Colchis was an ancient region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, in what is now western Georgia. In Greek mythology, Colchis is famed as the land of the Golden Fleece (the destination of Jason and the Argonauts). Historically, by the first millennium BC, Colchis was home to a prosperous culture known for metalworking (especially goldsmithing) and trade. Colchian artisans produced finely crafted gold artifacts (some spectacular examples have been found in burial mounds). The region likely had organized kingdoms or chiefdoms; by the 6th–1st centuries BC, Greco-Roman sources mention the Kingdom of Colchis. Colchis formed the northwestern part of the Iberian (Georgian) civilization and later was absorbed into the Kingdom of Lazica/Egrisi. Its people were ancestors of the Georgian (Kartvelian) tribes, andtheir language(s) were likely Kartvelian. Throughout antiquity, Colchis maintained close contacts with the Mediterranean: Greek colonies like Dioscurias were founded on its coast.

Genetically, the ancient Colchians would have been similar to other South Caucasus populations. They likely had a blend of ancestral components: a strong contribution from the indigenous Caucasus hunter-gatherer/Iranian farmer lineage (as seen in Kura-Araxes and later samples) and possibly some input from surrounding regions (due to Colchis’s trade links across the Black Sea). Modern Georgians, particularly those in western Georgia (Samegrelo, Guria, etc.), can be seen as descendants of those Colchian populations. They carry predominantly West Asian/Caucasian genetic ancestry. In fact, genetic studies of Georgians show them to form a cluster with other Caucasus groups, having deep continuity in the region with relatively little external admixture. This suggests that the population of Colchis from classical times left a significant genetic legacy to today’s Georgians. Any Greek or Roman genetic influence in Colchis from colonies or garrisons was likely small and largely diluted over time. Thus, the people of modern western Georgia continue to bear the imprint of their Colchian ancestors, both culturally and in their DNA.