Re: [tied] Toponymy and ethnic Realities [...]

george knysh <gknysh@...> wrote:

> > Toponymy and ethnic Realities at the Lower Danube

[...]

> ******GK: In my view, these "ruined cities" were not located
> along the Dnister, but on the Lower Dnipro (as indicated in
> other manuscripts of DAI cited in the Jenkins apparatus). The
> whole area was known as the "Bi(e)loberezhya" (the "white
> shore") in the time of Constantine VII and Svyatoslav.

Hmmm. "Isteon, oti enqen tou DanastrewV potamou proV to
apoblepon merosthn [...]". It still looks like Dnister,
not like Dniepr. Are you suggesting that Constantine was
plainly wrong writing down "DanastrewV" for the other river?
From the text one can infer only that the city of Aspron
had white stores, not the shore itself. The argument with
"Bi(e)loberezhya" looks doubtful since having a white city
on a white shore is not so striking, the emphasis should lie
on the shore, not on the city as in Constantine's text. OTOH,
Cetatea Alba/Bielgorod Dnestrovskij has had always a striking
effect on first-time viewers by its' white appearance.

> They were in fact the remnants of the cities of Scythia
> (later also known as the "Ulch grads" since they were
> controlled by the Ulch Huns in the 5th-6th cs.) Brezeanu's
> article may have interesting contributions as to other
> things, but I believe that he is off the mark entirely with
> respect to the geographical issue.******

So what city would you propose for Constantine's Aspron?!

Regards,
Marius Iacomi