HUXLEY, GEORGE, Baanes the Notary on 'Old Edessa' , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:3 (1983:Autumn) p.253 Baanes the Notary on 'Old Edessa' George Huxley I N HIS Epitoma of the Historiae Philippicae of Pompeius Trogus, Justin gives an account of the founding of Aigeai in Macedonia by Karanos: sed et Caranus cum magna multitudine Graecorum sedes in Macedonia responso oraculi iussus quaerere, cum Emathiam venisset, urbem Edes­ sam non sentientibus oppidanis propter imbrium et nebulae magnitu­ dinem gregem caprarum imbrem fugientium secutus occupavit; revoca­ tusque in memoriam oraculi, quo iussus erat ducibus capris imperium quaerere, regni sedem statuit; religioseque postea observavit, quocumque agmen moveret, ante signa easdem capras habere, coeptorum duces habiturus, quas regni habuerat auctores. urbem Edessam ob memoriam muneris Aegaeas, populum Aegeadas [Argeadas Abel, Ruehl] vocavit. pulso deinde Mida (nam is quoque portionem Macedoniae tenuit) aliis­ que regibus pulsis in locum omnium solus success it primusque adunatis gentibus variorum populo rum veluti unum corpus Macedoniae fecit, cres­ centique regno valida incrementorum fundamenta constituit. I Professor N. G. L. Hammond has commented upon the passage in connexion with the Macedonian foundation oracles and with the distinction between Edessa (Vodena, Bo8€JJ&) and Aigeai: "Only one author says that a city Edessa was renamed 'Aegeae': Justin 7.1.7, 'Caranus . . . urbem Edessam ... Aegeas, populum Aegeadas voca­ vit'. He is talking of the legendary founder of the royal house, Cara­ nus, capturing his first city and changing its name to 'Aegeae'; it is this origin which involves mention of a long-forgotten name from the distant past, 'Edessa'. It is erroneous to suppose that this Edessa of the dim past had anything to do with the famous fourth-century city Edessa, situated in its strategic position at Vodena. Neither Justin nor any other ancient author suggests that this was SO."2 Similarly Profes­ sor Georges Daux has written with regard to the difference between Aigeai and Edessa-Vodena, "L'unique responsable de cette erreur [qu' Aegeai est un autre nom d'Edessa] n'est autre que l'historien romain Justin ... "3 I Just. 7.1.7-12 (pp.70.24-71.15 See!). 2 A His/ory of Macedonia I (Oxford 1972) 156. 3 CRA/1977, 621. 253 HUXLEY, GEORGE, Baanes the Notary on 'Old Edessa' , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:3 (1983:Autumn) p.253 254 BAANES THE NOTARY ON 'OLD EDESSA' For the purpose of the present paper there is no need to rehearse the evidence showing that Aigeai is distinct from Edessa-Vodena; 4 nor do I wish here to discuss Hammond's proposal5 to identify Aigeai with the site at Palatitsa-the excavations conducted by Professor Andronikos in the royal cemetery at Vergina nearby have brought strong support to the identification. My purpose is more limited: to explain that Justin (or rather Trogus) is not the only ancient author to have stated the earlier name of Aigeai to have been Edessa. That Aigeai in Macedonia was formerly called Edessa is also stated in the scholia to the Protreptikos of Clement of Alexandria. In his comment upon the words al'YE~ E1rt /-UXVTtKT,V i,UK"fIJ,LEVat (Protr. 2.1 1), Baanes the Notarios of Arethas, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, wrote:6 al'YE~] Kapav~ T~ nOulV(JO~ v~ E~ "Ap'Yo~ J,LEAAOVTt a1rOL- , '\. \. " M ~, 'A \. A.r. ' '\.(J , " KtaV UTEI\J\.EtV E1rl. aKEuOvtaV Et~ LlE"'o/"'V~ E", OVTt E)(p"flUEV o 1\ IT()AA.w v cppa'EO, 8LE Kapave, vocp 8' E,."DV EV(JEO #-,v(Jov' , \.'''A ' 'E\. \. ,~ \. \. ' EK1rPO",I.1rWV P'Y0~ TE Kal. l\J\.aua Kal\J\.I.')IVval.Ka , , "A\. ' "(J ~," ... XWPEt 1rpO~ 1r"fI'Ya~ ",taK#-'OVO~' EV a u av at'Ya~ f30UKOJ,LEVa~ EUi8Y1~ TrpWTOV, TOTE TOL )(PEWV EUTtV 5 '''fIAWTOV vaiel.v aUTov 'YEvEav TE 1rp01rauav. EK 8T, TOV )(P"flu#-'Ov 1rpO(JV~TEPO~ "IE VO#-'E VO~ < 0 > Kapa VO~, , pvyWV Kat AvSWv Kat TWV #-'ETa Mi80v 8w.KOf..Uu(JevTwv Ei~ TT,V Evpw- 1r"fIV. TavTa Evcf>opLwV iUTOPEL EV trfi 'IUT0t Kat T~ 'IvaXcp. 4: TOTE: TOfh Meineke <0> Wilamowitz Aiyck aiya~ MSS. 'Iunauu Meineke, 'Iunuuu 71 'IvaxwL Bergk (the Histiaia they had in mind was the Homeric commentator) 4 Aigeai and Edessa-Vodena are still identified in Kleine Pauly 2 (I 967) 197 s. v. "Edessa." But already ad /G IV 617.15 there is the note " ... Aiyoi, quam urbem auctores quidam ab Edessa distinguunt (Fouc.)." The identification was also questioned by Ph. Papazoglou, Makedonski Gradovi u Rimsko Doba (Skopje 1957); I know of the book from M. Andronikos, "The Royal Tombs at Aigai (Vergina), " in M. B. Hatzo­ poulos and L. D. Loukopoulos, edd., Philip of Macedon (Athens 1980) 188 and 247 n.l, and from Daux (supra n.3) 622-23; see also G. Daux, REG 91 (978) xix. 5 Hammond (supra n.2) 157-58. 6 Schol. Clem. AI. Protr. p.300.12-26 Stahlin. Concerning Baanes' literary activity see Otto Stiihlin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus I (Leipzig 1905) xviii-xix. The name Baanes is of Armenian origin (Vahan); compare Baanes the Paulician leader discussed by P. Lemerle, Essais sur Ie monde byzantin (London 1980) IV.69-70. , HUXLEY, GEORGE, Baanes the Notary on 'Old Edessa' , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:3 (1983:Autumn) p.253 GEORGE HUXLEY 255 The passage quoted from Baanes appears as Euphorion fr.xxiv in A. Meineke, Ana/ecta Alexandrina (Berlin 1843) 59-60; Euphorion fr.30 Scheidweiler (p.36); and Euphorion fr.32 in J. U. Powell, Collectanea Alexandrina (Oxford 1925) 36. Hammond discusses the verse oracle in the scholium but does not mention the connexion of the story with Euphorion: the omission is perhaps due to the fact that Parke and W ormell quote only the verses.7 Thus the story that Aigeai was formerly called Edessa can be taken back far earlier than Trogus-Justin-to Euphorion. The notion of a Phrygian invasion into Macedonia from Asia Minor may well be an invention of the early Hellenistic period; it is also found in Lyko­ phron (Alex. 1397-1408). It is possible therefore that the tale of a change of name from Edessa to Aigeai is an invention of Euphorion. Such an innovation would be characteristic of him. Jacoby, however, suggested (ad FGrHist 115F393) that the common source for the Karanos tale in Trogus-Justin and Euphorion-Baanes was Theopom­ pos. The suggestion is strengthened by the fact that Theopompos treated the story of the Phrygian Midas and Silenos (FF74, 75); that was set in the neighbourhood of Mount Bermion in Macedonia (Hdt. 8.138.3), and so not far from the streams of Haliakmon to which Karanos came according to the oracle in Euphorion-Baanes. It is necessary to emphasize, however, that there is no reason to ascribe to Theopompos the historically dubious notion of Phrygian immigra­ tion from Asia to Macedonia such as is found in Euphorion and Lykophron. What Euphorion and Trogus took from Theopompos was the tale of Karanos settling at Aigeai, after the goats had led him there, in accordance with an oracle. The folk-etymological connexion between goats and the name of Aigeai can be traced much earlier than Theopompos. Silver coins of the early fifth century conjecturally attributed to Aigeai show the goat (Head HN2 198[), and in Herodotos' delightful version of the Mace­ donian foundation-legend Perdikkes, youngest of the three brothers and founder of the kingdom, is put in charge of Tn AE1TTa TWll 1TpO­ /3(hwll (8.137.2 and 139). Euripides also made use of the story of the goats in his Archelaos (p.ll Austin). The versions of Euphorion-Baa­ nes and Trogus-J ustin share the goat -oracle also; it is a likely, if not quite certain, inference that it came to them by way of Theopompos. Also shared by Euphorion and Justin is the statement that the former name of Aigeai was Edessa. The alleged toponym is best given as 'Old Edessa' to distinguish it from Edessa-Vodena; 'Old 7 Hammond (supra n.2) 8-9~ H. W. Parke and D. E. W. Wormell, The Delphic Or­ ac/e2 II (Oxford 1956) no. 225. HUXLEY, GEORGE, Baanes the Notary on 'Old Edessa' , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:3 (1983:Autumn) p.253 256 BAANES THE NOTARY ON 'OLD EDESSA' Edessa'-Aigeai lay near the lower Haliakmon, but Edessa-Vodena is to the northeast of Mount Bermion. When the immigrant Slavs in late antiquity called Vodena 'Watertown', they had in mind the river flowing by it. It is a coincidence that in antiquity the toponym Edessa was also believed to mean 'Watertown': the incoming Slavs cannot have been aware of that recondite fact-they were simply using their eyes when they gave Vodena its name.8 The witness for the ancient interpreta­ tion of 'Edessa' as 'Watertown' is Stephanos of Byzantion s. v. "E8EU­ ua: 11'OALS' I. vp iaS'. 8w T~V Teov v&hwv pVJ.I:rw OVTW KA-q8Ec'ua. a7To TI1S' EV MaKE8ov~ (260.20f Meineke). Paul Kretschmer had the ancient interpretation in mind when, following Tomaschek, he made the-not quite certain -connexion of "E8Euua with Phrygian Fe8v 'water'.9 The Phrygian link gains plausibility from the fact that Midas was associated in legend with the neighbourhood of Mount Bermion, but caution is needed: Neanthes of Kyzikos wrote that /3e8v, a word used by Mace­ donian priests, was said to mean ar,p (FGrHist 84F36). /3e8v, how­ ever, is explicitly stated to mean 'water', 10 and it is clear from Stepha­ nos that "E8Euua was thought to mean 'Watertown' or 'Rivertown'. In Justin there is also a connexion of the name of 'Old Edessa' (AigeaD with water. The goats lead Karanos through mist and a downpour: urbem Edessam non sentientibus oppidanis propter imbrium et nebulae magnitudinem gregem caprarum imbrem !ugientium secutus occu­ pavit (7.1.7). The goats and the deluge neatly combine in the oracular portent the old and the new names of the place. Thus Justin, fol­ lowing Trogus, linked the name of 'Old Edessa' with water. Baanes in his scholium to Clement shows that Euphorion mentioned 'Old Edes­ sa'~ the scholium gives no sign that he connected the name with water,l1 but he did link it with Phrygians. If 'Old Edessa' were attested only by Justin, then it could perhaps be dismissed as a mythographic fiction; but we have traced it back as far as Euphorion, and there is a possiblity that it was mentioned even earlier than Euphorion, by Theopompos, as the previous name of Aigeai. Here we shall neither enquire why there were two places called 8 See Daux (supra n.3) 622. 9 P. Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache2 (Gottingen 1896) 286. 10 Kern Orph. Frag. 219. /3f.fJv is also found in the alphabetical ritual formula recited by the Branchidai at Didyma and mentioned by Kallimachos fr.194.28- 31 Pfeiffer. The formula begins /3f.fJv, ~&1/1, xOW/-L, 7TA.7JKTPOII, (]'q;.:y~ (Clem. AI. Strom. 5.8.48.5 [II 359.6 Stahlin]). 11 /3f.fJv is found next to ,&1/1 in the ritual formula of the Branchidai (supra n.lO), and Euphorion used the word ~at/J (fr.3 Scheidweiler); but it does not follow that /3f.fJv also belonged to Euphorion's vocabulary. HUXLEY, GEORGE, Baanes the Notary on 'Old Edessa' , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:3 (1983:Autumn) p.253 GEORGE HUXLEY 257 Edessa in Macedonia nor ask whether there was a connexion between them.12 Roman imperial copper coins of Edessa-Vodena dated to the times of Julia Domna, Caracalla, and Julia Paula show a goat on the reverses~ 13 but there the animal appears as a traditional Macedonian symbol and no special link between Edessa-Vodena and Aigeai is being asserted. Justin states that Perdikkas reigned after Karanos. At the end of his life Perdikkas gave instructions concerning his burial (7.2.2-4): Siquidem senex moriens Argeo filio monstravit locum, quo condi velle/; ibique non sua tantum, sed et succedentium sibi in regnum ossa poni iussit, prae/atus, quoad ibi conditae posterorum reliquiae /orent, regnum in familia mansurum; creduntque hac superstitione extinctam in Alex­ andro stirpem, quia locum sepulturae mutaverit. The Epitoma does not make clear exactly where the royal cemetery was to be, but there is nothing in the text to suggest that it was elsewhere than at 'Old Edessa'-Aigeai. The passage has a bearing upon the spectacular excavations of Professor Andronikos at Vergina and raises the hope that royal tombs of the Archaic period may yet be found there. But it is not only Justin who informs us that the early Macedonian kings reigned at the place formerly called Edessa: thanks to Baanes the Notary of the learned Arethas we learn that Euphorion had, long before Trogus, connected the position of 'Old Edessa' with the establishment of the Macedonian monarchy.14 THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, BELFAST April, 1983 12 Note however Daux's hypothesis that "une partie de la population se serait de pla­ cee au moment de la conquete de Caranos; I'Edessa que nous connaissons resulterait de cette migration, de ce transfert-voluntaire ou non-de popUlation" (supra n.3: 625). The words quoted require slight modification in so far as Karanos is a secondary grafting on to the Macedonian royal line. In Herodotos (8.139) the founder of the kingdom is Perdikkes, and Thucydides (2.100.2) does not disagree with him. The late arrival of Karanos in the Macedonian royal pedigree is discussed by Hammond (supra n.2) 11-14. Cl also R. Drews, Basileus (New Haven/London 1983) 67-69, on Theo­ pompos F393. Ridgeway's identification of the name of ravav'Y/~' one of the three brothers in Hdt. 8.137.1, with that of Karanos is extremely doubtful (CQ 20 [1926] 5). 13 Head, BMC Macedonia (London 1879) 39f. J4 Baanes also mentions Karanos at schol. Clem. AI. Prolr. pJOO.lOf Stahlin, immedi­ ately before the Euphorion fragment: n:paToa"K(17TOv~l Kapav6~ Tt~ 'Apyiio~ brt OXr,p.a­ TO~ aiywv KaTu XP'Y/CIJ.J)lJ Eis MaKEBoviav J.LET~Kiu(}'Y/. But this looks more like an un­ usual tale found by Baanes' source than a feature of the Karanos story according to Euphorion. Concerning the source Stahlin wrote (I xxiii): "Baanes hat die von ihm ge­ schriebenen Scholien der Vorlage entnommen. Ihr Verfasser war ein christlicher Gram­ matiker etwa des 5. lahrhunderts, dem es vor aHem darauf ankam, seltene Ausdriicke zu glossieren oder zu Namen der Mythoiogie und Sage die betr. Geschichten zu erzahien."