The Bebryces () 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,[Strabo, 7.3.2.] although modern scholars have rather argued for a Celtic origin.
Name
Classical linguists considered the name of Bebryces related to the thracian tribe
Bryges, which was later renamed to
Phrygians (Phrygians),
[ Strabo, Geography § 7.3.2][ Pliny the Elder, The Natural History § 5.41] based on the geographic proximity, as well as the migration route of the Phrygians known from ancient myths.
[ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PACATIANA, PHRY´GIA][ Bithyni / Bryges / Bebryces Thracian Tribe — Phrygians (jan 2, 3000 BC — jan 1, 690 BC) (Timeline)]
B. Sergent suggests that the name Bebryces could be related to the Celtic tribes Bebruces, living in the Pyrenees, and Briboci, dwelling in Britain, all ultimately stemming from Proto-Celtic *brebu ('beaver'; see Gaulish language bebros, bebrus, Old Irish Bibar, 'beaver'). Ivan Duridanov also suggested that the ethnonym was related to Indo-European words meaning "beaver".
The same word denotes beaver in Slavic languages (* bebrus in Proto-Balto-Slavic, bober in Slovene language, bobar in Bulgarian, bobr in Russian language).
History
According to legend they were defeated by
Heracles or the
Dioscuri,
[Apollonius of Rhodes] who killed their king, Mygdon or
Amykos.
[ Their land was then given to King Lycus of the , who built the city Heraclea Pontica 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 Ancient Libya and Arabia (Apollodorus). Bebryx was also the father of Pyrene.
]
Notes
