Aizis (Aixis, Aixim, Airzis, Azizis, Azisis, Aizisis, Alzisis, Aigis, Aigizidava[*], Zizis, ) was a Dacian town mentioned by Emperor Trajan in his work Dacica. Located at Dealul Ruieni, Fârliug, Caraș-Severin, Banat, Romania.
One sentence surviving from Dacica, in the Latin grammar work of Priscian, , says: inde Berzobim, deinde Aizi processimus, meaning We then advanced to Berzobim, next to Aizi.Exploratio: Military and Political Intelligence in the Roman World from the Second Punic War to the Battle of Adrianople by N. J. E. Austin, N. B. Rankov Routledge, 1995, , The phrase describes the initial itinerary march into Dacia by the Roman army. After the Roman conquest of Dacia, the Aizis fort was built there.
It is also depicted in the Tabula Peutingeriana, as Azizis, on a Roman road network, between Bersovia and Caput Bubali.
Etymology The place name Aizizi, located in the South West of Dacia has a root / radical containing the Bactrian "ait", Armenian "iz" 'snake' or better the Bactrian "azi" Armenian "ajts" 'goat'."Les restes de la langue dace" by W. Tomaschek (Gratz University) in "Le Muséon (Revue Internationale Volume 2)", Louvain, 1883 (page 402) The Romanian historian and archaeologist Vasile Pârvan also gives the meaning 'goat'.
This Dacian name (mentioned also by Ptolemy as ) confirms the Dacian language change from Proto-Indo-European *g to z: Αίζισίς (Ptolemy) < *aig-is(yo) – '(place) with goats' (Greek αίζ, αίγός goat)E.C. Polome "Chapter 20e Balkan Languages (Illyrian, Thracian and Daco-Moesian)" in The Cambridge Ancient History, edited by John Boardman, 2nd Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, The Prehistory of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries BC, , page 887
See also Roman Dacia Trajan Dacica List of ancient cities in Thrace and Dacia
Notes
References
Ancient
Modern
External links
Monografia localității Fârliug by Pr. Cristian Franț