Ep. 2 — Before the Name: The Ancient Peoples of the North Caucasus

Long before anyone said the word Circassian, the North Caucasus was crowded with peoples whose names survive only in Greek and Roman geography: the Maeotae, the Zikh, the Sanigoi, the Abasgi, the Kerkets, the Ants. In this episode we trace each of these ancient groups, where they lived, what the Greeks wrote about them, and how their names quietly echo into modern Circassian family names, tribes, and even a traditional drink still served today. We follow the Kuban and the Terek, read the maps of Ptolemy and Pliny, and arrive at the Nart nation, the people whose legends stretch from the Don River to the Black Sea. This is the deep foundation layer: the North Caucasus as a living museum of ancient peoples.Support the show