Dioscurias
Dioscurias was an ancient city on the Black Sea coast of Colchis (in the place of Sokhumi). The oldest written record of Dioscurias is attested in the second half of the 4th century BC. According to a Greek author, the city of Dioscurias was located in Colchis. Dioscurias was founded in the 6th century BC by the Ionians. The settlement did not arise on an empty site. The study of the archaeological monuments of Sokhumi reveals that it was founded in the Sokhumi region near a large local settlement, where a variety of handicrafts were found. In addition, the population of the Sokhumi region in the 8th–7th centuries BC had a quite advanced intensive agriculture. The local large settlement was a fairly well-established agricultural and economic center.
Along with ceramics, the discovery of local bronze and iron weapons, jewelry, pottery, aboriginal burials, testifies to the peaceful coexistence of the Greek ethnos with the local population in this territory from an early period. The main task of the Ionians was to expand the markets for metal, mainly iron, in the vicinity of Sokhumi and the mountainous region north of it. Apart from iron, gold and silver were undoubtedly exported from northern Colchis. As well as flax, products made from it, and other things.
The process of gathering local settlements around the Ionian settlement continued during the following centuries. From the first half of the 5th century BC, the entire territory surrounding the Sokhumi region was quite developed. In the 5th–4th centuries BC, agriculture — farming, viticulture — was intensively developed in the local settlements around Dioscurias, on the slopes of the mountains and in the plains.
The discovery of a large number of military weapons in the necropolises of the local population indicates that this community participated in the defense of the city, repelling attacks by pirates or some nomadic tribes. According to Strabo, Dioscurias was a trading place for the tribes living above and nearby.
From the middle of the 5th century BC, a new wave of Athenian settlers arrived on the eastern shore of Pontus. They had trade, economic, and political (strategic) interests towards Colchis. Factories of Athens were established in the regions of Colchis, including the Sokhumi and Eshera regions, rich in shipbuilding materials, iron, copper and other resources. As a result of their involvement in international trade relations of that time, the economic life of the population of Dioscurias and its surroundings reached a high level. In Gvandra, 16–18 km from Sokhumi, along with other ceramic products and industrial waste, a group of amphora handles (9 pieces) were discovered, on which the Greek inscription — Dioscu (“Dioscurias”) is imprinted. At the same time, a new workshop district for the production of tiles and other building materials was formed in the Sokhumi region. All this material testifies that by the Hellenistic period quite large agricultural lands had come under the influence of Dioscurias. This territory included the coastal strip to the north-west of the city (up to modern Gvandra). The lands under the influence of Dioscurias also extended to its east (Agudzera-Kelasuri, Guadikhu, Sokhumi Mountain, etc.). From the end of the 2nd century BC, during the reign of Mithridates Eupator, when the royal power in Colchis was abolished, Dioscurias received certain autonomous rights; Coins, which were minted in the name of Dioscurias, had depictions of city's patron deities, the twin brothers — Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux — on them. Nevertheless, Dioscurias did not have full autonomy even during this period, as it was politically subordinated to Mithridates and was one of the strongholds for his policy in Colchis. These signs of subordination to the Pontic ruler are evident in the ceramic products of the city's workshops.
By the second half of the 1st century BC, after the Romans took Dioscurias, according to Pliny the Elder, Roman merchants in the city conducted their business through 130 translators. The fall of the city was caused, on the one hand, by the economic crisis in its lands and the social crisis among the population, and on the other hand, by the disruption of the previously peaceful relations with the tribes living in the territory around and above the city.
Literature: ი ნ ა ძ ე მ., აღმოსავლეთ შავიზღვისპირეთის ბერძნული კოლონიზაცია, თბ., 1982; ლ ო რ თ ქ ი ფ ა ნ ი ძ ე ო., ანტიკური სამყარო და ძველი კოლხეთი, თბ., 1966; К в и р к в е л и я Г. Т., Местное население в районе Сухумской бухты в период греческой колонизации, კრ: Проблемы греческой колонизации Северного и Восточного Причерноморья. Материалы симпозиума (1977 г.), т. 1, Тб., 1979; Т р а п ш М. М., Диоскурия. Культура местного населения в раннеантичное время, Труды, Сух., 1969.
M. Inadze
