page_title: Laz people
section_title: Mythology
hierarchical_section_title: Laz people / Culture / Mythology
context_page_description: The Laz people, or Lazi, are an indigenous Kartvelian-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia.
  Estimates of the total population of the Laz people today vary drastically, with numbers as low as 150,000 to as high as 1 million people, with the majority living in northeast Turkey. The Laz speak the Laz language, a member of the same Kartvelian language family as Georgian, Svan and Mingrelian. The Laz language is classified as endangered by UNESCO, with an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 speakers in 2001.
context_section_description: Famous for its saga and myths and bounded by the Black Sea and the Caucasian Mountains, the ancient region of Colchis spreads out from West Georgia to Northeast Turkey. The famous tale in Greek mythology of the Golden Fleece in which Jason and the Argonauts stole the Golden Fleece from King Aeetes, with the help of his daughter Medea, has brought Colchis into the history books.
caption: Jason and the Argonauts arriving at Colchis. The epic poem Argonautica (3rd century BC) tells the myth of their voyage to retrieve the Golden Fleece. This painting is located in the Palace of Versailles.
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