The Heniochi ( ka, ჰენიოხები, gr, Ἡνίοχοι, ''Heníochoi'' "charioteers") were an ancient tribe inhabiting northwest shores of

Colchis In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the Colchians are generally though ...

(present-day Abkhazia, northwestern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

) and some say Phasis area. Their country was called Heniocheia ( grc, Ἡνιοχεία). They are attested by a number of ancient historians and others alike, namely:

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

Artemidorus Ephesius Artemidorus of Ephesus ( grc-gre, Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ Ἐφέσιος; la, Artemidorus Ephesius) was a Greek geographer, who flourished around 100 BC. His work in eleven books is often quoted by Strabo. What is thought to be a possibl ...

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

, Arrian, Strabo and others. It is pointed out that they lived in a quite wide area from Dioscurias (), to

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...

. 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. Various scholars relate the tribe to modern day Georgians (specifically

Zans The Zans ( ka, ზანები, tr) or Chans ( ka, ჭანები, tr) are a subethnic group of Kartvelian people, speaking the Zan languages. * Kartvelian peoples **Georgians **Zans (Mingrelians and Laz people) **Svans See also * Kar ...

and Svans) and Abkhaz. 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). Aristotle describes the Heniochi (along with the Acaei) as a group of people "ready enough to kill and eat men."

Notes

References

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 ...

, vol. 11, pg.624, Tb. 1987. * D. Asheri, "The Achaeans and the Heniochi. Reflections on the Origins and History of a Greek Rhetorical Topos", quoted from {{Ancient Georgians Ancient peoples of Georgia (country) Tribes in Greco-Roman historiography Ancient peoples of Anatolia