Bebryces
The Bebryces (Template:Langx) were a tribe of people who lived in Bithynia. According to Strabo they were one of the many Thracian tribes that had crossed from Europe into Asia,<ref>Strabo, 7.3.2.</ref> although modern scholars have rather argued for a Celtic origin.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
NameEdit
Classical linguists considered the name of Bebryces related to the thracian tribe Bryges, which was later renamed to Phryges (Phrygians),<ref>Strabo, Geography § 7.3.2</ref><ref>Pliny the Elder, The Natural History § 5.41</ref> based on the geographic proximity, as well as the migration route of the Phrygians known from ancient myths.<ref>Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PACATIANA, PHRY´GIA</ref><ref>Bithyni / Bryges / Bebryces Thracian Tribe — Phrygians (jan 2, 3000 BC — jan 1, 690 BC) (Timeline)</ref>
B. Sergent suggests that the name Bebryces could be related to the Celtic tribes Bebruces, living in the Pyrenees, and Briboci, dwelling in Britain,Template:Sfn all ultimately stemming from Proto-Celtic *brebu ('beaver'; see Gaulish bebros, bebrus, Old Irish Bibar, 'beaver').Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ivan Duridanov also suggested that the ethnonym was related to Indo-European words meaning "beaver".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The same word denotes beaver in Slavic Languages (*bebrus in Proto-Balto-Slavic, bober in Slovenian, bobar in Bulgarian, bobr in Russian).<ref>Czech Etymological Dictionary</ref><ref>Romanian Etymologial Dictionary</ref>
HistoryEdit
According to legend they were defeated by Heracles or the Dioscuri,<ref name=Apollonius>Apollonius of RhodesTemplate:Full citation needed</ref> who killed their king, Mygdon or Amycus.<ref name=Apollonius/> Their land was then given to King Lycus of the Mariandynians, who built the city Heraclea there. Some say Amycus was a brother of Mygdon and another Bebrycian king; both were sons of Poseidon and Melia. Greek mythology offers two different accounts for the origin of the name 'Bebryces': either from a woman named Bebryce (Eustath. ad Dionysius Periegetes 805.), or from a hero named Bebryx (or Bebrycus) (Steph. Byz. s.v. Bebrycus). Bebryce is possibly the same as Bryce, a daughter of Danaus, a mythical King of Libya and Arabia (Apollodorus). Bebryx was also the father of Pyrene.
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
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- Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.