Sindi — a numerous Maeotian tribe that inhabited the Taman Peninsula and the surrounding coast of the Pontus Euxinus (modern Black Sea). Possibly kinsmen of the Tauri.
In the 6th century BC, the Sindi were first briefly mentioned by Pseudo-Scylax, who wrote in particular: "Sindi. After the Maeotians live the Sindi; but they also reach the areas outside the gulf; and they have such Greek poleis: the polis of Phanagoria, Kepoi, Sindian Harbor, Pitiunt." Then, in the 5th century BC, Herodotus wrote about the Sindi, and later other Greek and Roman historians — Pseudo-Scymnus, Strabo, etc. According to their accounts, the main occupations of the Sindi were agriculture, fishing, crafts, and trade (in the early period — with Urartu, from the 6th century BC — with the Greeks), both through their own ports — Sindian Harbor, Korokondama — and through Greek cities founded on the territory of Sindica. Wars with the Scythians led to the strengthening of military leaders' power among the Sindi. In the 5th century BC, the Sindian (Maeotian) state arose, which was also called Sindica. Of all the Black Sea tribes, the Sindi were the most Hellenized: they borrowed language and writing, names and customs, trade and financial instruments from the Greeks, participated in Greek competitions and religious cults, and wore Greek jewelry. In the 2nd century BC, Apollonius of Rhodes, citing other ancient authors, wrote: "At the plain of the Sindi, the Ister River divides and flows with one branch into the Adriatic Sea, and with another into the Euxine Pontus." Hipponax (second half of the 6th century BC) also mentions the "Sindian cleft." Hellanicus of Mytilene (5th century BC) in his work "On Peoples" says: "When you sail past the Bosporus, there will be the Sindi, and above them — the Maeotian-Scythians."
The first known king of the Sindi in history was Hecataeus (a Greek by birth). According to most numismatists, possibly even under him, the Sindian state of Sindica issued its own coins, namely Sindian silver coins (of three types) were put into circulation. Around 480 BC, the Sindi lost their political independence and became part of the Bosporan Kingdom, and the Sindian nobility became part of the ruling Bosporan aristocracy. The second known king of the Sindi was Gorgippus, brother of Leucon I of Bosporus. The subsequent kings of the Sindi were the kings of the Bosporan state, which was reflected in their stone titles.
Strabo, an author of the 1st century BC, mentions Gorgippia as the capital of Sindica: "In the Sindian region there is a place called Gorgippia — the royal capital of the Sindi, near the sea, and also Aboraca." Archaeologically known Sindian cities are known (Semibratnee settlement near Kuban and Raevskoe settlement near Anapa). Many burial mounds of the Taman Peninsula and Kuban region (Karagodeuashkh Mound, Great Bliznitsa, Merdzhany, etc.) are burials of Sindian nobility. The Sindi independently produced and used swords, now called by archaeologists "Sindo-Maeotian swords."
Initially, the linguistic and ethnic affiliation of the Sindi was not reliably identified: no Sindian inscriptions were found on the territory of Sindica; the Sindi were the most Hellenized, and the only available material is the toponymy of Sindica, preserved in the form of Scythian glosses in Greek texts. O. N. Trubachev in his work "On the Sindi and Their Language" suggested that the Sindi were "local Proto-Indo-Europeans, as opposed to the neighboring Indo-Iranians. The Sindo-Maeotian language is Indo-Aryan, with features of an independent dialect (or dialects)." N. V. Anfimov, however, is critical of Trubachev's opinion, believing that these conclusions are debatable, and proposes to classify the Sindi as Caucasian peoples, noting the participation of the Sindi as part of the Maeotian tribes in the ethnogenesis of the Adyghe. According to anthropologists, the population of Sindica differed somewhat from the majority of Maeotians, as it was characterized by a short and wide face with a wide nose.
According to Herodotus (IV.28), there were winter military campaigns of the Scythians in the 5th century BC into the lands of the Sindi. Archaeologists have identified several groups of archaeological finds indicating the penetration of individual elements of Scythian material culture into the culture of the population of Sindica and neighboring regions precisely at the time mentioned by Herodotus. About 500 years later, after the Sindi became part of the Bosporan state, the Greek satirical writer Lucian of Samosata, in his work (in dialogue form) "Toxaris, or Friendship," briefly mentions the Sindi. In particular, one participant in the dialogue reports that the Alans undertook before the Scythians to subjugate the Sindi to them, "who had long since seceded" (that is, slipped out of control). To which another participant replies: "That is very ... like a myth."
Nicolaus of Damascus (64 BC – 4 AD) wrote: "The Sindi throw as many fish onto the grave as enemies the deceased killed."
One of the last mentions of the Sindi dates to the 4th century AD, made by Rufus Festus Avienus in his work "Description of the Earth's Circle," where he wrote: "Learn at last what peoples surround Taurus. The Maeotians were the first to surround the salt marsh. The fierce Sarmatian is also found... The nearest regions are inhabited by the Cimmerians and Sindi. Nearby live the Cercetian tribe and the race of the Toretes."
VARIANT NAMES: Latin. Sindi, Zinchi, Sindones, Sinchi, Greek. Σινδοι, Ζιγχοι, Russian. Sindy, Sindony, Sinkhi, Zinkhi.
Sources:
Ethnogenesis of the Abkhazians. D.A. Arshba, 2015