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FEW NOTESON TWO PLACENAMESOF GETIC ORIGININ PROCOPIUS.DE AEDIFICilS

De Aediftciis is a very important sourcfor histo-ry, historicalgeographyand linguistics.Sevoralstudieswere writton about, but many questionsaro still obscureand disputed.We tried in tie following pagesto clariffsomeof them.l . A l th taA minor toponym in Dobrudja, which was oftenru,sedasaproof for the Romaniancontinuity in this region,is Oltina(a lake and a village in the southwasterncomcrol'Dobrud.ja,on theright bankof thc Danube).It-soriginlionr tlrc R('lrrannamcAltina is certain,cvcn if somescholarsthoughtlhat in this evolrrtionwas involvcdaSlavic intermediary tbrnrl. The RomanAltinun waslocatcdon that vcry placc. We arc absolutelycertain,bocausethe sourcc is one of lhe bosl Notitia Drgnital nOrientis(XL.28).Thepositionof this fort in thelist (aftorDurostorun and Cimbrianacand at the cnd of theprovinceMoesiaSecunda)nrakccertain thc locationinthc present-dayvillage Oltina (the Roman namewas

inheritedby the noarbylake Oltina).In tlrc 4r[ canLluu;iy,Altinun was the garrisonofntililes nauclarii Allinease.r.The turf fort placcd2,.5kmvillagc 80 vr'ils systolnatical-

ALEXANDRU MADGEARU (Bucwqdi)appearsin the list of the small fortresseslocated inScythia,btweenBecis andManrovalle(De Aed. IV . Ll.20). The position in thc list is not significant for the reallocation,becausethe orderhansmittodby Procopiuswlsvcry biasodin this section of his work. A derivod form,Altinon ("A)trrytdv), is mcntionedin Dc Aod. lY. 7. 9,but in a cfil'lbrcnt pl.rccof that ol' Notitiq Dignilaluntnamcly betweenTransmariscaand Candidiana.Despitothis dissimilarity, Procopiuswas often used as a secondsourcofor the Romanfort of OltinaT.As 'it is known, Transmariscais Tutrakan(Turtucaia)andCandidianais cerlrinly locatcd at MalSkProslavcc(formerCadichioi)wherc a Romanfort datedbchvcontho 3lh-6lhccnturieswas partiallyinvestigated8.The tracesofthe Altinon fort mentionedin IV. 7. 9 shouldbe trackeddownbstwc.enTutrakanand Maldk Preslavec,if Procopiuswasrighte.A fortressof l80xl22 m. wasobservedby K, Skorpil at Dolno Rjachovo(point Kalelo,on the Danubc'sbank),but it was not archacologicallyinvestigated.Thopottcryand0rc coinsfound at lho surfacedatebstwoonlst and 41hccnturiesA.D.lo ILslocationissuitablefor Altinon, but the few known data are suggest-ing an earlier date.Noflring is known about the small fortof Po-iarevo,locatcd betwecnTutrakan and Dolnot ( tacl lovo. ' .


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3 1 0 Alexardru Madgeeruis very conf'use.Altina, Tigra and Skedevaare placedinScythia,not in Moesia, together with Trosmis, Callatisand other cities from Scythia, but also togetherwithAbrittos and Novaewhich certainly bclongcd to MoesiaSecunda.Thereforc,this list is irrelcvant for the locationof Altina nearTransmarisca.Onecould think that Procopiusmade a confirsion,moving Altina into a wrong place within the sectorTransmarisca-Sucidava.It seemsquite likely. Howwer, itsecmsthat thsre is no mistake in this passago.The inter-pretation proposedby A. Aricescu in two studiespublishedin 1970and 1972mightgivethosolution.He con-sideredt}at the passagcin IV. 7. 9 was wrongly rmder-stood.The text involved is the following: petri 6CTgcopcgiorcv Equpd te t6'Altqvov, ral 6neeKdl"o0or Kcv6rirrivo ra0nenFvov 1969 critrov:rol"eptov *olk[ :rg6tegov Aricescu translatcd it in adiftbrent way "after Transmarisca,the tower of theAltinon,whiclr is also namedCandidiana,destroyedbythe cnenrieslong time ago". That mearx that the restora-tion of the fort was carricd out tlrough the work of thesoldiersfrom Altinum (i.e. the fortressfrom the south-westernDobrudja)la.On tho other handthe tsanslationofEguprias "tower" is not correct. Procopiusused migTofbr "tower"; tiqupd is used for small fort (castella).Except this, Aricoscu rendersexactly the meaning.Theform 'Al,tr1r,6v is indeeda plural genitiveof 'Atrtwowhich msans"the fortlet of the men from Altina". Theword Epupri is a singular noun matching only with,andnotwith Kcvbt6uivc.

discordberweento0tov (insteadof tof'to) and 6Xnopa(sc. lllmetum) could be explainedif v is a letter whichbelongedto thereal nameof Ibida. This lter couldbe Iconfoundedwilh v. Ibida is usually locatedat SlavaRrsd,Tulcca County. Fcw archaeologicalinvestigations wcrecarriedout in lhis bg town of24 ba in surfacol6.'llreDamcIbida b r'ct attcstdby othor sourccs,but scaording toAricescu, this po,fibis the same with tha cny (polis) ofLibidim rmfrsned by TheophylactusSimocstta(1.8. 6).The idea was acceptedby many hisiorians, xcpt Em.Dorufiu-Boildl?, who denied the location of the forheisrecorded@ Theoptylacur in Dobrudja and, as a conse-quence,shesustainodtfut lhe tue nameis that one knownfrom Procopius. Shealso denied the restitution of thoinscriptionof Quintu Marciu Quadrahrsfound at SlavaRus6. Aricescu propsed na(ts) Lib(idae), but it seemsthat the real rmmewas Libicus or Lihamts 18.Theinscrip-tion is indeeda woak argument.The idea expressedbyAricescuis mainlybasedon Theophylachrs.The 7thcenhrrywriter showedhow Bookolabras,a"Scythianman" who was a shaman(which is in fact thetranslationof the narneBookolabns) wasa refugeein theByzantine Empire becausehe had an affair with ono oftho khaganwives. A Roman commandercapturod himafter he crosscdthe Danubeairning to go to the city ofLibidinon (&tl tlv ArS6w6v r.dLr.vgeg6pewg). NexgBookolabraswas sent to Constantinople.The Avars start-ed the war beausethey intErpretedthis actionas an asy-lum accordedto an enemy of their ruler, This new inva-sion that hit southemDobndja is datedmostprobablein


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PlacenamesofGetic Originin Procopius 3 l lconsiderql Bookolabrasa man from ScythiaMinor. It isclear that in Theophylactus'mind, S@ioa means"Hun",as ho explained few lines below: the kinsmen ofBookolabrasare tle Huns (alsonamedTurks), setdedinEast,neart}le Persians.Dorutiu-Boili assertathat Libidinon concemstheinhabitantoof Libidurgos (a namthat she supposedtohave beena mlstaken forrt for Libi&krgon). This is afortress recorded by the sameTheophylactusSimocatta(ll. 15.3), in therelationof thebattlelost by Comentiolusin 587.Libidurgonand the nearbyCalvomun0eis(attstedonly by this source)were hypotheticallylocatednearKable5kovo(Burgascormty), on the road from Marcia-nopolis tos Anchialos2l. The origin of this name is notcertain.lt ispossiblea derivation from Livii burgusn.According to Dorutiu-BoiH, Bookolabras had inview to reach Constantinoplc.This seemsvery puzzling.If hewantto go at his Asiatic kinsmen,he had no needtogo tuough Moesia SccundaandTluaceand to reach thecapitalcity.Tho idcntificationproposedby Dorufiu-Boili islhorclirroirn;rcssiblc,First, lhe ahnostunknownfortrcssl-ibirlrrrgoncortldnol bc a polis,{s lho sourcostnlos.Second.[|lrenamc Libidinon could not be derivod from

Libid(ob)ryn.Thfr, thc placenamasendedwtth -diu arcspecific only for Scythiaand for the northea"stempart ofMoesiaSecundaandnot for tho southemThracianares.In fact, the circumstancesare not opposdtoAriccscu's idea. Bookolabrascros6edthc DanubeinDobrudja, becausethis nrasthe shortestway towardstheEurasiansteppe.It is possible that hc want to reashCrimea,whcre a Tilrkic andUtigur dominationwascstab.lished since576 (in the BosporanKer6)23.The Turkswere the old enemiesof thc Avars. Bookolabraswishedprhaps!o take a short refuge in the big city Libidiria,

before to go away (perhapsby sea).The location ofLibidina in Dobrudjais admited in the most recntmono-graphon Theophylactrsas sourcfor theByzantine-Avarwars24,The source specified that the commandorwhodefendedthe Danube capbred Bookolabras,This makesmorc probablethe location of Libidina in Dobrudja.The events are dated after 578 whn the Avarsextcnded thcir domination over Wallachia25 and thiscould explain why Bookolabrassucceededto quicklycrosstho river in Dobrudja.ln conclusion,thc idea expressedby A. Aricescuisstill vafid.Tfrc form Libidilra s{nrslo bathe trueono.

NOTESl, R. Vulpe, I. Barnea, Din istorit Dobrogei, ll,

Bucuresti,1968,p. 445; C. Poghirc,in Istorh lhnbii romAne,perbzpsArina (De Aed IV. ll. 20). For lhe placnameswith-dina, see1,1. Belevliev, Amlaidina und Sippe, "Linguistique


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312 Alexatdnr Madgeam| 14,l. Be&nafov,Arlteologideskiprmetnizi vohltinite Ghvinieai Dulovo,Rozgndskaoblast(prodnEenje),"Dobrudra",Vana, 7,1990,p. 139-143(ff. 22).

9. The locationat Popina(sustainedby M. Biemacka-Lubansks,dp cit.,p.260, or.33-35) ie not suitrblc,becausePopinaisplacedeastofMallk Prtslrvcc.10. K. Skorpil, op. orl, p.449,pl. CXM s, c; TIR" L 35,p. 39:M. Biemacka-Lubanska,qp cia,p.260 (trr.27);R. RaJcv,Stanl>ilgarski ukrepletyattl Drlnia DNnv (VILXI u) Va,rrlo,1982,p. 18l, nr,33;I. Biivatov, op.cil.,p. 136(ru.7).I I. K. Skorpil,op. ait.,p. 449,pl. CXIV/ 4; R. Raiev,

op.cil.,p.l8l,rJr.34.12. M. Penin-Henry,La place des listes topoaymiques(llrttsI'orya isaliot, dn livrc Mes Edilices de Procope,inGeographicaByzaulirn,lous la dircctiondH. Ahrweiler,Paris,l98l, p. 103-104.13. See L lordan, Toponinia mmhrcasai, Bucuregti,1963.p.299,note2.14. . Ariccscn, QnelQuespicisions sur h ctde dc hScythit Mi or. Daoir, NS, 14, 1970,l. 3O7;id.an,lncercarcttoqi dc inlclctcrc d flirihrr .ldle de Procophts din Caa*realcspl tcrintritl Dohntgci it wentea hti htstiia4 "l'ooliol", 5,1972,p.339-340.15.A, Alic*c;r, hcerune.,.,p. 335-33E;i

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