Sanigs Explained

The Sanigs (el|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 consider them to be Zans (ancestors of Mingrelian and Laz peoples), while others maintain that they were proto-Svans.^[4] 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).^[5]

Abkhazians consider the Sanigs to be the ancestors of the Sadz and Zhaney, as evidenced by the territorial settlement of these peoples.^{[6] [7]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Smith, Graham. Nation-building in the post-Soviet borderlands: the politics of national identities. 1998. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-59968-9. 55.
2. Book: Pauly, August Friedrich von. Real-encyclopädie der classischen alterthumswissenschaft. 1852. 2866. Christian Walz . Seeräubern treibendes Bolk deö affaiischen Sarmatien an der Küste dt« 5',' zwischen den SanigS und AchSi (Arrian. II).
3. Book: ინგოროყვა, პავლე . "გიორგი მერჩულე" . 1954 . 134-135 . Georgian.
4. მიქელაძე თ., ძიებანი კოლხეთის და სამხრეთ-აღმოსავლეთი შავიზღვისპირეთის უძველესი მოსახლეობის ისტორიიდან (ძვ. წ. II-I ათასწლეულები), თბ., 1974.
5. Web site: Svaneti and Its Inhabitants (Ethno-historical Studies) . Roland . Topchishvili . 2012-08-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120310220525/http://www.nplg.gov.ge/dlibrary/collect/0001/000070/Georgian_Mountein_Regions.pdf . 2012-03-10 .
6. Web site: Ш. Д. Инал-ипа. Садзы (Москва, 1995; Сухум, 2014) . 2024-03-04 . apsnyteka.org.
7. Web site: Кунижева Л.З. Из истории формирования абазинского народа. Апсуара . 2024-03-04 . www.apsuara.ru.