Cercetae

The Cercetae are an ancient people of Scythia mentioned by StraboGeographia 11.2 and Pliny the Elder.Chorographia 1.12 They are one of many ancient tribes of the Northwestern Caucasus which are the ancestors of modern Circassians.[http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/94999/%D0%9A%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%8B БСЭ. Керкеты] The name "Cercetae" apparently was the basis of the name of the people that arose later - the Circassians. The ethnonym itself of presumably Iranian origin[https://www.academia.edu/7005165/%D0%9D%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BD_%D0%90.%D0%9C._%D0%9A%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%8B._%D0%9F%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%81%D1%8B._%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%8B._%D0%A2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%8B._Novichikhin_A.M._Kerketians._Psesians._Sindians._Toretians Новичихин А.М. Керкеты. Псессы. Синды. Тореты] or derived from the {{lang|el|κερκέτηζ}}, is a kind of "stern oar”, and is the nickname given to them by the Greeks due to their skill in the sea business.Oleg Trubachyov, Некоторые данные об индоарийском языковом субстрате Северного Кавказа в античное время // Journal of Ancient History № 4. 1978, с. 41

Pliny places them beyond the Amazons and the Hyperboreans, together with the Cimmerii, Cissianti, Achaei, Georgili, Moschi, Phoristae and Rimphaces.