Surviving Toponyms: Procopius’ Early Byzantine Fortress Βριγίζης

N. Iorga, alongside C. Litzica and D. Russo, through their earliest studies on Procopius, were among the most deserving for the evaluation of different approaches, segments, and perspectives of Byzantine Studies at the beginning of the 20th century. Since our research interest is closely related to the detailed philological study of toponyms in the panegyric De aedificiis – a segment within Byzantine Studies that has been insufficiently researched – we intend to contribute to the congress theme by presenting one of the fort names in the Macedonian list in Procopius’ work. To be precise, it is the name of the fortress recorded as Βριγίζης, the eighth in a row in Book IV, in the list entitled Ἐπὶ Μακεδονίας. In the presentation, we will consider the etymology of the name of the fort as well as its most likely localization. Thereby we want to contribute to a somewhat neglected field, that is, the study of Procopius’ philology, which is a very vital testimony of the linguistic reality in the 6th century AD. And as the information we find about the fort name in ancient and medieval sources is very scarce, we will also consider the opinions and results of researchers who directly or indirectly dealt with the fort name in order to give accurate and reliable information about its linguistic origin and location. Since toponomastics itself is interdisciplinary, layered, and comprehensive, we truly believe that the contribution will be productive and will fit well into the “Byzantium beyond Byzantium” thematic scope of the congress.