Kingdom of Colchis

Origins

Colchis appears as Qulha in Urartian inscriptions of the 8th century BCE, when it emerged in the lowlands of the Rioni and its foothills, in part inheriting the lands of Diauehi. Greek colonists from Miletus founded ports such as Phasis and Dioscurias in the 6th century BCE, and the Argonaut legend fixed its fame.

Rule and society

Power was held by kings and local sceptre-bearing chiefs ruling from towns such as Vani, whose rich burials hold fine gold jewellery. Colchians traded linen, timber, honey and slaves with the Greeks and, according to Herodotus, sent regular gifts to the Achaemenid court. They spoke a Kartvelian language, and local coins called Colchian tetri circulated widely.

Decline and legacy

In the 2nd century BCE the kingdom fragmented under local rulers, and about 101 BCE Mithridates VI annexed it to the Kingdom of Pontus. After Pontus fell to Rome, the coast passed under Roman influence and the western Georgian kingdom of Lazica later grew in the same lands.