Mariandyni

MARIANDY´NI(Μαριανδυνοί, Μαριανδηνοί, or Μαρυανδυνοί), an ancient and celebrated tribe in the north-east of Bithynia, between the rivers Sangarius and Billaeus, on the east of the tribe called Thyni or Bithyni. (Scylax, p. 34; Plin. Nat. 6.1.) According to Scylax, they did not extend as far west as the Sangarius, for according to him the river Hypius formed the boundary between the Bithyni and Mariandyni. Strabo (7. p. 295) expresses a belief that the Mariandyni were a branch of the Bithynians, a belief to which he was probably led by the resemblance between their names, and which cannot be well reconciled with the statement of Herodotus (Hdt. 3.90), who clearly distinguishes the Mariandyni from the Thracians or Thyni in Asia. In the Persian army, also, they appear quite separated from the Bithyni, and their armour resembles that of the Paphlagonians, which was quite different from that of the Bithyni. (Hdt. 7.72, 75; comp. Strab. 7. p. 345, 12. p. 542.) The chief city in their territory was Heraclea Pontica, the inhabitants of which reduced the Mariandyni, for a time, to a state of servitude resembling that of the Cretan Mnoae, or the Thessalian Penestae. To what race they belonged is uncertain, though if their Thracian origin be given up, it must probably be admitted that they were akin to the Paphlagonians. In the division of the Persian empire they formed part of the third Persian satrapy. Their country was called Mariandynia (Μαριανδυνία, Steph. B. s. v.), and Pliny speaks of a Sinus Mariandynus on their coast. (Comp. Hecat. Fragm. 201; Aeschyl. Pers. 932; Xen. Anab. vi, 4.4, Cyrop. i. 1.4; Ptol. 5.1.11; Scymn. Fragm. 199; Dionys. Perieg. 788; Mela, 1.19; Athen. 14. p. 620; Apollon. Argon. 2.724; Constant. Porph. Them. 1.7.)
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