The Toreatae (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: ,

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

xi. 2. 11) or Toretae (Greek: , Steph. B. ''s. v.''; Dionys. Per. 682; Plin. vi. 5; Mela, i. 2; Avien. ''Orb. Terr.'' 867) were a tribe of the

Maeotae The Maeotians (; ; ) were an ancient people dwelling along the Sea of Azov, which was known in antiquity as the " Maeotian marshes" or "Lake Maeotis".James, Edward Boucher"Maeotae" and "Maeotis Palus"in the ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geogr ...

in Asiatic Sarmatia. Strabo describes them as living among the

, Sindi,

Dandarii The Dandarii or Dandaridae were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi, Toreatae, Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittaceni, Dosci, and Aspurgiani, among ...

, Agri, Arrechi,

Tarpetes The Tarpetes were an ancient people who once lived along the Maeotian marshes Palus Maeotis, in present-day Russia. The Tarpetes were one of many groups in that area that vanished, leaving little or no trace. Strabo describes them living among th ...

Obidiaceni The Obidiaceni were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi (people), Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri (Maeotae), Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Sittaceni, Dosci, and Aspurg ...

Sittaceni The Sittaceni were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Dosci, and Aspurgiani, among others (x ...

Dosci The Dosci (Doschi) - were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi (people), Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri (Maeotae), Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittacen ...

, and Aspurgiani, among others. (xi. 2. 11)

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 ...

(v. 9. § 9) mentions a in Asiatic Sarmatia; and in another passage (iii. 5. § 25) he speaks of the ( Toreccadae) as a people in European Sarmatia, who are perhaps the same as the Toretae or Toreatae. The Toreatae were one of the

tribes, who lived in the 1st millennium BC on the eastern and south-eastern coast of the Azov sea. Russian archeologists, historians and ethnographers in the Soviet period concluded that Maeotae was one of the names of the tribes of the Adyghe people (or

Circassians The Circassians or Circassian people, also called Cherkess or Adyghe (Adyghe language, Adyghe and ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia, a region and former country in t ...

): in the

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

(in the article '' Adyghe people'') was written:

Living in the basin of the river Kuban were some of the tribes of the ( Adyghe people), who generally were given the collective name "Maeotae" by ancient historians.

The

, engaged in farming and fishing, were thought by other Soviet writers to be a mixture of speakers of

Adyghe language Adyghe ( or ; also known as West Circassian) is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of Circassians. It is spoken mainly in Russia, as well as in Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Israel, where Circassians settled after ...

and an

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

language. In the 4th–3rd centuries BC many of them were incorporated into the

Bosporan kingdom The Bosporan Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (; ), was an ancient Greco-Scythians, Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, centered in the present-day ...

.Меоты

References

Strabo's book 11 on-line
* Peoples of the Caucasus History of the North Caucasus Ancient history of the Caucasus Kabardino-Balkaria Ancient Circassian tribes {{hist-stub