DOI Artikel:
Sterrett, John Robert Sitlington: Inscriptions of Assos
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8560#0035
INSCRIPTIONS OF ASSOS.
23
appear below make it clear that the inscription dates before the year
84 B.C., the year of the pacification of the Eastern provinces by the
Romans.
The name Bp^o-i/oVf/s (cf. Bprjo-os : Conze, Reise auf der Insel
Lesbos, plate XVII. 1) is the Lesbian and Assian turn given to
Aiowo-ikA?/?.* The Lesbian promontory Bptja-o-a, a name still to be
recognized in the modern Bpiyo-cria, was the seat of the cult of
Dionysos, who took from the name of the place the epithet Bprjcrevs.j
A variation of the epithet must be recognized in Bprjaayevrjs, which
occurs in an inscription of Bp^o-atd published in the Bulletin de Corr.
Hell., 1880, pp. 445, 446 (Aiotwo) Bprjo-ayevel) .1 From Lesbos
the cult of Aioioicros Bprjcrevs passed over to Smyrna, as is known from
several inscriptions of that city (C.I. G. 3160, 3161, 3176, 3190).
It was popular also at Mytilene (see Bull, de Corr. Hell., 1880,
p. 441) and Methymna (Bull, de Corr. Hell:, 1SS3, p. 40).
It was quite natural that Dionysos Breseus should establish himself
at Assos, for the local cults of the mother country were usually con-
tinued in the colony. There is no direct evidence to prove the
existence of this cult at Assos, but certainly the name Bp70-1.KA.T7?
of our inscription proves that Alovvctos Bprjcrevs was not unknown
there.
* This form occurs occasionally in inscriptions, and once in Pausanias (6. 17. 1).
Cf. also Hermes, 1S70, p. 203. AiovvcrioK\r)s occurs in Athenaios (3. 96c/, 116;;/,
118a') and in an inscription of Karystos (C.I. G. 2152/'). The more correct
form, AiovvaoKArjs, although found in inscriptions and in Strabo (14. 649), does
not seem to have been more in use than the less correct forms.
f Meister, Griechische Dialekte, p. 107: " Bpricraa ist aus Fpr^Kia von pi]yvvp.L
(vgl. 'Prj7<oy) entstanden, wie der Stamm FpxjK- auch der boeotische Name Bpet/a-
8as (fur Fpr)idSas) zeigt. Die Schreibungen mit einfachem a, Bpr,ari, Bpr/aevs,
Bpiaaios u. s. w., erklriren sich durch spater eingetretene Yereinfachung der Gemi-
nation. Auf diesen Dionysosbeinamen geht auch der lesbische Kurzname Bpyaos
BpTjfxco auf der Inschrift 34, 2, Zuriick." See Conze, Reise auf d. Ins. lesbos,
plate XVII. 1. See also Ahrens de dial, graec, i. p. 34. For the explanations
of the epithet BpTjireus by the ancient writers, see Columella, xii. 39. 2; Macrobius,
Sat. i. 18; Persius, Sat. i. 76.
% Bpr)aayevv,s is regularly formed, as the writer in the Bulletin points out, and
may be compared with KprjTayevTjs (KprtToyzvrjs), an epithet of Zeus (cf. Steph.
Byz. s.v. Td(a; Eckhel. Doct. Num. 2. 301 d; C.I. G. 2554), and with MeA.7)cri-
yevris, an epithet of Homer (cf. Pseud. Plut. Vit. Horn. I. 2; Luc. Demosth. enc.
9; Procl. Chrest. I; Suid. s.v. "O/rrjpos). The epithet Bp-qcrevs was spelled i'i
different ways, through the ignorance or carelessness of stonecutters. Thus
23
appear below make it clear that the inscription dates before the year
84 B.C., the year of the pacification of the Eastern provinces by the
Romans.
The name Bp^o-i/oVf/s (cf. Bprjo-os : Conze, Reise auf der Insel
Lesbos, plate XVII. 1) is the Lesbian and Assian turn given to
Aiowo-ikA?/?.* The Lesbian promontory Bptja-o-a, a name still to be
recognized in the modern Bpiyo-cria, was the seat of the cult of
Dionysos, who took from the name of the place the epithet Bprjcrevs.j
A variation of the epithet must be recognized in Bprjaayevrjs, which
occurs in an inscription of Bp^o-atd published in the Bulletin de Corr.
Hell., 1880, pp. 445, 446 (Aiotwo) Bprjo-ayevel) .1 From Lesbos
the cult of Aioioicros Bprjcrevs passed over to Smyrna, as is known from
several inscriptions of that city (C.I. G. 3160, 3161, 3176, 3190).
It was popular also at Mytilene (see Bull, de Corr. Hell., 1880,
p. 441) and Methymna (Bull, de Corr. Hell:, 1SS3, p. 40).
It was quite natural that Dionysos Breseus should establish himself
at Assos, for the local cults of the mother country were usually con-
tinued in the colony. There is no direct evidence to prove the
existence of this cult at Assos, but certainly the name Bp70-1.KA.T7?
of our inscription proves that Alovvctos Bprjcrevs was not unknown
there.
* This form occurs occasionally in inscriptions, and once in Pausanias (6. 17. 1).
Cf. also Hermes, 1S70, p. 203. AiovvcrioK\r)s occurs in Athenaios (3. 96c/, 116;;/,
118a') and in an inscription of Karystos (C.I. G. 2152/'). The more correct
form, AiovvaoKArjs, although found in inscriptions and in Strabo (14. 649), does
not seem to have been more in use than the less correct forms.
f Meister, Griechische Dialekte, p. 107: " Bpricraa ist aus Fpr^Kia von pi]yvvp.L
(vgl. 'Prj7<oy) entstanden, wie der Stamm FpxjK- auch der boeotische Name Bpet/a-
8as (fur Fpr)idSas) zeigt. Die Schreibungen mit einfachem a, Bpr,ari, Bpr/aevs,
Bpiaaios u. s. w., erklriren sich durch spater eingetretene Yereinfachung der Gemi-
nation. Auf diesen Dionysosbeinamen geht auch der lesbische Kurzname Bpyaos
BpTjfxco auf der Inschrift 34, 2, Zuriick." See Conze, Reise auf d. Ins. lesbos,
plate XVII. 1. See also Ahrens de dial, graec, i. p. 34. For the explanations
of the epithet BpTjireus by the ancient writers, see Columella, xii. 39. 2; Macrobius,
Sat. i. 18; Persius, Sat. i. 76.
% Bpr)aayevv,s is regularly formed, as the writer in the Bulletin points out, and
may be compared with KprjTayevTjs (KprtToyzvrjs), an epithet of Zeus (cf. Steph.
Byz. s.v. Td(a; Eckhel. Doct. Num. 2. 301 d; C.I. G. 2554), and with MeA.7)cri-
yevris, an epithet of Homer (cf. Pseud. Plut. Vit. Horn. I. 2; Luc. Demosth. enc.
9; Procl. Chrest. I; Suid. s.v. "O/rrjpos). The epithet Bp-qcrevs was spelled i'i
different ways, through the ignorance or carelessness of stonecutters. Thus