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(Δύμη; Dýmē). [German version] [1] City on the west coast of Achaea This item can be found on the following maps: Coloniae | Dark Ages | Achaeans, Achaea | Macedonia, Macedones | Education / Culture City on the west coast of Achaea near the modern Kato-Achaia, on a broad plateau on the left bank of the Peirus, protected on three sides by precipices. Protected by a fortress (Pol. 4,59,4), D. was able to exploit the natural riches of the land on Cape Araxus. One of the old 12 cities of Achaea (Hdt. 1,145), D. arose from the amalgamation of eight villages (δῆμοι; dêmoi) (Str. 8,3,2), among them Pal…

[German version] (Αἰγισσος; Aígissos). Thracian fortress (1st cent. BC, Ov. Pont. 1,8,13), modern Tulĉa (Romania) in the Danube delta. Necropolis from the 6th to 1st cents. BC. Under  Rhoemetalces at the time of Augustus controlled by Rome (Cass. Dio 54,20,1-3). In about 12 BC destroyed by northern tribes, but rebuilt; from the 2nd cent. BC onwards, growing in military and civilian importance.   Statio between Noviodunum and Salsovia (It. Ant. 226,2). Fortified under Justinian (Procop. Aed. 4,7,20). von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography G. Simion, Les Gètes de …

[German version] Killer of Paerisades [6] V, who surrendered the Regnum Bosporanum to Mithridates [6] VI. According to the decree honouring Diophantus [2] (IOSPE 12 no. 352, 34-35), S. had begun a rebellion with the Scythae, which gripped the European part of the empire. He was captured by Diophantus and handed over to Mithridates. This rebellion was evidently directed against the new political leadership. The view that S. was a slave is based on a wrong translation. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography A. Gavrilov, Skify Savmaka - vosstanie ili vtorženie?, i…

(Τάναϊς/ Tánaïs). [German version] [1] River A 1970 km long river forming the border between the Scythae and the Sarmatae (Hdt. 4,21; according to Plin. HN 6,20 called Silis by the Scythae) and flowing into the Maeotis, modern Don. Sarmatian tribes lived around its lower reaches from the 4th cent. BC onwards; some 15 ancient settlements are known from archaeology there. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) [German version] [2] City This item can be found on the following maps: Pontos Euxeinos | Scythae | Commerce | Colonization | Patricius | Patricius | Rome City founded in the 3rd …

[German version] (Ἰύρκαι/ Iýrkai, Hdt. 4,22; Tyrcae, Plin. HN 6,19; Mela, 1,116). Tribe of hunters east of Thyssagetae, east of Tanais, probably in the Ural region, in the plains of Kama, Vjatka, Belaja and Volga. The precise localization and ethnic identification are debatable and cannot be determined on the basis of the sources. Russian research links the I. with the Ananino culture (8th-3rd cents. BC), of which burial mounds and fortified settlements are known and whose trading reached as far as the Caucasus. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography J. Harmatta, Quel…

(Χερσόνησος; Chersónēsos). [German version] [1] Modern Peninsula Gallipoli The peninsula nowadays called Gallipoli (more than 900 km2); traces of prehistoric settlement, a strategically favourable position, and fertile. First mentioned in Hom. Il. 2,844f., as homeland of the Thracians Acamas and Peirous. Aeolian colonization in the 7th cent. BC (Alopekonnesos, Madytus, Sestus); Ionian (Cardia, Limnae by Miletus and Clazomenae, Elaeus by Teos) somewhat later. The powerful Thracian tribes (Apsinthi, Dolonci) lon…

(Ἱερὸν ὄρος; Hieròn óros). [German version] [1] Holy mountain Holy mountain, name of a mountain range on the  Propontis, modern Tegirdağ. Religious centre of the  Thraci (Str. 7, fr. 55). The fortress of the Odrysae bearing the same name (Xen. An. 7,1,14) was situated there. Cotys I entrenched himself there in 362 BC at the time of the revolt of Miltocythes (Dem. Or. 23,104). Philip II conquered H. in 346 (Dem. Or. 9,15; Aeschin. Leg. 2,82f.; 3,73f.). von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography C. Danov, Altthrakien, 1976, 122f. [German version] [2] Foothills on the south …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Macedonia, Macedones (Μύρκινος; Mýrkinos). Edonian settlement (Edones), later Greek polis, east of the lower Strymon; both its ancient and its modern name is M. (Str. 7a,1,33). In 513 BC, Darius [1] gave M. to Histiaeus [1] who expanded and fortified the town. After the collapse of the Ionian Revolt,   Aristagoras [3] led more colonists to M.; after his death (497 BC), the Edonians regained M.  (Hdt. 5,11; 124ff.; Thuc. 4,102,2). In 423 BC, after …

[German version] (Ζυγάκτης; Zygáktēs). Coastal river to the east of Philippi (App. B Civ. 4,105; 4,128); not identified. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen)

[German version] Ti. Julius E., king of the  Regnum Bosporanum, from AD 154/5 to c. 174, follower of  Rhoemetalces. Coins to 170. Roman vassal, financially supported by the Romans (Lucian, Alex. 57). As the first king of the Bosporus he had a Sarmatic sign as his emblem. Most of the inscriptions come from  Panticapaeum where his residence was located (IOSPE 2, 422, 438 et al.). von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography V. F. Gaidukevič, Das Bosporanische Reich, 1971, 348 n. 42; 351.

( Constantinopolis). [German version] I. Site Imperial residence, founded in 324 by  Constantine [1] the Great on the site of  Byzantium. Bounded to the north by the Golden Horn, with the  Bosporus [1] to the east and the  Hellespont to the south, the city could only be attacked from one side by land. By virtue of its site it dominated trade and commerce between Europe and Asia, between the Aegean and the Black Sea ( Pontos Euxeinos; Hdn. 3,1,5; Pol. 4,38-45). von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) [German version] II. Topography The city plan did not follow the customary imperial…

[German version] (Αἷμος; Haîmos). Mountain range in Thrace, the Balkan mountains (Turkish Balkan, Bulgarian Stara Planina. The name is probably Thracian). The H. stretches from Timacus to Pontus and represents a distinctive watershed. According to ancient opinion the H. began at the Adriatic (Str. 7, fr. 10). As it is not very high but hard to cross it was often also an ethnic and political border. The first mention is in Hecataeus (FGrH 1 F 169). Numerous myths are connected with the H. (Apollod. 1,6,3; Ps.-Plut. De fluviis 11,3; Serv. Aen. 1,317; 321; Steph. Byz. s.v. Αἷ.). Ovid gives th…

[German version] (Κρόβυζοι). Large Getic subtribe ( Getae) living between the Athrys (modern Jantra), the lower Oescus (modern Iskar) and the  Pontus Euxinus (Hecat. FGrH 1 F 170; Arr. Anab. 1,1; 1,3; Ptol. 3,10,4). In their land (Κροβυζική) the rivers Athrys, Noes and Artanes (modern Vit?, Hdt. 4,49) flowed. After the collapse of the kingdom of the  Odrysae, it seems to have expanded to the south to the northern slope of the  Haemus (Str. 7,5,12). Phylarchus (FGrH 81 F 20) reports of Isanthes, a …

(Σέλευκος/ Séleukos, Lat. Seleucus). [German version] [1] Co-regent in the Regnum Bosporanum, c.400 BC Co-regent with Satyrus [2] I in the Regnum Bosporanum, 433/2-393/2 BC (according to Diod. Sic. 12,36,1). As Satyrus is elsewhere (Diod. Sic, 14,93,1) described as a sole ruler, and other sources do not mention his name, his existence is not certain. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography V. F. Gajdukevič, Das Bosporanische Reich, 1971, 231  E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks, 1913, 571  R. Werner, Die Dynastie der Spartokiden, in: Historia 4, 1955, 419-421. …

[German version] To the north of S. (district of Razgrad Oblast in Bulgaria) a Thracian burial complex (first half of the 3rd cent. BC) was discovered in 1982. In the southeastern part of the Ginina Mogila burial mound is the grave of a Getic king ( dromos with relief frieze of bucrania, rosettes and garlands, three square chambers, i.e. ante-, burial and side chambers); 12 caryatids on the burial chamber, which can be linked to Thracian afterlife beliefs. In the chamber there are two stone catafalques, and above the larger one also wall pa…

[German version] (Μακροκέφαλοι; Makroképhaloi, ‘the large-headed’). Apparently a tribe west of Colchis (Hes. fr. 153). But the name probably comes from the mythical or fictitious reports on the peoples on the Pontos Euxeinos (cf. Str. 7,3,6 as an example of his mythical criticism), even though geographers continued to use it (Mela 1,19; Plin. HN 6,2). According to Scyl. 37 they are identical with the Macrones. von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen)

[German version] (Ὀδρῦσαι; Odrỹsai). Thracian tribe in the eastern part of the Rhodope Mountains and on the lower reaches of the Tonzus (modern Tundža) as far as Cabyle (Hdt. 4,92). At the beginning of the 5th cent. BC, a kingdom was founded by Teres with the O.'s help. (Thuc. 2,29,2f.). He expanded their settlement area in the north to the Ister [2], in the south to the river Agrianes (also called Erginus). His successors were his sons Spartacus (until about 440: Thuc. 2,101,5) and Sitalces, who e…

[German version] (Κοιλαλῆται; Koilalêtai, Lat. Coelaletae). Ethnonym referring to two different Thracian tribes: the ‘Greater Coelaletae’ below the  Haemus (Plin. HN 4,41) and the ‘Lesser Coelaletae’ below the  Rhodope; in AD 21 they fought together with the Odrysae and Dii against the Romans (Tac. Ann. 3,38f.). The Thracian strategia Koiletike was situated there (Ptol. 3,11,9). C. are found several times as soldiers on inscriptions of the 1st cent. AD (cf. CIL XVI 33 of AD 86). von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) Bibliography Chr. Danov, Die Thraker auf dem Ostbalkan ..…

[German version] (Γύλων; Gýlōn). Athenian, is said at the end of the 5th cent. BC to have been responsible for the northern Pontic  Nymphaeum that belonged to Athens being ‘Handed to the enemies’, for which he was given the death penalty (Aeschin. In Ctes. 171); probably his offence was less serious (Dem. Or. 28,3). G. was allocated by the Bosporanian rulers the town of Kepoi with its territory, from which he collected high taxes. He married a rich Scythian and returned to Athens with her. One of his daughters was the mother of  Demosthenes [2] (Traill, PAA 282005). von Bredow, Iris (Bietigh…

[German version] Turkish tribe partly in the wake of the Huns and driven from central Asia by the Turks, that moved westwards in the 6th cent. AD (Sync. 5,15f.). In 558/59 the A. lay north of the Caucasus with c. 20,000 warriors. Constantinople turned them down, whilst under their leader Khagan Baian they embarked on a triumphal march through the southern Russian steppes. Their petition for areas to settle south of the Danube was rejected by Constantinople (Theophanes Byzantius FHG 4, 270b). Between 562 and 566 they attacked the  Fra…