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(Ὀρθωσία; Orthōsía). [German version] [1] Carian community in the interior In Hellenistic times it was one of the smaller Carian communities inland with its own mint; in Str. 14,1,47 it is a katoikía (settlement) near Nysa to the north of the Maeander [2] (Büyük Menderes). In the 2nd cent. AD, O. was given Roman municipal status, in the 5th/6th cents. AD it was the seat of a bishopric for the diocese of Caria with Aphrodisias [1] as its metropolitan see. The ruins of O., which are situated near Donduran in Ortas in the mountai…

[German version] (Armenian Parskahayk'). In AD 387, Armenia Major was divided up, with about a fifth of the territory being allocated to Rome and the greater eastern area to Iran. After the death of Aršak III (Arsaces [5]), the Roman-Byzantine area was established around AD 390 as the province of Armenia interior, while the entire eastern region, called P. by the Byzantines, remained under the rule of the Sassanids. Following the end of Arsakid rule in AD 428, the Sassanids appointed a governor general ( marzpan) to the new capital city of Dvin (Doubios). The Armenians reacted …

[German version] Georgian Aragvi (Armenian arag ‘fast’). River (Str. 11,3; 2) with three source rivers (Mtiuleti, Gudamaqari, Psavi) in  Iberia on the southern slopes of the Great Caucasus; the ‘Georgian military road’ ran along the A.; in Mzcheta it flows into the  Cyrus. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena)

[German version] According to Plin. HN 6,129 ( Nikephorio) it was, along with the Parthenius, a major Armenian tributary of the Tigris. According to Tac. Ann. 15,4,2 ( Nikephorius), it flowed through Tigranocerta. Its identification depends on the location of Tigranocerta, which has hitherto been sought at Silvan (Martyropolis/Mayafarikin/Nprkert) [1]. But taking into account an Armenian historical work of the 2nd half of the 5th cent., called Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk' 4,24 [2], it was rather at Arzan [3]. In the former case…

[German version] [1] Roman castle This item can be found on the following maps: | Limes The place today known as Gonio, south of Batumi (Arr. Peripl. p. eux. 6,1; Absarros: Plin. HN 6,4; Absaros: ILS 2660; Tab. Peut. 10,5; Procop. Goth. 4,2; 13; Agath. 6,1-11, Chron. pasch. I p. 61; II p. 435). Strongly fortified Roman castle at the mouth of the Apsarus [2]; five cohorts at the time of Arrian, in ruins by the time of Procopius; probably renovated in the 7th cent. The condition today: reconstructed Byzantine-Gen…

[German version] In Procopius (Pers. 1,12,4ff.), king of Caucasian Iberia who asked Justin I for help against the introduction of the fire cult demanded by Kavad I and who fled from the Persians to the Lazian mountainous countryside. Toumanoff [1] considers him to be the legendary Vaḫtang Gorgasal of Georgian and Armenian tradition although this is rejected by Martin-Hisard [2]. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography 1 C. Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, 1963, 362-378 2 B. Martin-Hisard, Le roi Vaxtang Gorgasal, in: Temps, mémoire, traditio…

[German version] (Str. 11,2,17; 3,4 τὰ Σαραπανά/ tà Sarapaná; Procop. Pers. 2,29,18; Procop. Goth. 4,13,15; 4,16,17: Σαραπανίς/ Sarapanís). Colchian fortress on the Phasis [1], navigable up to that point, through which the road to Iberia [1] led; identified with the remains of fortifications on the hill accessible only from the northeast at the confluence of Qvirila (Strabo's upper course of the Phasis) and Dzirula in the modern Šorapani, Georgia. Excavations in the lower town and the citadel uncovered traces of…

[German version] Caucasian people on the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea around the Coraxes estuary (known today as Kodori) south of the  Abasci (Plin. 6,14; Arr. Peripl. p. eux. 11,3; Procop. Goth. 4,3; Agath. 2,15; 4,15; Geogr. Rav. 1,17).  Dioscurias/Sebastopolis was situated within the area settled by the A. A king of the A.,  Iulianus, received the insignia from Hadrian. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena)

[German version] (Γουραῖος; Gouraîos, Arr. Anab. 4,25,7; Γαροίας; Garoías, Arr. Ind. 4,11, according to Megasthenes; Old Indo-Aryan Gaurı̄). River (modern Panǧkorā) whose source is in the ‘Indian Caucasus’ (Hindukush) and which flows into the Cophen (modern Kābul) in a deep gorge that  Alexander [4] the Great crossed on his campaign. In the G. area lived the Guraîoi (Γουραῖοι, Arr. Anab. 4,23,1; 25,6), who raised cattle and whose land, according to Ptolemy, was called Gōryaîa (Γωρυαία, 7,1,42) with the town of Gôrya (Γωρύα, 7,1,43), perhaps modern Ǧalālābād. Plontke-Lüning, Anneg…

[German version] (Ὀρθοκορυβάντιοι; Orthokorybántioi). Ancient Greek designation for the Saka tigra χ audā (Persian for 'peaked-capped Sakas', Massagetans) in Hdt. 3,92. The O. were nomads in the region south-east of Lake Aral between Oxus (Amu Darjā; Araxes [2]) and Iaxartes (Syr Darjā) [2]. West of them, the Saka haumavarkā ('intoxicated revelling Sakas') settled. In 530 BC, Cyrus [2] II fell in a battle in the war against the peaked-capped Sakas, who were then brought to submission by Darius [1] I in 519 BC. Their king Skunxa is depicted at…

[German version] (Georgian 'wolf's head'). King of Caucasian Iberia (Iberia [1]), second half of the 5th/beginning of the 6th cent. AD, whose Life (Kartlis Cxovreba, 139-244) [1; 2], written down in the 11th cent., portrays him as a champion of national identity and Christianity. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography 1 R. Thomson, Rewriting Caucasian History, 1996, 153-251 (Eng. transl.) 2 G. Pätsch, Das Leben Kartlis. Eine Chronik aus Georgien, 300-1200, 1985 (Ger. transl.). B. Martin-Hisard, Le roi V. G., in: Temps, mémoire, tradition au Moyen âge, 1983, 207-242 M…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Asia Minor | Limes | Limes | Pompeius (Τιγρανόκερτα/ Tigranókerta, Latin Tigranocerta and - certae, Armenian T( i) granakert; mentioned in Str. 11,12,4; 16,1,23; Tac. Ann. 15,4 f.; Plin. HN 6,9,26; App. Mith. 10,67; Plut. Lucullus 11 f.; 26; 29; Tab. Peut. 11,3; Eutr. 6,9,1; Buzandaran Patmutiwnk (BP) 4,24; 5,27 [1]). A new capital of Armenia (in addition to Artaxata), founded after 80 BC by Tigranes [2] II (95-55 BC) in the Armenian province of Arzane…

[German version] (Κυταιίς; Kytaiís, Apoll. Rhod. 2,1267; Κύταια; Kýtaia, schol. ad Lycoph. Alexandra 1312; Κόταϊς; Kótaïs (τὸ φρούριον), Procop. Goth. 4,14,49; 4,14,51 Agathias 2,19,1). City in  Colchis, on the headwaters of the modern Kutaisi on the middle Rioni ( Phasis) in Georgia. Archaeological finds indicate the existence of a settlement with acropolis from the 7th cent. BC; fragments of Greek pottery indicate contacts between inland Colchis and the Mediterranean region from the 7th/6th cents. BC. In the…

[German version] (Ζάλισσα/ Zálissa). Town in Iberia [1], mentioned only in Ptol. 5,10,2, identified with Dzalisa in Muxranital, about 45 km to the northwest of Tbilisi in Georgia. In the northwest of the area, there is a citadel, in the plain the site of the 2nd cent. BC to 8th cent. AD town (approximately 70 ha), among other things remains of a palace with a mosaic of Dionysus (3rd cent. AD; [1]) and three-roomed thermal baths (serial type), a further thermal bath with a natatio (Piscina [2]), streets, water conduits and sewers survive. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography 1 M…

[German version] (Plin. HN 6,30; Πύλαι Κάσπιαι/ Pýlai Káspiai: Hecat. FGrH 1 F 286; Str. 11,5,4; 11,12,5; Θύραι Κάσπιαι/ Thýrai Káspiai: Ios. Ant. Iud. 18,4,4). The modern Sirdara Pass in the Elburs mountains (Caspii montes), between Media and Parthia, 60 km to the northeast of Teheran. At the same time the name was also used for the road from Darband to the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography M. Schottky, Parther, Meder und Hyrkanier, in: AMI 24, 1991, 61-135, esp. 123.

(Γέῤῥος; Gérrhos). [German version] [1] River in the north Pontus River in the north Pontus between  Borysthenes and  Maeotis, the border between the monarchic and nomadic Scythians, identified as modern Moločnaja voda (Ptol. 3,5,4; Plin. HN 4,84, Gerrhus). Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) [German version] [2] Region around modern Nicopol/Ukraine Region around modern Nicopol/Ukraine, in the 5th/4th cents. BC centre of the monarchic Scythians and seat of their rulers, who were buried in large kurgans ( Funerary architecture) (Hdt. 4,71). Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) …

[German version] (Γωγαρηνή; Gōgarēnḗ), Str. 11,14,4f.; Ptol. 5,12,4; χωρίον μεταξὺ Κόλχων καὶ Ἰβήρων ανατολικῶν, Steph. Byz. 216; Armenian Gugark, AŠX 5,22 [1]). Fertile plateau in ancient times (olive-growing, etc.) in the Little Caucasus south-east of Cyrus bend, possibly corresponding to modern southern Georgia and parts of northern Armenia; frontier district between Armenia and Iberia with changing ownership: in the 5th/4th cents. BC G. belonged to Armenia, in the 3rd cent. to Iberia, in the 2nd cent. G. was…

[German version] (Procop. Pers. 1,1,28 i.a., Agathias 2,18,4, i.a.: Λαζική; Lazikḗ). Term for Colchis in early Byzantine sources after the Kartvelian tribe of the Lazae, who were located in the interior south of the river Phasis in the 1st cent. AD and in the 4th cent. acquired the hegemony over Colchis and the tribes of the Abasci, Apsilae, Misimiani, Scymni and Svani. The capital was Archaeopolis (Procop. Pers. 2,29,18), which is identified with the ruined town near modern Nokalakevi on the Techuri (Glaucus?) in wes…

[German version] (Σάσπειρες/ Sáspeires: Hdt. 1,104; 110; 3,94; 4,37; 40; 7,79; Σάπειρες/ Sápeires: Apoll. Rhod. 2,395; Ἑσπερῖται/ Hesperȋtai: Xen. An. 7,8,25; Str. 14,1,39; Latin Sapires: Amm. Marc. 22,8,21). East Kartvelian tribe, according to Herodotus between the Colchians and the Medes, and belonging to the eighteenth satrapy together with the Matienians and the Alarodians (3,18); documented probably from the 3rd century BC onward; on the upper reaches of the Acampsis/Çoruh, it can be identified with the city of Sp…

[German version] City in West-Georgia, c. 25 km southwest of Kutaisi, a centre of ancient Colchis. In 1896, a structure with three terraces which had been destroyed in the mid 1st cent. BC began to be excavated (with interruptions). Three phases could be distinguished (I: 8th-6th cents.; II: 5th-4th cents.; III: 3rd-1st cents. BC). Several buildings were uncovered (a surrounding wall with gate in phase III) as well as tombs (gold jewellery with granulation); the finds include a large number of Greek …