Melingoi
The Melingoi or Milingoi (
Mount Taygetos. The origin and etymology of the name Melingoi is unknown.[3]
History
Like the Ezeritai, the Melingoi are first mentioned in the Krinites Arotras, they had to pay 600 nomismata.[4] Under Byzantine rule, the Melingoi retained an autonomous existence, but adopted Christianity and became Hellenized in language and culture.[5]
During the period of
Mani peninsula.[4][6] While the elite of the Melingoi was rich and exposed to Byzantine and Frankish influence, the ordinary pastoralist hillman remained more conservative and secluded. Their Slavic language was still spoken as late as the 15th century, when the traveller Laskaris Kananos claimed that their tongue resembled that of the Wends. Many Slavic placenames have been preserved to this day. [7]
Notes
^ a: Droungos was originally a Late Roman/Byzantine term for a battalion-sized military unit, but from the 12th century on had been equated with zygos ("mountain range") and applied to various mountainous areas in continental Greece, as well as the militia forces detailed to guard the passes in them (cf. the older term kleisoura).[8]
References
Citations
- ^ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 1620, 1917.
- ^ Trombley 1993, pp. 438–439.
- ^ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 772, 1334.
- ^ a b c Kazhdan 1991, pp. 1334–1335.
- ^ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 1335, 1620.
- ^ Nicoloudis 2003, pp. 85–89.
- ^ G. L. Huxley (1993): Transhumance on Taygetos in the "Chronicle of Morea". Illinois Classical Studies. 332–334
- ^ Kazhdan 1991, p. 664.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- Nicoloudis, N. (2003). "The 'Theme of Kinsterna'". In Dendrinos, Charalambos; Harris, Jonathan; Harvalia-Crook, Eirene; et al. (eds.). Porphyrogenita – Essays on the History and the Literature of Byzantium and the Latin East in honour of Julian Chrysostomides. Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 85–89. ISBN 978-0-7546-3696-0.
- Trombley, Frank R. (1993). "Byzantine "Dark Age" Cities". In John S. Langdon; et al. (eds.). ΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΝ: Studies in Honor of Speros Vryonis, Jr: Vol. 1: Hellenic Antiquity and Byzantium. New Rochelle, NY: Artistide D. Caratzas. pp. 429–450.