Özet:

After the arrival of the Galatians in central Anatolia, Phrygian cities such as Gordion and Ankyra continued to exist, but the little interest the new rulers took in them became apparent when those cities were not re-founded after the Romans had sacked them in 189 BC. Neither his­torio­graphic nor geographical sources provide any evidence for a city built by the Galatians, and the lack of archaeological remains appears to concur with this negative assessment. The same even seems to hold true for King Deiotaros, although he was most closely connected with Roman sena­tors, occasionally acted as a benefactor in the Greek world, and effectively succeeded to the throne of Pontus: so as a (late) Hellenistic king some interest in constructing, fostering or at least dynastic naming of cities would fit his role well. But only one isolated reference in Plutarch's Life of Crassus (17.1) credits the king with the foundation of a city (54 BC). However, so far it has been impos­sible to identify any Galatian site with this city. It is therefore suggested that we might have to look for it in Armenia Minor near the Euphrates, for there was a settlement with the Celtic name Sin­toion which Stephanos of Byzantion explicitly attests as a Galatian foundation. Even more interest­ing is the case of Synhorion, originally a frontier fort established by Mithradates VI Eupator: in all like­li­hood, this was renamed or rather reinterpreted as Sinorix Phrourion (App. Mithr. 101.463; 107.503) or *Sinorigia by Deiotaros, son of Sinorix, which yielded the later form Sinoria (Strab. geogr. 12.3.37). Here the dynastic naming pattern – so widespread among Hellenistic kings, and so often applied by Mithradates – is manifest. One may thus go on and venture the hypothesis that this was also the city Deiotaros was building when Crassus came along on his ill-fated Parthian cam­paign.

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