Bylliones
The Bylliones were an
Through contact with their
Name
Their name is recorded as Boulinoi by Pseudo-Scymnus (404), Boulimeis by Dionysius Periegetes (386), Ballini by Livy (44. 30), Bylliones by Strabo (7. 7. 8), Buliones by Pliny (3. 21/139).[15] Bronze coins dating back to the period 230 BC – 148 BC have been found in the site of Byllis, bearing the legend ΒΥΛΛΙΟΝΩΝ.[16]
Geography
▴▴▴
Meropus
)(
i n t h e 3rd – 2nd
c e n t u r i e s B C E
There is not a certain geographic extension of the community of the Bylliones,[17] whose territorial and ethnic institution is documented to have existed since the 5th-4th century BC, as evidenced by epigraphic material from the oracle of Dodona. Byllis seems to have constituted the main center of the Bylliones.[18][2][19] Another important center of the Bylliones was Klos, a more ancient Illyrian settlement later called Nikaia, as an inscription attests.[2][20] The Bylliones formed a koinon, which was firstly attested in a 3rd-century BC inscription, also this time from Dodona.[2] Livy (1st century BC) called their territory Bullinum agrum.
Byllis foundation is traditionally attributed to the middle of the 4th century BC, when the Illyrian massive walls were built.
The territory of the Bylliones was composed by a whole network of fortifications constructed to protect them from nearby
Although still unproven, some scholars have suggested that the Bylliones may have once constituted a part of
Culture
Language
The idiom spoken by the Bylliones belonged to the southeastern
After the Roman annexation of the region in 167 BCE, the large urban centres of the Bylliones were abandoned, except Byllis. During the Roman period the Greek language previously used in the inscriptions found in the centres of the koinon of the Bylliones was replaced by Latin, showing the establishment of the new Roman administration. A Roman colony was established in Byllis around the time of Augustus, called Colonia Iulia Byllidensium.[34] The tribe of the Bylliones is still described as "barbarian" by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE.[12]
Religion
Archaeological explorations have not yet found a sanctuary or temple in the city of Byllis, however, a series of inscriptions show the adoption of the cults of
Hellenistic political organisation
One of the earlier inscriptions in the territory of the Bylliones, which dates back to the second half of the 3rd century BC and which was found on the fortification of Rabie, provides evidence for the institution of territorial control by the central authority of the Bylliones, through an army of border guards, the peripoloi, commanded by the peripolarchos and assisted by a grammateus. All the personal names of these figures are
Economy
The koinon of the Bylliones minted its own coins in the period between 230 BC and 148 BC.[40][41][16]
See also
References
- ^ Ceka 2012, pp. 59–60.
- ^ a b c d Ceka & Ceka 2018, p. 977.
- ^ Hansen & Nielsen 2004, p. 343.
- ^ Ceka & Ceka 2018, p. 977; Hansen & Nielsen 2004, p. 346; Lippert & Matzinger 2021, pp. 101–102.
- ^ a b Bejko et al. 2015, p. 4.
- ^ a b Šašel Kos 2005, p. 226: "No doubt various southern Illyrian peoples such as the Atintanes, Bylliones, Taulantii, Parthini, Bryges, and others acquired a certain degree of Hellenization, both on account of the common border with Epirus and the nearness of Greek colonies along the coast, such as Epidamnus (Dyrrhachium), Apollonia, Oricum and perhaps Lissus, and further the Greek towns on the islands of Corcyra Melaena, Pharos, Issa, and others."
- ^ Ceka 2022, p. 840: "...un’iscrizione della seconda metà del III sec. a.C. (Figs. 3; 3.1), che mette in evidenza l’esistenza di un esercito di guardie di frontiera, i peripoloi, comandati dal peripolarchos e assistiti da un grammateus... Tutti i nomi sono illirici e danno testimonianza di un’amministrazione composta da membri della communità indigena in una fase ancora iniziale del processo di acculturazione." p. 841: "Nelle iscrizioni amministrative dei Bylliones del III-II sec. a.C., si nota ancora la persistenza dell’onomastica illirica, nel nome e nel patronimico dei pritani... Per il resto si vede un’interferenza di nomi di origine apolloniata, che mostrano il progresso nel processo di acculturazione della popolazione locale." p. 839: "In un altro sito (...) lo scrittore considera ancora barbari i popoli Amantes et Buliones."
- ^ Winnifrith 2002, p. 58; Stocker 2009, p. 213; Hammond 1992, pp. 36–37.
- ^ a b Hammond 1994, p. 250: "It is likely that the Illyrian Bylliones adopted the terminology from the Greeks , for they became very thoroughly Hellenized during the fifty or so years of the rule of the Molossian kings ca . c . 290 – 240 B.C."
- ^ Lasagni 2019, p. 74; Stocker 2009, p. 213; Lippert & Matzinger 2021, p. 101.
- ^ Verčík et al. 2019, pp. 44–45.
- ^ a b Ceka 2022, p. 839.
- ^ Brodersen 2017, p. 91.
- ^ Shpuza 2022, p. 13: "Ainsi, il faut noter que l'Illyrie n'a jamais constitué un État unifié et centralisé40. L'organisation politique d'une partie des Illyriens était fondée sur le koinon. Les plus réputés d'entre eux étaient le Koinon des Bylliones et celui des Amantes, d'une organisation similaire à celle du Koinon des Épirotes. Parallèlement à ces koina, existait aussi un royaume illyrien, dont l'autorité s'exerçait sur une ou plusieurs tribus. Le royaume était plus solide dans la partie méridionale de Illyrie, où les rois sont attestés dès le siècle avant notre ère, même si leur dynastie ne peut être suivie qu'à partir du milieu du IIIe siècle avant notre ère."
- ^ Shipley 2019, p. 110.
- ^ a b c Lippert & Matzinger 2021, p. 101.
- ^ a b Ceka 2012, p. 59.
- ^ a b c d Belli Pasqua 2017, p. 89.
- ^ Jaupaj 2019, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Hansen & Nielsen 2004, p. 346.
- ^ Winnifrith 2002, p. 58.
- ^ a b Cabanes 2002, p. 150.
- ^ Cabanes 2002, p. 125.
- ^ Šašel Kos 2005, p. 276; Ceka 2009, p. 14; Shehi 2015, p. 28; Jaupaj 2019, pp. 17–18.
- ^ a b Ceka 2009, p. 14, 16.
- ^ Ceka 2009, p. 16.
- ^ Stocker, 2009, p. 216: It more probably was restricted in extent to the southern, non-Greek speaking portion of Illyria, which does not include Epirus. Epirus was Greek speaking.
- ^ Winnifrith 2002, p. 58: "There are however, some other sites in Southern Albania which cannot be attributed to sudden Macedonian or Molossian advance, notably Amantia, Byllis and Selce, thought by some to be Pelium, where Alexander the Great fought a difficult campaign. Their massive walls were constructed before the end of the fourth century , and the literary sources talk of them as Illyrian rather than Epirote or Macedonian foundations. Later Amantia and Byllis acquired the trappings of a Hellenistic town."
- ^ Stocker 2009, p. 213: "The Bylliones were among those tribes that became bilingual. The fact that they minted coins with legends in Greek suggests that they became thoroughly Hellenized."
- ^ Hammond 1992, pp. 36–37: "The southernmost Illyrian tribes tended to become bilingual. Thus Byllis, the largest city in the territory of the Illyrian Bylliones, was a Greek-speaking city, visited by Greek envoys from the shrines of Greece."
- ^ a b Ceka 2022, p. 840.
- ^ Ceka 2022, p. 841.
- ^ Stocker 2009, p. 309: "The Argive list also included two specific cities in Chaonia, Phoinice and Himara, both of which must have been Greek, but no "Illyrian" cities. A century later, however, on the Delphic list (ca. 220-189 B.C.), Byllis and Abantiai were included among the recipients of a sacred envoy.1102 The length of time that elapsed before Illyrian cities were recorded on a list of theorodokoi makes it clear that acculturation did occur in southern Illyria, but that the process was gradual."
- ^ Ceka 2022, pp. 843–844.
- ^ a b Ceka 1992, p. 125.
- ^ Ceka 1992, pp. 125–126.
- ^ Ceka 2012, p. 60.
- ^ Morgan 2018, p. 219
- ^ Ceka 2022, pp. 840–841.
- ^ Cabanes 1997, p. 89
- ^ Stocker 2009, p. 213.
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