Black Sea Ethnicities 315objects are known, and those that are known date from the end of the sixth centuryBC
and have been linked to Darius’ expedition against the Scythians (Alexandrescu 2010;
Vulpe 2012).
The northern Black Sea littoral was home to other local peoples. The Tauri dwelt in
the Crimea, pushed back into the mountains after the establishment of Dorian Cher-
sonesus. They are difficult to distinguish from an archaeological perspective. The lands
from the Great Caucasus north to the Sea of Azov (Lake Maeotis) were populated by
agricultural peoples, the most numerous among them being the Maeotians, who are
very well attested archaeologically (Erlikh 2010). Next to the Taman peninsula lived
the Sindians, who formed their own kingdom (Goroncharovskij 2010). The foothills of
the northwestern Caucasus were the land of the Kerketi and Toreti (Terekhova et al.
2006). These locals are known not just from ancient authors but from the inscriptions of
the Bosporan kings; the latter also mention other small peoples—the Dandarii, Phatei,
Dosxi, and Tarpeti—whose exact locations remain unknown or unclear. In contrast, the
local population of the Kerch peninsula has been identified, thanks to their burials—in
stone boxes—but we have no name for them (Tsetskhladze 1997). The Tauri practiced
piracy and often had hostile relations with the Greeks (Xen.,Anab. 7.5.12; Diod. 20.25),
with whom the other groups, by contrast, enjoyed close and pacific relations and were
influenced by Greek culture, especially after their incorporation into the Greek Bosporan
kingdom from the fourth centuryBC.
The eastern part of the Black Sea was called Colchis by the Greeks, and sometimes
Phasis, probably after the main Greek colony there (Xen.,Anab5.6.37), but we do not
know what the local inhabitants called it. As with “Thracian” and “Scythian,” Colchian
was a general name applied to a number of different tribes (Strabo 11.2.15–17). The
Colchian kingdom arose at the same time as the Odrysian. It was not heavily centralized
and was divided geographically into “sceptuchies” (Strabo 11.2.18), most probably ruled
by the local elites. We have archaeological evidence of two settlements, Vani in central
Colchis and Sairkhe in the mountainous part of the country, which were residences of
the local elite and most probably bases of sceptuchies (Tsetskhladze 2010–11: 293–7).
The architecture in both was wooden until the Hellenistic period; then, at Vani, Greek
craftsmen were employed to monumentalize the settlement, also girding it with fortifica-
tion walls. Within both settlements, tombs of the local elite have been unearthed, replete
with a very rich array of grave goods. The burial architecture and rites are reminiscent of
the Scythians.
The coastal areas of Colchis were wetlands (Hippoc.,Airs, Waters, Places15), because
of which local coastal settlements were built on artificial mounds and employed wooden
architecture (the archaeological evidence is plentiful). Northern Colchis was peopled
by the Achaei, Zygi, and Heniochi, and the mountainous parts by the Soanes. The
first three especially were notorious pirates and prone to attack the Greek cities (Strabo
11.2.12, 19; Pliny,NH6.15.16). Other Colchians were agriculturalists. To the Greeks
they seemed exotic: Herodotus declared that the Colchians were Egyptians: they were
as dark as Egyptians and, of greater significance, they, like the Egyptians and Ethiopians,
were circumcised (Hdt. 2.104); they also worked linen in the same way as the Egyp-
tians (Hdt. 2.105;cf. Strabo 11.2.17). Colchis witnessed the passage of Cimmerians and
Scythians on their way to Asia Minor and the return thence of the latter, some of whom
settled hereen routeto the northern Caucasus/Kuban: Scythian-type weaponry and