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In the region of the Kuban River, the Scythian tribe of the Avchetai appears. According to Herodotus, the Scythian tribe descended from Lipoxais, the eldest son of Targitaus. According to Pliny the Elder, "inland live the Avchetai, in whose territories the Hypanis originates." In the upper reaches of the Hypanis, in Scythian times, there were many monuments richly saturated with various ancient imports, which was explained by the direct and short route connecting this land of grain exporters with Olbia. This circumstance explains the later testimony of Valerius Flaccus about the wealth of the legendary Avkh, the progenitor of the Avchetai. The Avchetai were closely adjacent to the Paralatae. Linguistically, this name 'Avchetai' can be associated both with the Hattians and Hittites, and with the Abkhazians; the name Lipoxais is interpreted by Iranologists as Mountain-King (possibly Elbrus). More details.

Paul the Deacon mentions the "Antes" on the Dnieper.


Materials:

History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009

The Alans come from Inner Asia and settle on the South Russian plain east of the Don and north of the Caucasus. Ancient authors first mention the Albani — the people of Albania, an ancient state in eastern Transcaucasia on the southwestern shore of the Caspian Sea (in the lower reaches of the Kura and Araxes rivers) (modern Dagestan). More details.

The Scythian-Sarmatian tribe — the Apsilae appears, localized in the region of Dioscurias (a city near modern Sukhum). It was located north of the Colchians, at the mouth of the Corax River (modern Kodori). The ancient Greek geographers called them the Coraxi. The Apsilae were the southern branch of the Abasgian tribe. Between Trapezus and Greater Armenia, the tribe of the Armenochalybes appears, identical to the Chalybes. More details.

The ancestors of the Huns appear — a nomadic people of Central Asia who began their movement westward from the 1st century AD. More details.

The Coli appear — a tribe that lived on the West Caucasian coast, in the foothills of the Caucasus and the region of Colica, south of the Coraxi. More details.

The Manrali appear — a tribe from the Colchian region of Egritika, in the area of the modern Rioni River, identified by some researchers with the ancestors of the modern Mingrelians. From the turn of our era, the Romans fortified themselves in the coastal areas of Abkhazia. In Greek Dioscurias they founded a fortress. And in 65 AD, Dioscurias itself was renamed Sebastopolis. More details.

King of Apsilia. Confirmed in power by the Roman emperor Trajan (98–117 AD).

The Apsilae occupied the eastern coast of the Black Sea west of Phasis (Rioni) to the Machara River. The ancestors of modern Abkhazians — the Apsilae are first mentioned in the work of the Roman writer Pliny Secundus "Natural History." The same work contains a report on the fortress (castellum) of Sebastopolis and the city of Dioscurias.


Materials:

All rulers of Abkhazia

Abkhazian Kingdom. 786 CE
Anthroponymic repertoire of the "Divan of the Abkhazian kings". G. A. Amichba
Chronicle of the Abkhazian kings. F. Jordania 1902
Bgazhba O. Kh., Lakoba S. Z. History of Abkhazia from ancient times to the present day. 2007
Culture and ideology of early medieval Abkhazia (5th–10th centuries). Amichba 1999
"History of Abkhazia in dates". T. A. Achugba 2011
Circumnavigation of the Euxine Sea. Flavius Arrian
Naturalis Historia. Pliny the Elder 77–79. Latin-English 1969
Reports of ancient Greek and Latin writers about Scythia and the Caucasus. Latyshev 1947
Constantine Porphyrogenitus. On the Administration of the Empire: Text, translation, commentary. Litavrin 1991

The Alans (Ancient Greek: Ἀλανοί, Latin: Alani, Halani) — nomadic Iranian-speaking tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian origin, mentioned in written sources from the 1st century AD — the time of their appearance in the Azov region and the Ciscaucasia.

Part of the Alans participated in the Great Migration of Peoples from the end of the 4th century, while others remained in the territories adjacent to the foothills of the Caucasus. The tribal union of the Alans became the basis for the unification of Alan and local Caucasian tribes, known as Alania, and the formation of an early feudal state in the central Ciscaucasia, which existed until the Mongol campaign.

The Tatar-Mongols, who defeated Alania and by the end of the 1230s captured the fertile plain regions of the Ciscaucasia, forced the surviving Alans to take refuge in the mountains of the Central Caucasus and in Transcaucasia. There, one group of Alans, with the participation of local tribes, gave rise to the modern Ossetians.

More about the Alans.

Abasgia

According to the ancient Roman historian Flavius Arrian in the 2nd century AD, Abasgia was a country subordinate to Rome, whose laws were established by the Roman Caesar. At the beginning of the 6th century, Abasgia absorbed the neighboring principality of Sanigia. From the 4th century, the Abasgian tribes encountered the strengthening tribes of the Apsilae, which forced them to move to the territory of the modern city of Sukhum. Later, Abasgia became part of Egrisi (Lazica), whose ruler appointed the lord of Abasgia. Abasgia supported Egrisi during the Iranian-Byzantine wars.

In 550, Abasgia was drawn into a revolt against Byzantium. The outcome of the revolt was the division of Abasgia into two parts — the eastern part, which was to be ruled by Skeparnus, and the western part, which was to be ruled by Opsites. Skeparnus soon received support from the Sassanid court, while Opsites prepared to defend against Byzantine troops under the command of Vulgandus and John the Armenian. In the following year, the Byzantines restored their power in the country. In the 7th century, Byzantium separated Abasgia from Egrisi and transferred to it part of the lands of the western Apsilae, Sanigi and Misimiani.

Apsilia

Apsilia (Abkhaz: Аҧстәыла) or Tsebelda — a late antique and early medieval state formation of the Abkhazian tribe of the Apsilae. Known from the 1st century AD. In the 730s, it was absorbed by the neighboring, stronger principality of Abasgia, on the basis of which, as well as Misiminia, the Abkhazian Kingdom was later formed.

It was located on the territory of modern Abkhazia along the Black Sea coast between the Psyrtskha River (near modern New Athos) and the Aaldzga River, also known under the historical name of Tsebelda. It consisted of two historical regions — Guma and Abzhua. The most important cities and fortresses: Tusume, Tsibila, Pusta, Tskybyn, Skotor, Mokva. Capital — Sebastopolis. Ruling dynasty — the Julianids.

Archaeological and historical monuments of the Tsebelda culture have been studied since 1959.

The semi-independent lords of Tsebelda were the Abkhazian princely family — the Amarshan. The capital of the princely family's domain was the village of Merkheul.

Sanigia

Sanigia — a late antique and early medieval state formation of the Abkhazian tribe of the Sanigi. Known from the 1st century AD. At the beginning of the 6th century, it was absorbed by the neighboring, stronger principality of Abasgia.

It was located on the territory of modern Abkhazia, as well as the Khostinsky and Adler districts of the city of Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, along the Black Sea coast between the Zhvava-Kvara River (near modern Gagra) and the Khosta River (in modern Sochi).

Capital — Tsandripsh. Ruling dynasty — the Tsanba.

Misiminia

Misiminia — a late antique and early medieval state formation of the Abkhazian tribe of the Misimiani. Known from the 1st century AD. In the 7th–8th centuries, it was in vassal dependence on the Lazican kingdom. In the 730s, it was absorbed by the neighboring, stronger principality of Abasgia, on the basis of which and Apsilia the Abkhazian Kingdom was later formed. In terms of borders, it roughly coincided with the historical region of Dal-Tsabal.

It was located on the territory of modern Abkhazia in the middle reaches of the Kodori River. The Misimiani held the large fortresses of Bukhloon and Sobgisi. Capital — Tsakhar. More about Misiminia.


Materials:

"History of Abkhazia in Dates." T.A. Achugba 2011

THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE EUXINE PONTUS. FLAVIUS ARRIAN

Naturalis Historia. Pliny the Elder 77–79. Latin-English 1969

Valerius Flaccus (second half of the 1st century AD) "Argonautica"

IV. Let not the tribe of the Chalybes be so terrible to you, although extremely fierce, which is occupied with hard labor on the hard fields and where the fiery dwelling always resounds with blows on the mass of iron. Then along the entire coast are countless petty kings, whose hospitality cannot be trusted in any way; but let the ship (615) run past them on a straight course, with sails filled by a steady breeze. Thus you will at last arrive at the swift river Phasis.

V. (140). Towards the end of the night, from hidden caves in the earth is heard the tireless labor of the Chalybes, your settlers, Mars, exhaust themselves with unceasing work on their tools. Throughout all lands this hand sounds, the first creator of bloody war; for, until they tore open the strong deposits of previously unknown iron (145) and gave swords, hatred and grief wandered without weapons, anger was powerless and Erinys was sluggish. Then they leave behind the rock of Jupiter Geneteius and the green lakes of the Tibareni, where a pregnant woman binds her husband with a festive bandage and nurses him, having finished her childbirth. (150) You, Mossynoeci, also marveled at the sails of the unknown ship, and you, Macrones, from your high dwellings, and the wandering Bizeri, and the shores named after Philyra, which Saturn shook with his horse's hoof. From there the last bay and the cruel dwelling of Prometheus (155) open to view, as well as the Caucasus, rising toward the cold Bears. That day by chance also brought Alcides there to change the fate of the Titan; and, already with effort rocking the cruel shackles from all sides and shaking off the ingrained frost from them, he, seizing them with his hands, tore them from the foot of the rocks, (160) standing high and more firmly resting his left foot; the huge Caucasus resounded, and, following the peak of the mountain, the beams fell into the sea, and the rivers were diverted from it. A crash is heard, as if Jupiter in heaven shook the ethereal strongholds or the hand of Neptune — the foundations of the earth. (165) The boundless coast of Pontus was terrified, all the Iberians living along Armenia were terrified, and, when the sea had receded far back, the Minyans again began to fear the Cyaneae they had passed. Then from a closer distance were heard the groaning sounds of steel, the dull noise of the mountain as the rocks were torn away, and the heavy (170) groans of the Titan as his limbs were separated, fastened to the cliffs. Meanwhile, the allies, not knowing this (for who would believe that Alcides was then in these mountains or would fulfill his postponed promises?), continue their journey. They only marvel from the sea at the fact that the fissured shores are covered with snow and the rocks are torn apart, (175) and together marvel at the huge shadow of the dying bird falling from above and the black rain of its blood pouring through the air. The sun closer inflamed the waters, the ending day had already begun to show the weary Argonauts the desired Colchians, where the great Phasis with foaming (180) mouth rushes into the opposite sea. All together recognize the places that are the goal of their journey, recall the signs and the tribes passed in order, and bring the ship into the river. Together, flooded by the gleaming ether, Pallas and Juno stop the team of winged-footed horses.

V, 416. From here the leader, no less delighted by the decorated image of the temple, turns his gaze to the two-leafed doors, contemplating here the cradle and origin of the Colchian people, how King Sesostris first began military actions against the Getae, how, frightened by his defeat, (420) he led some back to Thebes and to his native river, and settled others on the fields of the Phasis and commanded them to be called Colchians. These return to Arsinoe, to the merry life on the warm Pharos and to the beneficent climate without rains, while these already change their linen garments for Sarmatian trousers (425). The barbarian Phasis, raging with love, pursues Aea in the native mountains; she timidly throws away her quiver, troubled by maidenly fear, and already loses consciousness from the flight, and the god envelops the conquered one with a flowing wave (..).

VI. 33. Now, Muse, remind me what fury you saw in the Riphean land, with what effort the Persian (35) aroused Scythia and who trusted in battles on horses and men. However, if I had even a thousand mouths, I would not remember all by number and name, for no country is richer than this in tribes, although the Maeotian youth perish in eternal wars, yet never on the rich soil is there a lack of population, (40) which fills both Bears and the huge Dragon. Therefore, goddesses, present to me the leaders and only their tribes. Anausius, already earlier become an enemy because Medea was promised as a wife to the Albanian tyrant, sent out the eager Alans, followed soon by himself, and the fierce Heniochi. (45) Alas, he did not know into what monster's palace he was striving to enter and what terror awaited the Achaean cities, being himself more pleasing to the gods and happier in his bachelor palace. Nearest to him is the legion of the Bisaltae and the leader Colax, also of divine blood: Jupiter on the Scythian coast (50) produced him near green Myraca and the Tibisenian mouths, charmed (if it is worthy of belief) by the half-bestial body and not frightened by the two snakes of the nymph. The whole phalanx bears on carved covers (shields) the attribute of Jupiter — the fires divided into three parts (i.e., the thunderbolt). (55) Not you first, Roman soldier, scattered on shields the rays of the flashing lightning and the red wings.

Besides, Colax himself gathered airy dragons, the distinction of the mother mountain, and on both sides the opposing snakes approach with tongues and inflict wounds on the polished stone. (60) The third Avkh, who came with unanimous thousands, displays the Cimmerian riches; he has long had white hair, a congenital sign; old age already forms a space on his head; wrapping his temples with a triple knot, he lets down two bandages from his sacred head. Darap, suffering from a wound received in the Achaemenid battle, sent Datius to war, whom was surrounded by the martial order of the Gangaridae and those whom the drunk water of Hera enrages, as well as those who live around Lake Bica. There was also Anxar and Sidon with his brother Radalus, and the Acesian (70) by bad omen of things Phrixus moved the troops of deer. She herself accompanies and, shining with wool and golden horns, is carried before the formation on a high pole; she is sad and does not wish to return to the groves of fierce Diana. Also moved Sienus with the Hylean tribe, the suppliant Persian, displaying the wounds of his brother wickedly inflicted.
Nowhere was any forest thicker or lifted higher its tree trunks; the weary arrows fell back before they reached the top of the tree.

(79) And from the Hyrcanian caves the Titanian (80) Cirius drove to the weapons of the men, and the Celaletae drew to war all the detachments in wagons: there they have both their sewn (leather) house, and wife sitting under raw leather, and son sending short javelins, made from any shaft. Also abandoned is Tyra, standing on the cliff of the sea; abandoned is Mount (85) Ambene and Ophiusa, strong with cold nuclei. Also rush the degenerate Sindians and crowd their detachments, still fearing the blows of whips because of the crime of their ancestors. Next to them, Phalcus with noise leads through the plain the youth armed with bronze, and the dense ranks of coral raise the banners, (90) whose badges are barbarian wheels, on their backs are iron-covered images of pigs and the idols of Zeus — broken columns. They give the signal for battles not with the hoarse sound of the horn, but duly sing of the native leaders and ancient deeds of their tribesmen, and the praises of their ancestors serve as an incentive to the men. (95) And where the swift foot-soldier equals the Sidonian reins, from there Aea draws to itself the Batarnae united by oath, who, under the leadership of Teutagon, are armed with shields of raw bark and javelins with point and shaft of equal length. And not far from here, he pierces with a double javelin the whitish shields, (100) he who hews out with an axe the ice of the Nova River and does not hear the flow of the frozen Alazon along the entire bank and whom ... (102) Tarantus and Evarchus, rich in snow-white swans. And I can transmit you to future generations, giant Ariasmen, bearing the burden of war and widely (105) scattering everywhere over the deserted plain the chariots armed with scythes. Follows the army of the Drangae and the Caspians who came out of the gorges, whose pack of dogs tirelessly leaps out at the sharp sounds of horns and participates in the battles of their masters. Therefore, equal honor is paid to them after death, and they are received into the kurgans (110) among the ancestors and graves of the men, for with iron in their chests and with terrible manes, the pack rushes in a black formation and with such barking as that with which the terrible door of Dis or the retinue of Hecate high in the air is resounded. The holy prophet (115) Vannus leads the armies from the Hyrcanian forests; already the third generation of Scythia saw him singing of the courageous Minyans and the sails of the ship "Argo." By his teachings, both the Indians and the young shoots of the Lagidae of hundred-gated Thebes are enriched, and all Panchaia, captured by the Riphean triumph.

(120) Variegated Iberia poured out armed detachments of spears, which are led by Otacus, Latris, the kidnapper of love Neurus and the Iazyges who know no age whitened by gray hairs. For when former strength fails, the familiar bow refuses to serve and the spear disdains the aspirations of its master — (125) among the brave ancestors a custom arose not to slowly suffer the mortal fate, but to perish by the hand of young offspring with the sword entrusted to him; they interrupt the delay, both son and father, unanimous both and causing pity by their courageous deeds. Here also the Mycei, fragrant with perfumed hair, (130) and the Cessean troops, and you, innocent due to ignorance of metals, Arimasp, not yet excavating your land, and the Avchet, skilled in casting far and wide flying lassos and drawing in with nooses the most distant detachments. I will also not pass over in silence the one who bears the timbrels in bloody wars (135) the Tissaget, girded behind his back with flowing skins and covering his wicker spears with the greenery of flowers. There is a tradition that Bacchus, the leader of the blood of Jupiter and Cadmus, with this army defeated the happy kingdoms of the incense-bearing Sabeans and Arabs, but then, when he crossed the Hebrus (140) waters, he left the Tissagets under the icy Bear. Among them, the whole way of life of the ancients is preserved to this day, the sacred blows of bronze instruments and the flute reminiscent of the eastern battle. Emodus adds his riches; following their banners are the Exomatae, Torini and fair-haired Satarchi. (145) Among the Torini, honey is honored; the Satarchi are enriched by their milk pails; the Exomatae are fed by hunting, and the north is not more famous for any other horses; they escape over the brittle waters of the Hypanis with the cubs of a tigress or fierce lioness, and the sad mother stiffens on the height of the suspicious shore. (150) The desire for Phrixus's fleece also moved the unreliable Centors and the Somohatres, terrible with magic terror. All of them have a fierce worship of the powers above, all have a wondrous art; they either hold back the greenery at the beginning of spring, or suddenly make Maeotis melt for the trembling wagons. (155) Among them appeared Coastus, the most distinguished by Stygian art; he was moved not by love of war, but by the fame of the Colchian maiden and Medea breathing the same poisons. The Avernian lake rejoices, rejoices already at the quiet night, and the ferryman, and Latonia, sailing across the safe sky. (160) And the Ballonites went and aligned their troops on both flanks, and the Mes who quickly changes his accompanying horses, and the Sarmatian who hurls a huge spear. Not so many waves does Boreas raise from the edge of the sea, nor does he so answer his brothers from the crest of the opposite wave, nor so great is the bird cry at the rivers, as many harmonious sounds of horns then rise to the ether and so many maddened thousands stir, as many leaves and flowers there are at the beginning of the year. COPY

Materials:

The Great Steppe in Ancient and Byzantine Sources. Garkavets 2005

The Nekresi inscription — a fragment of a heavily damaged funerary stele and other fragments, on which inscriptions of a pagan nature were made in the "Asomtavruli" alphabet, found in the Kakhetian settlement of Nekresi.

The Kakhetian settlement of Nekresi is located on the plains of the Alazani Valley, 9 km from the regional center of Kvareli and 150 km from Tbilisi, and is known as a historical place where pagan sanctuaries were located before the adoption of Christianity. The State Museum of Georgia has been conducting excavations there since 1984 under the general direction of Academician Levan Chilashvili. In 1999, during excavations in the foundation and walls of one of the buildings, 9 stones with inscriptions in the "Asomtavruli" alphabet were found. According to Chilashvili's research, archaeological data allow the building itself to be dated no later than the 3rd century AD, and the above-mentioned stones were used as secondary material during construction, although they are tombstones, possibly from a more ancient and already "completely forgotten" cemetery of fire-worshippers. From this, Chilashvili concludes that one of the stones, the description of which is given below, bears the oldest of the currently known Georgian inscriptions, dating to the 1st–2nd centuries AD. Z. Chumburidze believes that the Nekresi inscriptions belong to the pre-Christian era, while drawing attention to the fact that on the tombstones there is not a single name of the Christian era, but only pre-Christian names. Stephen Rapp considers such dating to be unfounded. Modern academic science considers the most likely version to be the creation of the Georgian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots at the beginning of the 5th century on the basis of Aramaic and Greek systems.

The tombstone with the supposed oldest inscription is a stone 41.5 cm long, 10–10.5 cm wide and 5.5 cm thick. The inscription on the stone consists of 8 lines. The alphabet is Old Georgian: Asomtavruli, letter height 1.8–2.5 cm, letter width 1.0–2.0 cm.

1st line: the lower parts of the last two letters are preserved
2nd line: the lower fragments of the first two letters and the last two letters are preserved: A, N
3rd line: readable: AZAT
4th line: readable: SI ARS
5th line: readable: NOVM
6th line: readable: TSAVIN
7th line: readable KHREVS
8th line: one letter S

Translation: "Let no one touch Azat."

Dionysius Periegetes (1st–2nd centuries AD) "Description of the Inhabited World"

52-710. The peoples beyond the Tanais and in the Caucasus

Near Lake Maeotis live the Maeotians themselves and the Sauromatian tribes, the glorious race of warlike Ares; they descended from that mighty love of the Amazons, with whom they once united with the Sauromatian men, wandering far from their homeland of Thermodon; from them were born the warlike descendants who inhabit the boundless forest, through which the Tanais rolls, flowing into the corner of Maeotis and cutting off Europe from the Asian land, so that to the west lies Europe, and to the east Asia. Its sources murmur far away in the Caucasus Mountains, and it, having widely spread everywhere, quickly rushes through the Scythian plains; and when it is greatly agitated by the breath of Boreas, you will see on it ice frozen together by frost. Unhappy are those who inhabit this country: there is always cold snow and piercing frost; and when terrible cold comes from the winds, with your own eyes you will see dying horses or mules or sheep grazing in the open; even the people themselves, who would remain under those winds, would not survive unharmed; but they, having harnessed their wagons, withdraw to another country, and leave their land to the will of the cold winds, which, raging in terrible gusts, shake the earth and the pine-covered mountains. So many peoples live along the Tanais. With the Sauromatians, as neighbors, live the Sindians, Cimmerians (The localization of the Cimmerians between the Sindians and Kerkets — North Caucasian tribes, in contradiction to what is usually said about them, suggests that in this case Dionysius's source was some periplus that preserved echoes of much more ancient data about the historical Cimmerians in the Northern Black Sea region, who lived in the Caucasus — according to the publisher1) and those living near the Euxine, the Kerketii, Toretae and the powerful Achaei, whom once the breaths of Notus and Zephyr carried away from the Xanthus and the Idaean Simoeis, when they followed from the war behind the warlike king. Behind them live, possessing the neighboring land, the Heniochi and Zygii, children of the Pelasgian land; and along the shores of the farthest part of Pontus, beyond the country of the Tindaridae1 live the Colchians, emigrants from Egypt, in the neighborhood of the Caucasus, which at the Hyrcanian Sea rises in steep mountains. Here the Phasis, rolling over the surface of the Circean plain, pours into the waves of the Euxine its swift foaming waters, having received its origin at the Armenian mountain. To the northeast of it lies the isthmus between the Caspian and Euxine seas. On it lives the eastern people of the Iberians, who once came from the Pyrenees to the east and entered into a fierce war with the Hyrcanians, and the great tribe of the Camaritae, whom Bacchus once hospitably received after the Indian War and together with the Lenae arranged a sacred dance, putting on their breasts bandages and nebrydes (cloaks of fawn skins) and shouting: "evoe, Bacchus!" — The god loved with his heart this tribe and the customs of this country. Behind them the Caspian Sea surges. I could easily describe to you this sea as well, although I have not seen its distant paths nor sailed across them in a ship, for I do not live on black ships and do not engage in trade handed down by my father.

1 Refers to the Milesian colony of Dioscurias, on the site of present-day Sukhumi, named after the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), also called Tindaridae after their father Tyndareus (Iliad, III, 236).

761-774. The peoples of Transcaucasia.

: So many peoples live around the Caspian waves. Now turn your attention to the Pontic peoples, living crowded to the west of the Colchians and the Phasis, along the coast of the Euxine to the Thracian mouth, where the Chalcidian land is. First live the Bizeri and near them the tribes of the Bechiri, Macrones, Philyri, and those who have wooden mossynae. Near them are the Tibareni, rich in herds; behind these last inhabit the barren and harsh land of the Chalybes, skilled in working the difficult iron; standing at the heavy-sounding anvils, they never cease from labor and heavy cares. Behind them stretches the expanse of the Assyrian land, where warlike Thermodon sends its white water to the Amazons from the Armenian mountain.


Materials:

The Great Steppe in Ancient and Byzantine Sources. Garkavets 2005

The Kushan Empire (Chinese: 貴霜王朝, Guishuang, 1st–3rd centuries AD) — an ancient state on the territory of modern Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Northern India, with its flourishing period from 105 to 250 AD. According to one theory, the Kushan Empire was founded by the nomadic Indo-Iranian people of the Tocharians (Chinese: Yuezhi), who came from the territory where the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is now located. More details.