#colchian

[melodeelaine]

Male Colchian Pheasant - Grasslands, Kansas, US

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Question: I don't think you are the right Blog for this but still it's worth asking here (I don't know where else to ask) : do you know anything about the Colchian culture? I know they come up in Greek mythology a couple of times, ans that they were in Western Georgia (Caucasus not USA) but that's all, Google isn't helping here.

hello and sORRY FOR BEING INSANELY LATE TO ANSWER THIS

Unfortunatelly, I don’t know many things about this culture. I have only heard of it in the myth of The golden fleece. Maybe you can turn to Georgian users here who are informed about the ancient civilizations of the area? Georgians probably have online communities (also in reddit) where you can ask them what they know about this ancient kingdom.

[archaicwonder]

Extremely Rare Ancient Greek Gold Stater from Kolchis, 1st Century BC - 2nd Century AD

Obverse: Stylized beardless head to right, wearing what is apparently an Attic helmet with a high crest and ornaments; on the top of the crest at front, four birds. Reverse: Crude figure seated to left, holding a small figure on its right arm and a transverse spear in its left; to left and right, vertical line of oblong pellets; below, trident to left. Extremely rare, an extraordinary and very unusual piece. Well centered and well struck. Good extremely fine. This was sold at auction recently for $ 38,779 USD.

This piece is an extraordinary example of a particularly bizarre coinage, one that in the past has been identified as coming from a variety of different places. Early scholars in western Europe assumed it was possibly Balkan or from the area of the Black Sea: that last suggestion was the closest to being right. We now know that these pieces seem to have come from the area of modern Georgia. Up to now they have fallen into two basic types: imitations of staters of Alexander the Great bearing a very rude Athena head and an eagle-like Nike, or imitations of Lysimachos staters with a degraded head of Alexander the Great and a very schematic seated Athena. This piece clearly bears a helmeted head on the obverse, which is probably meant to be Athena but wearing an attic helmet rather than the expected Corinthian one. The reverse is basically copied from late Lysimachos staters minted in Byzantion in the earlier 1st century BC.

Map of ancient Kolchis (Colchis)

[archaicwonder]

Colchian Gold Boar Bracelets, 5th Century BC

Found in Vani, a town in the Imereti region of western Georgia. In Greco-Roman mythology Colchis is known as the kingdom of Medea and the Golden Fleece, and as the destination of the Argonauts.

[archaicwonder]

Colchian Woman's Gold Diadem With Temple Rings, 400-350 BC

From Grave 6 in Vani, western Georgia, (map). Decorated with fighting boars and lions.

[jeannepompadour]

Ancient Colchian golden earrings, 4th century B.C.