Surviving Destroyed or barely existing Zichia[a] (/ˈzɪkiə/; Adyghe: Адзыгъуэй) was the predecessor of Circassia and a medieval kingdom on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, inhabited by Circassians.

[2] According to a legend about a visit of the Apostle Andrew there, it lay between Abasgia (Abkhazia) and the Cimmerian Bosporus (Strait of Kerch).

[2] In historical sources, the area first appears in the 6th century, when the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (Wars, VIII.4.2) records that the people of the Zechoi used to have a king appointed by the Roman Emperor, but that they had since become independent.

[2] The Notitiae Episcopatuum of the Patriarchate of Constantinople mention an autocephalous archbishopric of Zichia from the 7th century on, associated with Tamatarcha or the Cimmerian Bosporus.

[2] In the 11th century, the Byzantines may have established control over the region, as attested by the seal of a Michael, "archon of Zichia, Khazaria, and Gothia", but this is disputed among modern scholars.