2nd century BC — 1st century AD. J2a: Sary-Bel, Altai, Russia
The ancient Altai J2a2 turned out to be very close to some modern Iranian, Turkic, as well as Mongolian J2a2.
Source.
200—180 BC. Reign of Spartok V
The reign in Bosporus of Spartok V, son of Hygiainon.
Materials:
History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009
2nd century BC. Stachemphacus
The Zikh king Stachemphacus calls himself a subject of the Roman Emperor. Over time, the Zikhs unite an increasing number of Maeotian tribes around themselves. The beliefs of the Maeotians remain the same but are supplemented by elements of Sarmatian cults. Many Siraces, under the influence of settled agricultural settlements, transition to a sedentary lifestyle and, settling among the Maeotians, gradually assimilate with them.
Materials:
History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009
200 BC. ROXOLANI
The Roxolani appear — a large Sarmatian tribal union that roamed between the Borysthenes (modern Dnieper) and Tanais (modern Don) rivers. The Siraces appear — a Sarmatian tribe that roamed from the 1st century BC in the Azov steppes north of the Kuban River. Both before and after the arrival of the Siraces, these territories were inhabited by the Maeotians. More details.
200 BC. AORSI
The Aorsi appear. One of the powerful Sarmatian tribes that inhabited the North Caucasus near the mouth of the Tanais and on the lands of the eastern shore of Maeotis. Until the 2nd century BC, the Aorsi occupied territory south of the Aral and Caspian Seas. Advancing westward, at the beginning of the 2nd century BC they occupied the steppes between the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and the Don and reached the Caucasus. In the 2nd century AD, the Aorsi joined the tribal union led by the Alans. By the middle of the 3rd century AD, the lands of the Aorsi are designated as "Alania" in Roman and Chinese sources. More details.
200 BC. Dioscurias in the Pontic Kingdom
The active policy of the Pontic Kingdom against Rome in the Northwestern Black Sea region. Having conquered the Bosporan Kingdom, the Pontic kings turned the Eshera settlement into a military fortress, and granted autonomy to Dioscurias, making it their stronghold. Dioscurias minted its own coins. There was a shipbuilding yard there. At the Dioscurian agora (ancient market square), representatives of 70 to 300 nationalities and tribes gathered.
Materials:
"History of Abkhazia in Dates." T.A. Achugba 2011
180—150 BC. Reign of Paerisades III
The reign in Bosporus of Paerisades III, son of Hygiainon.
Materials:
History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009
150—125 BC. Reign of Paerisades IV
The reign in Bosporus of Paerisades IV, son of Paerisades III.
Materials:
History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009
130—114/13 BC. Scythian King Scylurus (Crimea)
- King of the Scythians Skilurus
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Source: Scythians
125—109 BC. Reign of Paerisades V
The reign in Bosporus of Paerisades V, son of Paerisades IV. The last king of the Spartokid dynasty, he probably voluntarily handed over power to the king of Pontus Mithridates V, fearing the capture of Bosporus by the Scythians. The vast majority of settlements in the Eastern Crimea were destroyed or abandoned.
Materials:
History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009
100 BC — 200 AD. Mixing of Scythians and Sarmatians
According to archaeological data, a strong mixing of Scythians and Sarmatians begins, since their cultures practically coincide, and it is already quite difficult to separate one culture from the other.
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Source: Scythians
100 BC. APASIACI
The Apasiaci appear — one of the nomadic Scythian tribes in the lower reaches of the Ochus River (modern Amu Darya), as well as along the banks of the rivers of the Aral basin and between the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. Identified with the Abii. More details.
100 BC. APSYNTHI
The Apsynthi appear in Thrace, occupying the area east of the Thracian Chersonese in the region of Kurudag to the upper reaches of the modern Maritsa River. More details.
100 BC. ACHAEI
The first mentions of the Achaei as Caucasian tribes between Tuapse and Sochi appear, as well as one of the main ancient Greek tribes of the inhabitants of the Roman province of Achaea, in a broad sense — the Greeks in general. The Greek Achaeans inhabited the northeastern part of Thessaly and the mountainous coast of the Peloponnese, where the Ionians originally lived. The term 'Achaeans' is used as a general name for the Greeks. More details.
100 BC. HEPTACOMETAE
The Heptacometae appear — 1) a tribe on Mount Skydis above Colchis; 2) a mountain tribe in the area of Trapezus and Pharnacia. It has a second, more common name — Bizeri. More details.
100 BC. ZIKHS
The Zikhs appear — an association of a group of Abkhaz-Adyghe tribes in the northern part of the Caucasian coast between the Kuban and Nicopsis. More details.
100 BC. CAMARITAE
The Camaritae appear — the name derived from the sea vessels — camaras, which were used by some tribes of the Caucasian coast of the Pontus Euxinus (modern Black Sea), such as the Achaei, Zygi, and Heniochi. More details.
100 BC. MACHELONES and MACHLYI
The Machelones and Machlyi appear — a tribe located in the north of Colchis, next to the Heniochi.
100 BC. SANIGAE
The Sanigae appear — a tribe of the Heniochi on the Caucasian coast of the Pontus Euxinus (modern Black Sea). Some researchers identify these tribes with the Sanici, Sagini and Sanni and place them in the region of Dioscurias. A Black Sea tribe, on whose lands the Roman fortifications of Pitiunt (modern Pitsunda) and Sebastopolis (modern Sukhum) were founded. More details.
100 BC. SANNI
The Sanni appear — a tribe in the area between Dioscurias, a Greek city near modern Sukhum, and Pitiunt (modern Pitsunda). More details.
100 BC. SVANS
The Svans appear — formerly Soani, a mountain tribe on the southwestern slopes of the Caucasus Range above Dioscurias, ancestors of the modern Svans, an ethnographic group of the Georgian people living in Svaneti. More details.
100 BC. PHTEIROPHAGI
The Phteirophagi appear. Strabo places the Phteirophagi north of Pitiunt, in the area of Nitica (modern Sochi). More details.
100 BC. IAZYGES
The Iazyges appear — a powerful nomadic pastoral Sarmatian tribe. Originally, the Iazyges lived east of the Tanais River (modern Don) and were the southern neighbors of the Roxolani. Then they lived between the Dnieper and the Danube. In the 1st century AD, they migrated to the lower Danube, to the territory of Dacia. More details.
100 BC. Inscriptions on a Clay Lamp
The earliest written monuments attested on the territory of modern Abkhazia are monuments of Greek script. It began to spread even before our era, in the ancient period. A number of Greek trading settlements appeared on the coast of Abkhazia, among which the most famous were Dioscurias (near Sukhumi) (this city is mentioned in the Greek myth of the Argonauts, recorded, in particular, by Apollonius of Rhodes), Gyenos (near Ochamchire) and others. Monuments of Greek script date back to the first centuries AD. Leaving aside the Greek coins with inscriptions that were discovered during archaeological excavations (especially in Sukhumi and Pitsunda), we can also point to epigraphic and other inscriptions that arose already on local soil. Such most ancient monuments of Greek script include inscriptions on the Sukhumi clay lamp, the Bichvinta (Pitsunda. — V.B.) mosaic and the seal of an Abkhazian ruler. One of the inscriptions (the decipherment and dating of the inscriptions were made by T.S. Kaukchishvili) on the lamp (1st century) reads: "Stranger, worship the lord Hermes-Mercury (the deity of trade and patron of travelers. — V.B.) for salvation." And in the surviving fragments of the inscription on the Pitsunda mosaic (5th–7th centuries) there are lines from the "Apocalypse of John" ("I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord..."). This is in one part of the fragment, and in the other surviving part: "In prayer for Orel and for all his house." On the pendant seal of the Abkhazian king of the 8th century, we find the inscription "Konstantinos Abasgias" (Constantine of Abasgia).
From the History of Writing in Abkhazia. Kh.S. Bgazhba. 1967
100 BC. Mentions by Vitruvius Pollio
- Vitruvius Pollio
V.V. Latyshev. News of Ancient Writers about Scythia and the Caucasus // Journal of Ancient History. 1949. No. 1. P. 213-215)
An architect and mechanic, contemporary of Julius Caesar and Augustus, author of the work "On Architecture" in 10 books, written between 16 and 13 BC.
Translation by G.G. Zorgenfrey.
ON ARCHITECTURE
II, 1, 4. Among the people of the Colchians in Pontus, due to the abundance of forests, whole logs are laid directly on the ground on the right and left sides, leaving between these two rows a distance equal to the length of the logs; then on both ends of these rows, two other rows are laid across; thus the space of the dwelling lying in the middle is enclosed. Then the Colchians on four sides — alternately on two opposite ones — lay logs, connecting the corners and forming walls, and vertically from the foundation they erect towers, and the gaps that remain between the logs due to the thickness of the material, they fill with chips and clay. Likewise, shortening the ends of the transverse beams and narrowing them gradually in the form of ledges, they erect the roof from four sides upward and form a pyramid-like top in the middle, which they cover with foliage and clay, and in this crude way they build vaulted roofs of their towers¹.
VII, 7, 5. Arsenic sulphide, which is called in Greek ophthechyp?, is mined in Pontus. Sandarac² is found in many places, but the best mines are in Pontus near the Hypanis River³.
VIII, 2, 6. And that the northern winds are dry, and the southern ones bring moisture with them, released by the earth under the influence of the sun's rays, is proved by the sources of rivers, of which most and the largest are drawn and placed on maps and in descriptions of the earth as originating from the north; so, first of all, in India the Ganges and Indus originate from the Caucasus Mountains, in Syria the Tigris and Euphrates, in Asia in Pontus the Borysthenes, Hypanis, Tanais, in Colchis the Phasis (...)
VIII, 3, 11. There are springs that originate from the bitter earth's sap, with extremely bitter water; such is the Hypanis River in Pontus. This river flows from its source approximately 40 miles, having very sweet-tasting water, then reaches a place located 160 miles from the mouth; there it receives a very small spring. It, flowing into the river, makes the entire huge mass of water in it bitter, as it flows through such earth and veins from which sandarac is mined, and the water in it becomes bitter.
Notes
¹ It is possible that the method of constructing wooden tower-like dwellings described by Vitruvius refers to those mossyn-towers, which are mentioned by Xenophon (Anabasis, V, 4, 26) and by other, later authors reporting about the Mossynoeci, a people named after the wooden towers that served as their dwellings. Cf. Apollonius of Rhodes, II, 1016 ff.
² Modern realgar, containing up to 70% arsenic; like arsenic sulphide, this substance was used in antiquity as an admixture in the manufacture of bronze.
³ The Kuban River.
Materials:
NEWS OF ANCIENT GREEK AND LATIN WRITERS ABOUT SCYTHIA AND THE CAUCASUS. Latyshev V.V. 1947
100 BC. Mentions by Nicolaus of Damascus
Nicolaus of Damascus (1st century BC) "Collection of Strange Customs"
17. The Kerkets exclude those who have committed any crime from sacred rites; if someone, steering a boat, makes a mistake, everyone approaches one after another and spits on him.
18. The Mossynoeci keep their king locked up in a tower; if it seems that any king has ever decided a matter badly, he is killed by starvation; the bread used for food is divided equally, having jointly set aside a portion for arriving foreigners.
42. The Colchians do not bury their dead, but hang them on trees.
Materials:
History of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Posternak 2008
1st century BC. Appearance of the Alans
"Sarmatization" of Bosporan cities. The rise of the Sarmatian-origin nobility in the Bosporan Kingdom and its new flourishing. The appearance of Iranian-speaking Alan tribes in the Central Caucasus and Transcaucasia.
Materials:
History of Adygea. Gubzhokov 2009