The Sanigs () were a tribe inhabiting historical Heniochi, northwest shore of Colchis. Their ethnic identity is obscure and is the subject of a controversy.
Geography
Historical territories of Heniokhet-Sanikheti(Sanigia) was divided into three parts:
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old southern Heniochia, later coastal Abkhazia (which included the coastal zone from Sukhumi to Adler);
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Inner Heniochia (Sochi district);
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North Heniochia, later Jiketi of Abkhazia (Tuapsi region).
Sanigs inhabited the Inner Heniochia
Origin
Georgian scholars consider them to be
Zans (ancestors of Mingrelian and Laz peoples), while others maintain that they were
Svan people.
[მიქელაძე თ., ძიებანი კოლხეთის და სამხრეთ-აღმოსავლეთი შავიზღვისპირეთის უძველესი მოსახლეობის ისტორიიდან (ძვ. წ. II-I ათასწლეულები), თბ., 1974.] According to
Arrian, they inhabited the area around Sebastopolis (modern
Sukhumi). Roland Topchishvili links some modern
Georgian name with the Sanigs (Sanikidze, Sanikiani, Sanigiani, Sanaia).
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Abkhazians consider the Sanigs to be the ancestors of the Sadz and Zhaney, as evidenced by the territorial settlement of these peoples.
