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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
8 4
lovely wooded glens, rugged gorges, and titanic mountains.
It is the wonderland of Eastern Chivalry, famous for its
dauntless warriors, its courtly men, and its beautiful, stately
women.
The history of the Georgian nation is as remarkable as the
country. Although it has had to fight almost incessantly
for its liberty and independence against far more powerful
neighbours, it nevertheless ranks, among the nations of our
time, as one of those with the longest line of kings—a line
continuing more or less unbroken for two thousand years. A
warrior-nation this, preferring war to peace, whose greeting
when two men meet is : " May victory attend thee," with the
response : " And thee also."
Whence the Georgians l came, and when they came to the
country, is uncertain. The Greeks called them Iberians, and
the first mention of them is in Strabo (b. about 63 b.c.).2
Herodotus 3 mentions several other peoples in this region ;
thus there were the Colchians, Tibareni, and Moshi ; and
probably further to the south the Saspires and Alarodii ;
while in the south-west were the Macrones, Mossynoeci, and
Mares. Several of these peoples unquestionably helped to
form the Georgian nation. The Moshi had previously dwelt
in Asia Minor—probably they preceded the Phrygians in
Phrygia, and by them were driven farther to the north-east,
together with the Tibareni ; after which they settled in a
considerable part of what is now Georgia. In the time of
Darius Hystaspes the Moshi commanded the southern exits
of the passes through the Caucasus—in other words, they
inhabited the country of the Aragva and Kura. We find their
nåme again in the country-name Meshia and in the Meshian
Mountains (with the Suram ridge), and possibly also in the
town-name Mtskhetha ; it may have been there, or near there,
that they had their temple of the white goddess " Leucothea "
(Cybele or Anahit ?), and an oracle (cf. Strabo, XI, 2, 17).
1 The nåme Georgia is of late origin. It may possibly come from the
nåme Jordan, borne by a tribe in the upper valley of the Kura ; and it was
apparently the Arabs who first used this nåme for the whole country. According
to another explanation Georgia may possibly come from the Old Iranian Karka,
which changed into Gorga, etc.
> Strabo, XI, 3, 1-6. 3 111, 94 ; I, 104 ; 11, 104 ; VII, 78-79.
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