Heniochi

Heniochi in a map of the voyage of the Argonauts by Abraham Ortelius, 1624

The Heniochi (Greek: Ἡνίοχοι, Heníochoi "charioteers") were an ancient tribe inhabiting northwest shores of Colchis (present-day Abkhazia,[note 1] northwestern Georgia) and some say Phasis area. Their country was called Heniocheia (Ancient Greek: Ἡνιοχεία).[1]

They are attested by a number of ancient historians and others alike, namely: Aristotle, Artemidorus Ephesius, Ovid, Pliny the Elder, Arrian, Strabo and others. It is pointed out that they lived in a quite wide area from Dioscurias (Διοσκουριάς), to Trabzon.

Sources from the 5th to 4th century BC till the 1st century AD note the Heniokhs lived from modern Sochi till Pitiunt - Dioskourias. It is difficult to identify with certainty the relationship between the tribes mentioned by classical authors and the contemporary ethnic groups.[2] Various scholars relate the tribe to modern day Georgians (specifically Zans and Svans) and/or Abkhaz.[3][4]

The tribe of Heniochs according to Artemidorus of Ephesus, occupied in the 5th - 1st cc. B.C, the Black Sea littoral that is part of present-day Abkhazia: - from the environs of Pitiunt or Pityus to the river Achaeuntus (the Shakhe river near present-day Tuapse).[5] Aristotle describes the Heniochi (along with the Acaei) as a group of people "ready enough to kill and eat men."[6]


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § H302.11
  2. ^ Hewitt, George. The Abkhazians. A handbook. 1998: St Martin Press. pp. 13–14. ISBN 9780312219758.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ /0001/001021/Abxazia.pdf Essays from the History of Georgia – Abkhazia from ancient times till the present days Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine, p. 57-61
  4. ^ "history of Abkhazia(История Абхазии)". www.apsuara.ru. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  5. ^ M. Inadze, Institute of History, Georgian Academy of Sciences, PROBLEMS OF ETHNOPOLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT ABKHAZIA
  6. ^ Aristotle (1885). Benjamin Jowett (ed.). The Politics of Aristotle. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 248. Retrieved 1 April 2017.