• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 2
    CommentGo Back
 
http://history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/2009/01/30/modern-historians-about-ancient-epirus-ethnicity-of-ancient-epirotes/ 
 “Speakers of these various Greek dialects settled different parts of Greece at differenttimes during the Middle Bronze Age,
with one group, the “northwest” Greeks,developing their own dialect and peopling central Epirus. This was the origin of the Molossian or Epirotic tribes
.”E.N.Borza “In the shadow of Olympus; The emergence of Macedon” (revisededition, 1992), page 62the
western greek people (with affinities to the Epirotic tribes) in Orestis, Lyncus,and parts of Pelagonia
;“In the shadow of Olympus..” By Eugene Borza, page 74 “We have seen that the “Makedones” or “highlanders” of mountainous westernMacedonia may have been derived from northwest Greek stock. That is, northwestGreece provided a pool of Indo-European speakers of proto-Greek from whichemerged the tribes who were later known by different names as they established theirregional identities in separate parts of the country. Thus the Macedonians may havebeen related to those peoples who at an earlier time migrated south to become thehistorical Dorians, and to other Pindus tribes who were the ancestors of the Epirotesor Molossians.
If it were known that Macedonian was a proper dialect of Greek,like the dialects spoken by Dorians and Molossians
, we would be on much firmerground in this hypothesis.”E.N.Borza “In the shadow of Olympus; The emergence of Macedon” (revised edition,1992), page 78“When Amyntas became king of the Macedonians sometime during the latter third of the sixth century, he controlled a territory that included the central Macedonian plainand its peripheral foothills, the Pierian coastal plain beneath Mt. Olympus, andperhaps the fertile, mountain-encircled plain of Almopia. To the south lay the Greeks
 
of Thessaly.
The western mountains were peopled by the Molossians (the westernGreeks of Epirus), tribes of non-Argead Macedonians, and other populations.
“E.N.Borza “In the shadow of Olympus; The emergence of Macedon” (revised edition,1992), page 98 “As subjects of the king the Upper Macedonians were henceforth on the same footingas the original Macedonians, in that they could qualify for service in the King’sForces and thereby obtain the elite citizenship. At one bound the territory, thepopulation and wealth of the kingdom were doubled. Moreover since
the greatmajority of the new subjects were speakers of the West Greek dialect, theenlarged army was Greek-speaking throughout.”
 “Certainly the Thracians and the Illyrians were non-Greek speakers, but
in thenorthwest, the peoples of Molossis {Epirot province}, Orestis and Lynkestisspoke West Greek.
It is also accepted that the Macedonians spoke a dialect of Greekand although they absorbed other groups into their territory, they were essentiallyGreeks.” Robert Morkot, “The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece”,Penguin Publ., 1996 “Still,
Olympias, a Greek from Epirus
married to a king of Macedon”Paul Catledge “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization 2000
″
, Chapter 14, page 213 “
Olympias, it seems, though Greek by birth
…”Paul Catledge “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization 2000
″
, Chapter 14, page 216EPIRUS (”Hpeiros”, Mainland)North-west area of Greece, from Acroceraunian pointto Nicopolis, with harbours at Buthrotum and Glycys Limen (at Acheron’s mouth);bordered on south by gulf of Ambracia, and on east by Pindus range with pass viaMetsovo to Thessaly.Three limestone ranges parallel to the coast and the Pindus rangeenclose narrow valleys and plateaux with good pasture and extensive woods; alluvialplains were formed near Buthrotum, Glycys Limen, and Ambracia.Epirus had ahumid climate and cold winters. In terrain and in history it resembled UpperMacedonia. Known in the ‘Iliad’ only for the oracle of Dodona, and to Herodotus forthe oracle of the dead at Ephyra, Epirus received Hellenic influence from the Eleancolonies in Cassopaea and the Corinthian colonies at Ambracia and Corcyra, and theoracle of Dodona drew pilgrims from northern and centralGreece especially.
Theopompus knew fourteen Epirote tribes, speakers of a strong west-Greekdialect,
of which the Chaones held the plain of Buthrotum, the Thesproti the plain of Acheron, and the Molossi the plain of Dodona, which forms the highland centre of Epirus with an outlet southwards to Ambracia.A strong Molossian state, which included some Thesprotian tribes, existed in the reignof Neoptolemos c.370-368 (”Arx.Ef”.1956, 1ff). The unification of Epirus in asymmachy led by the Molossian king was finally achieved by Alexander, brother-in-law of Philip II of Macedon. His conquests in southern Italy and his alliance with
 
Rome showed the potentialities of the Epirote Confederacy, but he was killed in 330BC.Dynastic troubles weakened the Molossian state, until Pyrrhus removed his fellowking and embarked on his adventurous career.he most lasting of his achievementswere the conquest of southern Illyria, the development of Ambracia as his capital, andthe building of fortifications and theaters, especially the large one at Dodona.His successors suffered from wars with Aetolia, Macedon, and Illyria, until in c.232BC the Molossian monarchy fell.An Epirote League with a federal citizenship was then created, and the meetings of itscouncil were held probably by rotation at Dodona or Passaron in Molossis, at Gitanain Thesprotis, and at Phoenice in Chaonia.It was soon involved in the wars betweenRome and Macedon, and it split apart when the Molossian state alone supportedMacedon and was sackedby the Romans in 167 BC, when 150,000 captives weredeported. Central Epirus never recovered; but northern Epirus prospered during thelate republic, and Augustus celebrated his victory at Actium by founding a Romancolony at Nicopolis. Under the empire a coastal road and a road through the interiorwere built from north to south, and Buthrotum was a Roman colony.Ancient remainstestify to the great prosperity of Epirus in Hellenistic timesN.G.L.Hammond, “Oxford Classical Dictionary,” 3rd ed. (1996), pp.546,547 The Molossians were the strongest and, decisive for Macedonia, most easterly of thethree most important Epeirot tribes, which, like Macedonia but unlike theThesprotians and the Chaonians, still retained their monarchy.
They were Greeks,spoke a similar dialect to that of Macedonia,
suffered just as much from thedepredations of the Illyrians and were in principle the natural partners of theMacedonian king who wished to tackle the Illyrian problem at its roots.”Malcolm Errington, “A History of Macedonia”, California University Press, 1990. 
The West Greek dialect group denotes the dialects spoken in: (i) thenorthwest Greek regions of Epeiros
, Akarnania, Pthiotid Akhaia….Johnathan M. Hall, “Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity”, CambridgeUniversity Press, 1997Quote:
Alexander was King Philip’s eldest legitimate child. His mother, Olympias,camefrom the ruling clan of the northwestern Greek region of Epirus.
 David Sacks, “A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World”, Oxford, 1995Quote:Epirus was a land of milk and animal products…The social unit was a small tribe,consisting of several nomadic or semi-nomadic groups, and thesetribes, of which more than seventy names are known, coalesced into largetribal coalitions, three in number: Thesprotians, Molossians and Chaonians…We
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
bujartafili

It is true that Theopompus knew 14 Epirote tribes and that the names “Epirus” and “Epirots” are of Greek origin. The name "Epirus" means "mainland" in Greek, and was originally applied to the whole coast northward of the Corinthian Gulf, in contradistinction to the neighboring islands, Corcyra (Corfou), Leucas, etc., etc. In consequence, it has not any ethnical meaning, as modern Greeks are wont to think and proclaim. The name of Epirus, as applied to Southern Albania, is misleading, inasmuch as its Greek sound gives the idea that one is dealing with a Greek territory. This is due to the unfortunate fact that the principal sources of the history of this section of Albania are the writings of Greek historians whose mania for Hellenising foreign names is notorious. It is to be note too that all the ancient Greek writers, including Theopompus, the veracious Thucydides, and the more modern Plutarch, are in full accord in stating that Epirus was exclusively inhabited by non-Hellenic barbarous populations.

reply03 / 05 / 2009
pellazgu

You better read Johann Georg Hahn's "Albanesische Studien" and Louis Benloew's "La grece avant les grecs" to learn the best about Epirus and Epirotes ethnicity...

reply03 / 04 / 2009
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...