Rioni

This article is about the river in Georgia. For the Italian municipal subdivisions, seerione.

Rioni
Rioni River inRachaRegion
Native name	რიონი(Georgian)
Location
Country	Georgia
Cities	Kutaisi Vani Samtredia Poti
Physical characteristics
Source	Main Caucasian Range Caucasus Mountains
Mouth	Black Sea
• location	Poti
• coordinates	42°11′3″N41°38′10″E
Length	327 km (203 mi)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Tekhuri,Qvirila
• right	Tskhenistsqali

TheRioni(Georgian:რიონი,Rioni;Ancient Greek:Φᾶσις,Phâsis) is the main river of westernGeorgia.It originates in theCaucasus Mountains,in the region ofRachaand flows west to theBlack Sea,entering it north of the city ofPoti(near ancientPhasis). The city ofKutaisi,once the ancient city ofColchis,lies on its banks. It drains the western Transcaucasus into the Black Sea while the riverKura,drains the eastern Transcaucasus into theCaspian Sea.

History

Herodotusconsidered the Rioni river to be a boundary between Europe and Asia.

Ancient authors

Known to theancient Greeksas the riverPhasis,the Rioni was first mentioned byHesiodin hisTheogony(l.340); Plato has Socrates remark: "I believe that the earth is very large and that we who dwell between thepillars of Herculesand the river Phasis live in a small part of it about the sea, like ants or frogs about a pond "(Phaedo,109a). Later writers likeApollonius Rhodius(Argonautica2.12.61),Virgil(Georgics4.367) andAelius Aristides(Ad Romam82) considered it the easternmost limit of thenavigableseas.HerodotusandAnaximanderconsidered Rioni aboundary between Europe and Asia.The famed voyage ofJasonand theArgonauts,though semi-mythological, was said to have occurred by the Argonauts sailing up the river Phasis from its outlet to the Black Sea at Poti, to Colchis (modernKutaisiin Georgia).

Pheasant

The term "pheasant"and the scientific namePhasianus colchicusare derived from "Phasis" and "Colchis",as this was said to be the region from which the common pheasant was introduced to Europe(thering-necked pheasantswere introduced later fromEast Asia).

Draining

It is said that "the failure of Colchis to emerge as a strong kingdom or to be maintained as a province of Rome has been blamed on the pestilential climate of the Phasis Valley, a situation remarked upon by travelers down to modern times, when the swamps were finally drained."Wetlands around Rioni River has been drained through a large reclamation-drainage project commissioned by government in 1960. After that, the area was cleared and converted to agricultural land.

Description

The Rioni is the longest river wholly within the borders of Georgia. The river is 327 kilometres (203 mi) long, and itsdrainage basincovers about 13,400 square kilometres (5,200 sq mi).It starts on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains at 2,960 metres (9,710 ft) above sea level, north of the townOni.Its largest tributaries are, from source to mouth:Jejora(left),Qvirila(left),Khanistsqali(left),Tskhenistsqali(right) andTekhuri(right).

Phasis river at Taprobana

Stephanus of Byzantiumwrote that there was also another river which was named Phasis, inTaprobana(Ancient Greek:Φᾶσις ἐν τῇ Ταπροβάνῃ) (Ceylon or Sri Lanka).