
Colchis was considered to be one of the territories which the king of Pontus had
annexed to his paternal territory (Appian, Mithr. 15), though its allegiance was
even then uncertain and doubtful (Ibid. 64). During the Second Mithridatic War,
Mithridates made his son Machares king of Colchis (Ibid. 67), who appears to have
held his power but for a short period. Finally, on the overthrow and death of
Mithridates, Pompey made Aristarchus the governor of this district. (Ibid. 114;
comp. Dion Cass. xxxvi. 33, xxxvii. 3.) On the fall of Pompey, Pharnaces, son
of Mithridates, took advantage of Caesar being occupied in Egypt, and reduced
Colchis, Armenia, and some part of Cappadocia, defeating Cn. Domitius Calvinus,
whom Caesar subsequently sent against him. His triumph was, however, short-lived.
(Dion Cass. xlii. 45.)
3. Under Polemon, the son and successor of Pharnaces, Colchis was
part of the kingdom of Pontus and the Bosporus. (Strab. xi. pp. 493-499.)
Lastly, from Theoph. Byzant. (Fragm. 4), it appears that in the eighth
year of Justin, A.D. 572, the Colchians and Abasgi joined the king of Armenia
as the allies of Chosroes in his war against Marcian. At this period the district
itself, as already remarked, was generally known as Terra Lazica. (Menand. Prot.
Fragm. 3 of his Continuation of the History of Agathias.)
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PITYOUS (Ancient city) KOLCHIS
Pityus (Pituous: Pitsunda), a Greek town in Asiatic Sarmatia, on the
north-eastern coast of the Black Sea, N. of Dioscurias, from which it was distant
360 stadia according to Artemidorus, and 350 according to Arrian. The real distance,
however, is underrated by these writers; for from C. Iskuria (Dioscurias) to Pitsunda
is not less than 400 stadia in a straight line. (Artemidor.ap. Strab. xi. p. 496;
Arrian, Per. P. Eux. p. 18.) Artemidorus described it as the great Pityus, and
Pliny as an oppidum opulentissimum; but between the time of Artemidorus and Pliny
it was destroyed by the Heniochi (Plin. vi. 5), whence Arrian mentions it only
as a place for anchorage, and the name does not occur at all in Ptolemy. The town
was after-wards rebuilt by the Romans, and is described by Zosimus (i. 32), in
the history of Gallienus, as a fortress surrounded with a very great wall, and
having a most excellent harbour. (Comp. Procop. B. Goth. iv. p. 473, ed. Bonn;
comp. C. Muller, ad Arrian. l. c. ap. Geogr. Graec. Min. vol. i. p. 392.)
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AIA (Ancient city) KOLCHIS
(Aia). A city supposed by the poets to have been the capital of King Aeetes, on the river Phasis, in Colchis.
ALBANIA (Ancient country) GEORGIA
The southeastern part of what is now Georgia, in Asia, on the west
side of the Caspian, extending from the rivers Cyrus and Araxes on the south to
Mt. Ceraunius (the east part of the Caucasus) on the north, and bounded on the
west by Iberia. It was a fertile plain, abounding in pasture and vineyards; but
the inhabitants were fierce and warlike. They were a Scythian tribe, identical
with the Alani. The Romans first became acquainted with them at the time of the
Mithridatic war, when they encountered Pompey with a large army. Modern geography
comprises ancient Albania under two divisions--Daghestan and Leghistan. The name
in our own times is applied to the territory which in ancient times was included
in Illyria and Epirus.
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DIOSKOURIAS (Ancient city) ABKHAZIA
A maritime town of Colchis at the mouth of the small river Charus.
It was afterwards called Sebastopolis, and was, in the earliest ages, the port
most frequented in Colchis by distant as well as neighbouring nations speaking
different languages--a circumstance that still distinguishes Iskuriah, which name
is only a corruption of the ancient one.
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FASSIS (Ancient city) KOLCHIS
A celebrated river of Colchis, flowing into the eastern
end of the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea). It was famous in connection with the story
of the Argonautic expedition. Hence Medea is called Phasias, and the adjective
Phasiacus is used in the sense of Colchicus. It has given name to the pheasant
(phasianus), which is said to have been first brought to Greece from its banks.
Near the mouth of the river, on its southern side, was a town of the same name,
founded by the Milesians.
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IBERIA (Ancient country) GEORGIA
A country of Asia, bounded on the west by Colchis, on the north by
Mount Caucasus, on the east by Albania, and on the south by Armenia. It answers
now to Georgia, the country of the Gurians, etc. The Cyrus (Kur) flowed through
Iberia. Ptolemy enumerates several towns of this country, such as Agiuna, Vasaeda,
Varica, etc. The Iberians were allies of Mithridates, and were therefore attacked
by Pompey, who defeated them in a great battle, and took many prisoners. Plutarch
makes the number of slain to have been not less than 9000, and that of the prisoners
10,000.
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KOLCHIS (Ancient country) GEORGIA
A country of Asia, having Iberia on the east, the Euxine on
the west, Caucasus on the north, and Armenia on the south. It is famous in poetic
legends as having been the land to which the Argonautic expedition was directed
in quest of the golden fleece. It corresponds at the present day to what is called
Mingrelia. The linen manufactured here was in high repute, and was made, according
to Herodotus, after the manner of Egypt. This species of manufacture, together
with the dark complexion and crisped locks of the natives, were so many arguments
with the ancients to prove them of Egyptian origin, independently of other proofs
drawn, according to Herodotus, from their language and mode of life.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KYTAI (Ancient city) KOLCHIS
A city of Colchis, in the interior of the country, near the river Phasis, and northeast of Tyndaris. It was the birthplace of Medea. The inhabitants, like the Colchians generally, were famed for their acquaintance with poisonous herbs and magic rites. Scylax calls the place Male (Male). Medea was called Cytaeis from this her native city.
FASSIS (Ancient city) KOLCHIS
City of Colchis,
at the mouth of the river by the same name (today's Rion, in the Republic of Georgia),
along the eastern shore of the Black
Sea, at the foot of Caucasus.
Phasis was the capital of the kingdom of Aeetes, a son of Helios (the
Sun), and the brother of Circe (the enchantress who detained Ulysses for a year)
and of Pasiphae (the wife of Minos, the king of Crete).
Aeetes was king of Corinth
before he left for Colchis,
a country east of the Black Sea,
at the foot of Caucasus,
to become king of Aea. There
he became the keeper of the Golden Fleece after offering hospitality to Phrixus,
the son of Athamas, king of Coronea,
fleeing the attempts by his stepmother Ino to have him killed. Phrixus had fled
on a flying ram with a golden fleece given him by his mother Nephele, who owed
it to Hermes. When he arrived in Colchis,
Aeetes was hospitable to him and gave him his daughter Chalchiope for wife. In
thanksgiving, Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave his golden fleece to
Aeetes, who dedicated it to Ares by tying it to an oak in the god's sacred domain.
This is the fleece that Jason, along with the Argonauts, later came to claim at
the request of his uncle Pelias, king of Iolcos.
Phrixus had four sons. The first born was called Argos and is sometimes
identified with the builder of the Argo, the boat that gave the Argonauts their
name. In other traditions, Argos and his brothers tried to sail back to Coronea
to reclaim the throne of their grandfather Athamas and, after a shipwreck were
rescued by the Argonauts and returned to Greece
with them. Or Argos met Jason at the court of Aeetes and introduced him to Medea,
Aeetes' daughter, and later returned to Greece
with the Argonauts.
For Herodotus, the river Phasis marked the boundary between Europe
north and Asia south.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ALBANIA (Ancient country) GEORGIA
They were a Scythian tribe, identical with the Albanians
KOLCHIS (Ancient country) GEORGIA
PITYOUS (Ancient city) KOLCHIS
DIOSKOURIAS (Ancient city) ABKHAZIA
A Greek city, covered over by the modern town. It was probably founded
by Miletos ca. 540 B.C. on the site of an earlier native settlement dating from
the 2d millennium (Strab. 9.2.16,17; Plin. HN 6.5). From the 6th-5th c. the population
was both indigenous and Greek. The section inhabited by the Greeks was destroyed
by the sea. The city flourished in the 4th-3d c.; its decline coincided with its
conquest by Mithridates Eupator in the late 2d c. B.C. A century later the city
was conquered by Rome under whom it became a fortified center, and its economy
revived. Its decline in the 4th-5th c. was accompanied by the withdrawal of Roman
troops, growing pressure from the Las state of Caucasus, and possibly a Hunnic
raid.
Most of the remains date from Hellenistic times or later. Aside from
the Roman fortress, of which a section still stands, there seem to have been no
prominent monuments. Among articles imported in the 6th-5th c. are Greek wares
(in particular, Attic bowls with a black glaze), and amphorae from Thasos and
Chios; Attic bowls of the 5th-4th c.; stamped amphorae of the 4th c. and amphorae
from Sinope and Herakleia of the 4th-3d c. Local wares were produced, especially
in the 4th-3d c.
The city minted its own coins in the 3d c. B.C. Attic coins of the
5th-4th c. have been found as well as Hellenistic coins of the Kolchian king Saulakos.
Among the few sculptures is a funerary stele of 430-420 of Ionian origin with
a relief depicting a seated woman surrounded by her family.
M. L. Bernhard & Z. S. Ztetyllo, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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