Sanigs

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Sanigi
Regions with significant populations
Northeastern Black Sea coast

The Sanigs (Greek: Σάνιγκι) were a tribe inhabiting historical Heniochia, northwest shore of Kingdom of Colchis. Their ethnic identity is obscure and is the subject of a controversy.[1] They are first attested in the works of Pliny, Arrian[2] and Memnon of Heraclea.

Geography

Historical territories of Heniokhet-Sanikheti(Sanigia) was divided into three parts:

  • old southern Heniochia, later coastal Abkhazia (which included the coastal zone from Sukhumi to Adler);
  • Inner Heniochia (Sochi district);
  • North Heniochia, later Jiketi of Abkhazia (Tuapsi region).

Sanigs inhabited the Inner Heniochia[3]

Origin

Georgian scholars, as well as a number of foreign scholars[4], consider them to be Kartvelian people, such as Zans (ancestors of Mingrelian and Laz peoples) or proto-Svans.[5] According to Arrian, they inhabited the area around Sebastopolis (modern Sukhumi). Roland Topchishvili links some modern Georgian surnames with the Sanigs (Sanikidze, Sanikiani, Sanigiani, Sanaia).[6]

Abkhazians consider the Sanigs to be the ancestors of the Sadz and Zhaney, as evidenced by the territorial settlement of these peoples.[7][8]

References

  1. Smith, Graham (1998). Nation-building in the post-Soviet borderlands: the politics of national identities. Cambridge University Press. pp. 55. ISBN 978-0-521-59968-9.
  2. Pauly, August Friedrich von; Christian Walz (1852). Real-encyclopädie der classischen alterthumswissenschaft. p. 2866. Seeräubern treibendes Bolk deö affaiischen Sarmatien an der Küste dt« 5',' zwischen den SanigS und AchSi (Arrian. II)
  3. ინგოროყვა, პავლე (1954). "გიორგი მერჩულე" (in Georgian). pp. 134–135.
  4. Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires, a History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-78023-070-2.
  5. მიქელაძე თ., ძიებანი კოლხეთის და სამხრეთ-აღმოსავლეთი შავიზღვისპირეთის უძველესი მოსახლეობის ისტორიიდან (ძვ. წ. II-I ათასწლეულები), თბ., 1974.
  6. Topchishvili, Roland. "Svaneti and Its Inhabitants (Ethno-historical Studies)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-10. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  7. "Ш. Д. Инал-ипа. Садзы (Москва, 1995; Сухум, 2014)". apsnyteka.org. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  8. "Кунижева Л.З. Из истории формирования абазинского народа. | Апсуара". www.apsuara.ru. Retrieved 2024-03-04.