Paeonians

The Paeonians lived from the middle to the lower Vardar river basin in antiquity. The first Paeonian settlement to be mentioned in antiquity is Amydon by Homer in the Iliad. To the north and west the Paeonians bordered Illyrian peoples but these borders were unstable. In particular, the border with the Dardani seems to have shifted several times between Gradsko (Stobi) and Bylazora. The capture of Bylazora in 217 BCE by Philip V partly stabilized the northern Dardanian-Paeonian frontier. To their east, the Paeonians bordered Thracian peoples along the Bregalnica river, which seems to have formed the natural border between the Maedi and the Paeonians. Along the Lakavica river, a left-bank tributary of the Bregalnica, it is most likely Paeonian settlements were distributed. Their territory extended to the southeast up to the upper Strumica river basin (roughly the area of modern Strumica municipality) and bordered Sintice. An important Paeonian settlement in this region was Doberus which is mentioned in 429 BCE in the Odrysian campaign against Macedon by Sitalces.[3] To their west and southwest along the Crna Reka river, the Paeonians who themselves probably occupied the lower Crna Reka border a number of Illyrian and upper Macedonian or Pelagonian peoples, while to the south the Brygian town of Skydra or Kydra was situated.[4] To the south, Paeonians bordered Macedonians. Before 1000 BCE, Paeonians must have settled in the lower Vardar basin as far south as Mygdonia where Strabo places them in an area known as Amphaxitis. The expansion of the Macedonian state during the 4th century BCE resulted in the foundation of several new cities in southern Paeonia including Idomenae and Antigonia.[5]

Mythological chart of Paeonia's founder, Paeon.

Some modern scholars consider the Paeonians to have been of either Thracian,[6] or of mixed Thraco-Illyrian origins.[7] According to Radoslav Katičić, the prevailing opinion is that they were of “Illyrian” origin, in the sense that they belonged to same linguistic grouping as the people of the north-western Balkans, while some scholars have proposed a Greek origin and that their language was an ancient Greek dialect.[8] The possibility that they took part in the Greek migration, remained behind on the route and consequently spoke a Greek dialect or a lost Indo-European language closely related to Greek cannot be ruled out.[8] According to the national legend,[9] they were Teucrian colonists from Troy. Homer speaks of Paeonians from the Axios fighting on the side of the Trojans,[10] but the Iliad does not mention whether the Paeonians were kin to the Trojans. Homer calls the Paeonian leader Pyraechmes (parentage unknown); later on in the Iliad (Book 21), Homer mentions a second leader, Asteropaeus, son of Pelagon.

Pausanias described that Paeon, the eponymous ancestor of the Paionians, was a brother of Epeius and Aetolus, the eponymous ancestors of the Epeians of Elis and the Aetolians respectively.[11] According to Irwin L. Merker, this genealogy shows that the Ancient Greeks considered the Paionians to be of Hellenic stock. Their place-name has several cognates in Greece such as Παιονίδαι (Paeonidai), a deme of the tribe Leontis in Attica. A place in the Argolid also has the same name.[12]

Paeonian is considered a Paleo-Balkan language but this is only a geographical grouping, not a genealogical one. Modern linguists are uncertain as to the classification of Paeonian, due to the extreme scarcity of surviving materials in the language, with numerous hypotheses having been suggested:

• Irwin L. Merker considers Paeonian closely related to Greek (and ancient Macedonian if it was a distinct language from ancient Greek), namely a Hellenic language, but with a great deal of Thracian and Illyrian influence as a result of their proximity to them. Furthermore, the Paeonian kings issued coins from the time of Philip II of Macedon onwards, using the Greek alphabet. All the names of the Paeonian Kings that have come down to us are, in fact, explainable with and clearly related to Greek (Agis, Ariston, Audoleon, Lycceius, etc.), a fact that, according to Irwin L. Merker, puts into question the theories of Thracian and Illyrian connections.[12]
• Dimitar Dečev and Susan Wise Bauer consider a Thracian hypothesis.[13]
• Wilhelm Tomaschek and Paul Kretschmer suggest an Illyrian affiliation.
• Francesco Villari considers a Thraco-Illyrian hypothesis.[14]
• Athenaeus seems to have connected the Paeonian language to the barely-attested Mysian language. Mysian was possibly a member of the Anatolian branch in the Indo-European language family or a member of the Armeno-Phrygian languages (languages of the Bryges, Phrygians, Western and Eastern Mushki and ancient Armenians), another branch of the Indo-European languages, possibly more closely related to the Hellenic branch (Greek and Ancient Macedonian languages).[15][16][17]

The Paeonian tribes (five or eight) were:

• Agrianes[22] (also, Agriani and Agrii) (it is also claimed that this tribe was Thracian)
• Almopians[23] (also Almopioi)
• Derrones[24] (also Derroni) (it is also claimed that this tribe was Thracian)
• Doberes[25]
• Laeaeans[22] (also Laeaei and Laiai)
• Odomantes[26] (also Odomanti) (it is also claimed that this tribe was Thracian)[27]
• Paeoplae[28]
• Siropaiones[29]

• Paeonia (kingdom)
• List of ancient Daco-Thracian peoples and tribes

• Duridanov, Ivan (1975). Die Hydronymie des Vardarsystems als Geschichtsquelle (PDF). Böhlau Verlag. ISBN 3412839736.
• Mallory, J. P. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Douglas Q. Adams. ISBN 1884964982. Retrieved 23 March 2013.

• https://www.livius.org/articles/people/paeones/