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[German version] Georgian 'ruler fortress' (Kartlis Cḫovreba p. 17; 33 et passim) [1]. Rock-cut city (9.5 ha) in Iberia [1], about 20 km to the east of Gori on the northern bank of the Cyrus [5] (1st millennium BC to 18th cent. AD). In the Roman Imperial period U. was expanded into a city with d…

[German version] (Γυηνός; Gyēnós). Town in the  Colchis (Ps.-Scyl. 81). Now linked with the ancient settlement (6th cent. BC ─ 6th cent. AD) near Očamčire on the Georgian Pontus coast, discovered in 1935/6 during the construction of the harbour. The ancient finding points to three man-made hills surrounded by ditches with remains of wooden architecture with a pounded…

[German version] Κάσπιον ὄρος; Káspion óros is, according to Eratosthenes (in Str. 11,2,15), the indigenous name of the Caucasus; according to Ptol. 5,13,4 it is the mountain range separating Armenia from the Parthian province of Media (modern Talyš mountains, the border between Azerbaijan and Iran). In Mela 1,109 and Plin. HN 5,99, the Caspii montes are …

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(Φαρνάβαζος; Pharnábazos). [German version] [1] Persian, Satrap of Dascylium [2]/Phrygia Persian, from 468 or 455 BC satrap of Dascylium [2] in Phrygia (Thuc. 2,67,1). Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) [German version] [2] Grandson of Ph. [1], satrap of Dascylium [2] Grandson of P. [1], satrap of Dascylium [2], died after 373 BC; in 413/12 BC he was an ally of Sparta and in 409 BC of Athens (he sheltered Alcibiades [3] in 404 und had him murdered at the request of Lysander [1]; Xen. Hell. 1,1,6; 14; 2,16; 3,8ff.; Diod.Sic. 14,11,2; Ne…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Limes (Ἁρμοζική; Harmozikḗ Str. 11,3,5; Ἀρμάκτικα; Harmáktika Ptol. 5,11,3; 8,19,4; Hermastis iuxta Cyrum Plin. HN 6,29; Armastika Geogr. Rav. 2,8; Georgian Armaziḫe, ‘fortress of the Armazi’). Residence of the kings of the Caucasian  Iberia on the Bagineti hill in modern Mccheta south opposite the confluence of the  Aragus into the  Cyrus; conquered by Pompey in 65 BC. Excavations since 1937 have revealed buildings of Hellenistic and Roman times: fortress wall (clay brick wall on a stone block foun…

[German version] [1] Apostle (Πέτρος/ Pétros, literally 'the rock'). …

[German version] (Φασιανοί; Phasianoí, Xen. An. 4,6,5), a tribe mentioned together with the Chalybes and Taochi that lived on the Phasis, a river that should not be identified with the Phasis in Colchis (modern Rioni/ Georgia) but with the modern Pasinsu (Armenian Basean) that flows into the Araxes [1]/ Aras at Pasinler. The region known as Pasean in Armenian and Basiani in Georgian corresponds approximately to the modern region of Basen/Pasen with the city of Pasinler, c. 60 km east of Erzurum in north-eastern Turkey. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography W.E.D. Allen, A His…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids (Procop. Goth. 4,13 f.; Agath. 2,22 III 5 f.). Heavily fortified capital city of Lazica, on the Doconus (Georgian Techuri) north of the  Phasis; could not be taken in the Byzantine-Persian wars of 550-55; destroyed by the Arabs in the 9th cent. The ruins are in West Georgia in the place today called Nokalakevi (‘Old City’): wall with fortification, palace, thermae, basilica, acropolis. Extensive excavations.…

[German version] (Ἡνίοχοι/ Heníochoi, Ps.-Scyl. 71). In the 5th cent. BC, a large group of tribes on the Caucasian coast of the Pontus - then a densely wooded area with many inlets - between the Zygi and the Achaeans in the north and the San(n)igae in the south.  Pityus/Picunda was founded in the territory of the H. The H. raised cattle and engaged in piracy with light boats (Str. 11,2,14) and were subjugated towards the end of the 4th cent. BC by the Bosporan king  Eumelus [4], who campaigned agai…

[German version] (Σευσάμορα/Σεισάμορα; Seusámora/ Seisámora). One of three cities of Iberia in the Caucasus mentioned by name in Str. 11,3,5; a fortress on the route through the valley of the Aragus (modern Aragvi) to the Portae Caucasiae (modern Dariali), near the modern town of Cicamuri in Georgia. Excavations: Hellenistic city wall and buildings with ashlar foundations (with cramp insets), clay brick walls above and tiled roofs.…

(Κῦρος; Kŷros, Lat. Cyrus). [German version] [1] C. I. (the Elder) Grandfather of  Cyrus [2] (the Great), known from the cylinder inscription of his grandson (TUAT I 409,21). Here he is given the title ‘great king, king of Anšān’ ( šarru rabû šar Anšān;  Anshan) and called ‘descendant’ ( liblibbu) of  Teispes. The genealogical link C. (I.) ─ Cambyses (I.) ─ C. (II.) is also mentioned in Hdt. 1,111. C. the Elder may accordingly be interpreted as a petty king of Persian descent, ruling over (a part of (?) the formerly Elamite) Fārs in the 7th/…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pontos Euxeinos | Scythae | Colonization | Patricius Military colony in the area of the  Sindi in the north-west Pontus Euxinus (Str. 11,2,10; Steph. Byz. s.v. Γοργιπία; …

[German version] [1] River to the east of the Sea of Azov In Ptol. 5,8,2 and 14 (Οὐαρδάνης/ …

[German version] (Σάννοι; Sánnoi). In Str. 12,3,18 a term for the tribe formerly called Macrones, to the southwest of Trapezus. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography O. Lordkipanidze, Das alte Georgien in Strabons Geographie, 1996, 158-163.

[German version] (Μεστλῆτα; Mestlêta, Ptol. 5,10,8; Agathias Scholastikos 2,22,5: Μεσχιθά, Georgian in Kartlis Cxovreba [1]: Mceta). Capital of Caucasian Iberia [1] from the 3rd cent. BC until the end of the 5th cent. AD (elevation of Tbilisi to capital by Vaxtang Gorgasal) located at the confluence of the Aragus and the Cyrus [5]. Starting-point of the road …

[German version] The country between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, with the Great  Caucasus, was settled from the 4th millennium BC onwards and until today is distinctively polyethnic. From the late 3rd millennium onwards, C. became a centre of  bronze metallurgy for the Near Easter; at the end of the 2nd millennium beginning of  iron metallurgy. In the 9th-6th cents. C. was affecte…

[German version] (Σοάνες/ Soánes, Latin Suani). First mentioned in Str. 11,2,14; 11,2,19, which locates them in the western Caucasus together with the Phtheirophagi ('fir-cone eaters')…

[German version] (Καυκάσιον ὄρος; Kaukásion óros, Hdt. 3,97; Καύκασον ὄρος; Kaúkason óros, App. praef. 4, App. Mith. 103; κ…