DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0246
2. PEPOUZA. 577
admirably the position assigned by Hierocles to Bria that the identi-
fication, though not proved by any definite evidence, may be accepted
with considerable confidence.
The name Bria is an interesting piece of evidence about Phrygian
ethnology and language. Bria was a Thracian word meaning toivn
or city1. It occurs in Mesembria, Menebria, Poltyobria, Alaaibria2,
Salybria; and here in Phrygia we find it used as a proper name,
' the City.' It is obvious that Brea mentioned in CIA 31 as the seat
of an Athenian colony should be regarded as a by-form of the same
name 3 : possibly Breia was the form actually intended there : Amphi-
polis is probably the place meant in the inscription.
It is shown in the commentary on no. 218 that Bria, Briya, and
Berga were dialectic varieties of the same word, and Bergoula and
Brioula4 were diminutive forms derived from it, and used like it as
proper names in the sense of 'the city.' Bergoula of Thrace is still
called Burgas: Bria of Phrygia also is still called Burgas: in both
cases we recognize the modern name as the ancient name persisting in
a slightly modified form5.
Only one circumstance casts some doubt on the identification of
Bria and Burgas. Not a relic of ancient life has ever been observed
there. Sterrett and I passed through the village hurriedly in 1883 °;
we did not halt, but, if we had seen anything to attract attention we
should have stopped and made a more thorough examination. We
did not, however, examine the cemetery, or the mosque, or the village
as a whole, still less.the neighbourhood. M.Paris in 1883, and
MM. Legrand and Chamonard in 1891, seem also to have passed
through Burgas; and they have published nothing found there. But,
though the ancient name remains, it does not follow that the modern
Burgas is on the exact site of Bria. It is more probable that the
ancient city was built on a stronger and more defensible site some-
where in the neighbourhood on the eastern side, upon the skirts of
Burgas-Dash.
'6"
Alina § 10. The modem name Gondane ' Bpiayapr^v ttSXiv cpaa\ epmes Steph.
for a village W. of Antioch Pisid. is Byz. s.v. Mf<jrip.8pia.
evidently formed from the old ethnic 2 AEMit. 1895 p. 112.
Vav^arjvui. Gondane often gets a more s As Mr. JGG Anderson suggests,
thoroughly Turkish form as Kundanli " Brioula see p. 191.
(see p. 581) from the peasantry; but 5 We must suppose that Bergoula
I convinced myself after repeated con- was also called by the simple form
versations that the natives used the Berga.
form Gondane when they were speaking c I had been unexpectedly detained
unconsciously, and Kundanli when try- at Payam-Aghlan § 6 ; and was hurry-
ing to be accurate. ing southwards late in the day.
YOL. I. PT. TI. Q
admirably the position assigned by Hierocles to Bria that the identi-
fication, though not proved by any definite evidence, may be accepted
with considerable confidence.
The name Bria is an interesting piece of evidence about Phrygian
ethnology and language. Bria was a Thracian word meaning toivn
or city1. It occurs in Mesembria, Menebria, Poltyobria, Alaaibria2,
Salybria; and here in Phrygia we find it used as a proper name,
' the City.' It is obvious that Brea mentioned in CIA 31 as the seat
of an Athenian colony should be regarded as a by-form of the same
name 3 : possibly Breia was the form actually intended there : Amphi-
polis is probably the place meant in the inscription.
It is shown in the commentary on no. 218 that Bria, Briya, and
Berga were dialectic varieties of the same word, and Bergoula and
Brioula4 were diminutive forms derived from it, and used like it as
proper names in the sense of 'the city.' Bergoula of Thrace is still
called Burgas: Bria of Phrygia also is still called Burgas: in both
cases we recognize the modern name as the ancient name persisting in
a slightly modified form5.
Only one circumstance casts some doubt on the identification of
Bria and Burgas. Not a relic of ancient life has ever been observed
there. Sterrett and I passed through the village hurriedly in 1883 °;
we did not halt, but, if we had seen anything to attract attention we
should have stopped and made a more thorough examination. We
did not, however, examine the cemetery, or the mosque, or the village
as a whole, still less.the neighbourhood. M.Paris in 1883, and
MM. Legrand and Chamonard in 1891, seem also to have passed
through Burgas; and they have published nothing found there. But,
though the ancient name remains, it does not follow that the modern
Burgas is on the exact site of Bria. It is more probable that the
ancient city was built on a stronger and more defensible site some-
where in the neighbourhood on the eastern side, upon the skirts of
Burgas-Dash.
'6"
Alina § 10. The modem name Gondane ' Bpiayapr^v ttSXiv cpaa\ epmes Steph.
for a village W. of Antioch Pisid. is Byz. s.v. Mf<jrip.8pia.
evidently formed from the old ethnic 2 AEMit. 1895 p. 112.
Vav^arjvui. Gondane often gets a more s As Mr. JGG Anderson suggests,
thoroughly Turkish form as Kundanli " Brioula see p. 191.
(see p. 581) from the peasantry; but 5 We must suppose that Bergoula
I convinced myself after repeated con- was also called by the simple form
versations that the natives used the Berga.
form Gondane when they were speaking c I had been unexpectedly detained
unconsciously, and Kundanli when try- at Payam-Aghlan § 6 ; and was hurry-
ing to be accurate. ing southwards late in the day.
YOL. I. PT. TI. Q