(Kαλλατίς) in the south, at about the same time when another group of Miletus
colonists established Tomis (Τo ´μις), located between the two, and which, in time,
became the most important Greek colony in the region, a kind of eternal city, where
the poet Ovidius lived and died in exile. The city is attested by the Byzantine
historian Kedrenos, under the name of Constantia, which it received from emperor
Constantius, son of Constantine the Great.
5
Although the province between the Danube and the Black Sea is not a continuation of Scythia, since the Danube Delta lies between them, however the Greeks
called it Mycra Scythia.
6 The preponderance of the Getae in Mycra Scythia is
supported by the presence the davas (“dava”, city in the language of the autochthonous population): Capidava, Sucidava, Zisudava, Muridava, Buteridava (P^ arvan
1912: 29; P^ arvan 1923: 112.). The Getae were the protagonists of the most
important events in the history of the province, and kept close contact with their
brothers, the Dacians, on the left bank of the Danube.
Its inhabitants passed through a difficult period, at the end of the third century
BC, when the Celts
7 invaded and settled in the southern plain zones of the province,
to be closer to the Roman Empire. There they set up the cities of Aliobrix, Arrubium
and Durostorum, which the Romans turned into administrative centers when they
took possession of Scythia Minor. Under the form Silistra, a Turkish adaptation of
the Slavic from Drsita, the toponym has been preserved until nowadays. It is the
name of a Bulgarian town, at the border that divides the former Scythia Minor
between Romania and Bulgaria.
A peaceful period followed that gave the people here a brief respite, which
allowed the Greek cities to flourish. Meanwhile, the Scythians, who had settled
among the Getae, had been partially assimilated by the latter. At the end of the first
century, a conflict began, which lasted for a while, between the Macedonians, in
alliance with the Bessi of southern Thrace, led by their king Lysimachus, and the
Getae, led by King Dromichaetes. Some of the cities were temporarily lost, yet they
were eventually restored to the Getae, through a brotherly peace treaty (Berciu and
Pippidi 1965: 132–136).
It was during this period that Burebista, “the first and the greatest of the Thracian
Kings”, master of the lands north and south of the Danube, united, under his rule, all
the Dacian and Getic tribes, and pushed the eastern border of his centralized state to
the Black Sea coast (Berciu and Pippidi 1965: 287). Unfortunately, in the year
5 See for details D. M. Pippidi, in (Berciu and Pippidi 1965, I:139 ff). The founding of the Pontic
cities in the Getic is part of a colonization process, which continued with the setting up of new
colonies in Crimea and on the Asian coast of the Azov Sea. During the rule of Emperor
Constantius II, Tomis became Constantia and Constantiana [391, 421, 445], an name it has
preserved until today.
6 The name of the province, under the form Mικρά Σκυθία, appears for the first time in Strabo’s’
Geografia, VII 4, 5 and 5.12.
7 The Celts are a branch if the Indo-Europeans, from the group kentum, who arrived in Central and
Western Europe a in the sixth – seventh centuries BC. They passed through Transylvania and
settled in the north of the Getic province, where they were utterly defeated by the Romans.
30
M. Petris ¸or
colonists established Tomis (Τo ´μις), located between the two, and which, in time,
became the most important Greek colony in the region, a kind of eternal city, where
the poet Ovidius lived and died in exile. The city is attested by the Byzantine
historian Kedrenos, under the name of Constantia, which it received from emperor
Constantius, son of Constantine the Great.
5
Although the province between the Danube and the Black Sea is not a continuation of Scythia, since the Danube Delta lies between them, however the Greeks
called it Mycra Scythia.
6 The preponderance of the Getae in Mycra Scythia is
supported by the presence the davas (“dava”, city in the language of the autochthonous population): Capidava, Sucidava, Zisudava, Muridava, Buteridava (P^ arvan
1912: 29; P^ arvan 1923: 112.). The Getae were the protagonists of the most
important events in the history of the province, and kept close contact with their
brothers, the Dacians, on the left bank of the Danube.
Its inhabitants passed through a difficult period, at the end of the third century
BC, when the Celts
7 invaded and settled in the southern plain zones of the province,
to be closer to the Roman Empire. There they set up the cities of Aliobrix, Arrubium
and Durostorum, which the Romans turned into administrative centers when they
took possession of Scythia Minor. Under the form Silistra, a Turkish adaptation of
the Slavic from Drsita, the toponym has been preserved until nowadays. It is the
name of a Bulgarian town, at the border that divides the former Scythia Minor
between Romania and Bulgaria.
A peaceful period followed that gave the people here a brief respite, which
allowed the Greek cities to flourish. Meanwhile, the Scythians, who had settled
among the Getae, had been partially assimilated by the latter. At the end of the first
century, a conflict began, which lasted for a while, between the Macedonians, in
alliance with the Bessi of southern Thrace, led by their king Lysimachus, and the
Getae, led by King Dromichaetes. Some of the cities were temporarily lost, yet they
were eventually restored to the Getae, through a brotherly peace treaty (Berciu and
Pippidi 1965: 132–136).
It was during this period that Burebista, “the first and the greatest of the Thracian
Kings”, master of the lands north and south of the Danube, united, under his rule, all
the Dacian and Getic tribes, and pushed the eastern border of his centralized state to
the Black Sea coast (Berciu and Pippidi 1965: 287). Unfortunately, in the year
5 See for details D. M. Pippidi, in (Berciu and Pippidi 1965, I:139 ff). The founding of the Pontic
cities in the Getic is part of a colonization process, which continued with the setting up of new
colonies in Crimea and on the Asian coast of the Azov Sea. During the rule of Emperor
Constantius II, Tomis became Constantia and Constantiana [391, 421, 445], an name it has
preserved until today.
6 The name of the province, under the form Mικρά Σκυθία, appears for the first time in Strabo’s’
Geografia, VII 4, 5 and 5.12.
7 The Celts are a branch if the Indo-Europeans, from the group kentum, who arrived in Central and
Western Europe a in the sixth – seventh centuries BC. They passed through Transylvania and
settled in the north of the Getic province, where they were utterly defeated by the Romans.
30
M. Petris ¸or