Vassileva, Maya

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SOCIETE D'ETUDES INTERDISCIPLINAIRES DES ETHNIES & DES ETABLISSEMENTS HUMAINS DIOS D I O S 1 Sofia .1993 C O N T E N T Тошо Спиридонов, Древняя Фракия и индоевропейская проблема / 5-42 Maya Vassileva, Brygoi-Phrygoi and the Background of a Migration / 43-49 Цвете Лазова, Аполлон Гиперборейский. Палеобалканские реалии в античной культурной традиции / 50-69 Vanya Lozanova, Rhombos. Music-Magic-Ritual / 70-80 Světlana Janakieva, Vergleichende Analyse der Onomastik aus dem thrakischen und aus dem dako-mösischen Gebiet / 81-93 Dimitar Bijadiziev, Notes sur l'interprétation de l'inscription du mausolée de Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, CIL XIV 3608 = Dessau 986 / 94-103 Milena Minkova, Twice the form Aretio on instrumenta / 104-107 Kosta Hadjiev, A Mediaeval Inscription-Graffit from the Church in the Quarter of Vesselchani, town Kurdjali / 109-111 Trendafil Krustanov, The discovery of the most ancient Slavonic Book in Cyrillic alphabet at Vatican: the first translation of the Gospel of St. Cyril and St. Methodius / 112-122 Вася Велинова Культ святых апостолах Кирилла и Мефодия и его влияние в раннесредневековой болгарской культуре / 123-137 Ruja Mańnska, Kasusformen in der devessilischer Mundart / 138-154 Dora Manceva, A propos de la chronologie d'attestation de quelques lexemes de l'espagnol préclassique d'après les données fornies par le parler judeo-espagnol de la Bulgarie / 155-159 B R Y G O I - P H R Y G O I A N D T H E B A C K G R O U N D O F A M I G R A T I O N Maya Vassileva We owe the idea about the migration of the Phrygians to Asia Minor to Herodotus1. The view is maintained in modern literature, often without arguments. The migration thesis is based on the iden­tification of Brygoi and Phrygians: after migrating to Asia Minor, the Brygians were called Phrygians. The earliest evidence about the Brygians came from the cyclic poet Eugamon (6th century В С ) 2 . Не told about the struggle of the Brygians, assisted by Ares and Apollo, against the Thesproti led by Odysseus. During the march of Darius against Hellas, his general Mar-donis was attacked and wounded by the "Thracians Brygians" and this took place in Macedonia" (492 ВС) 3 . 'Herodotus specifically points out that the story of the migration of the Brygians from Eu­rope to Asia and their renaming to Phrygians followed the narrative of the Macedonians ( ώ ς Μ α κ ε δ ό ν ε ς λ έ γ ο υ σ ώ ) 4 . They lived to­gether with the Brygians in Europe. The brief digression is inserted with the description of the Phrygians participating in the army of Xerxes, counted by Doriskos (480 ВС), where they are mentioned between the Paphlagonians and Lydians. In other words, the general meaning and the logic of the ancient author is Anatolian. The Brygians are listed in the land troops of Xerxes after Thracians, Paiones, Pieres and Makedonioi5. The catching of the Silenus in the garden of Midas is a common element in the ancient mythogra-phic literature, often used when Phrygian migration is considered. Herodotus also mentions this story in the Macedonian dynastic legend, localizing the garden with the 60-petalled roses of Midas below the Bermion mountain in Macedonia6.The ancient historian has not defined ethnically either Midas or his father Gordius. Stra-bo writes that the Bermion Mountain was inhabited in the past by the Thracian tribe of the Brygoi7. 43 As can be seen from the information of Herodotus, the story about the migration of the Brygians to Asia Minor is Macedonian and it is connected with the ideology of the rising Macedonian royal court. For the ancient authors the Brygians were a Thracian tribe. After Herodotus, the Brygians were traditionally localized in Mac-edonia8. The Macedonian political upsurge and the changes in the ethnic geography of the southwestern Thracian tribes defined the mentioning of the Brygians in Illyria9. The tradition of the text of Herodotus is followed by later authors as well, when they speak about the migration of the Brygians, but already in an Anatolian context, in connection with Phrygia and the Phrygians10. However, another tradition - probably a literary tradition - can be traced from the Hellenistic Age, which has not been mentioned by anyone after W.Tomaschek. The librarian of Antioch I, Eupho-rion, wrote that ancient Edessa was inhabited by Lydians and Phrygians, who migrated to Europe with Midas11 It seems that for Hellanikos the Brygians (and the Phrygians) did not exist in that region: "only the Macedonians after the Moesians lived there."12 Nicander also speaks about the migration of Midas from Asia to Eumatia13. The evidence probably originates from the commentary of Homer's geography of the Moesians, discussed in detail by Stra-bo14, being also connected with the topos of the mythologem of Midas. Both parts of the legend about Midas - about his proverbial wealth and about the capturing of the Silenus and the talks with him - are based on an ancient folkloric motifs. But while the story about the gold was probably created in an Anatolian context, the conversation with the Silenus placed Midas in the circle of the le-gendary Thracian singers and oracles (cf. Midas as the disciple of Orpheus and Thamyris as a Thracian from the Edones living in Brygia16). In this sense, the localization of the legend near Bermion is logical, because it was from the southwestern Thracian lands that Thracian Orphism disseminated. The text of Herodotus is followed by Theopompos, Bion and Conon17, whereas for Xenophon the spring near which Midas caught the Satyr bore his name and was localized near Thymbrion (on the Phrygian-Pisidian border)' . Ac-cording to Pausanias, this took place near Ankyra19. The mythical-ritual environment near a spring and a high mountain peak cor-responds both to the Phrygian (Anatolian, Hittite) religious practice 44 and to the Thracian Orphic context. Literary contamination links the legend about Midas with the contest between Apollo and Marsyas: the Phrygian king brought water for his thirsty people near the town of Kelainai, where the skin of Marsyas was hanging, This took pla­ce after Midas called Dionysos20. The Silenus/Satyr is a figure ac­companying Dionysos as well, and in one of the variants of the le­gend the Phrygian dynast returned the freed Silenus to Dyonysos21. The name of Bermion can be associated with the second com­ponent -pern or -βερν in some Thracian toponyms, and hence with the Hittite-Luwian parna-, parti- meaning "home"2 2. The pro­posed etymology of the name of the mountain from IE bher-"Berg, Hügel", "hoch, steil" brings it closer to a whole range of to-ponyms along the lower course of the Strymon river, in Bisaltia, but also in Aegean Thrace and Asia Minor23. W. Tomaschek's justified remark that the direction in which the Brygians migrated was not important, because they acted in a similar environment in Asia Minor, i.e. that was an intratribal movement, is often ignored in contemporary literature . Such a view was apparently not strange to the ancient people as well, be-cause according to Strabo's evidence25, some believed that the Paiones had migrated from Phrygia, while others thought that they were their progenitors. The conclusions of linguists about the lexical and word-forming community of the languages in the Palaeo-Balkan region, from the Aegean Islands and Asia Minor before and in the beginning of the 2nd millennium ВС, which probably reveals the genetic closeness of the languages, is also in favour of such an ethnic and cultural situation26. The cultural contacts and interactions are traced in the common Balkan-Anatolian onomastic area during the 2n d millennium ВС 2 7 . Stephanus of Byzantium compares linguistically the city of Κοτιάειον in Phrygia Epictetus with Μ ι δ ά ε ι ο ν 2 8 (the name of the Phrygian city has many variants and different suffixes: there is a city of the same name also in Lykia2 9), and in the text about Gordion (Γορδίε ιον) the example of Κοτιάειον is given30. To the lexicographic evidence it is ако possible to add the settle ment Μίδεια, with an unknown localization in Boeotia, as well as one of the four centres in Mycenaean Argolis31. Βοτιάειον/Βοτίε ιον belongs to the same group3 2. The name of the tribe Βοττΐαιοι, who lived along the right bank of the Upper Axios and in the 45 Thermale Bay, corresponded to the name of the Phrygian city33. Moreover, for reasons of word-formation, the ancient lexicographer also had other grounds for comparing these toponyms: they stemmed from the names of deities, or of legendary and mythical figures34. Strabo emphasizes the links between the rites in honour of Dionysos, Sabazios and Rhea-Kybele among the Phrygians, on the one hand, and the Bendidia, Kotytia and the Orphic mysteries, on the other35. The ancient authors explained the analogies observed through "coming" - mythological and legendary. Most frequently this "coming" means a component in the cultural and spiritual syn­thesis36. Some linguistic analyses of the name of the Brygians/Brygoi, however uncertain they may be, can also follow this train of thoughts. According to one of the proposed etymologies, the name Brygoi stems from IE brug-s - "Feurbrand"3 7. On the other hand, even the Hellenic authors associated the name of Phrygia with the Greek verb φ ρ υ γ ω "roast, parch". Diodorus tells about the fire-breathing Aegis that parched the Phrygian land3 8. Fire and flood occupy an important place in the mythology of Dionysos-Zagreus39. The meaning is probably also present in the later name of Phrygia Katakekaumene, in spite of Strabo's rationalized explanation, which also stems from the meaning of "burn, parch"4 0. The parallel Φ ρ ύ ξ / Φ ρ ί ξ and Βρυξ/Βρίγες will also include the zone of the Hellespontos in the areas of ethnic and cultural interactions. The gloss β ρ υ τ ο ς - "barley wine, beer", used by Phrygians, Thracians and Paiones, will be of particular value with a view to the problems studied, its etymology being derived from the meaning "boil, bubble"4 1. Here also belongs the other gloss β ρ ί ζ α - "kind of cereal, (spelt), rye)" 4 2. The name Brygoi may also prove to be related to some Greek words meaning "strong, heavy" and "large" - βριθύς and βριμός 4 3 , and to divine appellations having a de­finite value in Thracian Orphism (Briareios, Brimo). The closeness with βρύκον - "bite, gnaw" and βρυχάομοα - "roar, bellow"44 could lead to chthonic characteristics of a cosmogonie deity, such as Briareios, known in Orphic theogony, as it was rendered by the Neoplatonic authors4 5. Β ρ ί α κ χ ο ς / Β ρ ί α χ ο ς is the name of a Satyr on many vase-paintings, being also a designation of the Bacchae4 6. The double forms Β ρ ύ κ ε ς / Β ρ ύ κ α ι also belong here4 7. The my-thographic evidence about the Bebrykes has also added their ethno-4 6 nym, formed by reduplication48. The Berekynthes, a Phrygian tribe worshipping the Great Goddess Rhea, should also be considered in the context of the same problems4 9. This linguistic digression could lend support to the hypothesis about an ethnonymic designation ste­mming from the observed similar characteristics in the cult and reli­gious practices of Phrygians and Thracians. A similar principle of nomination had already been proposed for the Ligyrei, where the sanctuary of Liber Pater (Dionysos) was found50. The evidence about the bryton is much earlier than the reference to the Brygians, and the Brygian ethnonym appeared much later than the text about the Phrygians in The Iliad. The stem Bri- is very common in Thracian onomastics51. Par­ticularly important in the light of the parallels examined is the clo­seness between the word βρία "city", unanimously accepted as being Thracian, and the Anatolian toponyms Β ρ έ α , Bρίaνα, Βρι-α ν ί α (-βρεα being the earlier form), as well as probably with Βρίουλα, Βριόκαστρο and Βρυόκαστρο 5 2 . Its etymology from -wńya "raised place" comes close to the etymological meaning of φρίξ53. This is the written source data background of the Brygian migra­tion, postulated by Herodotus. Archaeological confirmation of the Phrygian migration to Asia Minor is often sought, but above all the early necropolis of Vergina is defined as Brygian54. In view of the uncertain ethnonymy of the southwestern Balkan lands and the undefined tribal territories, such attempts would hardly be crowned with success. It seems more promising to use terms like "contact zone" and "intermediary ethnic zone"55. On the other hand, the progress in the archaeological and epigraphic study of ancient Phry-gia, as well as of the entire Anatolia, has recently focused more sharply on the Asia Minor characteristics in the culture of the Phrygians. The route from Asia Minor, through the Aegean is­lands, the Thracian Aegean coast, Macedonia, Southern Italy and back, formed a zone of ethnic and cultural contacts, of movement of ideas and spiritual synthesis. We shall probably never learn with certainty the direction in which the Brygians-Phrygians migrated, because the movement was actually in both directions. 47 1 Hdt. 7, 73. 2 Procl. Chřest. II. 3 Hdt. 6, 45. 4 Hdt. 7, 73. 5 Hdt 7, 185. 6 Hdt 8, 138. 7 Stiabo 7, frg. 25. 8 Strabo 7, 7, 8-9; Plm. WH, 4,40; St.B. 187, 17-19. 9 Ps.-Scym». 434; Stiabo 7,7,8; App. B.Civ. 2, 39. 10 Strabo 7,3,2; 7, frg. 25; 12,3,20; St.B. 186,12. * 11 Schol. Clem. Alex. IV, p. 96 K1i commentary in Tomaschek. W. Die Alten Thraker. Eine ethnologische Untersuchung. Wien, 1980, p. 31. 12 St.B. 13 Athe«. XV, p. 683 b. 14 Strabo 7,3,2. 15 Толстой И.И.. Связянный и освобожденный силен.- Статьи о фоль­клоре. Москва-Ленинград, 1966, с.102 16 Сов on I; Hesych. s.v. 17 Theop., fr. 75a (Jacoby); Bion, fr.2 (Muller); Сов OD I (Jacoby); com­mentary in Фол Α., Проучвания вър­ху гръцките извори за древна Тракия. ÍV.Teoпoмп. "Гръцка история" и "Ис­тория на Филип (II Македонски)".— ГСУ И Ф , 69, 1975, 17-18; Фол Α., Проучвания.... VII. Конон. "Раз­кази".— ГСУ И Ф , 74, 1980, 7-8. 18 Хеn. An. 1,2,13.   19 Pans. 1,4,5. 20 AI. Polybist. fr. 48 (Muller). 2t Ael. Var. hist. 3, 18. 22 Гиндин ЛА.. Древнейшая оно­мастика Восточных Балкан. София, 1981, 96-97. In Hittite often in the combination E.NA, DINGIR LIM 4 ("stone home"), interpreted as royal mausoleum: Гиоргадзе Г.Г., "Дом(а) царя в хетских клинописных источ­никах.— Культурное наследие Вос­тока. Ленинград, 1985, 78-83. 23 Detschew D., Die thrakischen Sprachreste. Wien, 1976, 51-53; Гин­дин A.A.. Op. cit., 111-114, 174. 24 Support for the idea about the migration of the Brygians from Asia Minor to the western Thracian lands, together with the Mysoi and the Teukroi, see in Фол Α.. Спиридонов Т., Ис­торическа география на тракийските племена до III в. пр.н.е. София, 1983, с 99, according to the analysis of the sources. 25 Strabo 7, fr. 38. 26 Yanakieva S., Onomastique paleo-balkanique en Beotie.— Orpheus 4 1997. 27 Гиндин A.A.. Op.cit., p. 183. 28 St.B. 379, 3-8. 29 Zgusta L.. Kleinasiatische Orts­namen. Heidelberg, 1984, n° 807-1. 30 St.B. 451, 11-13. 31 Yanakieva S., Op.cit. 32 St.B.179.11 Zgusta L.,Op.at, S.164. 33 Detschew D.. Op. cit., 76-78. 34 On the principle of the Anato­lian and Thracian royal nomination, see in: Laroche E.. Recueil d'onomastique hittite. Paris, 1952, p. 75; Василева M., Гора, бог и имя: О некоторых фрако-фригийских параллелях.— ВДИ, 1990, № 3, 94-101. 35 Strabo 10, 3, 13-16. 36 Фол Α., Тракийският Дионис. Книга първа: Запрей. София,1991,с.229. 37 Detschew D.. Op.cit., p. 92. 38 Diod. 3,70,4. 4 8 39 Фол Α., Тракийският ..,c.175, 183. 40 Strabo 12,8,12; 18; Rugę W., Phry-gia (Topographie).— RE, 22, 1, col. 803. 41 Velkova Z., The Thracian Glos­ses. Contribution to the study of the Thracian Vocabulary. Amsterdam, 1986, p. 54; Detschew D., Op. cit., p. 93; Chantraine P., Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. Paris, 1968, p. 199. 42 Velkova Z., Op.cit., p. 51; Det­schew D., Op. cit., p. 87; Chantraine P., Op. cit., p. 196. 43 Chantraine P.. Op.cit., p. 196. 44 Chantraine P.. Op.cit., 198-199. 45 Commentary in Фол Α., Тракий­ският..., c.l80;such is also the Titan Phorcys, having the same name as the Phrygian leader in The Iliad: Horn. II. 862. 46 Hesych., s.v.; Wagner, Briakch-os.— R E , 3, 833. 47 St. B.187, 11; Detschew D., p. 93. 48 They are present in the narrative about the Argonauts, Mygdon being the brother of the king of the Bebrykes Amykos: Apollod. 1,9,20; 2,5,9. 49 Strabo, 10,3,12; 20; Leaf W.. Strabo on the Troad. Book XIII, Cap. 1. Cambridge, 1923, p. 62. 50 Macrob. Saturn. 1, 18; commen­tary in Фол А. Тракийският ..., с. 153. 51 Zgusta, L. Kleinasiatische Perso­nennamen. Prag, 1964, p. 129. 52 Венедиков И., Тракийската то­понимия в движение.— Тракийски паметници. 3. Мегалитите в Тракия. 2. София, 1982, 133-134; Detschew D.. Op. cit., p. 86; Velkova Z., Op. cit., 48-50; Zgusta L., Kleinasiatische Ortsnamen, p. 171, 172. 53 Chantraine P., Op.cit., p. 1229. 54 Hammond N.C.L., A History of Macedonia. 1. Oxford, 1972, p. 307; Andronikos M., Vergina. The Royal Tombs. Athens, 1984, p. 234; Vasic R., Cultural Groups of the Early Iron Age in the West and Central Balkans and the Possibilities of their Ethnic Identification.— 1. Iliro-tracki sim-pozijum. Paleobalkanska plemena i /.medu jadran skog i Crnog Mora od eneolita do Helenistickog doba. Sarajevo-Beograd, 1991, p. 80. 55 Ceorgieva R.. Les relations culturel­les dans I'interfleuve du Vardar et de la Struma au premier age du fer.— 1. Iliro-tracki simpozijiim, p. 177. 4 9 

Brygoi-Phrygoi and the Background of a Migration

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