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{{About|the river in Georgia|the Italian municipal subdivisions|rione}}
{{Infobox river
| name               = Rioni
| native_name        ={{native name|ka|რიონი}}
| name_other         = 
| name_etymology     = 
<!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->
| image              = Rioni river - Georgia (Europe).jpg
| image_size         = 
| image_caption      = Rioni River in [[Racha]] Region
| map                = 
| map_size           = 
| map_caption        = 
| pushpin_map        = Georgia
| pushpin_map_size   = 
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| mapframe           = yes
| mapframe-zoom      = 7
<!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| subdivision_type1  = Country
| subdivision_name1  = [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]
| subdivision_type2  = 
| subdivision_name2  = 
| subdivision_type3  = 
| subdivision_name3  = 
| subdivision_type4  = 
| subdivision_name4  = 
| subdivision_type5  = Cities
| subdivision_name5  = {{hlist|[[Kutaisi]]|[[Vani]]|[[Samtredia]]|[[Poti]]}}
<!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->
| length             = {{convert|327|km|mi|abbr=on}} 
| width_min          = 
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<!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES -->
| source1            = [[Main Caucasian Range]]<br />[[Caucasus Mountains]]
| source1_location   = 
| source1_coordinates= 
| source1_elevation  = 
| mouth              = [[Black Sea]]
| mouth_location     = [[Poti]]
| mouth_coordinates  = {{coord|42|11|3|N|41|38|10|E|display=inline,title}}
| mouth_elevation    = 
| progression        = 
| river_system       = 
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| tributaries_left   = [[Tekhuri]], [[Qvirila]]
| tributaries_right  = [[Tskhenistsqali]]
| custom_label       = 
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| extra              = 
}}

The '''Rioni''' ({{lang-ka|რიონი}} {{IPA|ka|ˈɾio̞n̪i|}}; {{Langx|grc|[[wikt:Φᾶσις|Φᾶσις]]}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|Phâsis}}) is the main river of western [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].  It originates in the [[Caucasus Mountains]], in the region of [[Racha]] and flows west to the [[Black Sea]], entering it north of the city of [[Poti]] (near ancient [[Phasis (town)|Phasis]]). The city of [[Kutaisi]], once the ancient city of [[Colchis]], lies on its banks. It drains the western Transcaucasus into the Black Sea while the river [[Kura (South Caucasus river)|Kura]] drains the eastern Transcaucasus into the [[Caspian Sea]].

==History==
[[File:Soulier, E.; Andriveau-Goujon, J. Anciens Empires Jusqua Alexandre. 1838 (BJ).jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Herodotus]] considered the Rioni river to be a boundary between Europe and Asia.<ref name="pp324">[[Heinz Heinen]], Andrea Binsfeld, Stefan Pfeiffer. Vom hellenistischen Osten zum römischen Westen. Wiesbaden, Germany: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2006, pg. 324 {{ISBN|3515087400}}</ref>]]

=== Ancient authors ===
Known to the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] as the river ''[[Phasis (mythology)|Phasis]]'', the Rioni was first mentioned by [[Hesiod]] in his [[Theogony]] (l.340); Plato has Socrates remark: "I believe that the earth is very large and that we who dwell between the [[pillars of Hercules]] and the river Phasis live in a small part of it about the sea, like ants or frogs about a pond" (''[[Phaedo]]'', 109a). Later writers like [[Apollonius Rhodius]] ([[Argonautica]] 2.12.61), [[Virgil]] ([[Georgics]] 4.367) and [[Aelius Aristides]] (''Ad Romam'' 82) considered it the easternmost limit of the [[navigable]] seas. [[Herodotus]] and [[Anaximander]] considered Rioni a [[boundary between Europe and Asia]].<ref name="pp324"/> The famed voyage of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]], though semi-mythological, was said to have occurred by the Argonauts sailing up the river Phasis from its outlet to the Black Sea at Poti, to Colchis (modern [[Kutaisi]] in Georgia).{{cn|date=July 2020}}

=== Pheasant ===
The term "[[pheasant]]" and the scientific name ''[[Phasianus colchicus]]'' are derived from "Phasis" and "Colchis",<ref name= job90>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n113 113], 302}}</ref> as this was said to be the region from which the common pheasant was introduced to Europe<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', Draft Revision, September 2009</ref> (the [[common pheasant|ring-necked pheasant]]s were introduced later from [[East Asia]]).

=== Draining ===
It is said that "the failure of Colchis to emerge as a strong kingdom or to be maintained as a province of Rome has been blamed on the pestilential climate of the Phasis Valley, a situation remarked upon by travelers down to modern times, when the swamps were finally drained."<ref>Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia: A Historical Atlas, 2001, page 38</ref> Wetlands around Rioni River has been drained through a large reclamation-drainage project commissioned by government in 1960. After that, the area was cleared and converted to agricultural land.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last= Tiefenbacher |editor-first=John |date=2012 |title=Perspectives on Nature Conservation Patterns, Pressures and Prospects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RC-aDwAAQBAJ&dq=swamp+rioni+river+georgia+drained&pg=PA66 |location=[[Rijeka]], Croatia |publisher=IntechOpen |page=66 |isbn=9789535100331}}</ref>

== Description ==
The Rioni is the longest river wholly within the borders of Georgia. The river is {{convert|327|km|mi}} long, and its [[drainage basin]] covers about {{convert|13400|km2|mi2}}.<ref>[https://www.geostat.ge/media/35685/Yearbook_2020.pdf Statistical Yearbook of Georgia: 2020], National Statistics Office of Georgia, Tbilisi, 2020, p. 12.</ref> It starts on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains at {{convert|2960|m|ft}} above sea level, north of the town of [[Oni, Georgia|Oni]]. Its largest tributaries are, from source to mouth: [[Jejora]] (left), [[Qvirila]] (left), [[Khanistsqali]] (left), [[Tskhenistsqali]] (right) and [[Tekhuri]] (right).

==Phasis river at Taprobana==

[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] wrote that there was also another river which was named Phasis, in [[Taprobana]] ({{langx|grc|Φᾶσις ἐν τῇ Ταπροβάνῃ}}), as the Indian Ocean island of Ceylon or Sri Lanka was known to the ancient Greeks.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/241#Ph660.21 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § Ph660.2]</ref>

==References==
{{commonscat|Rioni}}
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Rivers of Georgia}}

[[Category:Rivers of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Tributaries of the Black Sea]]


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