Macrones
The Macrones (
Colchian tribe in the east of Pontus, about the Moschici Mountains (modern Yalnizçam Dağlari, Turkey[1]). The name is allegedly derived from the name of Kromni valley (Κορούμ, located 13 km north-east of Gümüşhane) by adding Kartvelian ma- prefix which denotes regional descendance.[1]
History
The Macrones are first mentioned by
Byzantine emperor Justinian I subdued them in the 520s and converted them to Christianity.[3] They participated in the Lazic War
fighting under the Byzantine command.
The Macrones are identified by modern scholars as one of the proto-Georgian tribes[4] whose presence in Northeastern Anatolia might have preceded the Hittite period, and who survived the demise of Urartu.[5] They are frequently regarded as the possible ancestors of the Mingrelians and Laz people (cf. margal, a Mingrelian self-designation).[1]
The Macrones lived along the border with the Machelonoi, another "Sannic" tribe evidently closely related to the Macrones.[6]
References
- ^ a b c Kavtaradze, Giorgi Leon (2002). "An Attempt to Interpret Some Anatolian and Caucasian Ethnonyms of the Classical Sources". Sprache und Kultur. 3. Staatliche Ilia Tschawtschawadse Universität Tbilisi für Sprache und Kultur. Institut zur Erforschung des westlichen Denkens: 68–83. Archived from the original on 13 November 2021.
- Scylax, p. 33; Dionysius Periegetes 766; Apollonius of Rhodes ii. 22; Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) vi. 4; Josephus Contra Apionem i. § 22, who asserts that they observed the custom of circumcision).
- ^ Procopius De Bello Persico. i. 15, De Bello Gothico. iv. 2, De Aedificiis iii. 6.
- ISBN 0-253-20915-3
- ^ Bryer, A. & Winfield, D. (1985). The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, p. 300. DOS 20 (Washington D.C.), I. Cited in: Kavtaradze (2002), pp. 63–83.
- ^ Edwards, Robert W. (1988), "The Vale of Kola: A Final Preliminary Report on the Marchlands of Northeast Turkey", p. 130. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 42.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray.
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