Chalybes

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The Chalybes (Χάλυβες, Χάλυβοι) (also called Khalib) (ყალიბები, ყალიბი , Khalibebi(plural), Khalibi (singular) [Georgian]) were a tribe of Classical Antiquity credited with the invention of iron industry.

They settled in north Anatolia, near the shores of the Black Sea, from the Halys to Pharnakeia and Trabzon in the east and as far as Lesser Armenia to the south. Adjacent to the Khalib on the east lived the related Khaldi/Kardu people thought to be ancestor of Georgans (Kartvelebi). The Chalybs are also thought to be proto-Georgians.

Χάλυψ, the tribe's name in Greek, means "tempered iron, steel", a term which passed into Latin as chalybs - "steel". That, in turn, is cited as a possible origin for Excalibur, the name of King Arthur's legendary sword.

See also

• Khaldi
• Cabeiri

Bibliography

• Giorgi Leon Kavtaradze: Probleme der historischen Geographie Anatoliens und Transkaukasiens im ersten Jahrtausend v. Chr., in: Orbis Terrarum 2 (1996) S. 191-216
• Дэвид Лэнг (David Marshall Lang): Грузины. Хранители святынь, Москва. Центрполиграф, 2006. pp. 71-72
• The New Arthurian Encyclopedia (1995)

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