Die Phyle TONZHÍΣ
The Phyle TONZHÍS

Summary/Abstract: The rivers Ἕβρος and Τόνζος are very well known and it is possible to assume a link between Τονζενίς and the Τόνζος river. A problem before such a hypothesis comes from the fact that Τονζενίς, the phyle from Anchialo, was located very far from the Tonzos river. However, it is possible to assume that the inhabitants of Anchialo belonged to the phyle Τονζενίς, whose origin was not from the settlement Τόνζος. The latter is known only from Claudius Ptolemy and the coins with countermark Τόνζου, and it was probably too small to send colonists to Anchialo. Therefore, it would be more plausible to assume that the settlement was located closer to Anchialo, i.e., that it was a settlement that had relations along the Black Sea coast. The assumption that Claudius Ptolemy made a mistake by assuming that the river Τόνζος was not a tributary to the Ἕβρος, but flowed into the Black Sea, is not convincing. It seems strange that Claudius Ptolemy does not mention a river Τόνζος and Hadrianopolis, which was located at the estuary of the river where it flows into the Maritsa. The reasons for this remain unclear. Maybe Claudius Ptolemy used an older source in which the name Hadrianopolis did not occur yet. If a name from Thrace can be defined as Indo-European, this does not mean that it was necessarily Thracian. Therefore, it is necessary to judge very well whether the name Τόνζος and the same name of the Black Sea are not pre-Thracian, because that was not a rare occurrence: Ὀδησσός, Λάρισα, Thera and Asine. It is a fact that the name of the Τόνζος river does not occur anywhere else in the area of the Thracian language, and the presence of the second name Ἀρτησκος/Ἀρτακος next to Τόνζος suggests more likely the Tundja river.

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