# Rioni

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This article is about the river in Georgia. For the Italian municipal subdivisions, see [rione](/source/Rione).

River in Georgia

Rioni Rioni River in Racha Region 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″N 41°38′10″E / 42.18417°N 41.63611°E / 42.18417; 41.63611 Length 327 km (203 mi) Basin features Tributaries • left Tekhuri, Qvirila • right Tskhenistsqali

The **Rioni** ([Georgian](/source/Georgian_language): რიონი [\[ˈɾio̞n̪i\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Georgian); [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek_language): [Φᾶσις](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%A6%E1%BE%B6%CF%83%CE%B9%CF%82), *Phâsis*) is the main river of western [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(country)). It originates in the [Caucasus Mountains](/source/Caucasus_Mountains), in the region of [Racha](/source/Racha) and flows west to the [Black Sea](/source/Black_Sea), entering it north of the city of [Poti](/source/Poti) (near ancient [Phasis](/source/Phasis_(town))). The city of [Kutaisi](/source/Kutaisi), once the ancient city of [Colchis](/source/Colchis), lies on its banks. It drains the western Transcaucasus into the Black Sea while the river [Kura](/source/Kura_(South_Caucasus_river)) drains the eastern Transcaucasus into the [Caspian Sea](/source/Caspian_Sea).

## History

[Herodotus](/source/Herodotus) considered the Rioni river to be a boundary between Europe and Asia.[1]

### Ancient authors

Known to the [ancient Greeks](/source/Ancient_Greece) as the river *[Phasis](/source/Phasis_(mythology))*, the Rioni was first mentioned by [Hesiod](/source/Hesiod) in his [Theogony](/source/Theogony) (l.340); Plato has Socrates remark: "I believe that the earth is very large and that we who dwell between the [pillars of Hercules](/source/Pillars_of_Hercules) and the river Phasis live in a small part of it about the sea, like ants or frogs about a pond" (*[Phaedo](/source/Phaedo)*, 109a). Later writers like [Apollonius Rhodius](/source/Apollonius_Rhodius) ([Argonautica](/source/Argonautica) 2.12.61), [Virgil](/source/Virgil) ([Georgics](/source/Georgics) 4.367) and [Aelius Aristides](/source/Aelius_Aristides) (*Ad Romam* 82) considered it the easternmost limit of the [navigable](/source/Navigable) seas. [Herodotus](/source/Herodotus) and [Anaximander](/source/Anaximander) considered Rioni a [boundary between Europe and Asia](/source/Boundary_between_Europe_and_Asia).[1] The famed voyage of [Jason](/source/Jason) and the [Argonauts](/source/Argonauts), though semi-mythological, was said to have occurred by the Argonauts sailing up the river Phasis from its outlet on the Black Sea at Poti, to Colchis (modern [Kutaisi](/source/Kutaisi) in Georgia).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

### Pheasant

The term "[pheasant](/source/Pheasant)" and the scientific name *[Phasianus colchicus](/source/Phasianus_colchicus)* are derived from "Phasis" and "Colchis",[2] as this was said to be the region from which the common pheasant was introduced to Europe[3] (the [ring-necked pheasants](/source/Common_pheasant) were introduced later from [East Asia](/source/East_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."[4] 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.[5]

## Description

The Rioni is the longest river wholly within the borders of Georgia. The river is 327 kilometres (203 mi) long, and its [drainage basin](/source/Drainage_basin) covers about 13,400 square kilometres (5,200 mi2).[6] It starts on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains at 2,960 metres (9,710 ft) above sea level, north of the town of [Oni](/source/Oni%2C_Georgia). Its largest tributaries are, from source to mouth: [Jejora](/source/Jejora) (left), [Qvirila](/source/Qvirila) (left), [Khanistsqali](/source/Khanistsqali) (left), [Tskhenistsqali](/source/Tskhenistsqali) (right) and [Tekhuri](/source/Tekhuri) (right).

## Phasis river at Taprobana

[Stephanus of Byzantium](/source/Stephanus_of_Byzantium) wrote that there was also another river which was named Phasis, in [Taprobana](/source/Taprobana) ([Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek_language): Φᾶσις ἐν τῇ Ταπροβάνῃ), as the Indian Ocean island of Ceylon or Sri Lanka was known to the ancient Greeks.[7]

## References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Rioni](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rioni).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-pp324_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-pp324_1-1) [Heinz Heinen](/source/Heinz_Heinen), Andrea Binsfeld, Stefan Pfeiffer. Vom hellenistischen Osten zum römischen Westen. Wiesbaden, Germany: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2006, pg. 324 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [3515087400](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/3515087400)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-job90_2-0)** Jobling, James A (2010). [*The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names*](https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling). London: Christopher Helm. pp. [113](https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n113), 302. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4081-2501-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4081-2501-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *[Oxford English Dictionary](/source/Oxford_English_Dictionary)*, Draft Revision, September 2009

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia: A Historical Atlas, 2001, page 38

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Tiefenbacher, John, ed. (2012). [*Perspectives on Nature Conservation Patterns, Pressures and Prospects*](https://books.google.com/books?id=RC-aDwAAQBAJ&dq=swamp+rioni+river+georgia+drained&pg=PA66). [Rijeka](/source/Rijeka), Croatia: IntechOpen. p. 66. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789535100331](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789535100331).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Statistical Yearbook of Georgia: 2020](https://www.geostat.ge/media/35685/Yearbook_2020.pdf), National Statistics Office of Georgia, Tbilisi, 2020, p. 12.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § Ph660.2](https://topostext.org/work/241#Ph660.21)

Authority control databases International VIAF GND FAST National United States Israel Geographic Pleiades Other Yale LUX

v t e Rivers of Georgia by drainage basin Black Sea Abasha Bzipi Chorokhi Acharistsqali Enguri Khobi Chanistsqali Kodori Sakeni Natanebi Choloki Ochkhamuri Psou Rioni Qvirila Tekhuri Tskhenistsqali Supsa Bakhvistsqali Caspian Sea Andi Koysu Kura Liakhvi Patsa Aragvi Iori Alazani Ksani Algeti Khrami Terek Georgia (country) portal Category

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