Lazica (Laz Laziǩa ლაზიკა ; Greek , Lazikē; , Yeger) was the name given to the territory of Colchis during the Roman period, from about the 1st century BC. By the mid-3rd century, Lazica was given partial autonomy within the Roman Empire and developed into the kingdom of Lazica-Egrisi. Throughout much of its existence, it was mainly a Byzantine strategic vassal kingdom occasionally coming under Sassanid Persian rule. The kingdom fell to the Muslim conquest in the 7th century. Egrisi in the 8th century successfully repelled the Arab occupation and formed the Kingdom of Abkhazia-Egrisi from c. 780, one of the early medieval polities which would converge into the unified kingdom of Georgia in the 11th century.