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DIAOKHI: GEORGIAN PRE-HISTORY
Text: Givi Koberidze
Maps: Andrew Andersen, George Partskhaladze
Putzgers,
F.W., Historische Schul-Atlas,
Leipzig /
1929
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Diauehi (Diauhi or Diaokhi; “the Land of the Sons of Diau”)
was an ancient country in northeastern Anatolia, mentioned in the Urartian
inscriptions[1]. It is
usually (though not always) identified with Daiaeni
of the Yonjalu inscription of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I’s third year
(1118 BC).
Although the
exact geographic extent of Diauehi is still
unclear, many scholars place it in the Pasinler
Plain in today’s northeastern Turkey,
while others locate it in the Turkish-Georgian marchlands as it follows the Kura River.
Most probably, the core of may have extended from the headwaters of the Euphrates into the river valleys of Çoruh
to Oltu. The Urartian
sources speak of Diauehi’s three key cities – Zua, Utu and Sasilu; Zua is frequently
identified with Zivin Kale and Ultu
is probably modern Oltu, while Sasilu
is sometimes linked to the early medieval Georgian toponym
Sasire, near Tortomi
(present-day Tortum,
Turkey).
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To see the possible
area of the Diauehi lands click on the mini-map
for a high resolution image 
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To see the ethnic
makeup of ancient East Mediterranean area click
on the mini-map for a high resolution image
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Several modern scholars believe
Diauehi may have emerged as a tribal union of
possible proto-Georgians in the post-Hittite period, in about the 12th
century BC. This federation was powerful enough to counter the Assyrian
forays, although in 1112 BC its king Sien was
defeated and taken prisoner by Tiglath-Pileser I.
In 845 BC, Shalmaneser
III finally subdued Diauehi and downgraded its king
Asia to a client ruler. In the early 8th
century, Diauehi became the target of the newly
emerged regional power of Urartu. Both Menuas (810-785 BC) and Argishtis
I (785-763 BC) campaigned against the Diauehi king Utupurshi, annexing his southernmost possessions and
forcing him to pay tribute. Extremely declined in these wars, Diauehi was finally destroyed by the blow from the Qulha (Colchis) tribes
in the west. It seems to have happened in the 760s BC, when the last recorded
account about Diauehi dates from. However, its name
may have survived as Taochi (Taochoi)
of the Greeks, Tao of the Georgians and Tayk of the
Armenians.
Further Reading:
Ronald Grigor
Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd
edition (1994), Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3, page 45
W.E.D. Allen, A History of the
Georgian People (1932), London,
Routledge, pages 57, 80-90
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