Atintanians
Atintanes or Atintanians (Greek: Ἀτιντάνες, Atintánes, Latin: Atintani) was an ancient tribe in Epirus. It inhabited a region inland of the Epirote coast which was called Atintania. They were one of the Epirote tribes that belonged to the northwestern Greek group.[1] They were occasionally subordinate to the Mollosians[2] and spoke a northwestern Greek dialects similar to Doric Greek.[3]
Classification and ancient accounts
The Atintanes spoke a northwestern Greek dialect similar to Doric Greek.[3] They inhabited an inland region in Epirus and were located between the Chaonians and the Peraivoi.[4] Their name is of Greek origin due to the suffix -anes while the possibility of an Illyrian root is excluded.[5] According to various scholars (Hammond, Winnifrith, Wilkes) there was another tribe with a similar name "Atintani" that inhabited a region further north of the later Via Egnatia and was Illyrian.[6][7][8]
Scholars Fanula Papazoglou and Pierre Cabanes stated that there was no tribe of similar name and that the area it inhabited was located in the mountain ranges between the Aous (Vjosë) and the Apsus (Osum) rivers.[9][10] In the lexicon "Ethnika" of Stephanus of Byzantium, Atintania appears as a region of Macedonia, named after Atintan, a son of Makednos in the version of Lycaon. In the Treaty of Phoenice, 205 BC, Atintania was assigned to the Macedonian Kingdom.
Thucydides listed them among the “barbarians” living north-west from the Greek lands.[11][12] Strabon presented them as Epirote people.[13][14]
Timeline
At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, Atintanes and Molossians appear under the leadership of Sabylinthus, regent of king Tharrhypas, as allies of Sparta against Acarnania.[15][16] In 330 B.C. the Atintanes formed the core of the Epirote state, together with the Molossians, Thesprotians, and the Cassopaeans.[17] In epigraphy, Kleomachos the Atintanian was given ateleia (full fiscal rights) in Epirus by the symmachoi (allies) of Epirotes, when king was Neoptolemus son of Alexander and Derkas, prostatas (archon) of the Molossians (c. 300 BC).[18] In the sanctuary of Dodona a fragmentary inscription of 4th century BC mentions Atintanes.[19] In the early 3rd century BC Pyrrhus detached Atintanis and made it a part of the Epirote Kingdom again.[20] After his death the Atintanias organized their own koinon (confederation).[21]
At 231 B.C. the Chaonian capital of Phoenice was raided by the Illyrians of Teuta. Those inhabitants of the city who survived the attack and slavery managed to flee to the territory of the Atintanes to seek for available reinforcements.[22] Atintania was possibly ceded to Teuta by the League of the Epirotes at 230 B.C. probably as part of an agreement with her.[23][24] When in 229 BC the First Illyrian War broke out between Rome and Illyrian queen Teuta, as well as Parthinians and the Atintanians surrendered to Rome. After this conflict, in 228 BC Rome set a protectorate on the conquered Illyrian lands as well as Atintanis.[25][26][27][28]
References
- Press, Cambridge University (1994). The Cambridge Ancient History: The fourth century B.C. Cambridge University Press. p. 430.
The north-west Greeks occupied a large area, extending in the west from the Gulf of Ambracia to the Gulf of Oricum and in the east to an imaginary line from the upper Achelous valley to the upper Erigon valley... The main groups from south to north were called Thesproti, Athamanes, Molossi, Atintanes, Chaones, Parauaei, Orestae, Elimeotae, Lyncestae and Pela- gones
- Kinzl, Konrad H. (2010). A Companion to the Classical Greek World. John Wiley & Sons. p. 125. ISBN 9781444334128.
- Giannakis, Georgios; Crespo, Emilio; Filos, Panagiotis (2017). Studies in Ancient Greek Dialects: From Central Greece to the Black Sea. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 224. ISBN 9783110532135.
There is an overall consensus nowadays that the Greek-speaking population of Epirus, despite its fragmentation into major (Molossoi, Thesprotoi, Chaones) and minor (Athamanes (Athamanians), Atintanes, Paroraioi, Tymphaioi, etc.) tribes, spoke a North-West Doric variety akin to that of numerous neighboring populations of central and western Greece
- Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (1969). Some problems of Greek history. Oxford University Press. p. 101.
we find the Atintanes in between the Parauaioi and the Khaones.
- Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (1969). Some problems of Greek history. Oxford University Press. p. 113.
- The Illyrians By John Wilkes, page 97: One recent solution is that there were in fact two groups of this name...
- N. G. L. Hammond: The kingdoms of Illyria circa 400–167 B.C. The Annual of the British School at Athens, LXI. (1966) pp. 247., 253.
- Winnifrith, Tom (2002). Badlands, Borderlands: A History of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania. Duckworth. p. 46. ISBN 9780715632017.
We have referred to the problem of the Atintanes and the Parauaei. The Atintanes marching with the Molossians would seem to live in Greek Epirus, but we also find Atintani in the Albanian coastal plain.
- Pierre Cabanes: Les illyriens de Bardulis à Genthios (IVe–IIe siècles avant J.-C.). Paris: SEDES. 1988. = Regard sur l’histoire, 65. pp. 62. “En commençant par le Sud, les premières populations qui voisinent avec les Épirotes sont les Atintanes, et ce ne sont pas les plus simples à situer sur le terrain ; il suffit de voir les problèmes qu’ils ont suscités à N. G. L. Hammond qui en arrive à multiplier les Atintanes en distinguant une Atintania épirote d’une Atintanis, qu’il place, d’abord, au Nord d’Elbasan dans la région appelée Çermenikë […]. J’ai repris l’ensemble des témoignages existant sur les Atintanes, et je ne reprendrai pas ici la démonstration, me limitant à en donner les conclusions et en me réjouissant que, dans une recherche parallèle, F. Papazoglou soit arrivée à des résultats identiques. L’Atintanie est située dans la zone de collines qui s’étend sur la rive droite de l’Aoos dans la Mallakastra, au Nord de Tepelen et peut-être jusque dans la région de Skrapar.”
- The Illyrians By John Wilkes, page 97: Another view locates Atintanes among the hills on the right bank of the Aous in the Mallakastra north of Tepelen and perhaps as far as the area of Skrapar.
- Pierre Cabanes: Les illyriens de Bardulis à Genthios (IVe–IIe siècles avant J.-C.). Paris: SEDES. 1988. = Regard sur l’histoire, 65. pp. 27–28.
- Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians to the Albanians. Tirana: Migjeni. 2013. p. 384.
- Pierre Cabanes: Les illyriens de Bardulis à Genthios (IVe–IIe siècles avant J.-C.). Paris: SEDES. 1988. = Regard sur l’histoire, 65. p. 230.
- Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians to the Albanians. Tirana: Migjeni. 2013. p. 385.
- Pierre Cabanes: Les illyriens de Bardulis à Genthios (IVe–IIe siècles avant J.-C.). Paris: SEDES. 1988. = Regard sur l’histoire, 65. pp. 47., 73.
- Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians to the Albanians. Tirana: Migjeni. 2013. p. 66.
- Press, Cambridge University (1994). The Cambridge Ancient History: The fourth century B.C. Cambridge University Press. p. 442.
- Cabanes, L'Épire 545,12
- Lamelles Oraculaires 161
- Pierre Cabanes: Les illyriens de Bardulis à Genthios (IVe–IIe siècles avant J.-C.). Paris: SEDES. 1988. = Regard sur l’histoire, 65. pp. 111., 143., 145., 147.
- Pierre Cabanes: Les illyriens de Bardulis à Genthios (IVe–IIe siècles avant J.-C.). Paris: SEDES. 1988. = Regard sur l’histoire, 65. pp. 231.
- Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1994). Collected studies. Hakkert. p. 252.
A clue to the position of the Atintanes is provided in Polybius' account of the seizure of Phoenice by Illyrian pirates in 230 B.C. (2. 5). When an Epirote force was encamped outside Phoenice, the Illyrians made a sortie by night from Phoenice and next day defeated the Epirotes. The survivors of the Epirotes fled 'in the direction of the Atintanes. ... eastwards towards Mt Murgana and the headwaters of the Drin, where reinforcements might be available.
- Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1967). Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas. Clarendon P. p. 598.
..."that Atintania had been ceded by the Epirote League to Teuta in 230
- Leveque, P. (1997). The Koinon of the Epirotes (in Epirus, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization). Ekdotikē Athēnōn. p. 80. ISBN 9789602133712.
The koinon of the Epirotes abandoned the alliance with the Aitolians and sided with Teuta, which probably cost them the loss of Atintania.
- Appian, Illyrian Wars, App. III. 2. “The latter [Illyrians] raised the siege and fled, and one of their tribes, called the Atintani, went over to the Romans. […] and the Illyrian Atintani were already Roman subjects.
- Pierre Cabanes: Les illyriens de Bardulis à Genthios (IVe–IIe siècles avant J.-C.). Paris: SEDES. 1988. = Regard sur l’histoire, 65. pp. 277., 288.
- The Illyrians By John Wilkes, page 162
- Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians to the Albanians. Tirana: Migjeni. 2013. p. 181.