upon their heads, and shields and small spears, on which long points were set. All these tribes formed the 19th satrapy of the Achaemenid empire, extending along the southeast of the Euxine, or the Black Sea, and bounded on the south by the lofty chain of the Armenian mountains. Strabo locates the Moschoi in two places. The first location is somewhere in modern Abkhazia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, in agreement with Stephan of Byzantium quoting Hellanicus. The second location Moschice (Moschikê) – in which was a temple of Leucothea, once famous for its wealth, but plundered by Pharnaces and Mithridates – was divided between the Colchians, Armenians, and Iberians (cf. Mela, III. 5.4; Pliny VI.4.). These latter Moschoi were obviously Meskhi or Mesx’i (where Greek χ, chi, is Georgian ხ, x), located in southern Georgia. Procopius calls them Meschoi and says that they were subject to the Iberians (i.e., Georgians), and had embraced Christianity, the religion of their masters. Biblical Meshech Josephus Flavius identified the Cappadocian Moschoi with the Biblical Japhetic tribe descended from Meshech in his writings on the Genealogy of the Nations in Genesis 10, while Hippolytus of Rome connected Meshech with Illyrians. Meshech is named with Tubal as a principality of the prince of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38:2 and 39:1. Notes See also Hayasa-Azzi Kaskians Urumeans Phrygians Trialeti-Vanadzor culture Tabal Moschia Gog and Magog Moksha and Mushki References J.G. Macqueen, The Hittites and their contemporaries in Asia Minor (1986), . I. M. Diakonoff, The Pre-History of the Armenian People (revised, trans. Lori Jennings), Caravan Books, New York (1984), , pp. 115–119. Anne-Maria Wittker, Mušker und Phryger. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Anatoliens vom 12. bis zum 7. Jh. v. Chr., Wiesbaden (2004), .This article incorporates text from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), a publication now in the public domain.'' External links A History of Armenia by Vahan M. Kurkjian (1958) Midas and the Mushki by Miltiades E. Bolaris (2010) Ancient peoples of Georgia (country) Iron Age Anatolia Prehistoric Armenia Tur Abdin Ancient peoples of Anatolia