Mygdonia

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Mygdonia ( ancient Greek Μυγδονία ; Latin Mydonia ) was an ancient region in northern Iraq . According to Strabo (Geographika) , it was a fertile area that was inhabited by the Mygdonen. Strabon traces its name back to the Macedonians, i.e. Alexander the Great and his successors, who presumably transferred the name of the Macedonian Mygdonia there. They lived near the Euphrates and near Zeugma in Kommagene and Zeugma near Thapsakos , which Strabo calls the old Zeugma. Nisibis was known as Antioch in Mygdonia, it lay at the foot of the mountains (Mons) Masius . In the same section, Strabo mentions other cities that were at the foot of the Masius, from the context it is not entirely clear whether he also counts them as Mygdonia, as Holmes assumes. These are: Tigranocerta , Carrhae , Nikephorum , Chordiraza and Sinnaka . In Roman times Mygdonia was part of Assyria (area around Nisibis) and belonged to the province of Mesopotamia since the 3rd century .

Other meanings

Stephanos of Byzantium mentions a Mygdonia in northern Greece. Calder thinks Mygdonia is a poetic name for Phrygia .

Geographically, Mygdonia was assigned to the Thracian region; culturally strongly influenced by Macedonia . At the latest during the reign of Philip II, Mygdonia was part of Macedonia. Cities worth mentioning were Apollonia Mygdoniorum and Arethousa .

Today the urban region of Mygdonia (Μυγδονία) in the regional district of Thessaloniki is sometimes referred to as Mygdonia.

literature

  • William Moir Calder : Colonia Caesareia Antiocheia . In: Journal of Roman Studies 2, 1912, pp. 78-109.
  • Charles Edson : Imperium Macedonicum: The Seleucid Empire and the Literary Evidence . In: Classical Philology 53/3, 1958, pp. 153-170.
  • T. Rice Holmes: Tigranocerta . In: Journal of Roman Studies , 7, 1917, pp. 120-138.
  • Erik Wikén: ΤΥΡΣΗΝΟΙ with Herod. 1, 57 . In: Hermes 73/1, 1938, pp. 129-132.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 16, 1, 23.
  2. ^ T. Rice Holmes: Tigranocerta . In: Journal of Roman Studies , 7, 1917, pp. 120-138.
  3. ^ Richard N. Frye: Mapping Assyria . In: A. Panaino and G. Pettinato (eds.): Ideologies as intercultural phenomena. Proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage Project Held in Chicago, USA, October 27-31, 2000 . Università di Bologna & IsIao, Milano 2002, 76 (Melammu Symposia 3).
  4. ↑ WM Calder: Colonia Caesareia Antioch . In: Journal of Roman Studies 2, 1912, p. 81.