Berge or Berga ( grc, Βέργη or Βέργα) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

The Greek Settlements in Thrace Until the Macedonian Conques
page 57
by Benjamin H. Isaac (1986) town of

ancient Macedonia Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...

, in what is now the Serres regional unit in northern Greece. The town was located inland from the mouth of the Strymon, in the region of

Bisaltia Bisaltia ( el, Βισαλτία) or Bisaltica was an ancient country which was bordered by Sintice on the north, Crestonia on the west, Mygdonia on the south and was separated by Odomantis on the north-east and Edonis on the south-east by river ...

, north-west of

Amphipolis Amphipolis ( ell, Αμφίπολη, translit=Amfipoli; grc, Ἀμφίπολις, translit=Amphipolis) is a municipality in the Serres regional unit, Macedonia, Greece. The seat of the municipality is Rodolivos. It was an important ancient Gr ...

, and was founded by

Thasians Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate re ...

as a dependent colony and emporion sometime in the 5th century BCE. The town was a member of the

Delian League The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pla ...

, and according to N. G. L. Hammond was colonized by 1000

Athenians Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

. Later sources call it a ''

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

'', but according to

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

it was a village of the Bisaltae and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

writes that it was in the territory of the

Odomanti Odomanti or Odomantes ( grc, Ὀδόμαντες) were an ancient tribe. Some regard it as Paeonian, while others claim, that the tribe was with certainty Thracian. The Odomanti are noted by Herodotus, Thucydides, Stephanus of Byzantium and Plin ...

. Berge was a rich city and that minted her own coins from 476 to 356 BCE depicting

Silenus In Greek mythology, Silenus (; grc, Σειληνός, Seilēnós, ) was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue ('' thiasos''), and sometimes considerably older, in which ...

with a

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

or Silenus or a carp fish or square crisscross in form of

swastikas The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

and had the following words inscribed, (ΒΕΡΓ) or (ΒΕΡΓΑΙ) or (ΒΕΡΓΑΙΟΥ). Berge began to lose its importance after the foundation of

, it continued however being a self-sufficient city in

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times. It was the homeland of

Antiphanes of Berge Antiphanes of Berge (or Antiphanes the Younger, grc, Ἀντιφάνης ὁ Βεργαῖος, 4th century BC) was a Greek writer of the book ''Ἄπιστα'' (Apista; "Unbelievable Things"), and was born in Berge, a town in ancient Macedonia ne ...

(4th century BCE), writer of the book ''Apista'' (Unbelievable Stories), from which the verb ''bergaḯzein'' ( el, βεργαΐζειν) was created to denote someone telling incredible stories. Its site is located about 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of modern

Nigrita Nigrita ( el, Νιγρίτα) is a town and a former municipality in the Serres regional unit, Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Visaltia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The ...

References

{{coord, 40.910982, N, 23.508247, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/32307 Athenian colonies Serres (regional unit) Greek colonies in East Macedonia Colonies of classical Greece Populated places in ancient Macedonia Former populated places in Greece Thasian colonies Members of the Delian League

See also

References