Lynkestis

"Lyncestis" redirects here. For genus of moths, see Lyncestis (moth).
Lynkestis had been originally an autonomous kingdom in Upper Macedonia outside the original territory of the Kingdom of Macedon (blue area). After Philip II's expansion in the second half of the 4th century BC Lynkestis was incorporated into his kingdom (light blue area).

Lynkestis, Lyncestis, Lyngistis, Lynkos or Lyncus (Ancient Greek: Λυγκηστίς or Λύγκος Latin: Lyncestis or Lyncus) was a region and principality traditionally located in Upper Macedonia. It was the northernmost mountainous region of Upper Macedonia, located east of the Prespa Lakes.[1]

In its earlier history, Lynkestis was an independent polity ruled by a local dynasty which claimed descent from the Bacchiadae, a Greek aristocratic family from ancient Corinth.[2][3][4] They were ruled by a basileus, as did the rest of the tribes in Lower and Upper Macedonia.[5] The few existing primary sources show that before the rise of Macedon it maintained connections with the Illyrians and was frequently in hostilities with the Argeads.[3]

The inhabitants of Lynkestis were known as Lyncestae or Lynkestai (Greek: Λυγκῆσται). Hecataeus (6th century BC) included them among the Molossians,[6][7] while Thucydides (5th century BC) considered them Macedonians.[8][9] Most later ancient authors considered them Macedonians,[10] while others included them among the Illyrians.[8][note 1] Modern scholars regard them as either Macedonians,[15] Epirotes (Molossians)[16] or Illyrians.[17] Some generally consider them to be Greeks of Upper Macedonia.[18][19]

In the second half of the 5th century BC Lynkestis was the strongest tribal state in Upper Macedonia under king Arrhabaeus, son of Bomerus.[20] During the Peloponnesian War the combined army of Lyncestians under king Arrhabaeus and Illyrians won against the joined forces of the Macedonian king Perdiccas II and the Spartan leader Brasidas at the Battle of Lyncestis in 423 BC.[21]

Lynkestis was annexed or retained by the Illyrian king Bardylis after his victory against Perdiccas III of Macedon in 360 BC.[22][23][24] At the Battle of Erigon Valley in 358 BC, the Illyrians under Bardylis were defeated by Phillip II and Lynkestis became part of Macedon. After his conquest, Philip founded Heraclea Lyncestis, which would become the main city of the area in antiquity. Although they became part of Macedon, Lynkestians retained their own basileus.[5]

According to Hammond, the locals were recruited by Philip II to serve in the king’s army due to their common language as well as because they were accorded equal terms with the population of Lower Macedonia.[25] Later they contributed to the Indian campaign led by Alexander the Great.[26]

  1. ^ Heckel, Heinrichs & Müller 2020, p. 318: Lynkestis (or Lynkos), was the northernmost of the mountainous Upper Makedonian regions; Hatzopoulos 2020, p. 224: "Lynkos (Lynkestai), region and principality in Upper Macedonia"; Worthington 2014, p. 14: "Upper Macedonia, on the other hand, had a far harsher climate and was the highlands of the country. Here, Elimiotis (in the south), Orestis (to the west), and Lyncestis (to the northwest, by Lake Lychnitis) had been originally autonomous kingdoms"; Bowden 2014, p. 42: "Two men from the leading family of Lyncestis in Upper Macedonia"; Lane Fox 2011, p. 342; Salmon 2012, p. 220; Cartledge 2011, p. 227.
  2. ^ Plant 2004, p. 43: "The kings of Lyncestae, however, were Greek-speaking, and claimed descent from the Bacchiadae, an important aristocratic Corinthian family."
  3. ^ a b Heckel, Heinrichs & Müller 2020, p. 138: Although it was rather small, L. controlled a route into Central Makedonia that made it a corridor of Illyrian invasions into the Argead realm. (..) While evidence for L. during the rule of the Argeads is scarce, the few existing snippets indicate that its rulers were well connected with the Illyrians and frequently hostile to the Argeads
  4. ^ Strabo, Geographica: 7, 7, 8.
  5. ^ a b Worthington, Ian (12 March 2012). Alexander the Great: A Reader. Routledge. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-136-64004-9.
  6. ^ Malkin, Irad (2001). Ancient Perceptions of Greek Ethnicity. Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-674-00662-1. Hecataeus calls the Eliminiotae, Orestae, Lyncastae, and Pelagones of Uppers Macedonia 'Molossian' and since Molossian inscriptions found at the sanctuary of Dodona are inscribed in a West Greek dialect, one would expect the Macedonians to have belonged to a West Greek linguistic Koinē that extended across much of northern and northwestern Greece
  7. ^ a b Hammond 1982, p. 266: "On crossing the Balkan chain, we find that Hecataeus called the Orestae 'a Molossian tribe' (F 107), and Strabo (434; cf. 326) probably derived from Hecataeus his belief that the Elimeotae, Lyncestae, and Pelagones, as well as the Orestae, were Epirotic or rather Molossian tribes before their incorporation by the Macedones into the Macedonian kingdom."
  8. ^ a b Eichner 2004, p. 99: "Thukydides nennt noch andere Stämme, die in späterer Quelle als illyrisch gelten, wie die Lynkester (II 99 Λύγκησται, als den Makedonen zugehörig, doch mit eigenen Königen) und die Atintaner (II 80, 6 Ἀτιντᾶνες, als Bundes-genosssen der Molosser, später südlich des Devoll ansässig), aber ohne sie zu als Illyrer bezeichnen."
  9. ^ Hatzopoulos 2020, p. 12: "This legend was hardly compatible with Thucydides' (2.99) more sober narrative, however: 'So Sitalces' army was being mustered at Doberus and preparing to pass over the mountain crest and descend upon lower Macedonia, of which Perdiccas was ruler. For the Macedonian race includes also the Lyncestians, Elimiotes, and other tribes of the upper country, which, though in alliance with the nearer Macedonians and subject to them, have kings of their own; but the country by the sea which is now called Macedonia, was first acquired and made their kingdom by Alexander, the father of Perdiccas, and his forefathers, who were originally Temenidae from Argos'."
  10. ^ a b Filos, Panagiotis (2018). "New Developments and Tradition in Epirus: The Creation of the Molossian State". Politics, Territory and Identity in Ancient Epirus. - ( Diabaseis; 8): 288. doi:10.1400/272094. ISBN 978-8846754158. Retrieved 18 January 2024. Strabo (Geogr. 7.7.1, 7.7.8) who wrote on the basis of previous historians, such as Hecataeus, Theopompus and others, points to 14 tribes instead, since one must also take into account here three more tribes (Λυγκησταί, Πελαγόνες, Ἐλιμιῶται) which most classical and contemporary authors considered Macedonian.
  11. ^ Hammond 1993, pp. 132–133: "Further, the tribes which Strabo termed "Epirotic" — Orestai, Tymphaioi, Elimiotai, Lynkestai and Pelagones — are likely to have spoken the same dialect as the Molossians, to whom they were in some sense related."
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Templar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ D'Ercole 2020, p. 323: "This itinerary gave access to the prosperous mining districts of the hinterland, among these, the silver mine of Damastion, a still unidentified settlement in the Balkans, situated by Strabo (7-7.8) between the Illyrian tribes of Encheleii and Lyncestae. The cultural impact of the Corinthian colonies also reached the opposite"
  14. ^ Silberman & Zehnacker 2015, p. 190: "Lyncestae, population à majorité illyrienne (Liv. XLV, 30; Strab. VII, 7, 8), est traversée par l'Erigon (Crna Reka) et correspond à la partie est du lac Prespa et au nord de l'antique Eordaia"
  15. ^
    • Hatzopoulos 2020, p. 12: "It is possible that the Derriopes were an outshot of the Upper Macedonian ethne, the foothills of Mount Peristeri assuring the territorial continuity with the Macedonian Lynkestai."
    • King 2017, p. 5: "About 450 a royal dynasty claiming descent from aristocratic Bacchiad exiles from Corinth, who came to the region via Corcyra (a Corinthian colony) and Illyria, established itself and ruled over Lynkestian Macedonians."
    • Gabriel 2010, p. 40: "The passes and mountains of the innermost defensive ring ran through Macedonia's four Upper Contaons -Elimeia, Orestes, Lyncus, and Pelagonia- which served as buffers between Macedonia proper and Illyria. The peoples of these cantons were Greek-speaking Macedonians who continued to live the old transhumant pastoral life
  16. ^
    • Xydopoulos 2012, p. 529
    • Hammond 2014, pp. 480, 482: "Of the cantons of Upper Macedonia .... Lyncus ... Upper Macedonia, which was peopled by Epirotic tribes with their own dialect of Greek"; and Hammond 2001, p. 158: "Pelagones in the region of Prilep, the Lyncestae in the region of Florina, the Orestae in the region of Kastoria, and the Elimeotae in the region of Kozani. These tribes were all Epirotic tribes and they talked the Greek language but with a different dialect, the Northwest Greek dialect, as we know now from the local questions which were put to the god of Dodona."
    • Borza 1992, p. 74: "The western Greek people (with affinities to the Epirotic tribes) in Orestis, Lyncus, and parts of Pelagonia."
  17. ^
    • Wheeler 2017, p. 434: "With his aid Perdiccas defeated in pitched battle his old enemy Arrhabaeus, king of Lyncestae, an Illyrian tribe inhabiting the mountainous region of the upper Erigon, near modern Bitola"
    • D'Ercole 2020, p. 323: "This itinerary gave access to the prosperous mining districts of the hinterland, among these, the silver mine of Damastion, a still unidentified settlement in the Balkans, situated by Strabo (7-7.8) between the Illyrian tribes of Encheleii and Lyncestae. The cultural impact of the Corinthian colonies also reached the opposite"
    • Rossignoli 2004, p. 122: "una principessa della stirpe illirica dei Lincesti" translation: "a princess of the Illyrian lineage of the Lyncestes"
    • Silberman & Zehnacker 2015, p. 190: "Lyncestae, population à majorité illyrienne (Liv. XLV, 30; Strab. VII, 7, 8), est traversée par l'Erigon (Crna Reka) et correspond à la partie est du lac Prespa et au nord de l'antique Eordaia"
  18. ^ Hammond 2014, pp. 480, 482; Mallios 2011, p. 37; Gabriel 2010, p. 40; Iordanidis, Garcia-Guinea & Karamitrou-Mentessidi 2007, pp. 1797–1798; Lewis & Boardman 1994, pp. 723–724; Borza 1992, p. 74.
  19. ^ Winter 2006, p. 32: "Als griechische Stämme sind in dem Gebiet die Bottiaier, Oresten, Elimioten, Pelagoner und Lynkester überliefert"
  20. ^ King 2017, p. 5
  21. ^ Dzino 2014, p. 49
  22. ^ Lane Fox 2011, pp. 342, 610
  23. ^ Worthington 2008, p. 23–24.
  24. ^ Worthington 2014, p. 29.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hammond44 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Karamitrou96 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).