Rioni River
The Phasians ( "Pazielebi"; "Phasianoi"; ) were an ancient tribe located in the eastern part of Pontus. The Greek commander Xenophon, who encountered them during his march through Asia Minor to the Black Sea (401–400 BC), places them on the river Phasis. Here, the Phasis of Xenophon is not the common Graeco-Roman designation for the modern day Rioni River in Georgia, but rather the sources of Araxes in what is now northeastern Turkey. At the time when Xenophon met them, the Phasians were in control of the long valley to the north of Cilligül Dağ, and lived in the neighborhood of the Chalybes and Taochi, presumably proto-Georgian tribes.