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Barbysios or the Birth of Byzantion
Barbysios or the Birth of Byzantion

Subject(s): History, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Ancient World
Published by: Институт за балканистика с Център по тракология - Българска академия на науките

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with classification and analyses of the ancient and Byzantine written tradition about the Barbys(i)os/Barbyses river at the Golden Horn in Byzantium. The ancient (Thracian?) name Barbyses appears in two main functions: 1) As a Heros eponymous to the river Barbyses on the top of the Golden Horn in Byzantium; 2) As a mythical Thracian ruler of the land at the mouth of Pontus, Phidaleia’s father and father-in-law of Byzas. The interdisciplinary analysis of the mythological traditions suggests two possible stages in the development of pre-emporial Byzantium: 1) The earlier Thracian city of Barbyses at the junction of the river with the Cydaros river before it flows into the Golden Horn and at the altar of Semestre; 2)the later (new) city of Byzas and Phidaleia on the promontory of the Historical Peninsula in Byzantium, which overlooks both the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus. There the written sources already “visualized” the city’s walls “from sea to sea,” the historical acropolis and agora, as well as some religious institutions, outlining the transition from the pre-emporial to the early emporial stage of Thracian-Hellenic apoikia.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 20
  • Page Range: 37-53
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: English