ByzantinoslavicaRevue internationale des études byzantines

Datum publikování: 2024

Autor: Wieczorek, Marcin

Abstrakt: The article reviews research related to the location of the city of Mocheresis, situated in Lazica (Colchis), and proposes its function and possible localization. There is also a region with the same name, and ancient historians often did not distinguish between the city and the region, which significantly hinders the location of the former. Moreover, references to both toponyms are mostly laconic. The first part of the article is an overview of the sources and proposals for situating the toponym and the difficulties faced by researchers of the geography of the southwestern Caucasus in Late Antiquity. The second part is an attempt to reconstruct the defensive system of Lazica and to limit the area in which the city of Mocheresis should be sought. Based on source data, I propose to consider Mocheresis as a component of this system. The city of Mocheresis was not a theater of military operations during the Persian-Roman war during the sixth century, therefore I point out that the possible location of the polis was the area in the north or north-east Mocheresis-region on the border with Persian Iberia, as indicated by the itinerary of St. Maximus the Confessor, and the insights of Procopius of Caesarea, Agathias Scholasticus, and Novella 28 of the Justinian Code. It could serve as a fortress securing valley on the border along with the other fortress Losorion and existed only in the sixth century A.D.

Rozsah stran: s. 41–56

Status recenzování: recenzovaný článek

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0