Pelion, alsoPellion orPelium (Ancient Greek:Πήλιον, Πέλλιον or Πήλεον,Latin:Pelion, Pelium or Pellium) was an ancient fortified settlement traditionally located inIllyria, near theTsangon Pass, on the border withMacedonia.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Pelion is generally placed in easternDassaretis very close to the historical border with Macedonia, however its precise location is uncertain and various theories have been proposed for the site of the settlement.[8]
Founded either by the Illyrian kingBardylis or by the Macedonian kingPhilip II, the fortified site of Pelion had been controlled in different periods by theIllyrian kingdom, theMacedonian kingdom, andRome. Under the Roman rule Pelion was placed in the autonomous administrative unit ofDassaretis, inEpirus Nova and in thePrefecture of Illyricum.
The earliest reference to the settlement is provided byArrian (Anabasis) mentioning it asAncient Greek:Πέλλιον,romanized: Pellion when describing the 335 BCIllyrian war ofAlexander the Great againstCleitus son ofBardylis andGlaukias, king of theTaulantii.[8] The settlement is mentioned byPolybius (The Histories) asAncient Greek:Πήλιον,romanized: Pelion andLivy (Ab Urbe Condita Libri) asPelion in their accounts of theIllyrian Wars andMacedonian Wars, describing it as aDassaretian town.[9]Stephanus of Byzantium (Ethnica) mentions it asAncient Greek:Πήλιον,romanized: Pelion describing it as a city in Illyria.[10] In the sixth century AD, a fort by the same name (Ancient Greek:Πήλεον,romanized: Peleon) is listed by Procopius (Aed. 4.4.3) among the refortified sites during the reign ofEastern Roman emperorJustinian, in the provinceEpirus Nova, again within the traditional boundaries of Illyria.[10][11]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(July 2022) |
The toponym Pelion (Πήλιον) isGreek.[12]
Pelium was probably built either as a walled fortified site by the Illyrian kingBardylis,[13][14] without being a former settlement of the Macedonian kingPhilip II,[15] or alternatively it was built by the Macedonian king possibly through expansion and fortification of an already existing settlement of theDassaretii, thus becoming a Macedonian stronghold in the conquered territory; in the latter case it would have served its purpose as in theBattle of Pelium the Illyrians were delayed such that the battle took place in the vicinity of Pelion and not inside Macedonia proper.[16]
After defeating Bardylis in 358, Philip II had extended his control into the region around the lakes Prespa and Ochrid.[17] Nevertheless, at the time of the battle between Alexander and the coalition of Cleitus and Glaukias, Pelion was in Illyrian territory held by theDassaretii, whileLittle Prespa, which was also once part of the territory of the Dassaretii, had been annexed by Philip after defeating Bardylis in 358 BC, becoming a part of Macedonia.[18] Cleitus the Illyrian – a subject king of Macedonia since at least Philip's suppression of an Illyrian revolt in 349 BC – was in that period acting independently and took control of Pelion most likely shortly before Alexander's intervention in 335 BC, as it was the most important fortress in the region.[17][19] An important mountain pass,Tsangon, was located near Pelion and controlled one of the only two main west–east routes betweenIllyria andMacedonia. The other one was the route that becameVia Egnatia in Roman times, which was located further north.[20] Alexander undertook his campaign in the Tsangon Pass to take Pelion ensuring the control of his western border, in order to protect Macedonia from Illyrian invasion before setting out for hiseastern campaign. The northern route was already controlled byMacedon afterPhilip II's founding ofHerakleia.[20] Describing the settlement Arrian uses the word πόλις for Pelion, while Livy uses the wordurbs, however nothing can be inferred from their accounts, except that it was a settlement of a certain size with fortifications that could give pause to a Macedonian king.[21]
In hisBalkan campaign of 335 BCAlexander the Great received news that Illyrians were preparing to attack western Macedonia.[21] A revolt was undertaken at Pelion by the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus, aided byGlaukias, king of theTaulantii. The city was already taken by Cleitus when Alexander arrived, but Macedonian arrival prevented Glaukias and Cleitus from joining forces. Macedonians briefly besieged Cleitus, however on the next day Glaukias and his forces arrived taking control of the heights that surrounded the plain of Pelion. Illyrian forces hence trapped Alexander's army between the fortified city and the heights surrounding it. After an unsuccessful attempt to break out and after losing men and his strategic position, Alexander was obliged to turn back closer to the Macedonian border; combining a forced march and a bold maneuver, Alexander make a tactical retreat and crossed the river. After three days, Alexander noticed Illyrian guard relaxation and reckless camping in open ground, so he took advantage of the situation and quietly returned crossing the river again and thereafter annihilating Illyrian forces that were taken by surprise. The rest of Illyrians fled to Glaukias' realm, but they burned Pelion before leaving the battlefield. Subsequently Alexander marched south to deal with a new threat, theTheban uprising.[21][3]
In the early second century BC, the expandingRoman Republic gained control of the region during theSecond Macedonian War. Like Alexander the Great,Roman consulSulpicius took Pelion in order to secure the Tsangon Pass and the southern route east–west between Macedonia and Illyria, while the northern route had already been under Roman rule since Sulpicious' 199 BC campaign through the alliedParthini's control of theGenusus valley. Therefore, only theMetsovo Pass remained in the hands of the Macedonians for their westwards movements; on the other hand, Macedonians' enemies –Ardiaei andDardani – prevented their attempt of a more northern route.[22] At Pelion Sulpicius installed a strong garrison as a base to launch attacks into Macedonia, but most likely mainly for defensive purposes against Macedon.[23] During this campaign Sulpicious harassedDassaretian communities, also pillaging their granaries and foraging their harvest, therefore when returning to winter quarters atApollonia at the end of his 199 BC campaign, he likely would have avoided passing through the hostile Devoll valley, but rather he would have taken the same route back through the Genusus valley, the same one he took at the beginning of the campaign.[24] After a peace treaty between Rome and Macedon, in 191 BC the Roman consulMarcus Baebius Tamphilus metPhilip V of Macedon in the country of the Dassaretii to plan how to stop the invasion of theSelucid kingAntiochus III the Great, and in order to invadeThessaly Philip V escorted two distinct Roman contingents through Macedon. Roman control of Pelium should indicate that the country of the Dassaretii was the furthest east area of Roman control.[25]
Classical sources do not provide enough data to determine the precise location of the ancient site of Pelion,[26] and various placements have been proposed in modern scholarship.[10]
In older researchGustav Zippel located Pelion on theDevoll river. W. W. Tarn located it within the traditional boundaries of Macedonia.Fanoula Papazoglou located the settlement deeper in Dassaretis, near modernKorçë, south ofLake Maliq. J. N. Kalleris and Tom Winnifrith accepted a similar solution. Winnifrith, in particular, suggested a site nearOhrid andPrespa, closer to theTsangon Pass at Zvezve (northwest of Goricë in thePojan former municipality) inAlbania, where an Illyrian walled site was found.[27][28][29][30] Various Albanian archaeologists and historians, notablyNeritan Ceka, proposed present-daySelcë e Poshtme, where the monumentalroyal tombs of the 3rd century BC can be found.[31][32]N.G.L. Hammond's and C.E. Bosworth's conclusions are highly hypothetical and mutually exclusive. Hamond proposed a site near Goricë, west of the Small Prespa Lake, on the eastern side of the plain of Poloskë-Bilisht in Albania; while Bosworth proposed a location in the region ofEordaea orLyncus.[33][30][34] Already critical of Tarn's and Papazoglu's suggestions, Hammond extremely criticised Bosworth's proposal. Bosworth's proposal has been accepted by few scholars, while Hammond's solution has had a far wider impact.[35]
According to new research carried out by Vujčić (2021), Pelion must be located somewhere to the west or south of Lake Prespa. A placement in Lynchestis or Orestis directly contradicts the historical sources. Bosworth's reconstruction of the events is hard to accept. Also a placement west or north of theTsangon Pass is not much in agreement with Livy's accounts, hence excluding Papazoglou's and Ceka's solutions. In particular the site of Selcë e Poshtme is too far from the Macedonian border. Vujčić concludes that Zippel and Hammond have correctly identified the wider area of ancient Pelion in the country immediately to the south of the Great Prespa and west of Small Prespa Lake, somewhere in the easternDassaretis inIllyria, very close to the historical border withMacedonia.[36] On the other hand the precise location of Pelion is more difficult to establish, and although Hammond's interpretation, which places it in Goricë, is widely accepted, it remains uncertain.[37]
Escaping one trap, Alexander came to find himself temporarily in difficulty when he moved against Pelium (located somewhere to the west of the Pindus crest which separated Macedonian from Illyrian lands)
An Illyrian chieftain named Cleitus had seized the Macedonian frontier fortress town of Pelium, in the pass between Illyria and Macedonia on the upper Apsos (Devol)
As the fighting among Illyrians was at or near Pelium, we have to put Pelium in Illyria both on the references cited above and also on later statements that it was in Illyria (St. Byz. using Asinius Quadratus), in Dassaretis (Livy 31.40.4).