The Tibareni ( ka, ტიბარენები, Tibarenebi; Greek: ΤιβαρηνοίStephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § T622.6
/ref> and Τιβαρανοί;) were a people residing on the coast of

ancient Pontus Pontus or Pontos (; el, Πόντος, translit=Póntos, "Sea") is a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in the modern-day eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region and its mountainous hin ...

referred to in

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies of ...

, Strabo and other classical authors. The Tibareni were believed to be of

proto-Kartvelian The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian ( ka, წინარექართველური ენა, tr), is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Kartvelian languages, which was spoken by the ancestors of th ...

Scythian The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Cent ...

origin.Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. 2.378, 1010

History

Tibareni occupied the country between the

Chalybes The Chalybes ( grc, Χάλυβες/Χάλυβοι, ka, ხალიბები, Khalibebi) and Chaldoi ( grc, Χάλδοι, ) were peoples mentioned by classical authors as living in Pontus and Cappadocia in northern Anatolia during Classical ...

and the Mosynoeci, on the east of the river

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic language, Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughou ...

, and the country was called Tibarenia ( grc, Τιβαρηνία). They are mentioned as early as the time of Herodotus, According to the ancient Greeks, the Tibareni were

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Cent ...

. Strabo describes them as inhabiting the mountains branching off from the Montes Moschici and Colchici, and mentions

Cotyura Ordu () or Altınordu is a port city on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, historically also known as Cotyora or Kotyora ( pnt, Κοτύωρα), and the capital of Ordu Province with a population of 229,214 in the city center. Name Kotyora, the ori ...

as their principal town. They appear to have been a harmless and happy people, who performed all their duties in a joyous manner. Their arms consisted of wooden helmets, small shields, and short spears with long points. Xenophon and his Greeks spent three days in travelling through their country. All three tribes — Tibareni, Chalybes and Mosynoeci — still neighbored each other, along 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, ...

coast of

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

(ancient Pontus), as late as in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times. Tibareni, along with the other Proto-Georgian tribes were subjugated by the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...

in the 6th-5th centuries BC and were incorporated into the XIX Satrapy.

History

References

See also