Strabo first mentions the Gelae, along with the Legae, in the fifth chapter of the eleventh book of his
Geographica, who according to
Theophanes of Mytilene,
Pompey's compaignon in his
Caucasian campaign in the first century BC, lived between the
Amazons and the
Albanians, thus, were placed in
Northern Caucasus.
Plutarch specified that the Amazons did not border on the Albanians but were divided by them from the Gelae and Legae. Therefore, they must have been peoples neighbouring the Albanians, but distinct from them. Strabo's second account of the Gelae, mentions them among the tribes of the southern Caspian which included the
Cadusii,
Amardi,
Witii, and
Anariacae, in a manner which does not agree with what he initially says of their position. We must perhaps suppose that this people, in part at least, have changed either changed their place of residence or were perhaps another tribe with a similar name. If, as seems probable, this description accurately represents their distribution from west to east, then the Gelae would have lived directly east of the river
Araxes, along the border of
Armenia. Their territory is supposed to have been relatively unproductive, of little agricultural or mineral value. Pliny considers the Gelae and the Cadusii to be synonymous, with "Cadusii" being the tribe's name in Greek, and "Gelae" being its eastern equivalent. If he is correct, then it is likely that the name of modern Gilan is derived from the Gelae. According to the late-classical author
Bardaisan, the Gelae (Gilites) who lived along the Caspian, had feminine men and masculine women, like the citizens of
Cumae under the
tyrant Aristodemus. ==Recent scholarship==