The
Sanigs were a tribe inhabiting Western
Georgian/
Abkhazia during
antiquity. Their ethnic identity is obscure and is the subject of a controversy. According to Georgian sources they were of
Georgian, rather than
Northwest Caucasian stock. They are first attested in the works of
Pliny, Arrian and
Memnon of Heraclea. Some scholars consider them to be
Zans (ancestors of Mingrelian and Laz peoples), while others maintain that they were
proto-Svans. There is also a consideration that they may have been somewhat similar to the
Zygii tribe. According to
Arrian, they inhabited the area around Sebastopolis (modern
Sukhumi). In favour of the Sanigs
Kartvelian (either
Zan or Svan) origin, it is important to mention some modern
Georgian surnames such as: Sanikidze, Sanikiani, Sanigiani.