THE SANIGS (THE ZHANEY) IN EARLY HISTORY OF THE CIRCASSIANS
Bgazhnokov Barasbi Khachimovich
Branch of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Submitted: 09.01.2019
Abstract. The article is devoted to one of the formerly most famous peoples of the eastern Black Sea region. It is shown that the Sanigs’ ethnic history is closely associated with the Heniochi and can be traced back at least to the V century B.C. though they were first mentioned as the "Sanegs" by Memnon in the I century B.C. In the I-II centuries A.D. the Sanigs resided at the Black Sea coast, from Sebastopolis (Sukhumi) to the Akheunta (Shakhe) river, and had their own tsar named Spadag (Flavius Arrianus). At the turn of the III-IV centuries A.D. they left their residential areas beyond the Caucasian mountain range and resettled on its northern slope north of Tuapse. It is testified by Tabula Peutingeriana, on which the Sanigs’ (Sannigae) residential area is marked south of the Caucasi people. One of the motives for resettlement was Roman expansion. Procopius Caesariensis describes the Sanigs as the people living between the Abasgoi, the Alans and the Zygii. The Sanigs make an alliance with the Zygii and gradually spread northward, to Gelendzhik, the Tsemes and the Kuban. They become famous among the Adyghe under the name Zhaney and gradually acquire the status of one of the biggest and most influential Circassian principalities.
Key words and phrases: Восточное Причерноморье, Кавказ, Диоскуриада, саниги, жанеевцы, гениохи, зихи, Зихия, Черкесия, eastern Black Sea region, Caucasus, Dioscuriada, the Sanigs, the Zhaney, the Heniochi, the Zygii, Zichia, Circassia
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