The Svanian mythological world is something grand. The most ancient
Svanian version of a legend about Amiran, son of Dali, springs from
heroic times and has been imprinted in the memory of Svans since the
second millenium B.C. This supports the myth of Prometheus as a secondary
version and ascribes its authorship to the Conchians. Perhaps, Svans were
present in the throng that met the Argonauts on the shore. There is
little doubt that the Greek goddess of the Earth, Gaea, is akin to the
Svanian "Guim", "Mother-Earth". It is believed that the ancestors of the
Indo-Europeans migrated from the Black Sea coast in the 15th century B.C.
The territory of the Svans stretched from Dioscurias on the Black Sea
littoral, to the peaks of the Great Caucasus. Toponymy has preserved
traces of those remote times: Tskhumi, the ancient name of Sukhumi, has
survived as the name of the Svanian village of Tskhumari.
The other versian of legend says that a number of young men wishing to escape enslavement made their way up the Inguri river and settled at Savane, a locale parched by the sun. What could have made men settle there? What, if not love for sun!