For the History of Lazica (Egrisi) Kingdom

Abstract

In the Antiquity, a political Union was formed on the territory of historical Colchis in the Eastern Black Sea region. In Georgian sources it is mentioned as Egrisi, while Roman and Byzantine writers call it lazica. At first the Lazes controlled only the Central part of Colchis from Zydriti District to the Egristskali river. Later the kingdom of Lazes unites the whole Western Georgia. Its territory extends to the confuence of the Chorokhi river in the South. In the North it includes modern Ab­kh­a­z­ia and Svaneti. When should the hegemony of the Lazes be spread to the north-western Colchis and the Zydrit district in the south? In this work we will try to answer these questions.

In Georgian historiography there are two points of view about the formation of the United kingdom of Egrisi on the territory of Western Georgia. Some researchers believe that  the formation of the United Kingdom of Egrisi took place at the end of the fourth century, according to other scholars in the second century. At first, the Lazes, with the consent of the Romans, joined the Unions of the Absiles, Abazges and Saniges and extended the boarders of the kingdom of the Lazes to the north-west to the Akheunt river (modern Shakhe river). This event took place in the middle of the second century during the reign of king Pakor, which is directly evidensed by the Greek inscription on a silver cup found on the territory of the village of Achmarda, Gagra district. The fact that the kingdom of lazes of the second century united a large part of Western Georgia is also proved by the following fact: At the end of the second century, when the emperor Septimius Severus (193-211) had to subdue  the rebellious Lazes, according to George Syncellus, he captured ,,Colkhike, that is Lazike.” For this period, the hegemony of the Lazes is already extending to almost the entire Colchis region.

As for the district of Zidrits in the south, the expansion of the Lazes in this direction was subordinated to the powerful Iberian kingdom. The Lazica kingdom managed to annex the Zidrits district only later, in the third century.