The Sanigs (Greek: Σάνιγκι) were a tribe inhabiting historical Heniochia, northwest shore of Kingdom of Colchis(modern day northwestern Georgia). Their ethnic identity is obscure and is the subject of a controversy.^[1] They are first attested in the works of Pliny, Arrian^[2] and Memnon of Heraclea.

Geography

Historical territories of Heniokhet-Sanikheti(Sanigia) was divided into three parts:

• old southern Heniochia, later coastal Abkhazia (which included the coastal zone from Sukhumi to Adler);
• Inner Heniochia (Sochi district);
• North Heniochia, later Jiketi of Abkhazia (Tuapsi region).

Sanigs inhabited the Inner Heniochia^[3]

Origin

Georgian scholars consider them to be Zans (ancestors of Mingrelian and Laz peoples), while others maintain that they were proto-Svans.^[4][5] According to Arrian, they inhabited the area around Sebastopolis (modern Sukhumi). In favour of the Sanigs' Kartvelian (either Zan or Svan) origin, it is important to mention some modern Georgian surnames such as: Sanikidze, Sanikiani, Sanigiani, Sanaia^[6]

Some Abkhazians consider the Sanigs to be the ancestors of the Sadz and Zhaney, as evidenced by the territorial settlement of these peoples. ^[7][8]