GELAE
(SCYTHIAN TRIBE)
Transcaucasia
in the second century BC, showing the Gelians in the eastern portion
of Atropatene
The
Gelae (Ancient Greek: Gélai or Géloi), or Gelians,
were a Scythian tribe mentioned by Strabo and other ancient writers
as living on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, in what is
now the Iranian province of Gilan. The name of the province might
possibly be derived from the Gelae.
Classical
sources :
According to Strabo, the tribes of the southern Caspian included
the Gelae, Cadusii, Amardi, Witii, and Anariacae. If, as seems probable,
this description accurately represents their distribution from west
to east, then the Gelae would have lived directly east of the river
Araxes, along the border of Armenia. Their territory is supposed
to have been relatively unproductive, of little agricultural or
mineral value. Pliny considers the Gelae
and the Cadusii
to be synonymous, with "Cadusii" being the tribe's name
in Greek, and "Gelae" being its eastern equivalent. If
he is correct, then it is likely that the name of modern Gilan is
derived from the Gelae.
Recent
scholarship :
Modern scholars have developed various hypotheses about the original
location, ethnicity, and the language of the Gelae. Peter von Uslar
writes, "traces of the name of Gelae can be found in northern
Dagestan". The connection between the name of Gilan and the
Gelae was further discussed by Vasily Bartold and E.A. Grantovsky,
who accept Pliny's identification of the Gelae and Cadusii as one
people who spoke an ancestral form of the Talysh language, one of
the Iranian languages.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Gelae_(Scythian_tribe)
