Egrisians

Egrisians were the historical inhabitants associated with the region of Egrisi, a western Caucasian area connected with the Black Sea coast in what is now western Georgia. The name Egrisi is attested in ancient Greek and later Georgian sources, making the designation primarily geographical rather than tied to a clearly defined political entity.

Language and culture are poorly documented. Direct linguistic evidence about the Egrisians is scarce, and scholars differ on whether their speech belonged to the broader Kartvelian family or to a locally distinct dialect. Contemporary descriptions emphasize coastal trade, metalworking, and crafts, along with religious practices centered on local deities and nature worship; however, specifics are fragmentary and frequently come from later or second-hand sources.

History places the Egrisi in a borderland position during antiquity, interacting with neighboring powers such as Colchis and various Greek, Persian, and later regional polities. In the medieval period, the region came under Georgian influence and was absorbed into evolving Georgian political structures. By the early modern era, the term Egrisi ceased to function as a distinct ethnic label.

Modern status: there is no separate contemporary nation or ethnic group known as Egrisians. The area is part of present-day Georgia, and the historic inhabitants are typically understood as part of the broader Georgian ethnolinguistic sphere. The term remains primarily of historical and scholarly interest, used to reference a past regional identity rather than a living community.