Abasgoi

Abasgoi
Map «Imperii Orientalis et Circumjacentium Regionum»
Regions with significant populations
North-West Black Sea coast

The Abasgoi or Abasgians (Ancient Greek: Αβασγοί, Abasgoi, and Ancient Greek: Ἁβασκοί, Abaskoi; Latin: Abasci, Abasgi;[1] Georgian: აბაზგები, Abazgebi; ) were one of the ancient tribes inhabiting western region of Abkhazia, who originally inhabited lands north of Apsilae, corresponding to today's Ochamchira District. In 550, during the Lazic War, the Abasgians revolted against the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and called upon Sasanian assistance.[2] General Bessas however suppressed the Abasgian revolt.[2]

By the 6th century Abasgia shifted to the north and occupied territory between Gumista and Bzyb rivers,[3] while another tribe, the Sanigs, lived to the north of them. In the time of Arrian, they were said to live on the banks of the Abascus or Abasgus river, an otherwise unidentified river flowing into the Euxine.[1]

They are mentioned by Lycophron, Pliny the Elder, Strabo and Arrian; the 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius wrote that they were warlike, worshiped tree deities and provided eunuchs to Justinian's court.[4]

The ethnic identity of the Abazg tribes is complex and remains a subject of debate between Georgian and Abkhazian scholars. Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze denied the claim that the term “Abazg” came from “Abaza”. According to him, the term "Abkhaz" is the primary Georgian form, which entered Greek as “Abazg” (the foreign consonant complex fkh/bkh was replaced by the complex zg/zgh) As for the name "Abaza", if it was primary, it would have entered Greek without any name change, and from Greek it would have entered Georgian in the same form.[5]

  1. ^ a b Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Abasci" . Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
  2. ^ a b Odisheli 2018, pp. 1–2.
  3. ^ Nicholson, Oliver, ed. (2018). The Oxford dictionary of late antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198816251. The Oxford dictionary of late antiquity places Abasgoi to the south of Apsilae which is contradicted by all other sources and is an apparent mistake
  4. ^ Olson, James Stuart; Nicholas Charles Pappas (1994). An Ethnohistorical dictionary of the Russian and Soviet empires. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-313-27497-8.
  5. ^ ნარკვევები საქართველოს ისტორიიდან : აფხაზეთი : უძველესი დროიდან დღემდე [Essays on the history of Georgia: Abkhazia: from ancient times to the present day] (in Georgian). p. 80.