Gargareans

In Greek mythology, the Gargareans, or Gargarenses, (Greek: Γαργαρείς Gargareis) were an all-male tribe. They copulated with the Amazons annually in order to keep both tribes reproductive. Varying accounts suggest that they may have been kidnapped, raped, and murdered for this purpose, or that they may have had relations willingly. The Amazons kept the female children, raising them as warriors, and gave the males to the Gargareans.[1]

The Gargareans are held by some historians[2] to be a component of the ancestry of the Nakh peoples, and equivalent or at least related to the Georgian name Dzurdzuks. Adrienne Mayor mentions a legend recorded in 1972 by an Ingush elderly, about a Maiden's Tower located at the border between Chechnya, Georgia and Ingushetia.[3]

According to Strabi "[...] the Amazons live close to Gargarei, on the northern foothills of the Caucasus mountains". Gaius Plinius Secundus localizes Gargarei at North of the Caucasus, but calls them Gegar.[4] Jaimoukha suggests that the myth might have been a nod to the similarity between Circassians and Durdzuks, despite their very different languages. The Ancient Greek chronicler Strabo mentioned that both the Gargareans and Amazons had migrated from Themiscyra[5] and notes that Gargareans is one of many Nakh roots- gergara, meaning, in fact, "kindred" in proto-Nakh.[6]

Strabo, Geography, Bk. 11, Ch. 5, Sec. 1
Jaimoukha. The Chechens. Page 30"
Adrienne Mayor. «The Amazons»
Латышев В. В. Известия древних писателей греческих и латинских о Скифии и Кавказе, т. 1, Греческие писатели, СПб, 1890; т.2, Латинские писатели, вып.1, СПб, 1904, вып.2, СПб, 1906; Крупнов Е. И. Ук.соч., page.25.
Strabo. Geography. Pages 1-49
Jaimoukha. The Chechens. Page 30"

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