Debating the issue of Herodotus’ Saspirs

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Abstract

The authors discuss the arguments expounded in A.K. Salmin’s article on “The Mystery of Herodotus’ Saspirs” (Taina gherodotovskikh saspirov), which examined ancient evidence about Herodotus’ Saspirs against the backdrop of the Caucasian history of Sapirs/Saviri, who supposedly inhabited the area between the Medes and the Colchis that resided to the south and to the north of the Phasis river accordingly. This area extended to the south-east of the Chorokh (Coruh) river towards the lakes Sevan and Van. Drawing on various data related to the history, geography, ethnography, religion, and language of this group, A.K. Salmin argued that there must be a historical continuity among ethnonyms such as Σάσπειρες, Σάπειρες, Σάβιροι, Sapires, Savares, and Saviri. His line of argumentation is assessed in contributions by D. Madurov, A. Shahinyan, H. Khorikyan, and A. Saraev.

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About the authors

Dmitry F. Madurov

Author for correspondence.
Email: mofmat@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8138-8905

independent researcher

Russian Federation, Чебоксары

Arsen K. Shahinyan

St. Petersburg University

Email: a.shaginyan@spbu.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8992-6464

д. и. н., профессор

Russian Federation, 7/9 Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg, 199034

Hovhannes G. Khorikyan

“M. Nalbandyan State University of Shirak” Foundation

Email: hovhkhor78@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0006-9810-1441

д. и. н., доцент

Armenia, 4 Paruyr Sevak, Gyumri, 3126

Andrei S. Saraev

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: andrejsaraev@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0005-4564-0903

соискатель

Russian Federation, 12 Rozhdestvenka St., Moscow, 107031

Anton K. Salmin

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: antsalmin@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1072-9933

д. и. н., ведущий научный сотрудник

Russian Federation, 3 University Emb., St. Petersburg, 199034

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