![]() ![]() Early visitors naively assumed that it refered to St. There has been considerable discussion of the etymology of the name “Georgia,” by which the land of the Kartvelians is known in western Europe. These polities would later coalesce to form the powerful kingdom of Lazica ( Lazikh/). ![]() Strabo, Geographica XI.ii.13), as well as a number of tribes without a king. This region (called Lazeti in Georgian), was divided into numerous small tribal kingdoms ruled by sceptuchi ( skh=ptouxoi, “scepter-holders,” cf. The Lazic branch of the Kartvelians, who occupied extensive territories in Anatolia, were more savage and generally lacked central organization. During the first millennium B.C., the numerous Kartvelian tribes coalesced to form several kingdoms: Georgian-speaking Iberia in the east Mingrelian-speaking Colchis (Æa) in the west, along the Black Sea coast the kingdom of Tzanica ( Tzanikh/, Qiannikh/) on the coast between Trapezus and Apsarus and two kingdoms in the mountains of the northwest: Suania (modern Svaneti linguistically the most archaic branch of the phylum) and Scymnia (an extinct branch of Kartvelians, closely related to the Svans, who occupied the district later known as Takveri ). The oldest area associated with the Kartvelians was northeastern Anatolia (where they probably pre-dated the Hittites), including the culturally important region of T’ao-Klarjeti (part of Turkey since 1921). ![]()
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