SASPEIRES

The legendary and presumably Kartvelian nation located by herodotus between Kolchida and Midia, has been mystery for milleniums. Chances are it's not anymore...

Σασπειρες - that's the way Herodotus wrote their name. By Ancient Greek phonetics that would be [saspeires], by Modern Greek phonetics - [saspires].

Anyway, the Kartvelian and toponymic nature of the word is highly probable thanks to the SA-prefix. The key in name's deciphering would be finding out the meaning of 'SPIR'-root...

This root can be found in Kartvelian family in the word სპირო [spiro], which is one of the forms of სპილო [spilo], meaning 'elephant'.

Thus, the name 'Saspires' is not a name of a nation, but a name of a country - 'Saspire', meaning 'land of elephants'.

What elephants can be found in that region becomes clear upon reading about ancient habitat of Asian Elephant specie, which is limited by Mesopotamia and 45' meridian. This meridian crosses exactly the land of Saspires, who are located exactly in Upper Mesopotamia.

Elephants are known to be present in Ancient Assyria, while a specific specie of small elephants was known even in Cyprus.

Those who are sceptical about elephants being found in that mountainous region should know about a special type of Indian elephants that used to be called in ancient times exactly 'mountainous elephants'.