ანტიკური ხანის კოლხეთის ზოგადი გეოგრაფიული დახასიათება და მისი გავლენა ძველი კოლხების კვებაზე
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Date
2025
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ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის გამომცემლობა
Abstract
The geographical environment is part of our daily life. The development of the humanity has always been influenced by climatic and geographical aspects, the diversity or uniformity of flora and fauna. The principles of geographical determinism are realistic and supported by facts.
The natural-climatic environment in Colchis created and creates a unique zone for the development of agriculture, which is characterized by the following features: a long vegetation period, which lasts 180-200 days on the coast (in the foothills it is relatively less, 140-160), contributes to the development of a large vegetative mass, and, accordingly, the development of livestock. The climate of Colchis provides excellent opportunities for the reproduction of moisture-loving plants from grain crops, which are able to tolerate both summer heat and high humidity. The geographical location, horizontal extension, humid air and warm climate that created the Colchis plain and its surrounding environment had a great influence on the creation of authentic Colchian species and cultural traits. The article discusses the role of the geographical environment in shaping the diet in Ancient Colchis.
The entire valley of Colchis is unsuitable for growing wheat, barley, and other grain crops, especially since there were swamps here, and not even bread or barley was grown, which, unlike wheat, has a sticky texture when compared to wheat. In the future, this will become the reason of the failure of “Hellenic Experiment”, and here the Greeks had interest only in those resources that were unique to the Colchis and were either abundant (wood, wax, resin, flax products). It seems that later the interest in these resources waned, demand decreased, eventually, the Hellenic poleis of Colchis declined.
All of this is reflected in ancient sources. At an earlier stage, the Greek city-states, as it seems, were quite financially strong, while in the Hellenistic period they were not. At the beginning of the 5th century and the end of the 4th century, Xenophon, who had been defeated at the Battle of Kunax, believes that the conquest of Phasis would be profitable. At the same time, the 4th century BC author Pseudo-Scylax of Caryanda calls Phasis a “Hellenic” city, the situation changed dramatically on the verge of eras. The great geographer and author of this era, Strabo, calls Dioscurias a place of gathering for barbarians, where 70 tribes came along and Phasis — a trading city of the Colchians. As noted, the Hellenistic cities of Colchis declined.
Thus, the geographical and climatic conditions of the ancient state of Colchis determined the protofeudal character of the Colchis, as noted in historiography, and the peculiarities of this type of social organization, along with its social differences, were also associated with it.
This article is partly inspired by Professor Tedo Dundua’s master’s course “Georgia and the Outer World – The Creation of Europe and Historical Forms of European Integration”, which I took with him in the 2020-2021 academic year. Later, Prof. Dundua’s review helped me to improve the paper. The article is dedicated to his memory.
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https://geohistory.humanities.tsu.ge/ge/procedings/83-shromebi/180-shromebi-21.html
ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის ჰუმანიტარულ მეცნიერებათა ფაკულტეტის საქართველოს ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის შრომები შესულია ERIH PLUS-ში (The European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences).
This journal was approved on 23.10.2024 according to ERIH PLUS criteria for inclusion.
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ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის საქართველოს ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის შრომები, XXI, თბილისი, 2025, გვ. 120-133 / Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Institute of Georgian History Proceedings, XXI, Tbilisi, 2025, p. 120-133