[[File:Ethnic Caucasia-en.png|thumb|330x330px|English translation of a 1956 [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] map purportedly depicting the ethnic situation in the Caucasus during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The Saspeires are positioned here to the immediate east of the [[Colchians]], who straddle the eastern coast of the [[Black Sea]]]] '''Saspeires''' ({{langx|grc|Σάσπειρες}}, {{lang-ka|სასპერები}}, ''sasp'erebi'', other names include '''Saspers''', '''Saspines''', '''Sapinians''', and '''Sapirians''') are a people of uncertain origin mentioned by [[Herodotus]].<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/262900?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents The Persian Army and Tribute Lists in Herodotus ], A. G. Laird Classical Philology Vol. 16, No. 4 (October 1921), pp. 305–326</ref> According to the most widespread theory, they are a [[Kartvelian peoples|Kartvelian]] tribe.<ref name="demetrios">{{cite book|first1=Dēmētrios|last1=Grammenos|first2=Elias|last2=Petropoulos|title=Ancient Greek colonies in the Black Sea 2, Volume 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n91nAAAAMAAJ|pages=1113–1114|ISBN=9781407301129|date=2007|publisher=Archaeopress|access-date=23 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Kalistrat|last=Salia|title=Histoire de la nation géorgienne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=decTAQAAMAAJ|pages=30–41|date=1980|access-date=23 June 2015}}</ref><ref name="reisner">{{cite book|first1=Oliver|last1=Reisner|first2=Ghia|last2=Nodia|title=Identity Studies, Vol 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gH1XAgAAQBAJ|date=2009|page=51|publisher=Ilia State University Press|access-date=23 June 2015}}</ref> The toponym of modern-day city [[İspir]] and ancient region of [[Speri (region)|Speri]] is thought by some to be derived from their name.<ref>T. A. Sinclair, "Eastern Turkey an Architectural and Archaeological Survey", Volume 2, 1989, p272.</ref> According to Rayfield, [[Diauehi]] is mentioned in the Greek records as Taochoi, but Herodotus in 450 BC refers to them as Sasperi. the name [[İspir|Sper]] with a Georgian prefix of place Sa-, which evolved into the term [[Kingdom of Iberia|Iberian]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rayfield |first=Donald |title=Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia |year=2012 |pages=18}}</ref> {{blockquote|The land where the [[Persians]] live extends to [[Erythraean Sea|the southern sea which is called Red]]; beyond these to the north are the [[Medes]], and beyond the Medes the ''Saspires'', and beyond the Saspires the [[Colchians]], whose country extends to the [[Black Sea|northern sea]] into which the [[Rioni River|Phasis river]] flows; so these four nations live between the one sea and the other.<ref>Herodotus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.37 ''Histories'', Book 4, Chapter 37]</ref>|[[Herodotus]]}} The Saspires were originally associated with the [[Caucasian Iberians]] and appear to have emerged from the [[Lesser Caucasus]] to the east.<ref>Diakonoff, 1984</ref> The [[Alarodians]], [[Colchians]], and Saspires were joined in one command, and all were dressed alike.<ref>Herodotus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.37 ''Histories'', Book 7, Chapter 79]</ref> The Colchians themselves, were not classified as belonging to any [[Satrapy]]. The Colchians, however, attended the army of [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]] as auxiliaries. The incredible number of tribes of Mount Caucasus is spoken by ancient as modern historians.<ref>Mr. Tooke's Russia, vol. 2</ref><ref>Memoir of the Map of the Countries between the Euxine and the Caspian, 1788</ref> According to some authors, they constituted a significant part of the population of the early Georgian [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Iberia]] and played a large role in the ethnogenesis of the [[Georgian people|Georgian nation]].<ref name="demetrios" /><ref name="reisner"/>
{{History of Georgia (country)}}
==See also== *[[İspir]] *[[Speri (region)|Speri]]
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Ancient Georgians}}
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Georgia (country)]] [[Category:Tribes described primarily by Herodotus]]