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[German version] M. III, king of Iberia [1] in Caucasia, sent an embassy by Constantius [2] II in 360/61 to recruit him to the Roman side against the Persians (Amm. Marc. 21,6,8). Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography W. Enßlin, s.v. M., RE 15, 1028 PLRE 1, 598.

[German version] Georgian 'ruler fortress' (Kartlis Cḫovreba p. 17; 33 et passim) [1]. Rock-cut city (9.5 ha) in Iberia [1], about 20 km to the east of Gori on the northern bank of the Cyrus [5] (1st millennium BC to 18th cent. AD). In the Roman Imperial period U. was expanded into a city with ditches and clay-brick walls on a stone foundation; the cave sites were partly inspired by the Hellenistic rock-cut architecture of Asia Minor. A system of streets with drainage channels and cisterns survives. The city was significant in the Georgian Middle Ages. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jen…

[German version] (Γυηνός; Gyēnós). Town in the  Colchis (Ps.-Scyl. 81). Now linked with the ancient settlement (6th cent. BC ─ 6th cent. AD) near Očamčire on the Georgian Pontus coast, discovered in 1935/6 during the construction of the harbour. The ancient finding points to three man-made hills surrounded by ditches with remains of wooden architecture with a pounded clay floor; apart from Colchic ceramics, fragments of ancient Ionian and Attic red-figured ceramics as well as black-glazed ceramics were found. Worthy of mention as the latest building is a hall church with pastophoria ( o…

[German version] Κάσπιον ὄρος; Káspion óros is, according to Eratosthenes (in Str. 11,2,15), the indigenous name of the Caucasus; according to Ptol. 5,13,4 it is the mountain range separating Armenia from the Parthian province of Media (modern Talyš mountains, the border between Azerbaijan and Iran). In Mela 1,109 and Plin. HN 5,99, the Caspii montes are an independent mountain range, alongside the Caucasus, probably the Elburz mountain range with Mt. Demavend (5670 m). According to Amm. Marc. 23,6,74, they formed the northern border of the Persian empire. Plontke-Lüning, Annegre…

(Παρικάνιοι; Parikánioi). [German version] [1] People in the Fergana region The P. are mentioned together with the Orthocorybantii in the list of peoples who had to pay tributes to Artaxerxes [1] I in Hdt. 3,92; it is assumed that their settlement area was in the Fergana region in modern Afghanistan. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) [German version] [2] People with a main town of Paricane in Persis In Hecat. FGrH 1 F 282, the P. are a people with a main town of Paricane in Persis; it is probably these P., to whom Hdt. 3,94 refers, assigning them to a nomós together with the Asiatic Aethiopia…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Limes (Ἁρμοζική; Harmozikḗ Str. 11,3,5; Ἀρμάκτικα; Harmáktika Ptol. 5,11,3; 8,19,4; Hermastis iuxta Cyrum Plin. HN 6,29; Armastika Geogr. Rav. 2,8; Georgian Armaziḫe, ‘fortress of the Armazi’). Residence of the kings of the Caucasian  Iberia on the Bagineti hill in modern Mccheta south opposite the confluence of the  Aragus into the  Cyrus; conquered by Pompey in 65 BC. Excavations since 1937 have revealed buildings of Hellenistic and Roman times: fortress wall (clay brick wall on a stone block foun…

[German version] (Φασιανοί; Phasianoí, Xen. An. 4,6,5), a tribe mentioned together with the Chalybes and Taochi that lived on the Phasis, a river that should not be identified with the Phasis in Colchis (modern Rioni/ Georgia) but with the modern Pasinsu (Armenian Basean) that flows into the Araxes [1]/ Aras at Pasinler. The region known as Pasean in Armenian and Basiani in Georgian corresponds approximately to the modern region of Basen/Pasen with the city of Pasinler, c. 60 km east of Erzurum in north-eastern Turkey. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography W.E.D. Allen, A His…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids (Procop. Goth. 4,13 f.; Agath. 2,22 III 5 f.). Heavily fortified capital city of Lazica, on the Doconus (Georgian Techuri) north of the  Phasis; could not be taken in the Byzantine-Persian wars of 550-55; destroyed by the Arabs in the 9th cent. The ruins are in West Georgia in the place today called Nokalakevi (‘Old City’): wall with fortification, palace, thermae, basilica, acropolis. Extensive excavations. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography A. M. Schneider, in: Forsch. und Fortschritte 7, …

[German version] (Ἡνίοχοι/ Heníochoi, Ps.-Scyl. 71). In the 5th cent. BC, a large group of tribes on the Caucasian coast of the Pontus - then a densely wooded area with many inlets - between the Zygi and the Achaeans in the north and the San(n)igae in the south.  Pityus/Picunda was founded in the territory of the H. The H. raised cattle and engaged in piracy with light boats (Str. 11,2,14) and were subjugated towards the end of the 4th cent. BC by the Bosporan king  Eumelus [4], who campaigned agai…

[German version] (Σευσάμορα/Σεισάμορα; Seusámora/ Seisámora). One of three cities of Iberia in the Caucasus mentioned by name in Str. 11,3,5; a fortress on the route through the valley of the Aragus (modern Aragvi) to the Portae Caucasiae (modern Dariali), near the modern town of Cicamuri in Georgia. Excavations: Hellenistic city wall and buildings with ashlar foundations (with cramp insets), clay brick walls above and tiled roofs. Harmozice; Iberia [1] Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography O. Lordkipanidze, Das alte Georgien (Kolchis und Iberien) in Strabons …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pontos Euxeinos | Scythae | Colonization | Patricius Military colony in the area of the  Sindi in the north-west Pontus Euxinus (Str. 11,2,10; Steph. Byz. s.v. Γοργιπία; civitas Sindica, Plin. HN 6,1) in the place of modern Anapa. Founded in the late 6th cent. BC [1. 7], the city had a harbour (originally Σινδική, Σινδικὸς λιμήν; Sindikḗ, Sindikòs limḗn, Ps.-Scymn. 888f.; Peripl. m. Eux. 65; Arr. Peripl. p. eux. 29) and was officially named after the Spartocid Gorgippus after its integration into the Bosporus Kingdom (  Regnum …

[German version] (Σάννοι; Sánnoi). In Str. 12,3,18 a term for the tribe formerly called Macrones, to the southwest of Trapezus. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography O. Lordkipanidze, Das alte Georgien in Strabons Geographie, 1996, 158-163.

[German version] (Μεστλῆτα; Mestlêta, Ptol. 5,10,8; Agathias Scholastikos 2,22,5: Μεσχιθά, Georgian in Kartlis Cxovreba [1]: Mceta). Capital of Caucasian Iberia [1] from the 3rd cent. BC until the end of the 5th cent. AD (elevation of Tbilisi to capital by Vaxtang Gorgasal) located at the confluence of the Aragus and the Cyrus [5]. Starting-point of the road to the Portae Caucasiae ( Kaukasiai Pylai), after Christianization in the 4th cent. seat of the head of the Georgian Church. The city was surrounded by walls, which were reinforced by Vespasian in …

[German version] The country between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, with the Great  Caucasus, was settled from the 4th millennium BC onwards and until today is distinctively polyethnic. From the late 3rd millennium onwards, C. became a centre of  bronze metallurgy for the Near Easter; at the end of the 2nd millennium beginning of  iron metallurgy. In the 9th-6th cents. C. was affected by the expansion of the  Urarṭu empire; in northern C. lived  Scythian and  Sarmatian tribes. From the 6th cen…

[German version] (Σοάνες/ Soánes, Latin Suani). First mentioned in Str. 11,2,14; 11,2,19, which locates them in the western Caucasus together with the Phtheirophagi ('fir-cone eaters') above the Colchi (Colchis) and counts them among the tribes who trade in Dioscurias; they were a war-like people who extracted gold from mountain streams (as also in Plin. HN 6,14; 6,30). In the 6th cent. AD the S. came under the sovereignty of Lazica (Procop. Goth 4,16,14; Agathias 4,30; Men. Protektor fr. 3 [1. 177,1…

[German version] (Procop. Aed. 3,3; Chorzianene, Procop. Pers. 2,24; Armenian: Xorjean/Xorjayn). Region in Armenia, south of the upper course of the Euphrates on the river Gayl, modern Perisuyu, with Koloberd the capital. Modern Kiĝi in the centre of the Karagöl Daĝları south-west of Theodosiopolis (Erzurum), eastern Turkey. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography R. H. Hewsen (ed.), The Geography of Ananias of Širak, 1991, 19, 154f.

[German version] River (Str. 11,3; 11,2; Olazanes, Plin. HN 6,29) that springs from the southern slopes of the central Caucasus mountains and flowed into the  Cyrus (Georgian: Alasani). According to Pliny, the border between  Iberia and  Albania [1]. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena)

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Xenophon (Γυμνιάς; Gymniás, Xen. An. 4,7,19). Large, heavily populated and affluent town of the Skythēnoí on the left bank of the Harpasus (modern Çoruh su), at the location of or near modern Bayburt. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography O. Lendle, Kommentar zu Xenophons Anabasis, 1995, 270-272.

[German version] [1] Country in the centre of southern Caucasia (Ἰβηρία; Ibēría, Str. 11,3,1-6; Ptol. 5,10,1-2; Georgian Kʿartʿli, Parthian Virčan, Armenian Virkʿ). Country in the centre of southern Caucasia, bordering on the Greater  Caucasus in the north, the Likh Range in the west which runs north-south from the Greater to the Lesser Caucasus, the Kura-Aras Lowland in the east and the Lesser Caucasus in the south, especially the southern and western frontiers being fluid; approximately modern eastern Georgia. Unt…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pontos Euxeinos | Christianity | Commerce | Colonization | Patricius (Πιτυοῦς/ Pityoûs: Str. 11,2,14; Ptol. 5,8,10; 5,9,1; Patrum Nicaenorum nomina p. LXII, 113 Gelzer; Zos. 1,32; Theod. Hist. eccl. 9,5,35; Suda 1670; Πιτιῦς/ Pitiûs: Procop. Pers. 2,29,18; Procop. Goth. 8,4,1-6; Procop. Aed. 3,7,8; Pityus: Plin. HN 6,16; Pithiae: Not. Dign. Or. 18,32). Identified with Picunda/Bičvinta in the republic of Abchasia/Georgia (Roman and early Byzantine fort), yet the identification of the town, f…

(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 …

[German version] (Arr. Per. p. E. 7,4,5), flumen Acampseon (Plin. HN 4,12), Acampsis, Acapsis (Geogr. Rav.; Ακαψις Suda), Byzantine Boas. River that originates from the northern slopes of the Parchari mountains (Armen. mountain range, Procop. Goth. 4,2; today Ardicin Dagi, north-eastern Turkey) and flows into the south-eastern area of the Black Sea; according to Procopius, forms the western border to Lazica (Coroch in Georgian, Çoruh Nehri in Turkish). The fortress  Apsarus lies at its mouth. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena)

[German version] Town on the Colchis coast, c. 20 km north of modern Batumi. Extensive necropolis from the 6th-2nd cents. BC with Attic black-figured and red-figured ceramics; the synchronous Greek settlement (Matium? Plin. HN 6,12) has not been proven to date. Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography D. Braund, Georgia in Antiquity, 1995, 109-117.

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Christentum | Handel | Kolonisation | Regnum Bosporanum | Schwarzmeergebiet (Πιτυοῦς: Strab. 11,2,14; Ptol. 5,8,10; 5,9,1; Patrum Nicaenorum nomina p. LXII, 113 Gelzer; Zos. 1,32; Theod. hist. eccl. 9,5,35; Suda 1670; Πιτιῦς: Prok. BP 2,29,18; Prok. BG 8,4,1-6; Prok. aed. 3,7,8; Pityus: Plin. nat. 6,16; Pithiae: Not. dign. or. 18,32). Identifiziert mit Picunda/Bičvinta in der Republik Abchasien/ Georgien (röm.-frühbyz. Kastell). Die bei Strabon bzw. Plinius erwähnte Stadt, gegründet…

[English version] (armenisch Parskahayk'). Bei der Teilung von Armenia maior 387 n.Chr. ging etwa ein Fünftel des Gebietes an Rom, der größere östl. Bereich an Iran. Während der röm.-byz. Bereich nach dem Tod Aršak III. (Arsakes [5]) um 390 als Prov. Armenia interior etabliert wurde, blieb der gesamte östl. Bereich, von den Byzantinern als P. bezeichnet, unter der Herrschaft der Sāsāniden, die nach dem Ende der Arsakidenherrschaft 428 n.Chr. einen Generalgouverneur ( marzpan) in der neuen Hauptstadt Dvin (Doubios) einsetzten. Auf die forcierte rel. und kulturelle I…

[English version] Bei Prokopios (BP 1,12,4ff.) König des kaukasischen Iberien, der Iustinus I. um Hilfe gegen die von Kavad I. geforderte Einführung des Feuerkults bat und vor den Persern in das lazische Bergland floh. Toumanoff [1] hält ihn für den legendären Vaḫtang Gorgasal der georg. und armen. Überl., was Martin-Hisard [2] ablehnt. 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, tradition au Moyen Âge: Aix-en-Provence, 4-5 …

(Γέῤῥος). [English version] [1] Fluß im Nord-Pontos Fluß in Nord-Pontos zw. Borysthenes und Maiotis, Grenze zw. Königs- und Nomadenskythen, gleichzusetzen mit der h. Moločnaja voda (Ptol. 3,5,4; Plin. nat. 4,84, Gerrhus). Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) [English version] [2] Region um das h. Nikopol/Ukraine Region um das h. Nikopol/Ukraine, im 5./4. Jh. v.Chr. Zentrum der Königsskythen und Sitz ihrer Herrscher, die in in großen Kurganen (Grabbauten) beigesetzt wurden (Hdt. 4,71). Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) [English version] [3] Fluß im kaukasischen Albanien Fluß im …

[English version] (Μεστλῆτα, Ptol. 5,10,8; Agathias Scholastikos 2,22,5: Μεσχιθά, georg. in Kartlis cxovreba [1]: Mceta). Hauptstadt des kaukasischen Iberia [1] vom 3. Jh. v.Chr. bis E. 5. Jh.n.Chr. (Erhebung von Tbilisi zur Hauptstadt durch Vaxtang Gorgasal) an der Mündung des Aragos in den Kyros [5], Ausgangspunkt des Weges zu den Portae Caucasiae (Kaukasiai Pylai), seit der Christianisierung im 4. Jh. Sitz des georg. Kirchenoberhauptes. Die Stadt war ummauert, 75 n.Chr. wurden die Mauern durch Vespasian befestigt (vgl. ILS 8795). M. erstr…

[English version] Bei Plin. nat. 6,129 ( Nikephorio) neben dem Parthenios bedeutender Tigris-Zufluß aus Armenien, nach Tac. ann. 15,4,2 ( Nikephorius) an Tigranokerta entlangfließend. Die Identifizierung hängt von der Lokalisierung Tigranokertas ab, das bislang bei Silvan (Martyropolis/Mayafarikin/Nprkert) gesucht wurde [1], doch - berücksichtigt man das in der 2. Hälfte des 5. Jh.n.Chr. entstandene armen. Geschichtswerk Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk' 4,24 [2] - eher bei Arzan lag [3]. In ersterem Fall wurde der N. gleich…

[English version] (Prok. BP 1,1,28 u.a., Agathias 2,18,4 u.a.: Λαζική). Bezeichnung für Kolchis in den früh-byz. Quellen, nach dem kartvelischen Stamm der Lazai, die im 1. Jh.n.Chr. im Binnenland südl. des Phasis ansässig waren und im 4. Jh. die Hegemonie über Kolchis und die Stämme der Abasken, Apsilen, Misimianen, Skymner u. Svanen errungen hatten. Hauptstadt war Archaiopolis (Prok. BP 2,29,18), identifiziert mit der Ruinenstadt beim h. Nokalakevi am Techuri (Glaukos?) in Westgeorgien. L. selbst war byz. Vasall. Im…

[English version] M. III., König des kaukasischen Iberia [1], an den Constantius [2] II. 360/61 eine Gesandtschaft schickte, um ihn auf röm. Seite gegen die Perser zu ziehen (Amm. 21,6,8). Plontke-Lüning, Annegret (Jena) Bibliography W. Enßlin, s.v. M., RE 15, 1028  PLRE 1, 598.