Byllis, the chief city and one of the two centres of thekoinon of the Bylliones.View towards theVjosa valley from Byllis.
TheBylliones (Ancient Greek:Βυλλίονες) were anIllyriantribe that lived near theAdriatic coast of southernIllyria (modernAlbania), on the lower valley of theVjosa river, in the hinterland ofApollonia.[1] The Bylliones were firstly attested in epigraphic material from the oracle ofDodona dating back to the 4th century BC, and theirkoinon was firstly attested in a 3rd-century BC inscription from the same oracle.[2] Their territory was trapezoidal on the right side of the riversLuftinje and Vjosa, extending in the west to theMallakastra mountains.[3] The chief city of theirkoinon wasByllis. Another important centre of theirkoinon wasKlos, an earlier Illyrian settlement later calledNikaia, as an inscription attests.[4] The Bylliones also inhabited in the area of an ancient sanctuary of theeternal fire calledNymphaion.[5]
Through contact with theirGreek neighbours, inHellenistic times the Bylliones acquired a certain degree ofHellenization and bilingualism, especially in the urban centres of theirkoinon.[6][7][8][9] InHellenistic times theirkoinon minted coins as attested by inscriptions reporting theirethnicon in Greek letters.[10] Thekoinon of the Bylliones survived untilRoman Imperial times.[11] In the Roman era, the Bylliones reappear in the late 1st century CE when they are mentioned byPliny the Elder in theNatural History (c. 79 CE) as one of the "barbarian" tribes which lived in the area of Nymphaeum.[12][13] Thekoinon of the Bylliones and thekoinon of theAmantes were the most notableIllyriankoina.[14]
Their name is recorded asBoulinoi byPseudo-Scymnus (404),Boulimeis byDionysius Periegetes (386),Ballini byLivy (44. 30),Bylliones byStrabo (7. 7. 8),Buliones byPliny (3. 21/139).[15] Bronze coins dating back to the period 230 BC – 148 BC have been found in the site ofByllis, bearing the legend ΒΥΛΛΙΟΝΩΝ.[16]
S o u t h e r n I l l y r i a i n t h e 3rd – 2nd c e n t u r i e s B C E
There is not a certain geographic extension of the community of the Bylliones,[17] whose territorial and ethnic institution is documented to have existed since the 5th-4th century BC, as evidenced by epigraphic material from the oracle ofDodona.Byllis seems to have constituted the main center of the Bylliones.[18][2][19] Another important center of the Bylliones wasKlos, a more ancient Illyrian settlement later calledNikaia, as an inscription attests.[2][20] The Bylliones formed akoinon, which was firstly attested in a 3rd-century BC inscription, also this time from Dodona.[2]Livy (1st century BC) called their territoryBullinum agrum.
Byllis foundation is traditionally attributed to the middle of the 4th century BC, when the Illyrian massive walls were built.[21][18] Its urban layout seems to have been structured around the middle of the 3rd century BC.[18] It was built on a roughly 500 m hill on the right bank of theVjosa river, one of the main river axes of central-southern Albania. The hill had a dominant view over the river's valley, and today'sMallakastra region, over much of which thekoinon of the Bylliones stretched. The site permitted also to see the coastline while, towards the hinterland, the more internal centers.[17][18]
The territory of the Bylliones was composed by a whole network of fortifications constructed to protect them from nearbyApollonians in the west andAtintanians in the east.[22] It was delimited to the southeast by the fortifications ofRabije andMatohasanaj.[23] Thekoinon of theAmantes was located on the opposite coast of theVjosa river.[22] The proximity of the prehistoric burial tumulus atLofkënd to both Byllis andNymphaion indicates that the tumulus was located in the territory of the Bylliones.[5]
Although still unproven, some scholars have suggested that the Bylliones may have once constituted a part ofAtintania,[24] which may have overshadowed with its name thekoinon of Bylliones, and perhaps even theAmantes, in the ancient accounts during the years 230–197 BC.[25] Despite the important place it occupied behindApollonia, the community of the Bylliones was not mentioned, for instance, either in the treaty betweenPhilip V of Macedon andHannibal in 215 BC, nor in the terms of peace submitted to Philip V by theAetolians in 208 BC, and neither in thePeace of Phoenice in 205 BC, when historical accounts report only Atintanes and Atintanina.[26] It has been suggested that about 224 BC, when Atintania separated fromRome but remaining outside the dominion of the Illyrian dynastDemetrius of Pharos, the westernmost part of Atintanes began to organize themselves as a separate unit with the name "koinon of Bylliones", holding the support of theEpirote League. Akoinon of the Bylliones is attested in epigraphic material fromDodona that has been dated about the last decades of the 3rd century BC.[25] This koinon was most probably restricted to a southern Illyrian, non-Greek speaking, region without including parts of Epirus.[27]
The idiom spoken by the Bylliones belonged to the southeasternIllyrian linguistic area. Through contact with theirGreek neighbours, inHellenistic times the Bylliones acquired a certain degree ofHellenization and bilingualism, especially in the urban centres of theirkoinon.[6][28][29][30][9] In the earliest inscriptions found in the territory of the Bylliones that date to the 3rd century BCE all the personal names of the administrative figures are Illyrian, being members of the indigenous community in a still initial phase of the acculturation process.[31] Illyrian onomastics is still present in the administrative inscriptions of the 3rd-2nd centuries BC, but there is an interference of names from nearbyApollonians, which show the progress in the acculturation process of the indigenous population.[32] The time duration that passed before Illyrian cities likeByllis were documented on a list oftheorodokoi, which occurred around 220-189 BCE, clarifies that acculturation did take place in southern Illyria, however it indicates that the process was gradual.[33]
After the Roman annexation of the region in 167 BCE, the large urban centres of the Bylliones were abandoned, except Byllis. During the Roman period the Greek language previously used in the inscriptions found in the centres of thekoinon of the Bylliones was replaced byLatin, showing the establishment of the new Roman administration. A Roman colony was established in Byllis around the time ofAugustus, calledColonia Iulia Byllidensium.[34] The tribe of the Bylliones is still described as "barbarian" byPliny the Elder in the 1st century CE.[12]
Archaeological explorations have not yet found a sanctuary or temple in the city of Byllis, however, a series of inscriptions show the adoption of the cults ofZeus,Hera,Dionysius andArtemis. Another inscription indicates that the area included afire sanctuary with anoracle, theNymphaion located on the border with nearbyApollonia.[35] The nymphaeum also appears as a fire symbol engraved on coins of Byllis minted in the 3rd-2nd century BC.[35][16] A relief found near Byllis also shows the nymphs and a cloth wrapped around this fire, a scene that is repeated only with the nymphs depicted on a 1st-century BC silver coin of Apollonia, suggesting an admixture oflocal traditions and religions with the forms and practices brought byGreek colonists. Under Greek influence the local Illyrian spontaneous andnaturalistic cult started its canonization.[36] In the sanctuary ofDodona a 4th-century BC inscription on a lead foil reports Bylliones asking to which deity they should sacrifice in order to ensure the safety of their possessions.[37] By the end of the 3rd century BC, the Bylliones appear among the lists oftheorodokoi at Delphi.[38]
One of the earlier inscriptions in the territory of the Bylliones, which dates back to the second half of the 3rd century BC and which was found on the fortification of Rabie, provides evidence for the institution of territorial control by the central authority of the Bylliones, through an army of border guards, theperipoloi, commanded by theperipolarchos and assisted by agrammateus. All the personal names of these figures areIllyrian and provide evidence for an administration made up of members of the indigenous community in a still initial phase of the acculturation process.[31] Theprytanis, a magistrate figure, was adopted from nearbyApollonia originally introduced in the region under the influence of its metropolisCorinth, and it appeared as an eponymous official in several inscriptions found in the territory of the Bylliones. The earliest of these inscriptions dates back to the mid-3rd century BC and was found in Klos. Both thestrategos and theprytanis were the main magistrates of the central power, with the former being second to the latter. It was similar to thestrategos in the hierarchy of magistrates of theEpirote League, but different from Apollonia, where theprytanis was followed by the commander of the archers, thetoxarchos. The importance of thestrategos highlights the existence of a militarized community among the Bylliones.[39]
^abŠašel Kos 2005, p. 226: "No doubt various southern Illyrian peoples such as the Atintanes, Bylliones, Taulantii, Parthini, Bryges, and others acquired a certain degree of Hellenization, both on account of the common border with Epirus and the nearness of Greek colonies along the coast, such as Epidamnus (Dyrrhachium), Apollonia, Oricum and perhaps Lissus, and further the Greek towns on the islands of Corcyra Melaena, Pharos, Issa, and others."
^Ceka 2022, p. 840: "...un’iscrizione della seconda metà del III sec. a.C. (Figs. 3; 3.1), che mette in evidenza l’esistenza di un esercito di guardie di frontiera, iperipoloi, comandati dalperipolarchos e assistiti da ungrammateus... Tutti i nomi sono illirici e danno testimonianza di un’amministrazione composta da membri della communità indigena in una fase ancora iniziale del processo di acculturazione." p. 841: "Nelle iscrizioni amministrative dei Bylliones del III-II sec. a.C., si nota ancora la persistenza dell’onomastica illirica, nel nome e nel patronimico dei pritani... Per il resto si vede un’interferenza di nomi di origine apolloniata, che mostrano il progresso nel processo di acculturazione della popolazione locale." p. 839: "In un altro sito (...) lo scrittore considera ancora barbari i popoliAmantes et Buliones."
^abHammond 1994, p. 250: "It is likely that the Illyrian Bylliones adopted the terminology from the Greeks, for they became very thoroughly Hellenized during the fifty or so years of the rule of the Molossian kings ca . c . 290 – 240 B.C."
^Shpuza 2022, p. 13: "Ainsi, il faut noter que l'Illyrie n'a jamais constitué un État unifié et centralisé40. L'organisation politique d'une partie des Illyriens était fondée sur lekoinon. Les plus réputés d'entre eux étaient le Koinon des Bylliones et celui des Amantes, d'une organisation similaire à celle duKoinon des Épirotes. Parallèlement à ces koina, existait aussi un royaume illyrien, dont l'autorité s'exerçait sur une ou plusieurs tribus. Le royaume était plus solide dans la partie méridionale de Illyrie, où les rois sont attestés dès le siècle avant notre ère, même si leur dynastie ne peut être suivie qu'à partir du milieu du IIIe siècle avant notre ère."
^Stocker, 2009, p. 216: It more probably was restricted in extent to the southern, non-Greek speaking portion of Illyria, which does not include Epirus. Epirus was Greek speaking.
^Winnifrith 2002, p. 58: "There are however, some other sites in Southern Albania which cannot be attributed to sudden Macedonian or Molossian advance, notably Amantia, Byllis and Selce, thought by some to be Pelium, where Alexander the Great fought a difficult campaign. Their massive walls were constructed before the end of the fourth century, and the literary sources talk of them as Illyrian rather than Epirote or Macedonian foundations. Later Amantia and Byllis acquired the trappings of a Hellenistic town."
^Stocker 2009, p. 213: "The Bylliones were among those tribes that became bilingual. The fact that they minted coins with legends in Greek suggests that they became thoroughly Hellenized."
^Hammond 1992, pp. 36–37: "The southernmost Illyrian tribes tended to become bilingual. Thus Byllis, the largest city in the territory of the Illyrian Bylliones, was a Greek-speaking city, visited by Greek envoys from the shrines of Greece."
^Stocker 2009, p. 309: "The Argive list also included two specific cities in Chaonia, Phoinice and Himara, both of which must have been Greek, but no "Illyrian" cities. A century later, however, on the Delphic list (ca. 220-189 B.C.), Byllis and Abantiai were included among the recipients of a sacred envoy.1102 The length of time that elapsed before Illyrian cities were recorded on a list of theorodokoi makes it clear that acculturation did occur in southern Illyria, but that the process was gradual."
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