The Machelones ( ka, მახელონები) (Machelônes, Machelonoi; ) were a
Colchian tribe located to the far south of the Phasis (modern-day
Rioni River, western
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
). There are several references to them in
Classical sources. This group may be the Machorones of
Pliny (NH 6.4.11) who placed them between the
Ophis (modern Of,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
) and Prytanis rivers.
[Edwards, Robert W. (1988), The Vale of Kola: A Final Preliminary Report on the Marchlands of Northeast Turkey, pp. 129-131. ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', Vol. 42.]
The 1st century AD writer
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridi ...
also comments about the Machlyai and their ruler, but the account seems to be entirely fictional.
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
, in the early 2nd century AD, mentions the town of Mechlessos on the border of Colchis, but adds nothing substantive. His contemporary author,
Arrian
Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; )
was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period.
'' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...
, lists on a west to east orientation the
Sannoi,
Drilae, Machelonoi,
Heniochoi,
Zudreitai, and
Lazoi (''Perip''. 1 1.1-2). Writing in the early 3rd century about an event a hundred years earlier (AD 117),
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
(68.19) relates that the Machelonoi and the neighboring Heniochoi were ruled by a single "king", Anchialos, who submitted to the Roman emperor
Trajan
Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
. There is a special mention in the anonymous (probably post-4th century) ''Periplus Ponti Evcines'' that both the Machelones and Heniochoi were once called Ekcheireis. The country called Machelonia, a
client state
A client state in the context of international relations is a State (polity), state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state. Alternative terms for a ''client state'' are satellite state, ...
of the
Sassanid
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the larg ...
, figures in the so-called ''
Res Gestae Divi Saporis'' (
Ka'ba-i Zartosht
Kaaba, Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (), also called the Kaaba or Cube of Zoroaster, is a rectangular stepped stone structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad, Fars, Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars province, Fars, Iran. The Naqs ...
), the mid-3rd-century AD trilingual inscription concerning the political, military, and religious activities of
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent u ...
, and appears, in this case, to be synonymous to Colchis.
The Machelones were closely related ethnically to the neighboring
Macrones (a tribe believed to be the ancestors of present-day
Mingrelians
The Mingrelians (; ka, მეგრელები, tr) are an indigenous Kartvelian-speaking ethnic subgroup of Georgians that mostly live in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti (; ka, სამეგრელო, tr) region of Georgia. They also l ...
, a subethnic group of the Georgian people), known since at least the 5th century BC.
[Rayfield, D. (2020, February 07). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. Chapitre 1 : The Emergence of the Kartvelians p.20]
References
Ancient peoples of Georgia (country)
Tribes in classical historiography
Anatolia
Provinces of the Sasanian Empire
{{Georgia-hist-stub