View source for Colchis

{{Short description|Historical region of Georgia}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Colchis
| native_name            = ეგრისი<br />''Egrisi''
| era                    = [[Iron Age]], [[Classical antiquity]]
| year_start             = 13th century BC<ref>{{cite book |last=Morritt |first=R. D. |date=2010 |title=Stones that Speak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1EaBwAAQBAJ&dq=Robert+D.+Morritt%2C+Stones+that+Speak%2C+colchis+13th&pg=PA99 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars |page=99 |isbn=978-1-4438-2176-6 |quote=The tribes in Colchis consolidated during the 13th century BCE. This was at this period mentioned in Greek mythology as Colchis as the destination of the Argonauts and the home of Medea in her domain of sorcery. She was known to Urartians as Qulha (Kolkha or Kilkhi).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Asatiani |first1=Nodar |last2=Janelidże |first2=Otar |date=2009 |title=History of Georgia: From Ancient Times to the Present Day |location=University of Michigan |publisher=Petite |page=17 |isbn=9789941906367}}</ref>
| year_end               = 131 AD<ref>David Braund. ''Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC – AD 562''. pp. 5,180.</ref>
| year_exile_start       = <!--- Year of start of exile (if dealing with exiled government – status="Exile") --->
| year_exile_end         = <!--- Year of end of exile (leave blank if still in exile) --->
| event_start            = Consolidation of Colchian tribes
| date_start             = <!--- Optional: Date of establishment, enter dates in this format 1 January 1801--->
| event1                 = Conquest of [[Diauehi]]
| date_event1            = 750 BC<ref>{{cite book |last=Morritt |first=R. D. |date=2010 |title=Stones that Speak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1EaBwAAQBAJ&dq=Robert+D.+Morritt%2C+Stones+that+Speak%2C+colchis+13th&pg=PA99 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars |isbn=978-1-4438-2176-6 |quote=they [Colchis] absorbed part of Diaokh (c.750 BCE)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Assatiani |first1=Nodar |last2=Bendianachvili |first2=Alexandre |title=Histoire de la Géorgie |year=1997 |location=Paris |publisher=L'Harmattan |page=31 |isbn=2-7384-6186-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Asatiani |first1=Nodar |last2=Janelidże |first2=Otar |date=2009 |title=History of Georgia |url= |location=Tbilisi |publisher=Petite |page=16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Birgit |last=Christansen |chapter=Granaries in Urartu and Neighboring States and the Monumentalization of Administrative Records |editor-first1=Pavel S. |editor-last1=Avetisyan |editor-first2=Roberto |editor-last2=Dan |editor-first3=Yervand H. |editor-last3=Grekyan |title=Over the Mountains and Far Away: Studies in Near Eastern History and Archaeology Presented to Mirjo Salvini on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday |publisher=Archaeopress |year=2019 |page=141}}</ref>
| event2                 = Two invasions of [[Sardur II]] of Urartu
| date_event2            = 744/743 BC<ref name="Stanley Arthur Cook p. 350">{{cite book |first1=Stanley Arthur |last1=Cook |first2=Martin Percival |last2=Charlesworth |first3=John Bagnell |last3=Bury |first4=John Bernard |last4=Bury |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |title-link=The Cambridge Ancient History |author1-link=Stanley Arthur Cook |author3-link=J. B. Bury |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=350}}{{full citation needed|reason=there are 12 volumes of this, which is it? and which chapter?|date=June 2024}}</ref>{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=17}}
| event3                 = [[Cimmerians|Cimmerian]] and [[Scythians|Scythian]] invasions
| date_event3            = 720 BC<ref>Ronald Grigor Suny, ''The Making of the Georgian Nation'', 2nd ed., p. 7</ref>
| event4                 = Conquest of [[Mithridates VI Eupator|Mithridates VI]]
| date_event4            = After 70 BC<ref>{{cite book |last=Savalli-Lestrade |first=I. |year=1998 |title=Les philoi royaux dans l'Asie hellenistique |publisher=École pratique des hautes études: Sciences historiques et philologiques |location=Droz |isbn=9782600002905 |page=182}}</ref>
| p1                     = Colchian culture
| s1                     = Lazica
| p2                     = Diauehi
| image_map              = Georgian States Colchis and Iberia (600-150BC)-en.svg
| image_map_alt          = 
| image_map_caption      = Colchis and [[Kingdom of Iberia|Iberia]]
| capital                = [[Kutaisi|Aea]]
| religion               = [[Georgian mythology|Georgian paganism]]<br>[[Mithraic Mysteries|Mithraism]]
| common_languages       = [[Greek language|Greek]]–[[Aramaic]] (language of governance, numismatics and culture),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Braund |first=David |title=Georgia in Antiquity A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562 |publication-date=2003 |pages=126–127}}</ref>{{sfn|Tsetskhladze|1993|p=235, 240}} <br />[[Zan languages|Colchidian]]<ref name=Javakhishvili-44-47>{{cite book |first=Ivane |last=Javakhishvili |title=A History of the Georgian Nation |at=Book I. pp. 44–47 |quote=Colchis was mainly inhabited by Megrelian-Laz speaking tribes. Then Colchians conquered the land of the Svans.}}</ref><br />many others{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=14}}
| today                  = {{ubl|[[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]||[[Russia]] | [[Turkey]]}}
}}
{{History of Georgia (country)}}

In [[classical antiquity]] and [[Greco-Roman geography]], '''Colchis'''{{cref2|a}} ({{IPAc-en|'|k|ɒ|l|k|ɪ|s}};<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newcenturyclassi00aver/page/314/mode/2up |pages=314–315 |title=New Century Classical Handbook |editor-first=Catherine B. |editor-last=Avery |publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts |location=New York |year=1962}}</ref> {{Langx|grc|Κολχίς}}) was an [[exonym]] for the Georgian [[polity]]{{cref2|b}} of '''Egrisi'''{{cref2|c}} ({{lang-ka|ეგრისი}}) located on the eastern coast of the [[Black Sea]], centered in present-day western [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] also including the region of [[Abkhazia]].

Its population, the '''Colchians''', are generally believed to have been primarily early [[Zan languages|Zan-speaking]] tribes, ancestral to the modern [[Laz people|Laz]] and [[Mingrelians|Mingrelian]] peoples.<ref name=Javakhishvili-44-47 /><ref>Danelia, Korneli. Encyclopaedia Georgia. Vol. 3. Tbilisi, 2014, p. 308.</ref><ref name=zan1/><ref name=zan2/><ref>Kaukhchishvili, Simon. Georgica, Vol. III. Tbilisi, 1936, p. 27.</ref> According to [[David Marshall Lang]]: "one of the most important elements in the modern Georgian nation, the Colchians were probably established in the Caucasus by the [[Middle Bronze Age]]."<ref>{{cite book |first=David Marshall |last=Lang |title=The Georgians |page=59 |publisher=Frederick A. Praeger |location=New York |year=1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=David Marshall |last=Lang |title=The Georgians |pages=75, 76–88 |publisher=Frederick A. Praeger |location=New York |year=1966}}</ref>

It has been described in modern scholarship as "the earliest Georgian formation", which, along with the [[Kingdom of Iberia]], would later contribute significantly to the development of the [[Kingdom of Georgia]] and the [[Georgians|Georgian nation]].<ref name=CToumanoff>{{cite book |first=Cyril |last=Toumanoff |title=Studies in Christian Caucasian History |pages=69, 84}}</ref><ref name="Christopher Haas 2014">{{cite book |first=Christopher |last=Haas |title=Early Christianity in Contexts: An Exploration Across Cultures and Continents |chapter=Chapter 3: Caucasus |publisher=Baker |date=November 18, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Charles Burney p. 194-94">{{cite book |first1=Charles |last1=Burney |first2=David Marshall |last2=Lang |title=The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus |page=194<!-- –94 --> |publisher=Phoenix Press |year=2001}}</ref><ref name="Svante E. Cornell p. 130">{{cite thesis |first=Svante E. |last=Cornell |title=Autonomy and Conflict: Ethnoteritoriality and Separatism in the South Caucasus-Cases of Georgia |type=doctoral thesis |page=130 |publisher=Uppsala University |year=2002}}</ref>

Colchis is known in [[Greek mythology]] as the destination of the [[Argonauts]], as well as the home to [[Medea]] and the [[Golden Fleece]].<ref>{{cite book |first=W. E. D. |last=Allen |title=A history of the Georgian people |year=1932 |page=123}}</ref> It was also described as a land rich with gold, iron, timber and honey that would export its resources mostly to ancient Hellenic city-states.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Nigel |last=Wilson |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece |page=149}}</ref> Colchis likely had a diverse population. According to Greek and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] sources, between 70 and 300 languages were spoken in [[Sukhumi#History|Dioscourias (modern Sukhumi)]] alone.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=14}}

Colchis territory is mostly assigned to what is now the western part of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of [[Samegrelo]], [[Imereti]], [[Guria]], [[Adjara]], [[Svaneti]], [[Racha]]; [[Abkhazia]]; modern [[Russia]]'s [[Sochi]] and [[Tuapse]] districts; and present-day [[Turkey]]’s [[Artvin Province|Artvin]], [[Rize Province|Rize]], and [[Trabzon Province|Trabzon]] provinces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morritt |first=Robert D. |date=2017 |title=Stones that Speak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1EaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publisher |isbn=978-1-4438-2176-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Ronald G. |last=Suny |title=The Making of the Georgian Nation |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=8}}</ref>

== Geography and toponyms ==
Colchis, Kolkha, Qulḫa, or Kilkhi,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morritt |first=Robert D. |date=2017 |title=Stones that Speak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1EaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA143 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publisher |isbn=978-1-4438-2176-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>''The Pre-history of the Armenian People'', Igor Mikhailovich Diakonov, p.&nbsp;75</ref><ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Volume 1, p.&nbsp;1040</ref><ref>''Archaeology at the North-east Anatolian Frontier'', Claudia Sagona, p.&nbsp;35</ref> which existed from the {{Circa|13th}}<ref name = morritt>Robert D. Morritt, ''Stones that Speak'', p. 143</ref> to the 1st centuries BC, is regarded as an early [[Georgians|ethnically Georgian]] polity; the name of the Colchians was used as the collective term for early [[Kartvelians|Kartvelian tribes]] which populated the eastern coast of the Black Sea in [[Greco-Roman ethnography]].<ref>Peter L. Roudik, ''Culture and Customs of the Caucasus'', p. 10, Greenwood, US (December 1, 2008), {{ISBN|9780313348853}}; Zev Katz, ''Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities'', p. 163, the University of Michigan Free Fress, US (1975), {{ISBN|0029170907}}; Aleksandr Prokhorov. ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'', Volume 7, p.197, Macmillan, (1973); Ori Z. Soltes. ''National Treasures of Georgia'', p.30, Bloomsbury US (1999), {{ISBN|0856675016}}; Bohdan Nahaylo, Victor Swoboda. ''Soviet Disunion. A History of the Nationalities Problem in the USSR'', p. 11, Hamish Hamilton (1990), {{ISBN|0029224012}}</ref><ref name="Christopher Haas 2014" /><ref name="Charles Burney p. 194-94" /><ref name="The Cambridge Ancient History p. 255">''The Cambridge Ancient History'', John Anthony Crook, [[Elizabeth Rawson]], p. 255</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=David Marshall |last=Lang |title=The Georgians |pages=59, 75, 76–88 |publisher=Frederick A. Praeger |location=New York |date=1966}}</ref>

[[Ronald Grigor Suny]] identifies Colchis as an early Georgian state formation. Suny emphasizes that the Colchians were among the early Kartvelian-speaking tribes, the linguistic ancestors of modern Georgians. He highlights the cultural and political continuity between Colchis and later Georgian states, noting that Colchis, along with the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia, played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of the Georgian people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigory |title=The Making of the Georgian Nation |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-253-20915-3}}</ref>

[[Giorgi Melikishvili]] and [[Donald Rayfield]] believes that Colchis and their kings are mentioned in several Assyrian inscriptions.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=15}} In several inscriptions about the campaigns of [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] (1243–1207 BC), it is written that he defeated 40 kings of Nairi and watered the mountains and valleys with blood, and also mentions that he marched through the most difficult mountains that no Assyrian king had seen before. Other Assyrian inscriptions about this campaign mention "the 40 kings of the Nairi countries and the countries on the shores of the Upper Sea[Black Sea]" instead of "Nairi countries".<ref>Giorgi Melikishvili - Researches in the Ancient History of Georgia, Caucasia and the Near East. p.369</ref> In the inscriptions of [[Tiglath-Pileser I]] (1114–1076 BC), it is mentioned that 60 other kings came to the aid of the 23 kings of Nairi, who were too late and could not participate in the battle, so they retreated near the shores of the Upper Sea.  Later, Tiglath-Pileser I went to fight the kings of the shores of the Upper Sea.  In the Yonjalu inscription, Tiglath-Pileser I refers to himself as "the conqueror of the land of Nairi from Tume to Daiaeni[Diauehi], and from Gilḫi to the Upper Sea[Black Sea]". According to the author, Gilḫi should be read as Kilḫi, which means Kolkhis/Colchis.<ref>Giorgi Melikishvili - Researches in the Ancient History of Georgia, Caucasia and the Near East. p. 372-373</ref>

According to Donald Rayfield, the ethnic makeup of Colchis is "obscure" and Kartvelian names "are conspicuously absent from the few anthronyms found in Colchian burials."{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=15}} Instead, [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian]], [[Iranian languages|Iranian]], and possibly [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]] names are present.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=15}}

The name Colchis is thought to have derived from the [[Urartian language|Urartian]] ''Qulḫa''.<ref>O, Lordkipanidze. (1991). ''Archeology in Georgia'', Weinheim, 110.</ref> In the mid-eighth century BC, [[Sarduri II]], the King of [[Urartu]], inscribed his victory over ''Qulḫa'' on a stele; however, the exact location of ''Qulḫa'' is disputed. Some scholars argue the name ''Qulḫa'' (Colchís) originally referred to a land to the west of Georgia.<ref>M. Salvini, Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer (Darmstadt, 1995) 70f.</ref><ref>Bremmer, J. N. (2007). "The Myth of the Golden Fleece". ''Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions'', 6, 9–38.</ref> Others argue ''Qulḫa'' may have been located in the south, near modern [[Göle]], Turkey.<ref>Kemalettin Köroğlu. "The Northward Expansion of the Kingdom of Urartu and the Historical Geography of the Land of Qulha." Aralık 2000, Cilt LXIV – Sayı 241. [https://belleten.gov.tr/ozet/2574/eng]</ref>

According to Levan Gordeziani, while the Greek ''Colchis'' etymologically descends from Urartian ''Qulḫa'', the Greeks may have applied the name to a different region (and/or cultures) than the preceding Urartians had. Further confusion rests in possible differences in the Greeks' own usage of the name Colchis in political and mythological contexts (i.e. the relationship between "Aia-Colchis" and "the land of Colchis").<ref>Levan Gordzeiani. "Some Remarks on Qulḫa." ''Over the Mountains and Far Away: Studies in Near Eastern history and archaeology presented to Mirjo Salvini on the occasion of his 80th birthday.'' eds. Pavel S. Avetisyan, Roberto Dan and Yervand H. Grekyan. Archaeopress Archaeology. 2019. p. 242. [https://www.academia.edu/50125245/Some_Remarks_on_Qulh_a]</ref>

According to the scholar of Caucasian studies [[Cyril Toumanoff]]:

{{blockquote|Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer. Colchis can be justly regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian (West Georgian) kingdom.&nbsp;... It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation.<ref name="CToumanoff" />}}

According to most [[Classical antiquity|Classical-era]] sources, Colchis was bordered on the south-west by [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]], on the west by the [[Black Sea]], as far as the river Corax. To its north was the [[Caucasus Mountains|Greater Caucasus]], beyond which was [[Sarmatians|Sarmatia]]. On its east it bordered the Kingdom of Iberia and [[Moschia|Montes Moschici]] (now the [[Caucasus Mountains|Lesser Caucasus]]). The south of Colchis bordered [[Armenia]]. The westward extent of the country is considered differently by different authors: [[Strabo]] makes Colchis begin at [[Trabzon]], while [[Ptolemy]], on the other hand, extends [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] to the [[Rioni River]].<ref>Melikishvili, Giorgi. Essays on the History of Georgia, Vol. I. Tbilisi: Sabchota Sakartvelo, 1970, p. 345.</ref>

Although some ancient authors consider [[Sukhumi|Dioscurias]] to be the extreme northern settlement point of Colchians (in an ethnic sense), nevertheless "they consider it as a point located on the territory of non-Colchian tribes ([[Heniochi]], [[Sanigs]])". Since in a later era the name "Colchians" was organically connected with the name "[[Laz people|Lazi]]", it should be remembered that Byzantine sources saw the northern limit of the spread of Laz people somewhere between the [[Phasis (town)|Phasis]] (modern. [[Poti]]) and Dioscurias".<ref>[[Giorgi Melikishvili]], ''History of ancient Georgia''. P. 64.</ref><ref>Anchabadze, Zurab Vianorovich. ''History and culture of ancient Abkhazia''. Moscow -1964. P. 132.</ref>

The Greek name {{lang|grc-Latn|Kolchís|italic=no}} ({{lang|grc|Κολχίς}}) is first used to describe a geographic area in the writings of [[Aeschylus]] and [[Pindar]]. Earlier writers speak of the "Kolchian" ({{lang|grc|Κολχίδα}}) people and their mythical king [[Aeëtes]] ({{lang|grc|Αἰήτης}}), as well as his [[eponym]]ous city ''Aea'' or ''Aia (''{{lang|grc|Αἶα}}'')'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-grc1:1.2.2 |author=Herodotus |author-link=Herodotus |title=Herodotus, ''The Histories'', book 1, chapter 2, section 2 |website=perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=2020-04-07 |quote=They sailed in a long ship to Aea, a city of the Colchians, and to the river Phasis...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Apollonius of Rhodes |author-link=Apollonius of Rhodes |title=Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica |date=2006 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=0-674-99001-3 |pages=II.417 |oclc=249603642 |quote="Kolchian Aia lies at the furthest limits of sea and earth,"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:alphabetic+letter=*a:entry+group=43 |title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, Α α, αἶα, αἶα |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref> but don't make explicit references to a Kolchis nation or region. The main river was known as the [[Phasis (mythology)|Phasis]] (now [[Rioni River|Rioni]]) and was, according to some writers the southern boundary of Colchis, but more probably flowed through the middle of that country from the Caucasus west into the [[Euxine]], and the Anticites or Atticitus (now [[Kuban]]). [[Arrian]] mentions many others by name, but they would seem to have been little more than mountain torrents: the most important of them were Charieis, Chobus or Cobus, Singames, Tarsuras, Hippus, Astelephus, Chrysorrhoas, several of which are also noticed by [[Ptolemy]] and [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]. The chief towns were [[Sukhumi|Dioscurias]] or Dioscuris (under the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] called Sebastopolis, now [[Sukhumi]]) on the seaboard of the Euxine, Sarapana (now [[Shorapani]]), [[Phasis (town)|Phasis]] (now [[Poti]]), Pityus (now [[Pitsunda]]), [[Apsaros]] (now [[Gonio (settlement)|Gonio]]), [[Vani|Surium]] (now [[Vani]]), Archaeopolis (now [[Nokalakevi]]), Macheiresis, and Cyta or Cutatisium or Aia (now [[Kutaisi]]), the traditional birthplace of [[Medea]]. [[Scylax of Caryanda|Scylax]] mentions also Mala or Male, which he, in contradiction to other writers, makes the birthplace of [[Medea]].<ref name=Jan>Abashidze, Zaza; Bakhtadze, Mikheil; Janelidze, Otar. Georgia and the Georgians. Tbilisi, 2013, pp. 44–46.</ref>

== Physical-geographic characteristics ==
[[File:Colchis and Iberia, 1706.jpg|right|thumb|Map of Colchis and Iberia by [[Christoph Cellarius]] printed in Leipzig in 1706]]

In [[physical geography]], Colchis is usually defined as the area east of the [[Black Sea]] coast, restricted from the north by the southwestern slopes of the [[Greater Caucasus]], from the south by the northern slopes of the [[Lesser Caucasus]] in Georgia and Eastern Black Sea (Karadeniz) Mountains in Turkey, and from the east by [[Likhi Range]], connecting the Greater and the Lesser Caucasus. The central part of the region is Colchis Plain, stretching between [[Sukhumi]] and [[Kobuleti]]; most of that lies on the elevation below {{cvt|20|m}} above sea level. Marginal parts of the region are mountains of the Great and the Lesser Caucasus and Likhi Range.<ref name=Jan/>

Its territory mostly corresponds to what is now the western part of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of [[Samegrelo]], [[Imereti]], [[Guria]], [[Adjara]], [[Abkhazia]], [[Svaneti]], [[Racha]]; the modern [[Turkey]]’s [[Rize]], [[Trabzon]] and [[Artvin]] provinces ([[Lazistan]], [[Tao-Klarjeti]]); and the modern [[Russia]]’s [[Sochi]] and [[Tuapse]] districts.<ref>Morritt, Robert D. ''Stones that Speak''. Cambridge Scholars, 2017. ISBN 9781443821766. [https://books.google.com/books?id=M1EaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 P. 140] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608111402/https://books.google.com/books?id=M1EaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA140}}.</ref>

The climate is mild humid; near [[Batumi]], annual rainfall level reaches {{cvt|4,000|mm}}, which is the absolute maximum for continental western Eurasia. The dominating natural landscapes of Colchis are [[temperate rainforest]]s, yet degraded in the plain part of the region; wetlands (along the coastal parts of Colchis Plain); subalpine and [[alpine meadows]].<ref>Maruashvili, Levan. Physical Geography of Georgia. 1964, p. 211.</ref>

Colchis has a high proportion of [[Neogene]] and [[Palaeogene]] [[relict (biology)|relict]] plants and animals, with the closest relatives in distant parts of the world: five species of [[Rhododendron]]s and other evergreen shrubs, [[Wingnut (plant)|wingnuts]], [[Caucasian salamander]], [[Caucasian parsley frog]], eight endemic species of lizards from the genus ''[[Darevskia]]'', the Caucasus adder (''[[Vipera kaznakovi]]''), [[Robert's snow vole]], and endemic [[Troglocaris|cave shrimp]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Denk |first1=Thomas |last2=Frotzler |first2=Norbert |last3=Davitashvili |first3=Nino |date=2001-02-01 |title=Vegetational patterns and distribution of relict taxa in humid temperate forests and wetlands of Georgia (Transcaucasia) |journal=[[Biological Journal of the Linnean Society]] |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=287–332 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8312.2001.tb01318.x |issn=0024-4066 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Economy, agriculture and natural resources ==
[[Millet]] was the main staple crop in Colchis. Wheat grew in certain regions and was also imported by sea. Similarly, local wines were produced and some wines were brought from overseas. The Colchian plain provided ample grazing land for cattle and horses, with the name of Phasis associated with fine horses. The wetlands were a home for waterfowl, while Colchian [[pheasant]]s were exported to Rome and became a symbol of excess condemned by Roman moralists. The Colchian hinterland lacked salt and demand was satisfied partially by local production on the coast and partially by imports from the northern coast of the Black Sea.<ref name = braund-economy>{{cite book |last1=David |first1=Braund |title=Georgia in Antiquity. A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC AD 562 |date=1994 |publisher=Calendon Press |isbn=0-19-814473-3 |pages=54–58}}</ref>

Colchis provided slaves as a tribute to the [[Achaemenid Empire]] and Colchian slaves are also attested in Ancient Greece.<ref name = braund-slaves>{{cite book |last1=David |first1=Braund |title=Georgia in Antiquity. A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC AD 562 |date=1994 |publisher=Calendon Press |isbn=0-19-814473-3 |page=67}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Prehistory and earliest references ===
The eastern Black Sea region in antiquity was home to the well-developed [[Bronze Age]] culture known as the [[Colchian culture]], related to the neighbouring [[Koban culture]], that emerged toward the Middle [[Bronze Age]]. In at least some parts of Colchis, the process of urbanization seems to have been well advanced by the end of the second millennium BC. The Colchian Late [[Bronze Age]] (fifteenth to eighth century BC) saw the development of significant skill in the smelting and casting of metals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Erb-Satullo |first1=Nathaniel L. |last2=Gilmour |first2=Brian J. J. |last3=Khakhutaishvili |first3=Nana |date=2014-09-01 |title=Late Bronze and Early Iron Age copper smelting technologies in the South Caucasus: the view from ancient Colchis c. 1500–600BC |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030544031400123X |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=49 |pages=147–159 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.034 |bibcode=2014JArSc..49..147E |issn=0305-4403|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Erb-Satullo |first1=Nathaniel L. |last2=Gilmour |first2=Brian J. J. |last3=Khakhutaishvili |first3=Nana |date=2017-09-01 |title=Copper production landscapes of the South Caucasus |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:93fceda7-681d-4c1b-aca6-45fc1e2f5d20/files/m028f70ecc5d88483efe8d939f5eee96b |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |language=en |volume=47 |pages=109–126 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2017.03.003 |issn=0278-4165}}</ref> Sophisticated farming implements were made, and fertile, well-watered lowlands and a mild climate promoted the growth of progressive agricultural techniques.<ref name=Jan/>

The earliest attestations of the name of Colchis can be found in the 8th century Greek poet [[Eumelus of Corinth]] as {{lang|grc|Κολχίδα}}<ref>Lordkipanidzé Otar, Mikéladzé Teimouraz. La Colchide aux VIIe-Ve siècles. Sources écrites antiques et archéologie. In: Le Pont-Euxin vu par les Grecs : sources écrites et archéologie. Symposium de Vani (Colchide), septembre-octobre 1987. Besançon : Université de Franche-Comté, 1990. pp. 167-187. (Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon, 427); https://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_1990_act_427_1_1252</ref> and earlier, in [[Urartu|Urartian]] records as {{lang|xur-Latn|Qulḫa}} mentioned by the [[Urartu|Urartian]] kings, who conquered it in 744 or 743 BC before the Urartians and their territories were themselves conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref name="Stanley Arthur Cook p. 350" /> Historian [[Askold Ivanchik]] states: “Based on cuneiform texts and archeological data, Qulḫa must have existed as an independent flourishing state during the second half of the eighth century BCE, but hardly survived the end of the century”.<ref>Valeriya Kozlovskaya, The Northern Black Sea in Antiquity: Networks, Connectivity, and Cultural Interactions. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. xxvii; 366. ISBN 978-1-107-01951-5 [https://www.google.com.ua/books/edition/The_Northern_Black_Sea_in_Antiquity/hcwnDwAAQBAJ?hl=ru&gbpv=1&dq=state+of+qulha&pg=PA15&printsec=frontcover]</ref>

According to [[Svante Cornell]], "What could be conceived as the proto Georgian statehood emerged mainly in the Western parts of today's Georgia, with the kingdom of Colchis (''Kolkheti'') in the sixth century BC."<ref name="Svante E. Cornell p. 130" />

Colchis was inhabited by a number of tribes whose settlements lay along the shore of the Black Sea. Chief among those were the [[Machelones]], [[Heniochi]], [[Zydretae]], [[Egrisi|Lazi]], [[Chalybes]], [[Tibareni]]/[[Tubal]], [[Mossynoeci]], [[Macrones]], [[Meskheti|Moschi]], [[Marres]], [[Apsilae]], [[Kingdom of Abkhazia|Abasci]],<ref>According to some scholars, ancient tribes such as the [[Absilae]] (mentioned by Pliny, 1st century CE) and [[Abasgoi]] (mentioned by [[Arrian]], 2nd century CE) correspond to the modern [[Abkhazians]] (Chirikba, V., "On the etymology of the ethnonym apswa 'Abkhaz'", in ''The Annual of the Society for the Study of Caucasia'', 3, 13-18, Chicago, 1991; Hewitt, B. G., "The valid and non-valid application of philology to history", in ''Revue des Etudes Georgiennes et Caucasiennes'', 6-7, 1990–1991, 247-263; ''[[Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Larousse]]'', tome 1, 1985, p. 20). However, this claim is controversial and no academic consensus has yet been reached. Other scholars suggest that these ethnonyms instead reflect a common regional origin, rather than emphasizing a distinct and separate ethnic and cultural identity in antiquity. For example, Tariel Putkaradze, a Georgian scholar, suggests, "In the 3rd-2nd millennia BC the [[Georgians|Kartvelian]], [[Abhaz]]-[[Abaza people|Abaza]], [[Circassians|Circassian-Adyghe]] and [[Vainakhs|Vaynakh]] tribes must have been part of a great [[Ibero-Caucasian]] [[Ethnic group|ethnos]]. Therefore, it is natural that several tribes or ethnoses descending from them have the names derived from a single stem. The Colchian Aphaz, Apsil, Apšil and north Caucasian Apsua, Abazaha, Abaza, existing in the 1st millennium, were the names denoting different tribes of a common origin. Some of these tribes (Apsils, Apshils) disappeared, others mingled with kindred tribes, and still others have survived to the present day." (Putkaradze, T. ''The Kartvelians'', 2005, translated by Irene Kutsia)</ref> [[Sanigs|Sanigae]], [[Coraxi]], [[Coli (tribe)|Coli]], [[Melanchlaeni]], [[Gelonians|Geloni]] and [[Svaneti|Soani (Suani)]]. The ancients assigned various origins to the tribes that inhabited Colchis.

[[Herodotus]] regarded the Colchians as "dark-skinned ({{lang|grc|μελάγχροες}})<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%AC%CE%B3%CF%87%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BF%CF%82 |title=Liddell, Scott, Jones Ancient Greek Lexicon}}</ref> and woolly-haired" and calls them Egyptians.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+2.104&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 |title=Herodotus, the Histories, Book 2, chapter 104}}</ref> [[Herodotus]] states that the Colchians, with the [[Ancient Egypt]]ians and the [[Ethiopia]]ns, were the first to practice [[circumcision]], a custom which he claims that the Colchians inherited from remnants of the army of [[Pharaoh]] [[Sesostris]] ([[Senusret III]]). Herodotus writes:

{{blockquote|For it is plain to see that the Colchians are Egyptians; and what I say, I myself noted before I heard it from others. When it occurred to me, I inquired of both peoples; and the Colchians remembered the Egyptians better than the Egyptians remembered the Colchians; the Egyptians said that they considered the Colchians part of Sesostris' army. I myself guessed it, partly because they are dark-skinned and woolly-haired; though that indeed counts for nothing, since other peoples are, too; but my better proof was that the Colchians and Egyptians and Ethiopians are the only nations that have from the first practised circumcision.}}

These claims have been widely rejected by modern historians. It is in doubt if Herodotus had ever been to Colchis or Egypt, and no Egyptian army ever set foot in the Caucasus, a region shielded by states to the south of the Caucasus too powerful for any Egyptian army to pass through, such as [[Urartu]], [[Hittites|Hittia]], [[Assyria]] and [[Mitanni]].{{sfnm|Fehling|1994|1p=13|Marincola|2001|2p=34}}

According to [[Pliny the Elder]]:

{{blockquote|The Colchians were governed by their own kings in the earliest ages, that Sesostris king of Egypt was overcome in [[Scythia]],<ref>''The Shrines and Sepulchres of the Old and New World: Records of Pilgrimages in Many Lands, and Researches Connected with the History of Places Remarkable for Memorials of the Dea, Or Monuments of a Sacred Character; Including Notices of the Funeral Customs of the Principal Nations, Ancient and Modern'', Volume 1, Richard Robert Madden, Newby, 1851, p.&nbsp;293</ref> and put to fight, by the king of Colchis, which if true, that the Colchians not only had kings in those times, but were a very powerful people.<ref>''An Universal History, From the Earliest Account of Time'', Volume 10, George Sale, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell, John Swinton, p.&nbsp;136 B.II.</ref><ref>Plin, I, xxxiii, c. 3.</ref>}}

Many modern theories suggest that the ancestors of the [[Laz people|Laz]]-[[Mingrelians]] constituted the dominant ethnic and cultural presence in the region in antiquity, and hence played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of the modern [[Georgians]].<ref name=zan1>''Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States'', James Minahan, p. 116</ref><ref name=zan2>Cyril Toumanoff, ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', p. 80</ref>

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], a 1st-century BC Greek geographer, citing the poet Eumelos, assigned [[Aeëtes]], the mythological first king of Colchis, a Greek origin.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2)</ref>

=== Achaemenid satrapy ===
According to [[Donald Rayfield]], the tribes living in the southern Colchis ([[Macrones]], [[Meskheti|Moschi]], and [[Marres]]) were incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire and formed the [[Districts of the Achaemenid Empire|19th satrapy]],{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=18-19}} while the northern tribes submitted "voluntarily" and had to send to the Achaemenid court 100 girls and 100 boys every five years, though it is not clear whether these were Colchians or persons obtained from other peoples by war or purchase.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=19}} In 400 BC, shortly after the [[Ten Thousand]] reached [[Trabzon|Trapezus]], a battle was fought between them and the Colchis in which the latter were decisively defeated. The influence exerted on Colchis by the vast Achaemenid Empire with its thriving commerce and wide economic and commercial ties with other regions accelerated the socio-economic development of the Colchian land. Gocha R. Tsetskhladze further argues that although Colchis and neighboring Iberia were once viewed as not having been under Achaemenid rule, upon request they did pay tribute to the Achaemenid Empire as one would expect of entities under Achaemenid suzerainty.{{sfn|Tsetskhladze|2021|p=540. | ps= "The question arises of which satrapy contained Colchis and Caucasian Iberia. Based again on Herodotus, we can suggest that these two ancient Georgian kingdoms formed part of the Armenian satrapy. As we know, people under Achaemenid suzerainty paid taxes and tribute when the Great King demanded them, and furnished him with troops and provisions when he required them. This is precisely what Colchians did. Thus, evidence old and new clearly demonstrates that the domain of the Great King stretched to the eastern and northern Black Sea (the Bosporan kingdom and Scythia), and that the political and cultural influence of the Achaemenids encompassed the whole of the Black Sea area".}}

Subsequently, the people of Colchis appear to have overthrown the Achaemenid authority, and to have formed an independent state.<ref>{{cite book |first= T. A. |last=Sinclair |date=1989 |title=Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey |volume=II |publisher=Pindar Press |isbn=978-1-904597-73-5 |page=43 |url={{GBurl|3iMnEAAAQBAJ}} }}</ref> According to Ronald Suny this western Georgian state was federated to Kartli-Iberia in the east, and its kings ruled through ''skeptoukhi'' (royal governors) who received a staff from the king.<ref>''The Making of the Georgian Nation'', 2nd Ed., Ronald Grigor Suny, p 13</ref> According to David Braund's reading of [[Strabo]]'s account, the native Colchian dynasty continued ruling the country in spite of its fragmentation into ''skeptoukhies''.<ref name = braund>{{cite book |last1=David |first1=Braund |title=Georgia in Antiquity. A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC AD 562 |date=1994 |publisher=Calendon Press |isbn=0-19-814473-3 |pages=154}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Exhibition- Georgia - (6) A Story of Encounters, 2023-2024, Art & History Museum, Brussels.jpg|Second century BC Greek bronze torso from Colchis, [[Cinquantenaire Museum]]
<!-- Images missing: caption2 = Colchian golden earrings, fourth century BC, [[Georgian National Museum]]
caption3 = Colchian necklace, fifth century BC, [[Georgian National Museum]] -->
File:Colchis riders pendants - pair.JPG|Colchian pendants, riders and horses on wheeled platforms, [[Georgian National Museum]]
</gallery>

=== Under Pontus ===
[[Mithridates VI Eupator|Mithridates VI]], king of [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]], quelled an uprising in the region in 83&nbsp;BC and gave Colchis to his son [[Mithridates of Colchis|Mithridates]], who, soon being suspected in having plotted against his father, was executed. During the [[Third Mithridatic War]], Mithridates VI made another of his sons, [[Machares]], king of Bosporus and Colchis, who held his power, but only for a short period. On the defeat of [[Mithridates VI of Pontus]] in 65&nbsp;BC, Colchis was occupied by [[Pompey]],<ref>''Pompey'', Nic Fields p.&nbsp;29</ref> who captured one of the local chiefs (sceptuchus) Olthaces, and installed [[Aristarchus of Colchis|Aristarchus]] as a ''[[dynast]]'' (63–47 BC). On the fall of Pompey, [[Pharnaces II of Pontus|Pharnaces II]], son of Mithridates, took advantage of [[Julius Caesar]] being occupied in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], and reduced Colchis, [[Armenia]], and some part of [[Cappadocia]], defeating [[Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus]], whom Caesar subsequently sent against him. His triumph was, however, short-lived. Under [[Polemon I of Pontus|Polemon I]], the son and heir of Zenon, Colchis was part of the [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]] and the [[Bosporan Kingdom]]. After the death of Polemon (8&nbsp;BC), his second wife [[Pythodorida of Pontus]] retained possession of Colchis as well as of Pontus, although the kingdom of Bosporus was wrested from her power. Her son and successor, [[Polemon II of Pontus]], was induced by Emperor [[Nero]] to abdicate the throne, and both Pontus and Colchis were incorporated in the Province of [[Galatia]] (63) and later, in [[Cappadocia (Roman province)|Cappadocia]] (81). [[Phasis (town)|Phasis]], [[Sukhumi|Dioscurias]] and other Greek settlements of the coast did not fully recover after the wars of 60-40 BC and Trebizond became the economical and political centre of the region.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=28}}

=== Under Roman rule ===
{{Main|Georgia in the Roman era|Caucasian campaign of Pompey|Lazica}}
Despite the fact that all major fortresses along the sea coast were occupied by the Romans, their rule was relatively loose. In 69, the people of Pontus and Colchis under [[Anicetus (pirate)|Anicetus]] staged a major uprising against the [[Roman Empire]], which ended unsuccessfully. The lowlands and coastal area were frequently raided by fierce mountain tribes, with the [[Svaneti]] and [[Heniochi]] being the most powerful of them. Paying a nominal homage to [[Rome]], they created their own kingdoms and enjoyed significant independence.

Under Hadrian, the Romans established relations with Colchian tribes. Hadrian sent his advisor, [[Arrian]], to tour Colchis and Iberia. Arrian depicted a turbulent fluctuation of tribal powers and boundaries, with various hostile and anarchic tribes in the area. The Laz controlled most of coastal Colchis, while other tribes such as the [[Sanigs]] and [[Abasgoi]] escaped Roman jurisdiction. Other tribes, like the [[Apsilae]], were becoming powerful and their king with the Romanised name Julianus was recognized by Trajan.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=33}} Arrian listed the following peoples in his [[Periplus of the Euxine Sea]] written in 130-131 (from south to north): Sanni, [[Machelones]], [[Heniochi]], Zudreitae, [[Laz people|Lazi]], [[Apsilae]], [[Abasgoi]], [[Sanigs]] and [[Zygii|Zilchi]].<ref name="ArrianFalconer1805">{{cite book |author1=Arrian |first2=Thomas |last2=Falconer |title=Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea: Translated and Accompanied with a Geographical Dissertation and Maps: to which are Added Three Discourses, I. On the Trade to the East Indies by Means of the Euxine Sea, II. On the Distance which the Ships of Antiquity Usually Sailed in Twenty-four Hours, III. On the Measure of the Olympic Stadium |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125009310745 |year=1805 |publisher=J. Cooke |page=[https://archive.org/details/gri_33125009310745/page/n20 9]}}</ref>

According to traditional accounts [[Christianity]] began to spread in the early first century by [[Andrew the Apostle]], [[Simon the Zealot]], and [[Saint Matthias]]. A change in burial patterns in the 3rd century was possibly due to Christian influence.{{sfn|Rayfield|2012|p=33}} The [[Hellenistic civilization]], local [[paganism]] and [[Mithraic Mysteries]] would, however, remain widespread until the fourth century. [[Goths]], dwelling in the [[Crimea]] and looking for new homes, raided Colchis in 253, but were repulsed with the help of the Roman garrison of [[Pitsunda]]. By the first century BC, the Lazica (or the Laz) kingdom was established in the region. Lazica became known as Egrisi in 66 BC when Egrisi became a vassal of the Roman Empire after the [[Caucasian campaign of Pompey]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediapeop00west |url-access=limited |last=West |first=Barbara A. |publisher=[[Facts on File]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-7109-8 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediapeop00west/page/n483 461]}}</ref>

== Numismatics ==
Colchian coins, the oldest of which were dated to the middle of the 6th century BC, served as the primary source of evidence for the Colchian state.{{sfn|Tsetskhladze|2022|p=534}} A reassessment of the coins, however, has revealed that these early "Colchian" coins actually represent the production of an [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] satrapy.{{sfn|Tsetskhladze|2022|p=534}}

== Rulers ==
Little is known of the rulers of Colchis.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Ruler
! Reign
! Notes
|-
| 1. Akes (''[[Basileus]] Aku'')
| end of the 4th c. BC
| his name is found on a coin issued by him.
|- style="background:#fff;"
| 2. [[Kuji of Colchis|Kuji]]
| 325–280 BC
|
|- style="background:#fff;"
| 3. [[Saulaces of Colchis|Saulaces]]
| 2nd c. BC
|
|-
| 4. [[Mithridates of Colchis|Mithridates]]
| [[Floruit|fl.]] 80 BC
| under the authority of [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]].
|- style="background:#fff;"
| 5. [[Machares]]
| fl. 65 BC
| under the authority of [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]].
|-
| 6. [[Aristarchus of Colchis|Aristarchus]]
| 63–47 BC
| appointed by [[Pompey]]
|}

== In mythology ==
[[File:Château de Versailles, salon de Diane, Jason et les Argonautes débarquant en Colchide, Charles de La Fosse.jpg|thumb|400px|[[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]] arriving at Colchis. The [[Argonautica]] tells the myth of their voyage to retrieve the [[Golden Fleece]]. This painting is located in the [[Palace of Versailles]].]]

From the fifth century B.C.E. onwards, Colchis was identified as Aea, the [[Greek mythology|mythical]] home of [[Aeëtes]], [[Medea]], the [[Golden Fleece]], and the fire-breathing [[Khalkotauroi|Colchis bulls]]<ref>[[Pindar]] ''Pythian Odes'' 4.11, 4.212; [[Simonides]] PMG545 (Schol. Eur. Med. 19); ''The Origin of Pagan Idolatry'', George Stanley Faber p.&nbsp;409</ref><ref>''The Facts on File Companion to Classical Drama'', John E. Thorburn "Colchian Bulls" p.&nbsp;145</ref> and was the destination of the [[Argonauts]].<ref>''The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire'', Trevor Bryce p.&nbsp;171</ref><ref>''World Mythology: An Anthology of Great Myths and Epics'', Donna Rosenberg p.&nbsp;218</ref>

Colchis also is thought to be a possible homeland of the [[Amazons]].<ref>''Celebrate the Divine Feminine: Reclaim Your Power with Ancient Goddess Wisdom'', Joy Reichard p.&nbsp;169</ref><ref>John Canzanella, ''Innocence and Anarchy'' p.&nbsp;58</ref><ref>Margaret Meserve, ''Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought'', p.&nbsp;250</ref><ref>Diane P. Thompson, ''The Trojan War: Literature and Legends from the Bronze Age to the Present'' p.&nbsp;193</ref><ref>Andrew Brown, ''A New Companion to Greek Tragedy'' p.&nbsp;66</ref><ref>Mark Amaru Pinkham, ''The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom'' "The Amazons, The Female Serpents"</ref> [[Amazons]] also were said to be of [[Scythia]]n origin from Colchis.<ref>[[William G. Thalmann]], ''Apollonius of Rhodes and the Spaces of Hellenism'' "Apollonius of Rhodes", p.&nbsp;130</ref>

According to the Greek mythology, Colchis was a fabulously wealthy land situated on the mysterious periphery of the heroic world. Here in the sacred grove of the war god [[Ares]], King [[Aeëtes]] hung the [[Golden Fleece]] until it was seized by [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]]. Colchis was also the land where the mythological [[Prometheus]] was punished by being chained to a mountain while an eagle ate at his liver for revealing to humanity the secret of fire.

Apollonius of Rhodes named Aea as the main city (''Argonautica'', passim). The main mythical characters from Colchis are:

* [[Absyrtus]], son of Aeëtes
* [[Aeëtes]], King of Colchis, son of the sun-god [[Helios]] and the [[Oceanid]] [[Perse (mythology)|Perseis]] (a daughter of [[Oceanus]]), brother of [[Circe]] and [[Pasiphae]], and father of [[Medea]], [[Chalciope]], and [[Absyrtus]]
* [[Chalciope]], daughter of King Aeëtes
* [[Circe]], sister of King Aeëtes
* [[Idyia]], Queen of Colchis, mother of Medea, Chalciope, and Absyrtus
* [[Medea]], daughter of King Aeëtes
* [[Pasiphaë]], sister of Aeëtes

== See also ==
* [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]]
* [[Roman Georgia]]
* [[Zygopolis]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Cnote2 Begin}}
{{Cnote2|a|or '''Kolchis'''; {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɒ|l|k|ɪ|s}}; {{langx|grc|Κολχίς}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|Kolkhís}}, {{IPA|grc|kolkʰís|link=yes}}}}
{{Cnote2|b|Colchis was not an established and structurally institutionalized monarchy.}}
{{Cnote2|c|Also known as '''Egri''', '''Egr''', '''Eguri''' and '''Egros''' in ''[[The Georgian Chronicles]]'' and ''[[Conversion of Kartli]]'' chronicles.<ref name="Casiday 2012 59">{{cite book |last=Casiday |first=A. |author-link= |date=2012 |title=The Orthodox Christian World: Routledge Worlds |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=59 |isbn=978-1-136-31484-1}}</ref><ref name="Rapp 2003 10">{{cite book |last=Rapp |first=S.H. |author-link= |date=2003 |title=Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium: Subsidia. |publisher=Peeters |page=10 |isbn=9789042913189 |quote=Known in Old Georgian as Egrisi, this realm gained legendary repute with the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts whose adventure brought them to ;Colchis' (i.e., Egrisi) in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.}}</ref> In the Old Armenian geography ''[[Ashkharhatsuyts]]'', it is referred to as '''{{lang|xcl-Latn|Kołk῾is|italic=no}}''' ({{lang|xcl|Կողքիս}}) or '''{{lang|xcl-Latn|Eger|italic=no}}''' ({{lang|xcl|Եգեր}}).<ref name="HewsenAS">{{Cite book |last=Hewsen |first=Robert H. |author-link=Robert H. Hewsen |title=The Geography of Ananias of Širak (Ašxarhac῾oyc῾): The Long and the Short Recensions |publisher=Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag |year=1992 |isbn=3-88226-485-3 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=125}}</ref>}}
{{Cnote2 End}}
{{notelist|30em}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited sources ==
* Braund, David (1994). ''Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC–AD 562''. Clarendon Press, Oxford. {{ISBN|0-19-814473-3}}.
* {{cite book |last=Fehling |first=Detlev |year=1994 |chapter=The art of Herodotus and the margins of the world |editor=von Martels, Z.R.W.M. |title=Travel Fact and Travel Fiction: Studies on fiction, literary tradition, scholarly discovery, and observation in travel writing |place=Leiden, NL |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |series=Brill's Studies in Intellectual History Volume 55 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/travelfacttravel0000unse/page/1 1–15] |isbn=978-90-04-10112-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/travelfacttravel0000unse/page/1}}
* [[Otar Lordkipanidze]]. ''Phasis: The River and City of Colchis''. Geographica Historica 15. Franz Steiner, 2000. {{ISBN|3-515-07271-3}}.
* {{cite book |last=Marincola |first=John |year=2001 |title=Greek Historians |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-922501-9}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Melamid |first=Alexander |date=January 1993 |title=Colchis Today |journal=The Geographical Review |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=79–83 |doi=10.2307/215382 |jstor=215382 |bibcode=1993GeoRv..83...79M}}
* {{Cite EB1911 |last1=Mitchell |first1=John Malcolm |wstitle=Colchis |volume=6 |author1-link= |pages=662–663 |short=1}}
* {{cite book |last=Rayfield |first=Donald |title=Edge of Empires : A History of Georgia |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2012}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Thordarson |first=Fridrik |article=COLCHIS |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/colchis |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VI, Fasc. 1 |pages=41–42 |year=1993}}
* Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. "Pichvnari and Its Environs, 6th c BC–4th c A". ''Annales Littéraires de l'Université de Franche-Comté'', 659, Editeurs: M. Clavel-Lévêque, E. Geny, P. Lévêque. Paris: Presses Universitaires Franc-Comtoises, 1999. {{ISBN|2-913322-42-5}}.
* {{cite book |last1=Tsetskhladze |first1=Gocha R. |editor1-last=Jacobs |editor1-first=Bruno |editor2-last=Rollinger |editor2-first=Robert |title=A companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire |date=2021 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]], Inc. |isbn=978-1-119-17428-8 |page=665 |chapter=The Northern Black Sea}}
* {{cite journal |last=Tsetskhladze |first=Gocha R. |title=On the numismatics of Colchis: the classical archaeologist's perspective |journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne Année |year=1993 |volume=19-1 |pages=233–256 (235) |doi=10.3406/dha.1993.2084 |quote=A small percentage of the Colchian Type В hemidrachms are complete with Greek letters. [page 240] The Greek language was widespread in Colchis and decrees were even issued in that language.}}
* {{cite book |chapter=Classical Archeology of the Pontus in the Archaic Period: Some Current Problems and Prospective Solutions |first=Gocha R. |last=Tsetskhladze |title=Comparing Greek Colonies: Mobility and Settlement Consolidation from Southern Italy to the Black Sea (8th – 6th Century BC) |editor-first1=Camilla |editor-last1=Colombi |editor-first2=Valeria |editor-last2=Parisi |editor-first3=Ortwin |editor-last3=Dally |editor-first4=Martin |editor-last4=Guggisberg |editor-first5=Giorgio |editor-last5=Piras |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2022}}
* Akaki Urushadze. ''The Country of the Enchantress Media'', Tbilisi, 1984 (in Russian and English).

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|Colchis}}
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aid%3Dcolchis "Colchis"] in the ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090203173219/http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/kolchis/t.html Colchian coins]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050819043151/http://matiane.com/strabo_colchis.htm Strabo on Colchis]
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt%2e+7%2e79 Herodotus on Colchis]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/pliny3.html Pliny on Colchis]
* [http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/Gold/default.html Golden graves, archeological evidences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006064435/http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/Gold/default.html |date=2017-10-06 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170919120140/http://colchis.de/ Colchis] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050415075230/http://www.amarcord.be/georgia/kolchis.html Colchis] at the Piano (amarcord.be) {{in lang|nl}}

{{Historical states of Georgia |state=collapsed}}
{{Territories with limited Roman Empire occupation & presence}}
{{Ancient kingdoms in Anatolia}}
{{Ancient Georgians}}
{{Georgia (country) topics}}
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[[Category:Colchis| ]]
[[Category:Former countries in Europe]]
[[Category:Former countries in West Asia]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Europe]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of West Asia]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 2nd century BC]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 13th century BC]]