BELBINA (Βέλβινα, ἡ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Small island POLIS south of Attica, between the CYCLADES and the Saronic Gulf (BA 57 B4), modern Agios Georgios. Herodotus uses only the ethnic, Belbinitis (8.125.2). After the Battle of SALAMIS, the Athenian TIMODEMUS insists that THEMISTOCLES has been greatly honored by SPARTA because of ATHENS, collectively, rather than his own merits. Themistocles finally remarks that “If I were from Belbina, I would not have been so honored; but neither would you, even though you are Athenian.” The tiny polis is thus used to refer to the “boondocks” (in casual American parlance). Plato relates the same story, but with Belbina replaced by SERIPHOS (Resp. 329e–330a). Belbina was a member of the DELIAN LEAGUE, appearing in the assessment decree of 425/4 BCE (IG I3 71.I.88).
SEE ALSO: Honor; Insults; Islands; Jealousy
FURTHER READING
IACP no. 359 (622).
BELUS (Βῆλος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Belus appears in the Histories in two forms. One is a god at BABYLON, “ZEUS Belus,” that is, Marduk (Akk. Belu, Phoenician Ba‘al/Bêl = “Lord”), patron deity of the city (1.181.2; cf. 3.158, Gates of Cissia and Belus). Herodotus admiringly describes the Temple of “Zeus Belus,” Esagila, atop the massive ziggurat or Etemenanki; he also notes RITUALS associated with the god’s worship, including the new‐year FESTIVAL (1.181–83; Asheri in ALC, 201–3).
The name Belus also occurs as a patronymic in the mythological GENEALOGIES of the Heraclid Lydian kings (1.7.2, father of NINUS) and of the Persians (7.61.3, grandfather of ANDROMEDA). Elsewhere in Greek MYTH (Gantz, EGM 200–11), Belus similarly serves to link EUROPE with Africa and ASIA, e.g., a descendent of IO and grandfather of Aegyptus, or the father or grandfather of Phoenix (PHOENICIANS).
SEE ALSO: Chaldeans; Cissians; Heracleidae; Religion, Herodotus’ views on
FURTHER READING
1 Allinger‐Csollich, Wilfrid. 2011. “Die Ziqqurrat von Babylon nach dem archäologischen Befund: Auch ein Beitrag zu Herodots Babylonischem Logos.” In Herodot und das Persische Weltreich—Herodotus and the Persian Empire, edited by Robert Rollinger, Brigitte Truschnegg, and Reinhold Bichler, 531–56. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
2 Oshima, Takayoshi. 2007. “The Babylonian God Marduk.” In The Babylonian World, edited by Gwendolyn Leick, 348–60. New York and London: Routledge.
BERMIUM (Mount) (Βέρμιον ὄρος)
ANGELA ZAUTCKE
University of Notre Dame
Mountain range in MACEDONIA (BA 50 A3; Müller I, 252–55). As Herodotus relates the story of how the Temenids came to rule Macedonia, he mentions Mt. Bermium in his description of the gardens of MIDAS, noting that it is “inaccessible due to the cold” (8.138.3). STRABO reports previous authors’ claims that the source of Midas’ WEALTH was said to be mines around Mt. Bermium (14.5.28/C680, perhaps ultimately from Callisthenes: BNJ 124 F54). The mountain range, known now as the Vermio Mountains in northern Greece, in antiquity separated upper Macedon from the lower Macedonian plain.
SEE ALSO: Mining; Perdiccas; Temenus, Temenids
FURTHER READING
1 Fredricksmeyer, E. A. 1961. “Alexander, Midas, and the Oracle at Gordium.” CPh 56.3: 160–68.
BESSANS (Βησσοί, οἱ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
The Bessans serve as priests at an oracle of DIONYSUS in the territory of the SATRAE, a fierce, mountain‐dwelling Thracian tribe. The sanctuary may be that found at Perperikon in the eastern RHODOPE Mountains. Herodotus notes that the prophetess delivers her ORACLES in the same fashion as the one at DELPHI (7.111.2). By Roman times, the Bessans fully controlled the sanctuary, but they were stripped of it during the reign of Augustus (Graninger 2015, 26–27). STRABO (7.5.12/C318) refers to the Bessans in unflattering terms; like other Thracian tribes they were noted for their height (Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.231, immanes Bessi; Sears 2013, 256–57). If the text of Pliny the Elder is correct in referring to the “Diobessi” (HN 4.40), the Bessans may have been related to the Dians who, while serving as Athenian ALLIES during the PELOPONNESIAN WAR, brutally attacked the city of Mycalessus (Thuc. 7.29–30).
SEE ALSO: Priests and Priestesses; Thrace
REFERENCES
1 Graninger, Denver. 2015. “Ethnicity and Ethne.” In A Companion to Ancient Thrace, edited by Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, and Denver Graninger, 22–32. Malden, MA: Wiley‐Blackwell.
2 Sears, Matthew A. 2013. Athens, Thrace, and the Shaping of Athenian Leadership. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
BETRAYAL, see TREACHERY
BIAS (Βίας, ὁ) brother of Melampus
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Mythical figure, son of AMYTHAON. Bias is known only in association with his more prominent brother, MELAMPUS. Herodotus mentions Bias when recounting one of Melampus’ exploits, obtaining a share of the kingship at ARGOS (for himself and Bias) in exchange for curing the city’s women of MADNESS (9.34). Bias’ son TALAUS succeeded to the kingship at Argos.
SEE ALSO: Myth; Teisamenus son of Antiochus
FURTHER READING
1 Fowler, Robert L. 2013. Early Greek Mythography. Vol. 2, Commentary, 164–78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gantz, EGM, 186–88.
BIAS (Βίας, ὁ) of Priene
HELMUT G. LOEFFLER
City University of New York–Queensborough
Bias of PRIENE, son of Teutames, core member (with THALES, PITTACUS, SOLON) of the SEVEN SAGES (Pl. Prt. 343a; Diog. Laert. 1.40–42, 82–88). It is likely that legal decisions of Bias were passed down, leading to him being regarded as an example of a just and sagacious judge equipped with
