A History of Macedonia: Historical geography and prehistory [1] 0198142943, 9780198142942

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-11 ,,

A HISTORY

OF

MACEDONIA VOLUME

I

Historicalgeographyandprehistory

N. G. L. HAMMOND D.S.O., D.L., M.A., F.B.A. Officerof the Royal Hellenic Order of the Phoenix Professorof Greekin the Universiryof Bristol formerly Headmasterof Clifton College and Fellow a11dTutor of Clare College Cambridge

OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON 1972

PRESS

·-=·-11

OxfordUniversityPress,Ely House,LondonW. r GLASGOW CAPE TOWN DELHI

NEW YORK

IBADA.N

BOMBAY

TORONTO

NAIROBI

CALCUTTA

KUALA LUMPUR

MELBOURNE

DAR l!.S BALAAM MADRAS

SINGAPORE

WELLINGTON

LUSAKA

KARACHI HONG KONO

ADDIS ABABA

LAHORE

DACCA

TOKYO

© Oxford UniversityPress 1972 TO

FRANK

Printedin GreatBritain at the UniversityPress, Oxford by Vivian Ridler Printerto the University

EZRA ADCOCK

'I

PREFACE

I

w As still working on my book Epiruswhen the Clarendon Press invited me to undertake a history of Macedonia. It was clear to me that such a history was needed, and that if it was conceived on the same scale as my work on Epirus it would require two or three volumes. The project became feasible when G. T. Griffith kindly agreed to collaborate with me, and it received the blessing of Sir Frank Adcock, of whom we are both proud to have been pupils and friends. We express our gratitude to him for his continuous support and interest in our work by dedicating The History of Macedoniato his memory. In the first part of this volume the foundation of historical geography is laid. The accounts of the early travellers have been very valuable-especially those ofHeuzey, von Hahn, Delacoulonche, Leake, and Struck -and I have gained much from the work of C. F. Edson, F. Papazoglou, and D. Kanatsoulis. But in the long run autopsy counts for most. In December 1929 I was introduced to Macedonia by ,i\'alter Heurtley, then the leading authority on the region and a great walker. He began by taking T. C. Skeat and me up the great Haliacmon gorge from below V erria to Servia, the site of one of his excavations. We went later to Armenokhori and then worked in Salonica on prehistoric pottery from that site and from other sites. In 1930 I visited Kavalla, Philippi, and some places in eastern Thrace. In the course of my work in Epirus I crossed the Pindus range by more than one route and came down to Grevena. I walked from Konitsa via Slatina to Hrupista (Argos Orestikon) and Kastoria; and I crossed back from Florina over the Tsangon pass to Koritsa. I traversed parts of Western Macedonia at that time, and I went into Chalcidice to Poliyiros and Olynthus. In 1941 events took me through the British line in Macedonia as far as Florina and Kalliniki. In 1943 I lived for six winter weeks high up on Mt. Ossa, made a reconnaissance of the Tempe pass, traversed most of Lower Olympus, and moved through north-eastern Thessaly to Kalabaka. From May 1943 to January 1944 I was in charge of the Allied Military Mission in Macedonia, and I came to know very thoroughly and under primitive conditions Southern and Western Macedonia from the Pierian coast at the Haliacmon mouth and the Litokhoro-Katerini area as far inland as Kastoria and Ephtakhori. Voion I knew village by village, and all the high routes of north-eastern Pindus, the Cambunian mountains, and the northern Pierian mountains. In 1968 the British Academy generously gave me a research grant which enabled me to travel through Greek

·1

Preface

Preface

vm

M~cedonia as ~ar ea_stas Amphipolis and through Yugoslav Macedonia ~ a: as Ochnd, ~tsevo, and Pristina. I walked to some sites such as ~~~feovo, Trebemshte! Palatitsa, Palatianon, and Sut Burun. Thus my kn 1 jge 0 ~~~cedoma, though far less intimate and detailed than my of~~ ~-g: 0 . rrus a ndhsouthern Albania, seemed sufficient for a study IS onca geograp y of the region The prehistory of M d · · 1 · Heurtley and it ~ce olrua itse f owes most to Rey, Casson, and knowledg'e in his :Vas l ebulrtebywho organized and synthesized their bl" h d . mva ua e ook Prehist . M ,,/ . r 939. Heurtley concerned hi '. . orzc. aceuonz~,pu is e Ill of geography, and the settin r;:;elf little ~It~ htera:)' ev1de~ce, matte~s tories, and he omitted the gbr Macedo~ua m_rel~tion to adjacent temIron Age Macedo · H or:zes entirely m his treatment of Early ma. e was mdeed ·t · h . logical handbook of th wn mg a magm 6 cent arc aeoof the region Since r e ar~a, as it was then known, and not a prehistory Macedonia ;t V . 939 pt ellrehave been extensive excavations in Greek ergma e a Olynth d d . us, an ~any other sites, an m the adjacent territories ~f Alb' . ama, of Yugoslavia, and of northern Thessaly within Greece. The body of evidence has . d coordinated. Prendi at M liku~crease !mgely. It is almost entirely unYugoslavia and A d .ka m Albama, Grbic at Porodin in southern • ht have been 'excavaf n rom os at Vercnn i:,A am· Sout h ern Macedoma• rrug because their cone;~! ~n ~paratJ..1/VLKTJ •Ey1evKAO'TTatllda

The MediterraneanPilot IV 7 (London, 1941 ). D. M. Robinson, and others, Excavations at Olynthus (Baltimore, 1929-52) llpaKTLKtl.rijs ~ .:48,jvais J4pxaioAoy,tjs 'ETatpf.la,

F. Papazoglou, Makedonski Gradovi u rimsko Doba (Skopje, 1 957) W. A. Heurtley, PrehistoricMacedonia (Cambridge, 1939) Proceedingsof the PrehistoricSociety C. Praschniker, Mw:.akhia und Malakastra (Vienna, 1920) C. Praschniker and A. Schober, ArchiiologischeForschungen in Albanien und Montenegro(Vienna, 1919) A. J. B. Wace and M. S. Thompson, Prehistoric Thessaly (Cambridge, 1912)

RE REG Rey Riv. d. Alb. SA Schranil SEC Snodgrass, EGA Spomenik StH Struck I

XlX

Pauly-Wissowa, Reale11cyclopiidie Revuedes etudesgrecques L. Rey, 'Observations sur lcs premiers habitats de la Macedoine', in BCH 41-3 Rivista d'Albania 1-V (l\-1ilan, 1940-4) Studia Albanica (Tirana) Bohmensund Miihrens (Berlin, J. Schranil, Die Vorgeschichte 1928) SupplementumEpigraphicumGraecum A. M. Snodgrass, Early GreekArmour (Edinburgh, 1964) CpncKa aKa,ll.e~mp ttayKa cnoMeHHK(Belgrade) StudimeHistorike (Tirane) Fahrten I: Chalcidice', in Zur A Strue k , 'Makedonische i h (V" K;mdederBalkan Halbinsel,ReisermdBeobac trmgen4 ienna,

Struck II Tozer

1907) ' .. A. Struck, 'Makedonische Fahrten , ibid. no. 7 ( I 908) H. F. Tozer, Researchesin the Highlandsof Turkey (London,

Verdelis

8 • 8 a,\' 1869) N. I\1. Verdelis, '0 Ilpw-royewp,ii-rptKo,'Pv p,o, T'I/> f.ua ,a,

Vergi11a or V

I\1. An d rom"kos, BEPI'INA I • -ro vEKpo-ra,f,iiiovTWV TVµ.{3wi•

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(Athens, 1958)

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(Athens, 1969) . . . Denkschri'ien der kaiserlichenAkademreder . !I' ,,. von Hahn, Denkschriflen J. G. von H a hnm Wissenschaften,Philosoph.hzstor.Klasse . WissenschaftlicheAfitteilungenaus Bosnienund Hercegovzna

Ziva Antika •. •11be found in Casson, Macedonia,and in of earlier wntmgs WI . 1 . PM in the periodicals Mak., RE s.v. Makedonia, and of more r~cent ~a.ter;; ~n Fre~ch Index of PrehistoricSites f!USS, BUST, SA, ~tH, AI, and Stannar, J;at~al ·in the Universityof ~ssaloniki in Central Macedonia and Catalogueof She. h d. l"nu"ted number of copies for the •k pubhs e ma i (A I t_1ens, 1967), 52-5. The last woi • fi 1r t fsites with a map reference for each 1:Jniversity ofThessaloniki, has a very ~e undIB~ sical features, a note of visits to it, Site, a description of its topography, size a P Y and bibliographical references. BIBLIOGRAPHIES

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CH15 Copper CH16 Kasloria CH17 Avdhella CH18 Grevena Ver11a Goumenissa CH19 Kralovo CHZD Kilk1s CH21 Theodoraki G Meg.Panayia Gl Gomalio GZ Chrome t;) Skop1e G4 Skop1e GS P11lep G6 Kasloria G7 Flo11na Kozani 11 Flamouria 12 and Ma11na 13 Edessa 14 Naoussa IC Verria Orma Elalma IC Polidhendri IP PalaIiIsa

Kallipevki Salon,ca Sedhes Vasrhkos valli1y Vavdhos Ormyha N1g111a

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Lead Telovo Ochrid-Resen Kratovo Goumenissa ltte.adaraki '#-,, .... ,~ \.":. Stra1on1k1 K,lkis l6 Akhladhokhori L7 Stratoniki N1g11ta Molybdenum MO Akhladhokhori MDI P1olemaidha M02 Syra Iron MOJ Axioupolis Flo11na M04 Nigrita Skop1e Kralovo Silver s TelOVO Stratoniki S1 Ochrid-Resen Ironcontaining sz Kratovo S3 chromeand Lesnovo S4 nickel Zletovo S5 P,erian mts. Stratoniki S6 IronPyrites Akhladhokhori S7

PART ONE THE

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF MACEDONIA

L1

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Heights in metres 30 20 10 r

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MAP

I.

THE

PHYSICAL

STRUCTURE

OF MACEDONIA

I

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I

I THE

PHYSICAL I.

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FEATURES

OF l\tIACEDONIA

A definitionof Macedonia

u R first need is to define Macedonia not as a political area but as a geographical entity. It is true that the very name 'Macedonia' , has ~ political connotation in that it originated in the conquering Macedoncs of 650 B.C. and onwards. Moreover 'Macedonia' has acquired in the modern mind a Greek colouring, not only because we view the great age of the Macedonian State through Hellenic and Hellenistic spectacles, but also because the bulk of what was once the Macedonian ~tate is situated today within the confines of the Greek National State. fhis is an accident of politics and not a consequence of geographical congruity. It has been well said that the Greek National State today is 'at once a Mediterranean State and a Macedonian State', 1 with Athen:;/ Peiraeus as the focal point of the former and Salonica as the focal point of the latter. The essential truth is that Athens looks primarily to the Mediterranean Sea; Salonica looks primarily to a continental hinterland. The extent of Athenian involvement in the Mediterranean area has never been in doubt. The extent of Salonica's involvement in the hinterland has depended upon changing political conditions. Before the crumbling 0 : the Turkish Empire in 1912-13, as indeed during most of the prehistoric period, Salonica and its predecessors had a catchment-area of trade which extended westwards to the Adriatic Sea, northwards to the Danube basin, and eastwards into the interior of Thrace. Now,since 1919, the frontiers of Albania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, in some decades more often closed than open, have reduced the actual catchment-area of Salonica to a mere fraction of what it had been, with the inevitable consequence that Salonica and its present hinterland have become more dependent on the Greek peninsula than they have ever been. Thus, if we try to define Macedonia on political lines, we shall be chasing a chameleon through the centuries . As a geographical entity Macedonia is best defined as the territory Which is drained by the two great rivers, the Haliacmon and the V~r~ar, a_nd their tributaries (see Map 1). The lowest reaches of the ongmal rivers and of some of their tributaries were drowned by the Aegean Sea, When its waters entered what was then a great basin encircled by high 1

M. I. Newbigin, SouthernE11rope (London, 1932), 397.

11

4

The PhysicalFeaturesof Macedonia

land and is now the plain of Salonica and the Thermaic Gulf. The Haliacmon has many tributaries in its upper and middle reaches and one considerable tributary in the south, the Moglenitsa; in addition, the rivers which flow from Pieria into the Gulf should be regarded as truncated tributaries of the Haliacmon river-system. The Vardar has as its main western tributaries the Tresca, the Bahuna, the Cerna Reka, and as a truncated tributary, the Ludias. Its main eastern tributaries arc the Pecinj and the Bregalnitsa, while its truncated tributaries arc the Gallikos, the Vasilikos, and the rivers ofCrousis. 1 The limits of Macedonia as so defined are set by the watersheds of its river-system and by the scacoast. There are, however, some peripheral areas which arc marginal to our definition, in that they do not drain directly either into the Macedonian river-system or into that of its neighbours. To the west Lake Prespa and Lake Little Prcspa and to the cast Lake Doiran and Lake Koronia are in this position. As they arc closer to Macedonian centres of population than they are to Albanian or Bulgarian centres, they are best regarded as peripheral to Macedonia in a geographical sense. Lake Ochrid and Lake Malik adhere to the Albanian river-system. Lake Bolbe drains into the Strymonian Gulf, but being adjacent to Lake Koronia it is normally included in Macedonia. On the other hand, those parts of the Chalcidic peninsula which do not drain westwards into the Thermaic Gulf are outside Macedonia. To the south those districts which face southwards from the Cambunian range and westwards from Mt. Olympus belong not to Macedonia but to the Greek peninsula. For, geographically speaking, Macedonia is not a part of Greece. Philippson assumed this when his book Die GriechischenLandschaflen began not . . with Macedonia but with Epirus and Thessaly. The greater part of Macedonia is remote from the sea. Its affimtics are inevitably with the continental land-mass of the Balkans and not with the maritime peninsulas of Greece and Italy. This is true even of the coastal plain and its port Salonica. They are the terminals of a system of land-communications and they have a maritime outlet; but they remain continental in character. The high hinterland and especially the Vardar valley, acting as a funnel, endows the coastal plain with a continental climate. The distinction between the continental climate and the Mediterranean climate, which the Greek peninsula (in a geographic~! sense) and the three prongs of Chalcidice enjoy, is most clearly seen 1? the figures for rainfall. Of the total rainfall at Salonica 21 ·6 per cent is 1 The westernmost peninsula of Chalcidice is in part a low-lying extension of Crousis a nd in part has its hill-system draining southwards; at the same latitude the Peneus river ente~s the sea. The Gulf is shallow north of this latitude; it deepens as one goes southwards fr?m this latitude. In view of this it is best to regard Pallene and the Peneus as part of a different drainage system and not as belonging to Macedonia in a geographical sense. The depths are given in Cvijic pl. 17. See Map 1.

A Definitionof Macedonia

5

in the three summer months and 52·6 per cent in the six winter months. Even at Corfu, which is the wettest place in Greece, only 3·9 per cent of its rainfall is in the three summer months, and 78·7 per cent is in the six winter months. The Macedonian regime in rainfall is east European and not at all Mediterranean. 1 It is better for most cereals, for horses, cattle, and sheep, and for continental fruits, but it is unsuitable for the olive and the fig. The summer is more heavy and torrid than in peninsular Greece; for the great heat in the plains is broke~ only by thunderstorms, which are frequent in the late summer. The wmters are far more severe than they are in northern ~-reece. In Epirus, whicl~is the cold~st part of the Greek peninsula, there 1soften more snow than m Macedonia, but the temperature is rarely as low as it is in M_acedo_~ia.I spent the first part of the winter o~ 1943 at Pend_alopho? m V01on. ~nd ~as much in the open. One realized the meamng of the cold w luch kills the birds'. 2.

Macedoniaand her neighbours

In relation to her neighbours Macedonia has a geographical character of her own (see Map 19). Thessaly ra~her than Southe~n Macedonia is the transitional zone between the Contment and the penmsula. Although its wide plains resemble the c?ast~l plain -~f ~fac~donia, ~nd although Mt. Ossa suffers from the freezmg Vardans wmd m the wmter months, Thessaly is already bordering on ~he Medite~-r~neai:iregion, and Volos in the Gulf of Pagasae is fully Mediterranean m its c!1?1ateand products, whereas Salonica is continental. The closest affimt1es between lVI_acedonia and Thessaly are to be found in north-east Thessaly and especially in Perrhaebia, where the upland basin of Elassona resembles the upland basins of J\,facedonia. Epirus and Macedonia stand back to back along the range of Mt. Pindus and Mt. Grammos. There is a strong similarity in fact be~ween the western side of the upper Haliacmon valley and the eas~ern side ?f the upper Aous valley. In ancient terms Tymphaea and Orest1s were akm to northern l\tlolossis and Parauaea; so much so that Tymphaea was often reckoned to be politically in Epirus, and Orestis sometimes opted to move with the Epirotes. The reason for this similarity is that they share the advantages of the central Balkan ridge of greenstone, which has natural forests of great extent, rich Alpine pastures and long ridges running down towards the ~iv~rs Aous an_d Haliac~on re~pectively.2 There is a further point ofsim1lanty. The plam ofloannma, with Dodona M. I. Newbigin, op. cit. 348 f. . . d h · ·1 · · I h ave wa lked fior ms · t an ce firom Komtsa to Kastoria and note t e s1m1anhes; see my description in Epirus, 275 f. 1

2

'I

6

The Physical Featuresof Macedonia

on its edge, is a high lacustrine basin which is very Jike the basins of Kastoria, Lyncus, and Pelagonia. "When the country of the Molossians extended from the plain of Ioannina to the borders of Parauaea and Orestis, there was a sense in which ~Iolossis was linked with vVestern Macedonia as far north as Pelagonia inclusive. There the similarity ends. For Epirus consists mainly of strongly folded limcstoue ranges, bctv.reen which the valleys are squeezed tighter and tighter as one moves from north to south. Macedonia consists mainly of open plains and widely spaced mountains. Albania as a geographical entity, corresponding to the ancient Illyris, lies to the west of the Balkan watershed, and its rivers flow westwards into the Adriatic Sea. These are the Drin with its two arms the \Vhite ' Drin coming from the north and the Black Drin flowing northwards out of Lake Ochrid; the Shkumbi rising in the Candavian mountains; and the Devoli, which, unlike the Shkumbi ' cuts throuah the southern • 0 extensions of the ranges that enclose Lake Ochrid. For much of its length Albania is insulated from :Macedonia by the lakcland belt of Ochrid, Pr_espa~nd Little Pre~pa; f~r at this point the Balkan range has a triple spme wit~ lakes on either side of the central ridge, and the watersheds for Albama and for Macedonia arc formed by the outer ridges (see :Map 6). To the north of Lake Ochrid there is again a single watershed but it is ' formed by a high and densely forested range. A feature which Albania and Macedonia have in common is a large coastal plain. In Albania it is not continuous. It is split into two halves by the promontory on which Epidamnus stands in the north the plain of Za~rime_ and the Mati valley, and in the south the plain of Myzeqi)e· The nvers mundate the lowlands in autumn and spring, and the plains are swampy and rich in pasture. They are less well cultivated than the coas~al plain ~f Macedonia, but their potential productivity is probably as high. In climate too Albania is closer to Macedonia than to Epirus or Thessaly. The coastal plains of Albania and Macedonia are the starting-places of the main routes which lead from the sea to the central Balkans. That was more apparent in the past, before the modern states of Albania and Yugoslavia were established. From the Gulf of the Drin, which extends from the Bojana (the outflow of the Lake of Scodra) to Durazzo, one route cuts across the bend of the river Drin via the headwaters of the Fand, a tributary of the river Mati, to Kukus at the confluence of the White Drin and the Black Drin. From Kukus it follows the general line of the White Drin valley and climbs to Prizrcn. Here one is already in the central Balkans. Passage is easy northwards across the great upland basin of Metohija to Pee, north-eastwards into the great upland basin of Kossovo where the Ibar rises, and eastwards to Kacanik on a tributary

Macedoniaand her Neighbours

7 of the Vardar (see Map 1). This route was very important in the Middle Ages and in Turkish times. 1 The best route from the Aegean Sea to the central Balkans starts from th~ coast of the Thermaic Gulf. It proceeds via Edessa, Monastir, Pnlep, Skopje, and Kacanik to the watershed between the Vardar and tl~e Danube. In the past this route was usually preferred to the more direct route up the Vardar valley, which has narrow defiles, especially at Demir Kapu. But whichever route is taken, one descends from the Kacanik pass into the upland basin of Kossovo. This basin is the focal point of the central Balkans. The coastal plains of Albania and Macedonia are linked together by the fact that they are the terminals of the best routes across the Balkans from east to west, or from west to east. The best-known route is that followed by the Via Egnatia. Starting from Salonica in the coastal plain, it proceeds, like the road northwards to the central Balkans, through Edessa to Monastir. There it branches off to Ochrid, rounds the head of the lake, and follows the general line of the Shkumbi valley into the coastal plain of Albania. A less well-known route lies to the south of the Via Egnatia. It crosses the Balkan range from the upland basin ofFlorina to the upland basin of Koritsa by two passes; it is more direct, and it involves no greater difficulties. It too descends into the coastal plain of Albania. There is one respect in which Macedonia was more closely connected with Albania, Epirus, and Thessaly in the past than it is today. When pastoral life was important in a relatively primitive economy the trans?umance of sheep was conducted on a very large scale. The flocks moved in April from the coastal plains to the alpine pastures and returned in the early autumn. For example, Cvijic mentioned 6,000 sheep, which pastured in the summer on Mt. Babuna above Prilep and in the winter in the plain of Thessaly. The chief areas for winter pastures were the coastal plains of Albania, Epirus, and Macedonia, and the plain ofThess~ly. Where sheep-raising is on~ small scale, t:anshuma1:1cecan be practised within relatively shorter distances. Thus m the OedipusTyrannusthe two shepherds moved their flocks from Corinth and from Thebes respectively to Mt. Cithaeronforsix months. 2 But large-scale sheep-raising, as practised by the Vlachs in Turkish times, demanded the movement of flocks far inland from the coastal plains which I have mentioned. It was evidently this practice in Macedonia which inspired Theopompus, if he is the source behind Justin 8. 5, to draw a comparison between Philip II's movement of cities and the shepherds' movement of their flocks.3 On the other hand, when agriculture becomes more intensive

7:.

2 : See Cvijic 22 f. and pl. I 7. . . . . o_. 1127 f: Justin 8. 5 , 'Ut pecora pastores nunc m h1bernos nunc m aestlvos saltus tra1cmnt, sic 1lle

,j........._

8

The Physical Featuresof Macedonia

the ~reas of pasture ~n the coastal plains grow smaller and sheep-raising declmes rapidly, as 1t has done in this century. The division between Macedonia, as I have defined it and central Yugoslavia is formed by the watershed between the Va;dar and the Morava catchment-areas. The closest resemblances are on both sides of the Kacanik pass, because the very high upland plains of Kossovo to the north and T_et~vo t~ the south are very similar. The Prcscvo pass' north~ast of Sko~Je 1s easier and more open than the Kacanik pass, but there 1s less affimty between the valley of the Pecinj and the valley of the Morava. As one proceeds southwards the differences between central Yugoslavia and Macedonia become more marked. The d~vision between Macedonia and Bulgaria, or in ancient terms Thrace, 1s formed by the very high watershed between the Vardar and the Strymon catchment-areas (see Map 17).2 The main difference between the two valleys is that the Vardar valley is generally wide and o?en, and the Strymon valley north of the Rupel defile is narrow and pmched b~tween _very high ranges, providing only a mediocre route mland on Its ~eft side. There are some resemblances. In the upper valley o_f ~he Strum1tsa. the basin of Radoviste (257 square km in area) is similar, to the b~s1~s ~f Doiran and of Tetovo. The swampy basin of the lower Stry~on 1s similar to the delta of the Vardar in the coastal plain of Macedoma, and the Strymonian Gulf has much in common with the Thermaic Gulf. Chalcidice, however, is entirely different from Macedonia and from Thrace; for its climate and its products are Mediterranean.

3. The structureof Macedonia The most distinctive feature of Macedonia is the changes of level which have resulte~ from the raising and the sinking of many parts of its landsurface at different periods in geological time. Such movements have occ~rred ~ven within a zone of uniform type. For example, the basin of Ovce PolJe south-east of Skopje and the basin of Skopje were once two parts of the bed of a neogenic lake but the former is now considerably higher t_han the l_atter. Similar mov~ments on a larger scale have caused the Hahacmon nver and the Cerna Reka to adopt their present devious courses and have separated basins from their outlets, for example, Lake Ostrovo from the valley leading to Edessa. Most of these movements occurred very early. For instance the great basin which is now encircled populos et urbes · · · transfert.' The point is worth stressing, because Kirsten has expressed doubts whether transhumance was practised in ancient times (Die GriechischerzLandschajten (Frankfurt, 195o-g) 2. 1. 172). 1 The pass is well described by Cvijic 45. • 2 C~ijic -~6, 'Bulga:ien ist von Mazedonien

a1TO Laov otaa7"TJµaTOSUVf-l1TL1TTELV ELS TTJVUVTTJVooov TOVS T EK

rijs )l170AJ\wvlas opµ110iVTas Ka1.Tovs Jg'Em8aµvov). This equidistance was the distance in mile units, known from milestones. 2 The Peutinger Table (see Map 2) gives two figures, XV and XXVI, with a blank between them. K. Miller assumed that the first figure should be transferred to the lower line, and he therefore put Dyrrachium XXVI miles from Clodiana.J But he improved on this by emending XXVI to XXX. He then emended three figures in Ant. It. 329, namely in 329. 6 XXIIII to XIIII, in 329. 7 XXV to XV, and in 318. 1 XXXIII to XXX. Finally, he altered the total of figures in It. Burd. 608. 4-8 from 57 to 30. His golden number 30 was adopted by him as an average, a 'Mittelzahl'. 4 He then transferred his two pieces of 30 miles each to the ground and placed Clodiana at Peqin (see :Map 3). He was apparently unaware that, though a crow can fly from Apollonia to Peqin covering 30 miles, a road cannot do so because the marshy plain of Myzeqije intervenes. His method is also unjustifiable in theory; for if all the numbers are corrupt an average of them is an average of corruptions, ~nd the basic assumption that all the numbers are co:rupt sets an mcomparable standard of distrust in the value of the entries. I take the Peutinger Table to show that Dyrrachium was XV m.p.

p:l

E-
J..vpLKOV, Su¾. Avxv,Sov 7T6AEWS Kal IlvAwvos -r6'1TOV opl,ov-ros Ev-rfj &Sq,-r~v'TE'l>J..vplSaKai -nJV MaKESovlav.While Lychnidus is a city, a district. 4 The word IlvAwv is in form like a civitas, Pylon is a -r6'1To~, these _(tome) 1 /tin. Romana520 - 1, followed by Fluss in RE 2. A. 1 (_1921)826; he m:"'k.es extraordinary changes in order to equate a couple of stations (here the nussmg one m Tab. Peut. with Scirtiana) without considering the repercussions of the changes on the totals or subsequent parts of the Itineraries. ~ Op. cit. 521 , 'Nicea, Nida, Castra un~ Parambole miissen zu?1 Teil ident~~~ sein, zum Te1l nahc beisammenliegen. Es ftihren h1er 2 parallele Stra8en. For my cr1t1c1smof _the. hypothesis of two parallel roads see p. 19 above. The Ravenna Geographer 196. 13 gives 1-Ieraclea, Nicea, Praesidium. 3 The data of the Itineraries one by one are as follows: It. A11t.318. 4-319. I Tab. Peut. Licnido XXXIIII (P XXIIII D XXXII) Lignido XVI blank Nicia --Nicea Nicia XI (D XL) Heraclea Nicea XI Heraclea

0

'7

Ill

:i:

E-t lr') II
.~ KaLo8ijµos (Al 4 ( 1963) 79). We on the authority of~ .E-rv{3eppa{wv may note that the acts of the Dassaretii were not dated, but that those of the Council of the Derriopes were dated by the Macedonian era to A.D. 95. Inscriptions from Tsepicovo, from Zivojna, east of Monastir, and from Vitoliste in the Morihovo are dated also by the Macedonian era (BCH 47 (1923) 291 and 282; Al 4 (1963) 77 and 81; Spomenik75 (1933) no. 20 = ZA 8 (1958) 305 f.). The Derriopes and the Styberraei among them counted themselves to be Macedonians. The Pelagones also were a tribal state. They appear in Ps.-Scymnus 621 as Wvos -ro -rwv Ile"Aayovwv. The tribal state was judged by Rome in 167 B.C. to be capable of administering the fourth tetrarchy (see P· 75 above). If a man was described as 'Pelagon' or 'from Pelagonia', this was enough to indicate his membership of this tribal state, whether in Ile>.aycfJV)or in the fourth the fourth century B.c. (Tod, CHI 14 Meve"Aaoscentury A.D. 2 Within these tribal states of the Lyncestae, the Dassaretii, the Anta~i, the Derriopes, and the Pelagones there were smaller units. Such umts were the Heracleotae, the Lychnidii, and the Styberraei, who lived mainly in an urban centre. Other units were smaller tribal groups. Thus within the large tribal state of the Pelagones we find ~ -rwv .:4.pyea-ralwv n6"A,s, which passed its own decrees and honoured a Roman proconsu~ (seep. 79 above); and probably within the community of the Argestaei 7' 0 we find a small community paying its devotion to Hera Neano"Ae,Twv_ Ko,vov C/Hpav0eov e-rovs-1J9~,3In this case the dating by the Macedoman era to A.D. 150 shows that the Neapoleitae considered themsel~es. to be Macedonians and so were Pelagonians and not Paeonians. W1th~n th e tribal state of the Derriopi an inscription was found by Kazarow in ?1e church of Pestani, south of the Cerna and south-east of Dunje, which recorded a vote of gratitude by Lloa-rwvEw[v]To Kowov. Another ~nsc?ption, this time in Latin and dating to A.D. 120, was found at V1toh~te, nowadays the chief place in the Morihovo district. This records the laying of boundary-markers between the Geneatae (possibly Ceneatae) a nd and not of th e 1 Spomenik 71 (1931) no. 501, where the rho is the error of the printer inscription; N. Vulic in Melanges G. Glotz (1932) 875. 2 GIL iii_2017, 3530, 7325; viii 2865; vi 2382 b8; BCH 1 47 ( 19~3) 2?5·. . Vladi• 3 Spomenik 71 (1931) no. 63; where it is given as ~pav 8Eov.The mscnptlon is from Iovatsi near the Babuna pass.

Tribal Organizationin North-WesternMacedonia

89

another group whose name ended in -xini. It seems likely that here too we have small communities of a tribal kind rather than of an urban character. 1 A smaller community still is the KW/LTJ·The acts ~f such a comm~ty are recorded in Greek inscriptions found at Suvodol m we~ternD~rnop~ (Spomenikg8 ( 1941-8) no. s8; seep. 70 above). Another IS ment10~ed m an inscription found at Bela Tsarkva, a village to the north ofTsep1co:o, where it was built into a church wall. It is dated by the Macedoruan era to A.D. 192. It records a gift of money to -rfi }41K0 fJ,6;atwvKwµr,, -rai's- cpv"Aai'sand arranges for the four tribes to make sacnfices on the same day ~ne to Zeus Agoraeus and Hera in the agora and the other which the donor had three 'at' the altar in Alcomena (ev .:4."AKoµeva) made and inscribed and Octavius (?) had delighted in'. 2 Alcomen~ · f kn wn as the Alcomenae1, • • d is a kome, a corporate group o persons O and there can be no doubt that it is one of sev~ral komaiwluch ma ~ 2 up Alalcomenae 3 one of the cities of the Dernopes (~tr. ~C'{33 7 )a~ ~ A , ', ,,. , B ' ;,)1}..aAKoµeva, Kai "'-''T'V apa , Twv LJEVpionwvnoAEtS' ••• wv 'T'O pvaviov Ka . b 'de E · d Bela Tsarkva 1s es1 or the Derriopan cities were on th e ngon, an 'b · th the northern branch of the Cerna, the Blato. The four tn es _ID de k f h 1is of the Alalcomenae1, an 0 me are presumably those O t e po . k · The ephebic ~ey presumably existed in all the constituent o~ai. 'th the words I?scription which was found als? at ~ela Tsarkva !~gm;l: is probably aA.eicf,ov.Koµ,EVais, The name of the po is . n the stone for the change of reading from .:4>,~oµ,_ in most of the codices of St. Byz. s.v. 1.::zkStrabo'scodices is Alcomenae, and_thtf~r~d~:i~:t~elieve the name to hav~ b~n ~lal~orn omenai; but Kramer and Meineke m t e~r d'stinction between the komem t e smgu ar a enae. The distinction which is important is the I art of a polis A}alcomena_em_ay_he_co11;1· nd the Polis i th l l The komeA}comena as p A . . . the syncopation is s1m1larm th l -ger tribe, the tmtam' H hn Denk· Pared n e P ura · each to the Antani being part of ~ ai e Spomenik71 (1931) no. 265 = vonh .; ' schr;I'. case. For an official K]wp.apxwvse D umet 341 on a stone seen at Oc n . ~ten 16 (1867) 2. 162 no. 4 = Heuzey- a

=

,..

go

1' I,

The North-WesternAreas

Alalcomenae. 1 The inscription is dated by the Macedonian era to A.D. 121. We may visualize here a polls of the early Dorian type, 2 such 1T6AEWS ••• as Sparta was in the time of Thucydides, oVTE gvvouaa0El0'7'Js 7is 'EM&.8osTp6mp ol,cia0El0'7'Js (Thuc. I. IO. 2). KaTa.,ccl,µ,as8J T..6cf,os as 'ridge' rather than 'hill' which sugges~ (~o ~e) ~ isolated hill; Livy 31. 39. 14 has the appropriate translation of Polybius i~ ~us 'm iugu coll is', which describes the same place more or less as Thucydides was describmg.

105

Lyncus

chance and Brasidas was already at the border (4. 128. 2 voµi,ov-res Kat , , 1' , , ,1.. b, ) ev µe 0opwis eivai av-rovs 7)07) KaLoia1Te..,,evy"vai• . . A similar situation faced Sulpicius and his Illynan and Dardaman allies in 199 B.c., when Philip V slipped ahead and fo~ed the pass from Lyncus into Eordaea (seep. 71 above). Then the pass itself was wooded, and there was abundant timber in the vicinity (Livy 31. 39· 10 , erantpl~raque silvestria circa). A Roman force with their shields locked together m ~ 'testudo' formation delivered a frontal attack down th~ entry of th~ pass, at the same time another force which had reached the ridge on one side by r: thei·r strongposts. Thus the . . M d · ac1rcwtous route drove the ace omans 1rom . pass of Kirli Dirven was carried with lessof a struggle tJ:ia?had be:~:; cipated by the Romans. In a speech attributed to Flam1m?1:1s by P (18. 23. 3; cf. Livy 33. 8. 5) the Romans are pr~se? for dnvmg ~e . acedonians from the high ground at the pass leadmg mto Eordaea 1'font wkas ·· d not the fronta attac . the turning movement that was- d ecisive an · d when one trave ls thr ough 1 Both these operations are easi Y envisag; . t f Florina is at first Lyncus and the Kirli Dirven pass. The p am eas d the north-east mainly level. then ridges develop to the south-wes an h the head of try As one approac es ' . an d these make gently rolling ~oun · Th d through the pass the Kirli Dirven pass, the plam narrows. e ~abetween steep hills. follows a narrow, winding, and wa!erless ~o:m than the Eordaea end, The Lyncus end of the pass is appreCiabi h1f l~r on either side become and as one descends towards Eord aea e 1ths ass from the Lyncus high er m · • h d As one enters e P . relation to t e roa · d "d thinly covered with · · the roa a l "d f n ge P a1n, there is on either s1 e O .d ( the west side) is some 250 maquis. The top of the right-ha nd r~ geh on . but if one ascends the £ d ·thm t e pass , . eet above the level of the roa WI . 1 high and not particularly ridge from the Lyncus plain, the asc~nt ~~ es\ fairly level narrow, and steep, although rough. The top_oft e n t~e ~ne cuts acrdss the curving ~ra1ght, and if one follows the hne 0[ th \ pwords the line of the ridgeend of the road in the pass below. ndo~ er ughly' that of a diameter to to · . f the roa 1sro ·d ) he left-hand ridge (on the east s1 e P m_relat10n to the curve O nd a senucircle. On the other ha ' t d "t top is longer than that of the ~ns on the outer side of the_be nd an ~ s •das captured the right-hand right-hand ridge. It is thus likely that hr_as1 n r,ollowedthe hills on the d r·d d that is me u 1 ge at the entry to the pass, a~ hielded side to any attack launche ;est of the pass, presenting their ~ d the Romans delivering a frontal rom the road below. On the other and 'b the 1'vfacedonians,who held :tt~ck down the coomb were stop6e d y n its steep sides. The Roman down the pass must have ortified positions within the coom "dan 1 o tu . h d the n ge ower k b rn1ng force which reac e . durin its march. It probably too a een unseen by the Macedomans g Lake Petres. ro t u e east of the pass and near >II)

,

I)

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I

j

106

3. Eordaea

.I

i ,, 11 I, I

i, /I ,I

i I·

I

Though Thucydides calls it Eordia, other writers give Eordaea. 1 It is bounded on the north by Mt. Barnous; on the west by the watershed towards Lyncus; on the east by Mt. Bermium; and on the SSW. by the watershed of the Haliacmon river. This canton is entirely ringed round by mountains and hills, and the only drainage is by underground swallets. The levels of the three considerable lakes and the two small lakes which it contains vary with the clearing and the blocking of the swallets, as we have seen especially in the case of Lake Ostrovo, which was much smaller in antiquity (see p. 54 above). The passes which lead out of Eordaea are those of Kirli Dirven to the west and of Kara Buron to the east, both used by the Via Egnatia (see p. 51 above); a wide passage east of Kozani from the marshy plain of Sarigol over a long low saddle into the Haliacmon valley (see Map II) ; a narrow defile, called the Klisoura ofSiatista, leading again into the Haliacmon valley; and a short but steep pass over the southern end of Mt. Vitsi via Klisoura village to Lake Kastoria. The land around the lakes and in the small plains is very fertile and excellent cereals are grown round Ptolemaidha and in ~he Sarigol. It is potentially a powerful canton, but there is little n1:en~ion of it in our literary sources and few inscriptions have been found _1~it. Of the three known towns we have already determined the pos1t10~of Cellis andBokeria (see pp. 51ff. above). Arnisa was reached by Brasidas on the day of his withdrawal from Lyncus over the Kirli Dirven pass, and it was the first place he came to in the kingdom of Perdiccas ~Th~c. 4· 128. 3, av0'Y}p,€pov acptKV€vraiESJ1pviaav 1Tpc'i}rov -rfjs ll€pS{,c,cov ap~s), Leake placed Arnisa 'in the vale of Ostrovo' z and others have identifie? Arnisa with Ostrovo itself, which is now offi~ially 'Arnissa'. This ide~Ufication is not compatible with Thucydides' description of the campaign which ended with Brasidas' arrival at Arnisa. An essential feature of the flight of the Macedonians was that it began immediately after nightfall (Thuc. 4. 125. 1, vv,c-r6s -r' lmyEVoµ,':'YJs• • • €V0vs ••• lxd,povv i1T'oZKov). It was midday at least when the main for~e of Arrhabaeus went ahead to occupy the pass of Kirli Dirven and caug ~ t up with the tail-end of the fleeing Macedonians (-rovs cp€vyoVTas_-rwv MaK€86vwv, 4. 127. 2). In the afternoon Brasidas' troops, having g?t in~o which t e Eordaea, seized some ox-drawn wagons ({€VyEaiv ••• {:JoEiKofs) fleeing Macedonians were using on the road. Such a wagon travels at some 2 miles an hour, 3 and the oxen had been at it off and on for some

. . •or d a ea' occurs in Thuc. 2. 99. 5; Eordaea m Plb. 18. 23. 3 and St. Byz. s.v. for instance. St. Byz. as a separate entry and in some manuscripts of Pliny HJ/ 4· 34• z Leake 3. 315; RE 3· I (1897) 315, th J{irli 3 In 1941 when the Greek troops stationed at Florina retreated in some haste to efth ...., t" psomeo e... ' thM Dirven pass after hearing of the German approach towards e onas xr ga • 1

107

Eordaea

The Westernand the SouthernAreas

eighteen hours. As the Macedonians were fleeing for th eir li1ves, thwecan . this length of time they had covered ess ~. 3° h ar dly suppose th a t m · t osition miles. With this yardstick to apply we can fix ll:e approxnna e P of the battle which had occurred some days earlier. d must have the expected Perdiccas and Brasidas, having entered 1:ri:1cu~~op!: advanced across the wide plain, hoping to J~~ : sthe Lyncestae (see es in which to offer lllyrians, dv8pcfmwv µaxtµ,wv (4. 12 5· l), an Map 8). But Arrhabaeus ~ad alr~ady ch_ose::~~:e ~at ground, beyond h b ttle his infantry got battle. His infantry occupied _ahill (or nd which was another hill (or ndge~, and: ~er t e :d (4 . 124 . 3 ex6VTwv on to high ground immediately wi th o~~ e:~g p~rs~aov oVTos••• 1Tpos-ra. t 0€V 1TEotOV oE 'TOV fL€ 1. TWV µev '1T€(wvI\Oy,OV €Ka.Tepw ' . th central part of the p am µ.e-rewpa).Such a place is to be fount not mth ewest side or the east side of Lyncus, which is more or les~flat! sh:rply. The choice between of the plain, where the mount~s 1:15eeter~ned by the coming of the d Brasidas and resulted the west side and the east side is d . !llyrians, which was not seen by Pe r tlicca~ a~e Illyrian; did not cross in their J.oining Arrhabaeus. In oth er wo~ s, t si"de Arrhabaeus then · d th e open plain to reach Arr h ~b aeus ontheitsIlleasrians were to be expecte must have been to p~ace Was on the west side of the pla~n. ~~habae~s from the north-west, and the aun 1 The pass which the Illynans ~elf between the Illyrians and Pe.:tc:~act they probably did u~e in Illlght be expected to use, a~d whi d B •das was the pass of Diavat coming unobserved by Perdiccas an ~ts1ba:us held a position on the (seep. 42 above). I take it then that . at the entrance to the valley · • ground just north-wes t of Monasur • h e stayed nsing M a6) After the action Which leads up to the Diavat pass (see tlap a.lley and nearer the pass. . fu ther up ie v 0 n h 1gher ground perhaps r Ill · he was able b Y vtrtu· e 0 f When he heard of the approach of the 1 yr1thanes'pass or employment and h" · l a batt e m h latter. . is position to offer them eit ier Pay in his own service. They cho~J t :itting in the plain near MonaSUr, Meanwhile Perdiccas and_Bras1 asd.' s wanted to go forward to the • aga m · Per ,icca , Kwµas , )2-as we h a d b egun quarrelling , v~•AppaRaiov 'm -ros -ro n. /J ll d ..' ii v _lages of Arrhabaeus (7Tpoi~ai € ust have lain in what we h~ve ea e Illight say to his capital-which m t particularly as the Illynans were Derriopus. Brasidas wanted to retrea '. I h also ridden on one after an all-

?Jn

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1,1..

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we . I noted at the time. ave . slow and comfortless: . tween the Illynans . re using ox-drawn wago?s, as night operation in Pieria; 1t was very problem of placing himself be 1 Philip V was later faced by th e same 12 7 2 and this and the Romans (see P· 64 above). d between ~ 1'!ppaf3alovsc. yij 4). th~re were also h:zThe distinction should be observe komaiin Derriopus (see P· 89 0 (Spomenik71 rai:~•We have noted that there wr:nd a 'komarch~n• ~nor nea;. I :y~ right in m:y siting 1n Atintanis (Polyaen. 4· 1I.h4 ' been in either d1Str1ct,bu_t, ~t instance. }931 ) no. 265). His capital may ave thwards into Derriopus m e 0 the battle, Perdiccas meant to go nor

f

c°maz

t:t~dus

ili

108

I.

109

Eordaea

The Westernand the SouthernAreas

not turning up. When they did, panic ensued among the Macedonians and Brasidas was faced at dawn with a situation from which he extricated himself only by superb leadership and tactical skill. He had 27 Roman miles to cover across the plain from the site of the later Heraclea to the 'Grande' of the Via Egnatia in the Kirli Dirven pass (seep. 51 above). Moving in a square formation with the light-armed in the centre and fighting a rearguard action with his special corps, he must have taken nine or ten hours to reach the pass and another hour to get through it on to level Eordaean soil. It is unreasonable to suppose that that very same day (av0ruup6v) he marched his men to Ostrovo, a matter of another 20-odd Roman miles. 1 Arnisa, then, must be placed close to the Eordaean frontier at the Kirli Dirven pass, not on the road but either at Sotir or at Petres. I have chosen the latter as a probable identification (see Map 7).2 The ~~ name is recorded in this form only by Thucydides. Two mentions of it are probably concealed in the corrupt form Larissa. The first is in Hierocles, Synecdemus638. I 1, where the list of places runs in the general direction of the Via Egnatia from east to west : Edessa, Kellae, Almopia, Larissa, Heraclea Lyncou. Apart from the tribal district Almopia, which is off the road, we have stations on or near the Via Egnatia. The emendation of Larissa to Arnissa, proposed by Tomaschek, should therefore be accepted. 3 The other mention seems to have escaped emendation. 4 Jordanes, Getica56. 286, describing the Gothic invasion under Thiudimer and Theo~oric, who had captured Naissus, Ulpiana, and Stobi, says that from Stob1 Theodoric captured some inaccessible places of Illyricum a nd then took and occupied by right of war 'Eracleam et Larissam civitates Thessaliae'. At this stage Thiudimer the king came from N aissus (Nis) to Thessalonica, but finding its defences strong he came to terms with th e Roman governor, who gave the Goths places to inhabit, namely 'Cerr~, Pellas, Europa, Mediana, Petina, Bereu et alia quae Sium vocatur ·5 I The word av0TJµ_Ep6v, reminding us of aµa rfi ecp at I 25. 2, underlines this rem~rkabl: ~eat of arms._Thucydides had to be selective in the military episodes he c_hoseto ~escn~\1!if included this one as an example of Brasidas' professional skill meritmg the mclusio ~ a speech underlining the value of disciplined courage. moreov;r, it involved µepo, n_ TWV f3apf3a.pwv( 1 • 1 • 2 ), and eyewitnesses were available to hi:U soon after the event. He wrote it for the hist?'!' of th~ Archidamian War, which I think he completed before the end of e he Peace ofNicias (I give reasons in CQ34 (1940) 146 f.). 2 The water of a lake has an almost irresistible attraction for footsore troops, when t heat of the day is over. 3 In ,?,tschr.f. oesterr.Gymn. 18 (1867) 717, cited by E. Honigmann ad loc. . . a 4 At least in the standard edition by Mommsen in Monumenta Germaniae Hi stonc.:\ 5 20 1 Tav av(1882) 132. The attempt by C. Muller and Tomaschek to transfer Ptolemy 3· 3· Tlwv· '4.pv,aaa to the Eordaean Arnissa is totally misplaced (RE 2. 1 (1895) 1206)· e 5 For Bereu compare Berna in an inscription from Scupi (ZA 6 (1956) 4° 2 )· The ~mas group of names appears with variations of forms in the Ravenna Geographer 197· .1 uxn a group of cities not far from Thessalonica : Ceras, Europa, Mediana, Petina, Bire '

::t

Shortly afterwards Thiudimer died 'in civitate Cerras'. It is clear fr?m this account that Theodoric did not go into Thessaly but that, havmg acquired Heraclea and 'Larissa', that is Arnisa, by right ~f war, ~d having threatened Thessalonica, Thiudimer was given territory which he had already traversed to the east of Arnisa: Cerru = Cyrrus, Pellas = Pella, Europa = Europus (north-east of _Pella), i\:1ediana = Methone, Petina = Pydna, Bereu = Beroea and Smm = Dmm. . The inhabitants of this canton called themselves Eordi. Th_eyform~d a tribal state. Thus Str. c 323 using Polybius describes th~ V1~ ~gnat:a · · (~ , 'H , ' 'AvyK-ncrrwv Kat EopSwv as passmg through the EordI oia paKl\etas Kai . . ·, , els "Eoeaaav) and he describes the district by the tnbe m C 326 (AvyK'l'}aTa.t \ ' A T ~ ,\a.yovta KaL'EopSol). They are not, E Kat 1JL.J epptonos Kat 71Tpmo,wns • • • tEC 34 and tlus . . . 'b ISm accord ance w1'th h owever, m his list of Epirotic tn es a 4 ' ·ans repeop 1ed this d'IStr'ct 1 , Th ucydides' implication that tl1e M acedom . . di ( ) from which they had expelled the remnants of the ongmal Eo~. ,2·99· 5 The tribal district was called~ 'EopSa.la.(Plb. 18· 2 ~·. ~- a i::::p~al others1 have thought that there was a city Eorda:a;owb:cth: ~f the tribal of the canton, but in each case the name seem fd'strI'cts • Eordaea d' · d have nameso I · ' ~strict. Thus in Hierocles, Synecemuswe . p hyrogenitus who goes lmopia, and Pelagonia ; and ConSt antme orp'E ~ ~0 • Ed~ssa ( Them. ba k . · s Berroea opoai ., c to the same origmal source, give 'M' nd HN 4 35 ab ~- 49). Pliny HN_4. 34 has_Scydra, (E)o rd E~:~a:n:es,Almo;i; but p~-ca~ne (sc. Axio) Paeomae gen_tes,p~~ la~e near the Ax.iusand not my 1s referring probably to a tnbe an P it contained the importo the present canton (see P· i64 below). t Although it is historically an o~scure ea; on:Oe the Via Egnatia, and ~ant royal Macedonian r?ad, which later ec:hrough the pass ofSiatista Wo branches from it leadmg south w~rd s,Eon_e and Thessaly the other to G revena, whence routes ra di a te mto p1rusroceeds over the ' pass of th ro h . S · whence one P V ug the Sangol to ervia, Wh n Alexander marched firom into Perrhaebia and Thessaly. , le g Eordaea Elimiotis and tholustana al e · · • above) a on ' th v1cm1ty of Pelium (see P· 101 h bia'2 to Pelinna in Thess Y o e ~igh ground of Tymphaea and p~rr ~: south Eordaea throug~ the and then via Mavreh and ~Is way to Thebes, he went proba Y S~iatist . . . . p to Grevena d. tt bh a gap mto Ehm1ot1s, u t to Tymphaea an m par o . eskati, where the ridge belonged Ill par I

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. • Pellas and reading Ques· . rou from Jordanes, omittmg ' iurn. He seems to have taken th1s g p quae · ' 1 IYSiurn' as •n, x,uesmm. . RE 2 (1905) 2 656• , , 7"1l ~, z /rnitsas I. 243 and Ober~umm~r l?v 'Eo~Balav TE Kal T0v 'E>.,µdimv ';l~;A/~IAl:in .l:-rv rr,- Anab. I. 7. 5 ltywv 611Trapa'1";ipAYAIAl: has to be emend~d to f The route Orct~fo.ia, Kal llapavalas ltKpa. H~re ll of Pindus (see Hammo1;1d,Epirus }/belonged in thr to rnake sense, as Parauaea 1sweStth "dge of the mountam range, w ic . .. en oughM Ing :Pa avreh and Dheskatl 1sa O . part to p errhae b"1a. rt to T ymphaea and m

6t

The Westernand the SouthernAreas

Orestis

Perrhaebia, and so came down to Pelinna. When Perseus marched with the full Macedonian army from Lake Bekoritis into 'Elimea by the river Haliacmon' in one day (Livy 42. 53. 5), he passed over the low saddle below the Sarigol, and took the Volustana pass into the Perrhaebian Tripolitis. In the Roman partition of Macedonia, the Eordaei were allotted to the fourth tetrarchy (Livy 45. 30. 6), which comprised the cantons west of Mt. Bermium.

It is from the village of Armenokhorion in this plain that an inscription recording a decision by To Koivov'OpEcrrwvcame to Hrupista (now called Argos Orestikon), which is a mile or so to the south of Armenokhorion. In this inscription the tribal state of the Oresti, being analogous to the tribal states of the Pelagones, Derriopes, Lyncestae, and Dassaretii, makes a dedication to a Roman emperor, either Claudius or Nero. 1 The centre at which it met and recorded its decisions is likely to have been Argos Oresticum, which advanced the claim that Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, had held this territory, named it Orestias, and founded the city under the name 'Argos Oresticum'. 2 The earliest mention of the Orestae is in Hecataeus (FGrH I F 107 = St. Byz. s.v.) 'OplaTaL' Mo.XoaaLK0V .eevos: 'EKaTa'ios Evpcfm:J.3 ~ere liecataeus was distinguishing a Molossian tnbe from a Macedoman tnbe, and it is probable that the label had political connotations (see p. 439 ?elow). The Orestae appear next in 429 B.c., when 1,000 m~n se~ed in the expedition against Stratus (Thuc. 2. 80. 6). In the .list which Thucydides gives the Orestae come between the Parauae1 and .the thousand Macedones sent by Perdiccas. They are regai:de~ by Thu'=ydides as an independent state. for at the discretion of their kmg, Antiochus, their men served with the Parauaean contingent under. the Paraua~an king, Oroedus They were not included in the Macedoman state, which Thucydides d~fined carefully in a later chapter of the same book (2. 99; b ) I Th uc. 2 . 8o • 6 'the Orestae' are a tribal state, see p · 436 e1ow . n h h" h had the right to command and to delegate ruled b y a monarc y w 1c d th command of the military forces of the state. At an unknown ~~e e Orestae were absorbed into the Macedonian s~ate, but_thde~adiSuonb~f the· M I · d Epirus survive m tra o s ir association with the C ) Th · trib l o ossians an refe:ences to them as an Epirotic tribe (7 C 32? ant gh '\~t~d t:en ~e territory was known as Orestis, and they claune t at . 11d name from Orestes himself or from a like-named son.4 T~e tribe w,asea e equally O d t . 5 and the ethnic 'OpEaTos Mo.\oaos occurs restae an O res 01 , 8 c. ~1 ~.c. at Dodona (Ep. Cl!ron.I935ha:~ 1·efined it, there are two ine should expect, a number sc . 1~hinthe canton of Ore st1s, as we nptions which indicate that there were, as w

I 10

4. Orestis The canton of Orestis is set in the upper valley of the Haliacmon river (see Maps 6 and II). Near the river's source the pass of Vatokhorion leads into Dassaretis and the pass of Pisodherion leads into Lyncus (see p. 99 above). A little further downstream the river is joined by the tributary which flows from the large Lake of Kastoria. At this latitude there is the pass by Klisoura village into Eordaea on the east (see p. I 06 above), and there are two routes towards the west, running beside the valley of a long tributary which rises on Mt. Grammos ; the one on the northern side passes through Nestorion (Nestram) and round the northern end of Mt. Grammos into the plain ofErseke, belonging to Parauaea (see p. 102 above), and the other on the southern side passes round the southern end of Mt. Grammos via Kotili and Khrisi to Konitsa in Molossis. 1 The journey along the latter route took me 20½ hours of walking in fine July weather, and its particular value is that it usually remains open during the winter, unlike most passes over the GrammosPindus range. It was probably used by Perseus in 170 B.C. when he attempted to kidnap a Roman consuI.2 The limit of Orestis downstream is set by the march of Alexander when he passed from Eordaea to Elimiotis through the pass of Siatista (seep. mg above). The probable boundary just north of the exit of this pass is set by the watershed betwee_n the Pramoritsa river and the Grevenitikos river. The most fertile land m the canton is round Lake Kastoria and in the wide valley by and bel~W the lake, but the greater part of the canton lies on the long and fertile ridges which run down from the heights of Mt. Grammos and north-ea st Pindus. In Turkish times these ridges carried as many as a bun~red villages according to Leake.3 The canton, then known as Anasehtsa, corresponded fairly closely with the ancient canton of Orestis. . . The centre of the canton is in the plain near Kastoria. This plain 18 evidentlx the 'Argestaeus campus' of Livy 27. 33· I, int~ ~hich tbe Dardann descended when they invaded Orestis from Dassaretis lil 2o8 B.C. :i

1 2

3

See Epirus683. . . The route is described in Epirus276, and the attempt of Perseus 1b1d.28o. I. 321. He gives an excellent account of the area, PP· 3 1 6 ff.

III

x A A 18 (1 11-12) 179no.23andN.Pappa~~• A.the . J.B. Wace and A. M. Woodward,BS d' 9 ables him to attribute the ded1cation Ila 2 ( d'fli rent rea mg en to th 5 1913) 440 no. 27, whose I e . ZA 9 (1959) 163 f. 2 ; Emperor Claudius. See F. Papaz~~ 10 :,1m , •o 0 zitpyed8m MaKe86ves.St.Byz.s.v. -