- Laz people in traditional clothing (early 20th century)
Lazi — tribes associated with the locality of Old Lazica in the northern corner of Colchis, between the Phasis and Baphis rivers; their main city, Archaeopolis, lay on a steep rock by the Phasis. In the 4th-5th centuries, the name of this tribe spread to all of Colchis. In late Roman authors, the Lazi were identified with the Colchians, and Lazica corresponded to Colchis. In the early Middle Ages, the Lazi were a common name for West Georgian tribes.
Pliny the Elder (Latin: Plinius Maior; 23–79 AD) — "[...] IV.12. Beyond them lives the tribe of the Armenochalibes [1], and Greater Armenia lies at a distance of 30,000 paces. Before reaching Trapezus along the coast is the river Pixites [2], and beyond it the tribe of the Sanni (Sannorum) Heniochi [3]. At 140,000 paces from Trapezus is the river Absarrus with a fortress of the same name at its mouth.
In this region, behind the mountains lies Iberia; along the coast live the Heniochi, Ampreutae, Lazi [4]; the rivers flow: Acampscon, Isis, Mogrus, Baphis [Deep] [5], then the tribes of the Colchians, the city of Matium [6], the river Heracleum with a cape of the same name, and the most famous of the Pontic rivers — the Phasis. [...]."
Commentaries by V. V. Latyshev:
[1] The tribe of the Chalibes in Cappadocia, whose territory by the beginning of the Christian era was limited to the region of Pharnacia (Strabon, XII, 3, 19 ff.), appears under this name only in Pliny. It is possible that the basis for this designation was the information that formed the basis of Strabo's text, reporting that the expansion of Armenia that took place under the kings Artaxias and Zariadres (2nd century BC) also occurred at the expense of the territory of the Chalibes (XI, 14, 5).
[2] Arrian places this river between the Prytanis River and the settlement of Archabius; however, Kiessling, RE, VIII, 1, 267, points to a stream that has preserved this name to the present day, 3 km from Trapezus, which undoubtedly corresponds much more closely to Pliny's description.
[3] The Sanni, constantly identified by other authors with the Macrones (see, for example, Hec. Mil., fr. 191), are separated from the Heniochi by the territory of the Colchian tribe (see Ps.-Scyl., 76 ff.) and some other tribes: the Coraxi, Melanchlaeni (Machelones), whom, however, Kiessling (RE, VIII, 1, 258 ff.), comparing some later data, considers related to the Heniochi; with the Sanni, moreover, the Sanigae (Steph. Byz., s. v. Σαννίγαι) should be associated, mentioned by Pliny below (NH, VI, 14) under the name of the Sanici.
[4] The earliest mention of this tribe, which much later spread its name to all of Colchis. See also about them in Arrian, Periplus Ponti Euxini, 15 and the note by Kiessling (Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll. Realencyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, VIII, 1, 266) establishes their belonging to the tribe of the Cercetae, from whom they separated, moving out of the locality called Old Lazica (Arrian, Periplus Ponti Euxini, 18), during the era of the Mithridatic Wars.
[5] In listing these rivers (see about them in Arr., PPE, 9), Pliny uses some periplus less detailed than Arrian's periplus (for example, the river Acinas is omitted), but, like it, leading the reader from west to east.
[6] The later name of Cappadocian Comana, the ruins of which are located near the modern settlement of Tokat in eastern Anatolia.
VARIANT NAMES: Russian. Lazy, Laziki, Latin. Lazi, Lasae, Lazici, Greek. Λαζοι, Λαζικοι, Ζαλαι.
Sources:
Ethnogenesis of the Abkhazians. D.A. Arshba, 2015