The mystery of Herodotus’ Saspirs-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The mystery of Herodotus’ Saspirs

Published:2024-02-17 Issue:1 Volume: Page:5-22
ISSN:0869-5415
Container-title:Etnograficheskoe obozrenie
language:
Short-container-title:Ètnografičeskoe obozrenie

Author:

Salmin Anton K.¹^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The article examines ancient evidence about Herodotus’ Saspirs against the backdrop of the Caucasian history of Sapirs/Saviri, drawing on both historical sources and current studies. To make the examination coherent, I introduce various data related to the history, geography, ethnography, religion, and language of this group. I argue that there must be a continuity among ethnonyms such as Σάσπειρες, Σάπειρες, Σάβιροι, Sapires, Savares, and Savirs. The Saspirs of the historical period under consideration supposedly inhabited the area between the Medes and the Colchis who resided to the south and to the north of the Phasis river accordingly. This area extended to the south-east of the Chorokh (Coruh) river towards the lakes Sevan and Van; while the Matiene mountains, by which the Saspirs lived, are taken to be the mountainous area near Erzurum.

Publisher

The Russian Academy of Sciences

Reference39 articles.

1. Albogachieva, M.S.-G. 2011. Etnografiia i istoriia ingushskogo naroda v pis’mennykh istochnikakh kontsa XVIII – pervoi treti XX v. [Ethnography and History of the Ingush People in Written Sources of the Late 18 – First Third of the 20 Century]. St. Petersburg: Nauka.

2. Alemany, A. 2013. Early Byzantine Sources on the Oghuric Tribes in the Northern Black Sea Area. In The Bosporus: Gateway between the Ancient West and East (1st Millennium BC – 5th Century AD): Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities. Istanbul, 14th – 18th September 2009, edited by G. Tsetskhladze et al., 233–236. Oxford: BAR International Series.

3. Alikberov, A.K. 2019. Ob interaktivnykh podkhodakh k gumanitarnomu znaniiu v vostokovedenii (On Interactive Approaches to Humanitarian Knowledge in Oriental Studies). Trudy Otdeleniia istoriko-filologhicheskikh nauk RAN, 2018, edited by V.A. Tishkov, 152–164. Moscow: Otdelenie istoriko-filologicheskikh nauk RAN.

4. Berdzenishvili, N.A., ed. 1962. Istoriia Gruzii [History of Georgia]. Tbilisi: Uchpedghiz.

5. Budanova, V.P. 2000. Varvarskii mir epokhi Velikogo pereseleniia narodov [The Barbarian World of the Great Migration Era]. Moscow: Nauka.