РОДОПИТЕ ПРЕЗ АНТИЧНОСТТА, КНИГА I: РОДОПА КАТО РЕАЛИЯ В АНТИЧНИЯ СВЯТ RHODOPE MOUNTAINS IN ANTIQUITY, BOOK I: RHODOPE AS REALITY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

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2 1 РОДОПИТЕ ПРЕЗ АНТИЧНОСТТА, КНИГА I: РОДОПА КАТО РЕАЛИЯ В АНТИЧНИЯ СВЯТ RHODOPE MOUNTAINS IN ANTIQUITY, BOOK I: RHODOPE AS REALITY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

3 4 д-р Йордан Илиев, 2013 Родопите през античността, книга I Родопа като реалия в античния свят

4 5 СЪДЪРЖАНИЕ Съдържание УВОДНА БЕЛЕЖКА 7 Аргументи за необходимостта от публикуването на настоящата книга и основните ѝ приноси. ВЪВЕДЕНИЕ 9 Характеристика на изворовата база. Съвременно състояние на проучванията върху историята на Родопите през античността. Проблеми и перспективи. АНТИЧНИТЕ ПРЕДСТАВИ ЗА РОДОПА 37 Обзор върху присъствието на името Родопа в произведенията на античните автори. Литературни и визуални образи. Опит за систематизация на античните географски представи за планината. РОДОПА В АНТИЧНАТА ЛИТЕРАТУРА 73 Подредени хронологично пасажи от произведения на антични автори, в които се открива името Родопа. SUMMARY 113 Резюме на английски език.

5 113 SUMMARY Today Rhodope is widespread name of: various companies, operated mostly in the manufacturing and the service sector; registered trademarks of most varied products; administrative units in Bulgaria and Greece; and even minor planet. The ancient people used that name to designate a mountain, the largest of its kind geographical object and at the same time the most popular mountain in ancient Thrace (see p. 6, FIG. 1: Rhodope Mountains in Thrace). In the Preliminary Note is specified that the series Rhodope Mountains in Antiquity will represent a shortened part of the author s PhD Dissertation (entitled Rhodope Mountains in the History of Ancient Thrace ), which was worked during the period from February 2009 to February 2012 under the advisorship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Peter Delev in the Department of Ancient history, Thracian studies and mediaeval history by the Faculty of History, St. Clement of Ohrid Sofia University. The proposed first book of the series, entitled Rhodope Mountains as Reality in the Ancient World, consists of 3 parts. Introduction Here is presented an overview of all available sources about the history of Rhodope Mountains in antiquity. They are differentiated in such categories as: - Literary dates, founded in the works of some ancient writers; - Archaeological materials, enriched with every archaeological season; - Epigraphic monuments, which are remarkable with their monotype character; - Roman military diplomas, whose number is still very small; 113

6 114 Jordan Iliev Rhodope Mountains in Antiquity, Book І: - Numismatic information, a large part of which is not yet published; - Postantique evidences. It s noted that the earliest interest to the ancient history of Rhodope Mountains can be dated to 1851, when one Nikola Maradzhi did some excavations of a Thracian tumulus near Perushtitsa. Proposed are three stages in the archaeological studies over the mountains: (1) from the cited year to the 70 th years of the 20 th century; (2) from the 1970 s to 1980 s and (3) from the 1990 s to nowadays. In the first stage were collected archaeological materials, described some important sites and laid the foundations of local museums and museum collections. In the second stage the museum s facilities were improved and the archaeological excavations were formally coordinated in a special program, called Rhodope. During the third stage main task is not only filling the gaps in the archaeological map, but also formulation of evidence-based observations on the ancient history of the mountains, socializations of representative sites to development of cultural tourism etc. The epigraphic tradition is attested by 340 inscriptions: 4 pre- Roman inscriptions (the earliest of them is dated to 400 BC), 331 Roman and 5 late-roman inscriptions (see p. 24, FIG. 2: Distribution of the epigraphic monuments in Rhodope Mountains with representations of the four pre-roman inscriptions). 97 % of all inscriptions are with private character, and the rest are official: dedications to Emperors, frontier stones and only one lead libra. The name of the mountains is found in only one inscription from Pamphylia (SEG, 2, No. 685), dated to the Roman imperial period. The Roman military diplomas, found in Rhodope Mountains, are only 4. It s not excluded from here to come some diplomas with unknown find-spot or these with recipients from Nicopolis ex Bessia, identified supposedly with Nicopolis ad Mestum, the one and only Roman city in the Mountains. The numismatic information is differentiated in four directions: (1) coin hoards, (2) coins from archaeological excavations; (3) coins of Philippopolis in Thrace with image of Rhodope and (4) coins of Nicopolis ad

7 Rhodope as Reality in the Ancient World / Summary 115 Mestum. At the moment are known 91 coin hoards, found in Rhodope Mountains. In the group of the postantique evidences are presented some middle-ages works, geographical maps from the Renaissance, relicts in the local folklore and in the toponymy. At the end are presented some of the author s observations on the problems and prospects in the future studies of Rhodope Mountains in antiquity. It s emphasized that the content of this and the following books in the series is based on the author s opinion that the most complete historical reconstruction of the past can be achieved only after systematization and analysis of all available evidences of the age. The ancient concepts about Rhodope It is noted that the name Rhodope can be found in 143 passages of the ancient writers, whose Bulgarian translation is presented in the last part of this book (see p. 41, FIG. 4: Chronological differentiation of the passages in ancient literature, containing the name Rhodope ). Most of them are dated to the Roman imperial times (54 %) and the late antiquity (35 %). In the first case that can be explained with the presence of the name in the Roman poetry mostly for euphony, while in the second case with the presence in the various late Roman lists as province in the dioceses of Thrace (see p. 42, FIG. 5: Rhodope in the ancient literature). For the very first time Rhodope was found as personal name in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, dated to the middle of the 6 th c. BC. As mountains name it figures for the first time in the Herodotus Histories. In 297 AD is dated the first mention of the late Roman province. In antiquity this name has had various expressions, which can be differentiated in three groups: (1) literary heroines; (2) Rhodope Mountains in Thrace; (3) late-roman province. Than purely literary images, there are also some remarkable visual images of Rhodope, such as a painting on ancient ceramic (see p. 49, FIG. 6: Scene on a kylix representing Rhodope), coin-images (see p. 54, FIG. 10: Reverses of Philippopolis coins with representations of Rhodope) and a drawing in

8 116 Jordan Iliev Rhodope Mountains in Antiquity, Book І: Notitia Dignitatum. In the text are collected also the epigraphic evidences on the spread of the name in the Greco-Roman world. Known are some Renaissance images of Rhodope, but in this book are selected only three (see p. 36, FIG. 2: Rhodope after Rembrandt; pp , FIG. 7: The Image of Rouillé; FIG. 8: Rhodope and Psammetichus by Francesco Bartolozzi; FIG. 9: Rhodopis and Psammetichus). The presented in the book information shows that with the name Rhodope in antiquity were designated a significant number of characters. At the same time we know only one etiological legend, saved by Pseudo-Plutarch (On Rivers, 11) [092] and ascribed to Thrasyllus of Mendes (Fragment 1) [035]. In difference with the common in the ancient tradition legends or myths about heroes and heroines, the preserved stories about Rhodope and Rhodopis never present them with supernatural forces or extraordinary actions; dominated is the idea about a purely human nature of these personages. The available information in the ancient literature can t explain the numismatic images of Rhodope, because the literary characters don t have the attributes of the visual images. On this basis it s summarized that the coin-images probably reflect a lost local legend, which may be associated with the phyle Rhodopeis in Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and in Ulpia Pautalia (Kystendil). Important attention is paid to the ancient concepts about the territorial scope of Rhodope Mountains. Their recovery is done by tracking the relationships between the realities in every one ancient work, in which such an action is possible. For example, in Herodotus (4.49.1) we read that from the Paionians and Mount Rhodope the river Oskios, cutting through Haemus in the midst, runs into Ister... That river (Oskios) is identified with Iskar (which springs from Rila) and hence it is clear, that Herodotus added to the modern range of Rhodope Mountains also and Rila Mountain. Other similar examples are presented in the text, showing that according to the concepts of the ancient authors the territorial scope of Rhodope Mountains varies in significant range. Closest to the modern scope of the mountains is only the concept of Thucydides.

9 Rhodope as Reality in the Ancient World / Summary 117 In any way, Rhodope is among the two (in line with Haemus) most popular Thracian mountains and its name survives from antiquity to nowadays. There is only one difference: the ancient writers talk about the mountain in singular feminine, while the modern people prefer the plural. Later is explained with the geographical structure of Rhodope Mountains, composed of different ridges and river valleys. Rhodope in the ancient literature As was already noted, the third part of the book consists of 143 passages of ancient writers, translated in Bulgarian and presented in chronological order.

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