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Paeonians (Ancient Greek:Παίονες,romanized: Paíones) were an ancientIndo-European people that dwelt inPaeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north ofAncient Macedonia, to the south ofDardania, to the west ofThrace and to the east ofIllyria, most of their land was in theAxios (or Vardar) river basin, roughly in what is todayNorth Macedonia.[1][2]
The Paeonians lived from the middle to the lower Vardar river basin in antiquity. The first Paeonian settlement to be mentioned in antiquity isAmydon 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 theDardani seems to have shifted several times betweenGradsko (Stobi) andBylazora. The capture ofBylazora in 217 BCE byPhilip V partly stabilized the northern Dardanian-Paeonian frontier. To their east, the Paeonians bordered Thracian peoples along theBregalnica river, which seems to have formed the natural border between theMaedi and the Paeonians. Along theLakavica 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 upperStrumica river basin (roughly the area of modernStrumica municipality) and borderedSintice. An important Paeonian settlement in this region wasDoberus which is mentioned in 429 BCE in the Odrysian campaign against Macedon bySitalces.[3] To their west and southwest along theCrna Reka river, the Paeonians who themselves probably occupied the lower Crna Reka border a number of Illyrian and upper Macedonian orPelagonian 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 asMygdonia where Strabo places them in an area known asAmphaxitis. The expansion of the Macedonian state during the 4th century BCE resulted in the foundation of several new cities in southern Paeonia includingIdomenae andAntigonia.[5]
Some modern scholars consider the Paeonians to have been of eitherIllyrian,[6]Phrygian,[7]Thracian,[8] or of mixed origins.[9] According toRadoslav 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 anancient Greek dialect.[6] The possibility that they took part in the Greek migration, remained behind on the route and consequently spoke a Greek dialect or a lostIndo-European language closely related to Greek cannot be ruled out.[6] According to the national legend,[10] they wereTeucrian colonists fromTroy.Homer speaks of Paeonians from theAxios fighting on the side of theTrojans,[11] but theIliad does not mention whether the Paeonians were kin to the Trojans.Homer calls the Paeonian leaderPyraechmes (parentage unknown); later on in theIliad (Book 21), Homer mentions a second leader,Asteropaeus, son ofPelagon.
Pausanias described thatPaeon, theeponymous ancestor of the Paionians, was a brother ofEpeius andAetolus, the eponymous ancestors of the Epeians ofElis and theAetolians respectively.[12] According to Irwin L. Merker, this genealogy shows that theAncient Greeks considered the Paionians to be of Hellenic stock. Their place-name has several cognates in Greece such asΠαιονίδαι (Paeonidai), ademe of the tribe Leontis inAttica. A place in theArgolid also has the same name.[13]
Paeonian is considered aPaleo-Balkan language but this is only a geographical grouping, not a genealogical one. Modern linguists are uncertain as to the classification ofPaeonian, due to the extreme scarcity of surviving materials in the language, with numerous hypotheses having been suggested:
The Paeonians included several independent tribes, all later united under the rule of a single king to form theKingdom of Paeonia.
They worshipped the Sun in the form of a small round disk fixed on the top of a pole.They adopted the cult ofDionysus, known amongst them asDyalus orDryalus, andHerodotus mentions that theThracian and Paeonian women offered sacrifice to QueenArtemis (probablyBendis).
Little is known of their manners and customs.
They drank barley beer and various decoctions made from plants and herbs.
The women were famous for their industry. In this connection Herodotus[20] tells the story thatDarius, having seen atSardis a beautiful Paeonian woman carrying a pitcher on her head, leading a horse to drink, and spinningflax, all at the same time, inquired who she was. Having been informed that she was a Paeonian, he sent instructions toMegabazus, commander in Thrace, to deport two tribes of the nation without delay to Asia. An inscription, discovered in 1877 atOlympia on the base of a statue, states that it was set up by the community of the Paeonians in honor of their king and founderDropion. Another king, whose name appears asLyppeius on a fragment of an inscription found atAthens relating to a treaty of alliance, is no doubt identical with theLycceius or Lycpeius of Paeonian coins.[21]
The country of Paeonians had some important resources – it was rich in gold.
During thePersian invasion of Greece they conquered Paeonians as far as Lake Prasias, including thePaeoplae andSiropaiones. Part of them were deported fromPaeonia to Asia.[22]
Before the reign ofDarius Hystaspes, they had made their way as far east asPerinthus inThrace on thePropontis. At one time allMygdonia, together withCrestonia, was subject to them. WhenXerxes crossedChalcidice on his way toTherma (later renamedThessalonica), he is said to have marched through Paeonian territory. They occupied the entire valley of the Axios (Vardar) as far inland asStobi, the valleys to the east of it as far as theStrymon and the country roundAstibus and the river of the same name, with the water of which they anointed their kings.Emathia, roughly the district between theHaliacmon and Axios, was once called Paeonia; andPieria andPelagonia were inhabited by Paeonians.
As a consequence ofMacedonian power growth, and under pressure from theirThracian neighbors, their territory was considerably diminished, and in historical times was limited to the lands north ofMacedonia and fromIllyria to theStrymon. In 355–354 BCE,Philip II of Macedon took advantage of the death of King Agi ofPaeonia and campaigned against them in order to conquer them. Down to 227 BCE, at least seven Paeonian kings reigned, and during that period, Paeonia remained a distinct entity, either subject to Macedonia or independent. In 227 BCE,Antigonus Doson conquered the southern part of Paeonia and founded the city ofAntigoneia (near modernNegotino), and ten years afterPhilip V of Macedon conquered the rest by capturing Bylazora; after thisPerseis andAstraion were founded.[23]
In 280 BCE, theGallic invaders underBrennus ravaged the land of the Paeonians, who, being further hard pressed by theDardani, had no alternative but to join the Macedonians. Despite their combined efforts, however, the Paeonians and Macedonians were defeated. Paeonia consolidated again but, in 217 BCE, the Macedonian kingPhilip V of Macedon (220–179 BCE), the son of Demetrius II, succeeded in uniting and incorporating intohis empire the separate regions ofDassaretia andPaeonia. A mere 70 years later (in 168 BCE),Roman legions conquered Macedon in turn, and a new and much larger Roman province bearing this name was formed.Paeonia around theAxios formed the second and third districts respectively of the newly constitutedRoman province of Macedonia.[24] Centuries later underDiocletian, Paeonia andPelagonia formed a province calledMacedonia Secunda orMacedonia Salutaris, belonging to thePraetorian prefecture of Illyricum.
The Paeonian tribes (five or eight) were:
