Colchis is a Bronze Age kingdom on the the Black Sea famous as the destination of Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece. People inhabit the coasts of the Black Sea since Paleolithic times, based on finds of flint tools and flooded settlements.
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With fertile lowlands and a favorable climate, population grows on the east coast. In parts of Colchis, civilization is advanced by second millennium BCE. The people use sophisticated farming implements, knowledge of crop cultivation and agrarian techniques.
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The Colchian Late Bronze Age (15th - 8th century BCE) is marked by evolution of skills in metal work, such as smelting and casting. People have the ability to make bronze and plenty of copper. Bronze is about 88% copper and 12% tin (or sometimes arsenic).
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Colchis has copper reserves and acquires tin by trade. The nearest tin deposits are in Turkey or Greece. The Greeks bring treasures from inland regions to the trade hub peninsula of Sinope on the south Black Sea coast.
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In Greek mythology Colchis is the destination of Jason and the Argonauts searching for the Golden Fleece. The adventures of the Argonauts are set in c. 1300 BCE. The fleece is owned by King Aeëtes, guarded by a dragon who never sleeps.
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The daughter of King Aeëtes is the sorceress Medea. Goddess Hera sends Eros to shoot her with arrows of love for Jason, to help with his quest. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite want Jason to succeed. Medea puts the dragon to sleep, and Jason grabs the fleece.
In the ensuing chase Medea kills her brother, Absyrtus, throwing pieces of his body into the sea to distract her father. Grief-stricken Aeëtes gives up the pursuit to gather the remains of Absyrtus, allowing Medea, Jason and the Argonauts to escape.
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Small states like Diaokhi, Zabakha, Viterukhi and Colcha are run by powerful clans by the 12th century BCE. Kings rule and make laws. Public offices are held by wealthy landowners. Major enemies are the Assyrians and in the 9th century BCE, Urartians.
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At bottom of the social scale are common people. They work lands of the aristocracy but are not serfs, and can leave if desired. Freehold farms arise in the Pontic Mountains. As towns grow through trade, rich merchants create a middle class. Women are subordinate to men.
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The Kingdom of Colchis is described as a land abundant in timber, gold, iron and honey. Its main exports are to the ancient Hellenic city-states. Colchis grows into a diverse population of people from different cultures.
According to Greek and Roman sources, between 70 and 300 languages exist in Dioscourias (modern Sukhumi) alone. Dioscourias is settled by the Greeks in the 6th century BCE.
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Many tribes and settlements spread along the Colchian coast. They include Machelones, Heniochi, Zydretae, Lazi, Chalybes, Tibareni/Tubal, Mossynoeci, Macrones, Moschi, Marres, Apsilae, Abasci, Sanigae, Coraxi, Coli, Melanchlaeni, Geloni and Soani (Suani).
The tribes have various origins. Some arrive from the Caucasus and Pontic Mountains, or from the east before establishment of Iberia. Greek historian Herodotus says the Colchians are "dark-skinned and woolly-haired". He believes they're Egyptian.
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Herodotus goes on to explain how the Colchians, with ancient Egyptians and Ethiopians, are the first to practice circumcision. He claims the custom is inherited from remnants of the army of Pharaoh Sesostris (Senusret III), who reigns 1837 - 1819 BCE.
According to Pliny the Elder:
"The Colchians were governed by their own kings in the earliest ages, that Sesostris king of Egypt was overcome in Scythia, and put to fight, by the king of Colchis, which if true, that the Colchians not only had kings in those times, but were a very powerful people."
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Modern theories suggest Laz-Mingrelian (southern Caucasian) ancestry. According to Pausanias, a geographer of the 1st century BCE, based on writings of the poet Eumelos, the mythical first king of Colchis, Aeëtes, is of Greek origin.
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Colchians may be related to the neighboring Koban culture appearing in the Middle Bronze Age. According to historians the first mention of Colchis is in the reign of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1245 -1209 BCE) when writings describe 40 kings by the Upper Sea.
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During the Middle Assyrian Empire (c. 1365 - 910 BCE) the range of Colchis includes the western part of today's Georgia and provinces of Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Adjara, Svaneti, Racha; Abkhazia. It covers Russia's Sochi and Tuapse; and Artvin, Rize, Trabzon of Turkey.
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Before the rise of Colchis, several changes occur to the environment. Melting Ice Age glaciers raise sea levels. The Black Sea, a freshwater lake, in inundated with salt water from the Mediterranean Sea.
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Coastal settlements of the Stone Age are completely flooded, which is one reason it's difficult to find early archaeological history. Available data comes largely from the Turkish Black Sea coast. Today, the Russian-Ukraine conflict puts a pause on some research.
The Black Sea becomes salt about 5500 BCE. The influx of water drives people out of their settlements and into the mountains, talking about a great terrible flood. It may be the same flood sent by Mesopotamian God Enlil, who can't sleep due to humans making noise.
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Or, it might be the flood sent by Yahweh, god of the Israelites, who feels humans are too corrupt. About the same time (c. 5400 BCE), a huge volcanic eruption in Indonesia blocks the sun and changes the course of civilization. The volcano's effects are felt for decades.
After the flood, eruption and related disasters, environmental peace comes to the shores of the Black Sea as nature finds a balance. Due to poor water mixing, the Black Sea separates into layers of oxygenated and anoxic water.
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Waters don't mix because it's a sea twice removed. The narrow Bosporus Strait is the only channel into the Black Sea from the Mediterranean, via the Marmara, and the only channel from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean is the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain.
Due to the limited influx of water from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean has almost no tides. As a result the Black Sea, fed through the Bosporus has no tidal action or water mixing. All life exists in the top oxygenated level of the sea.
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It's enough. The first arrivals at the Eastern Black Sea coast find a paradise of fish and game, and a fertile lowland where crops and livestock can prosper. By the middle of the second millennium BCE, the coast is well populated.
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Colchis prospers through trade and agriculture. Greek colonists arrive, attracted by the richness of the region. Several cities mint their own coinage. Area art, language and religion continues to show a cosmopolitan nature in Greek and later Roman periods.
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Before c. 1180 BCE Kashka mountain raiders and similar tribes make forays along the coast. Some add to the growing civilization of Colchis. Others turn their sights in the opposite direction, making guerrilla attacks on their favorite enemies, the Hittites.
The Hittites never reach the Black Sea coast. Mighty as they are they can never get past the mountain tribes, who attack and sack areas the Hittites try to settle. The Colchians at the same time are bordered to the east by strong allies, the Iberians.
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When Greeks first arrive at the Black Sea, they call it the "inhospitable sea". Once sailors gain experience with the waters, they change the name to the "hospitable sea." The area once had substantial deposits of iron ore and copper, which are now depleted.
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