Pelion (Chaonia)

Pelion, also Pellion or Pelium (Greek: Πήλιον, Πέλλιον or Πήλεον, Latin: Pellium) was a fortified settlement of the Dassaretae located on the borderlands between southern Illyria and Macedonia in classical and Roman antiquity.[1][2][3][4] The precise location of Pelion is uncertain and various theories been proposed for the site of the settlement in the Dassaretis region, in Epirus Nova and in Illyricum.[5] It passed different phases of control: the Chaonian tribe of Dexaroi, a coalition of Illyrian tribes, the Macedonian kingdom and finally Rome since at least 198 BCE.[6][7][8][9]

"Pellion" redirects here. For Greek mountain in Magnesia, see Pelion.
Epirus in antiquity

History
See also: Siege of Pelium

Pelium was among the settlements inhabited by the Chaonian tribe of Dassaretae.[10] It came under the control of Illyrian (or Dardanian) king Bardylis (c. 393–358 BCE), while during his time Pelium probably became a walled site.[11][12] That time it was found in a region of conflict between Bardylis and the Macedonian kingdom under Philip II. After Bardylis' defeat, it was used by Macedon as a fort near the Illyrian border.[2][13][14][15]

At 335 B.C. during the Balkan campaign of Alexander the Great, the later received news that three Illyrian tribes were preparing to attack western Macedonia. As soon as he arrived at the gates of Pelion the settlement was already occupied by Dardanian chieftain Cleitus son of Bardylis.[16][17] At the following siege the Illyrian coalition; under Cleitus and Glaucias of Taulantii was defeated. During their withdrawal, the Illyrians burnt Pelium to the ground [18][19][20] According to Nicholas Hammond the burning by Cleitus came possibly due to the fact that the local Dassaratean inhabitants were not friendly towards the Dardanian raiders.[21]

In the early 2nd century BCE, the expanding Roman Republic gained control of the region during the Second Macedonian War.[22][23][24] As soon as the Roman troops occupied the city, its population was removed from the city and Dassaretae control was restored followed by the installation of a strong Roman garrison.[25]

In the 6th century, a fort by the same name is listed among the refortified sites of the region during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian.[26] Stephanus of Byzantium places it in the prefecture of Illyricum at the time. It is unclear whether it refers to Pelium of the classical era or not.[5]

Possible locations

In older research, one possible candidate for its location has been identified near Gorna Gorica (previously known as Goricë e Madhe),[9][27] in Albania. Another candidate for Pelion is the present-day Selcë e Poshtme where the monumental royal tombs can also be found.[28][29][30]

Modern historians proposed various locations: N.G.L. Hammond proposed a site near Gorna Gorica. C.E. Bosworth placed Pelion in the region of Eordaea or Lyncus, while various Albanian archaeologists proposed Selcë e Poshtme. Tom Winnifrith suggests a site closer to the Tsangon pass at Zvezve (northwest of Gorna Gorica in the Pojan former municipality),[31][9] where an Illyrian walled site was found.[32] Though still not definitely located, Winnifrith is certain that Pelium is near Ohrid and Prespa.[32]

See also

References
  1. Roisman, Joseph (2011). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Wiley. p. 295. ISBN 978-1444351637. 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)
  2. Ashley, James (2004). The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. McFarland. p. 171. ISBN 0786419180. The Dardanians, whose forces were first into the field, captured the Macedonian border fortress of Pelium that dominated a key road junction between Illyria, Macedonia, and central Greece.
  3. Dupuy, Trevor (1969). The military life of Alexander the Great of Macedon. F. Watts. p. 30. An lllyrian chieftain named Cleitus had seized the Macedonian frontier fortress town of Pelium, in the pass between Illyria and Macedonia on the upper Apsos (Devol)
  4. Hammond, Nicholas (1994). Collected studies. Hakkert. p. 48. 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).
  5. Winnifrith, Tom (2002). Badlands, Borderlands: A History of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania. Duckworth. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-7156-3201-7. He gets round the objection that Pelium must be in Dassaretis or Epirus Nova or Illyricum by refusing to identify Livy's Pelium and Procopius' Peleon and Stephanus' Pelion with Arrian's Pelleon.
  6. The Illyrians (The Peoples of Europe) by John Wilkes, ISBN 0-631-19807-5, 1996, page 98, "the Dassaretae possessed several towns, though none has yet been definitely located, including Pelion Antipatreia (probably Berat) Chrysondym, Gertous or Gerous and Creonion"
  7. The Cambridge ancient history: The Fourth Century B.C. Cambridge University Press, I E S Edwards, John Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, Cyril John Gadd, D. M. Lewis, Frank William Walbank, Elizabeth Rawson, John Anthony Crook, Andrew William Lintott, Alan K. Bowman, Michael Whitby, Peter Garnsey, Averil Cameron, Bryan Ward-Perkins. Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-23348-8
  8. Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1994). Collected studies. Hakkert. p. 11. As Livy indicated, the Malik-Korce-Poloske plain was part of Dassaretis and Pelion was a Dassaretian city
  9. Robin Lane Fox (2011). Brill's Companion to Ancient Macedon: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Macedon, 650 BC - 300 AD. BRILL. p. 342. ISBN 978-9004206502. Since 2003, after renewed autopsy, Winnifrith has made a decisive case for Zvezde, even further to the north-west, and has related it convincingly to Arrian's text. Pelion was an Illyrian site there, not a former settlement of Philip's, and "if Alexander had taken the wrong turning in southern Albania", as Winnifrith well points out, he would have been destroyed, so "Pelion is important for the history of the world".
  10. The Illyrians (The Peoples of Europe) by John Wilkes, ISBN 0-631-19807-5, 1996, page 98, "the Dassaretae possessed several towns, though none has yet been definitely located, including Pelion Antipatreia (probably Berat) Chrysondym, Gertous or Gerous and Creonion"
  11. Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière; Griffith, Guy Thompson (1972). A history of Macedonia. Clarendon Press. p. 191. Here there were some urban settlements such as Lychnidus and Pelium, and it is probable that they were fortified with walls in the time of Bardylis.
  12. The Cambridge ancient history: The Fourth Century B.C. Cambridge University Press, I E S Edwards, John Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, Cyril John Gadd, D. M. Lewis, Frank William Walbank, Elizabeth Rawson, John Anthony Crook, Andrew William Lintott, Alan K. Bowman, Michael Whitby, Peter Garnsey, Averil Cameron, Bryan Ward-Perkins. Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-23348-8 p.429: "It is probable that Bardylis, unlike previous Illyrian dynasts, built a few fortified cities; for Lychnidus and Pelium in the lakeland were walled sites probably before the accession of Philip."
  13. The campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, Aubrey De Sélincourt, ISBN 0-14-044253-7, 1971, page 50, "Pelium was a Macedonian border fortress"
  14. The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. by James R. Ashley, 2004, ISBN 0-7864-1918-0, page 171, "The Dardanians who were first in the field captured the Macedonian fortress of Pelium"
  15. Ashley, James R. (2004). The Macedonian Empire : the era of warfare under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. McFarland. p. 171. ISBN 9780786419180. The Dardanians captured the Macedonian border fortress of Pelium
  16. English, Stephen (2010). The Sieges of Alexander the Great. Pen and Sword. p. 26-27. ISBN 978-1-84884-060-7. Alexander arrived without incident before the gates of a city which Arrian calls Pellium; unfortunately he was too late to prevent Cleitus from occupying the city
  17. Freid, 2012, p. 141
  18. Ray, Fred Eugene Jr (2012). Greek and Macedonian Land Battles of the 4th Century B.C.: A History and Analysis of 187 Engagements. McFarland. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0-7864-6973-4. He then set of before they could receive reinforcement. Cleitus had occupied Pelion, a fortified city to the west, and it was there where Alexander caught up with him... The Illyrians were so shaken that they abandoned Pelion and burnt it down
  19. The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. by James R. Ashley, 2004, ISBN 0-7864-1918-0, page 171, "Pelium which was actually lightly held at the time"
  20. The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, Aubrey De Sélincourt, ISBN 0-14-044253-7, 1971, page 50,"his way to Pelium, a town which had been occupied by Cleitus as the most defensible in the district"
  21. Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière; Griffith, Guy Thompson; Walbank, Frank William (1972). A History of Macedonia. Clarendon Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-19-814815-9. Cleitus burnt Pelium (perhaps the Dassaretian inhabitants has shown themselves less than friendly to the Dardanian raiders)
  22. Hammond, Nicholas (1994). Collected studies. Hakkert. p. 271. The placing of a strong garrison at Pelium suggests that Sulpicius intended to attack Macedonia from that advanced base in 198 B.C.
  23. The Cambridge ancient history: The Fourth Century B.C. Cambridge University Press, I E S Edwards, John Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, Cyril John Gadd, D. M. Lewis, Frank William Walbank, Elizabeth Rawson, John Anthony Crook, Andrew William Lintott, Alan K. Bowman, Michael Whitby, Peter Garnsey, Averil Cameron, Bryan Ward-Perkins. Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-23348-8
  24. An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen, 2005, page 326
  25. Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1994). Collected studies. Hakkert. p. 11. ... he ejected the population and 'restored' the city to the Dassaretii, but took precautions of placing a strong garrison in it
  26. Winnifrith, Tom (2002). Badlands, Borderlands: A History of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania. Duckworth. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-7156-3201-7. Rather surprisingly Pelium appears among the places refortified by Justinian in the sixth century that are listed by Procopius
  27. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman world by Richard J. A. Talbert, 2000, ISBN 0-691-04945-9, page 755
  28. John Wilkes: The Illyrians. Oxford; Cambridge: Blackwell. 1992. = The Peoples of Europe, ISBN 0631146717, p. 123.: “More recently Albanian archaeologists have identified Pelion with the remains at Selcë e Poshtme on the upper course of the Shkumbin.”
  29. Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians to the Albanians. Tirana: Migjeni. 2013. ISBN 9789928407467, p. 136.: “[…] a second main centre in the city of Pelion of Dassaretia, near the present day village of Selca e Poshtme (Lower SeIca), in the old residence of the Illyrian kings.”
  30. Oliver Gilkes: Albania: An archaeological guide. London; New York: I. B. Tauris. 2013. ISBN 9781780760698, p. 263.: “The site of Selce e Poshtme has been associated with the historic site of Pelion […]”.
  31. King, Carol J. (2017). Ancient Macedonia. Routledge. p. 252. ISBN 978-1-351-71031-2.
  32. Winnifrith, Tom (2002). Badlands, Borderlands: A History of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania. Duckworth. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-7156-3201-7. Pelium should be situated on the high saddle of land overlooking Zvezde to the south, the Maliq plain to the west, the pass of Zvezde through which the road winds to the east, and only approachable from the north, which is where the Illyrian wall was built... Kleitos' campaigns against Alexander ended in defeat near Pelium, still not definitely located, but clearly again near Ohrid and Prespa.

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