Phasis (town)
ancient city in Colchis
Phasis (Ancient Greek: Φᾶσις; Georgian: ფაზისი, pazisi) was an ancient and early medieval city on the eastern Black Sea coast, founded in the 7th or 6th century BC as a colony of the Milesian Greeks at the mouth of the eponymous river in Colchis. Its location today could be the port city of Poti, Georgia. Its ancient bishopric became a Latin Catholic titular see of Metropolitan rank.
Etymology
The names of ancient Phasis and modern Poti are apparently linked to each other, but the etymology is a matter of a scholarly dispute. "Phasis" is first recorded in Hesiod's Theogony (c. 700 BC) as a name of the river, not a town. The first Greek settlement here must have been founded not earlier than the very end of the 7th, and probably at the beginning of the 6th century BC, and received its name from the river.
Since Erich Diehl, in 1938, first suggested a non-Hellenic origin of the name and that Phasis might have been a derivative of a local hydronym, several explanations have been proposed, linking the name to the Proto-Georgian-Zan language *Poti, Svan, *Pasid, and even to a Semitic word, meaning "a gold river." The collective use of the ethnonym Φασιανοί (Phasians) is attested in Xenophon and Heraclides Lembus.
The name Phasis is the origin of the word pheasant.
History
Phasis appears in numerous Classical and early medieval sources as well as the Greek mythology, particularly an Argonautic cycle.
“Phasis (town)” enters the record as ancient city in Colchis. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Phasis, town and ancient can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Phasis (town)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Phasis, town and ancient provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q378091. VIAF identifies the subject as 241217958. Authority coordinates are 42.150, 41.667. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Phasis (town)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Phasis (town) primary sources, Phasis (town) archive and Phasis research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Phasis (town)”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Phasis (town)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.