The Byzeres ( grc, Βύζηρες) were a people of the Southern Caucasus mentioned in Urartean sources as ''Uiterukhi'' or ''Uitirukhi''.

Sardur II Sarduri II (ruled: 764–735 BC) was a monarch, King of Urartu, succeeding his father Argishtis I of Urartu, Argishti I to the throne. The Urartian Kingdom was at its peak during his reign, campaigning successfully against several neighbouring ...

conquered their lands, appointed a deputy and made it a province. According to the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

sources, Byzeres inhabited near the southeast coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

, south of the Ch'orokhi River and partly the

Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Kuzey Anadolu Dağları'', meaning North Anatolian Mountains) form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the ''Parhar Mountains'' in the local Turki ...

as well. The name of the historical region

Odzrkhe Odzrkhe or Odzrakhe ( ka, ოძრხე or ) was a historic fortified town and the surrounding area in what is now Abastumani, Adigeni Municipality in Samtskhe-Javakheti region, southern Georgia. History According to medieval Georgian histo ...

is derived from the name of this tribe – Vidzerukh/Viterukh/Odzr(a)khe/Odzrkhe. The

Georgian Soviet encyclopedia The ''Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia'' ( ka, ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ქსე) is the first universal encyclopedia in the Georgian language, printed in Tbilisi from 1965, the editor in chi ...

identifies the Byzeres ( ka, ბიძერები ''bidzerebi'') as "an ancient Georgian artveliantribe"Georgian Soviet encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pg. 422, Tb., 1977.

References

{{Ancient Georgians Ancient peoples of Georgia (country)

See also

References