byzantine historian

Dionysius of (2nd century ad?) Dionysius of byzantium (2nd century ad?) Is a very interesting author whose anaplus bospori, nevertheless, does not attract the scholarly attention that it really deserves. This work gives us very valuable data not only on the topography of the straits, natural resources and local cults, but also about various aspects of the political history of this key region from the archaic until the hellenistic period. The main aim of this paper is to present a brief commentary on several paragraphs of dionysius’ work which seem to be the most informative in this respect and, thus, to define the perspectives of future studies.

A number of passages of dionysius elucidate the problems of the foundation of byzantium, on the participation in this enterprise of colonist groups from various poleis (14, 15, 18, 32, 33, 49, 71), and on the hostility with the local thracians (8, 16, 53, 83). The history of the natives of both the european and asian shores of the bosporus also receives attention (21, 23, 24, 66, 95, 96). Then, dionysius tells of several attempts by certain greek states to establish themselves on the straits or to increase their own political and/or commercial presence on the bosporus, and about the details of the secondary colonisation of its shores (47, 48, 56, 79, 82). ?? Makes active use of the local historical tradition of byzantium, which reflects many episodes of the byzantines’ interrelations with the persians, macedonia, ptolemies, seleucids, etc. (14, 27, 41, 57, 64), and the events of the struggle of the chalcedonians for control over the straits as well (48, 103, 105).

All these notes of the byzantine historian may serve as a basis for a complex work on the history of the thracian bosporus.