The Byzeres () were a people of the Southern Caucasus mentioned in Urartean sources as ''Uiterukhi'' or ''Uitirukhi''.

Sardur II Sarduri II (ruled: 764–735 BC) was a King of Urartu, succeeding his father Argishti I to the throne. The Urartian Kingdom was at its peak during his reign, campaigning successfully against several neighbouring powers, including Assyria. Reig ...

conquered their lands, appointed a deputy and made it a province. According to the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

sources, Byzeres inhabited near the southeast coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, south of the Ch'orokhi River and partly the

Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (, meaning 'North Anatolian Mountains'), form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the "Parhar Mountains" in the local Turkish and Pontic Greek languages. The term ''Parhar'' ...

as well. The name of the historical region

Odzrkhe Odzrkhe or Odzrakhe ( ka, ოძრხე or ) was a historic fortified town and the surrounding area in what is now Abastumani, Adigeni Municipality in Samtskhe-Javakheti region, southern Georgia. History According to medieval Georgian hi ...

is derived from the name of this tribe – Vidzerukh/Viterukh/Odzr(a)khe/Odzrkhe. The

Georgian Soviet encyclopedia The ''Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia'' ( ka, ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, tr, ქსე) is the first universal encyclopedia in the Georgian language, printed in Tbilisi from 1965, the editor ...

identifies the Byzeres ( ka, ბიძერები ''bidzerebi'') as "an ancient Georgian artveliantribe"Georgian Soviet encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pg. 422, Tb., 1977.

References

{{Ancient Georgians Ancient peoples of Georgia (country)

See also

References