The pheasant derives its name from the ancient name (Phasis) of the Rion.
In the course of the war with Persia Russia had received permission from the Ottoman government to use, for a limited time, the easy road from the Black Sea to Tiflis by way of the valley of the Rion (Phasis) for the transport of troops and supplies, and this permission had been several times renewed.
They now reached their goal, the' river Phasis, and the following morning Jason repaired to the palace of Aeetes, and demanded the golden fleece.
In the oldest (Pindar) the "Argo" sailed along the river Phasis into the eastern Oceanus, round Asia to the south coast of Libya, thence to the mythical lake Tritonis, of ter being carried twelve days over land through Libya, and thence again to Iolcus.
Hippocrates, writing in the 5th century B.C., says of the people of the Phasis that their country is hot and marshy and subject to frequent inundations, and that they live in houses of timber and reeds constructed in the midst of the waters, and use boats of a single tree trunk.