Chaonians

The Chaonians (Greek: Χάονες, Cháones) were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus located in the north-west of modern Greece and southern Albania.[1] Together with the Molossians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribes of the northwestern Greek group.[1] On their southern frontier lay another Epirote kingdom, that of the Molossians, to their southwest stood the kingdom of the Thesprotians, and to their north lived the Illyrian tribes. According to Virgil, Chaon was the eponymous ancestor of the Chaonians.[2] By the 5th century BC, they had conquered and combined to a large degree with the neighboring Thesprotians and Molossians. The Chaonians were part of the Epirote League until 170 BC when their territory was annexed by the Roman Republic.

Tribes of Epirus in antiquity.

History

According to Strabo, the Chaonians (along with the Molossians) were the most famous among the fourteen tribes of Epirus, because they once ruled over the whole of Epirus.[3] The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax makes a clear distinction between the Chaonians and their northern neighbours, the Illyrian tribes that occupied the coastal and hinterland regions further north.[4] Epirotic tribes whether Chaonian or Molossian inhabited the plain of Korce and the valley of the Erigon.[5]

The Chaonians were the most powerful tribal state in Epirus in c. 650 BC. They were later succeeded by the Molossians.[6]

The Illyrians and Chaonians appear to have had — at least at times — a confrontational relationship; Polybius recounts a devastating raid mounted in 230 BC by the Illyrians against Phoenice, the chief city of the Chaonians. The incident had major political ramifications where many Italian traders who were in the town at the time of the sacking were killed or enslaved by the Illyrians, prompting the Roman Republic to launch the first of the two Illyrian Wars the following year.[7]

Political structure

The Chaonians were settled Kata Komas (Greek: Κατά Κώμας) meaning in a collection of villages and not in an organized polis (despite the fact that they called their community a polis) and were a tribal state in the 5th century BC.[8] Aristophanes had used the name of the tribe as a pun to illustrate the chaos of Athenian foreign policy.[9] According to Thucydides, their leaders were chosen on an annual basis; he names two such leaders, Photius and Nikanor "from the ruling lineage".[10] In the 4th century BC, the Chaonians adopted the term prostates (Greek: προστάτης, "ruler") to describe their leaders,[11] like most Greek tribal states at the time. Other terms for office were grammateus (Greek: Γραμματεύς, "secretary"), demiourgoi (Greek: δημιουργοί, "creators"), hieromnemones (Greek: ἱερομνήμονες, "of the sacred memory") and synarchontes (Greek: συνάρχοντες, "co-rulers").[12]

They were loosely associated with the rest of the Epirote tribes (Greek: φυλαί phylae), including the Thesprotians and Molossians.[13] They joined the Epirote League, founded in 325/320 BC, uniting their territories with those of the rest of the Epirotes in a loosely federated state that became a major power in the region until it was conquered by Rome in 170 BC.[14] During the 2nd century, the Prasaebi replaced the Chaones in their control of Buthrotum, as attested in inscriptions from that period.

The religious centre of all Epirote tribes was in Dodona, which was also one of the main oracles of the Greek world.[15]

Geography
Further information: Chaonia

Chaonia or Chaon (Ancient Greek: Χαονία or Χάων) was the name of the northwestern part of Epirus. Strabo in his Geography places Chaonia between the Ceraunian Mountains in the north and the River Thyamis in the south.[3]

Phoenice (Phoinike) was the capital and most important city of the Chaonians.[16] The strength of the Chaonian tribes prevented the Greek city-states from establishing any colonies on the coast of Chaonia.[17]

Language

Due to the fact that Greek toponyms that preserve archaic features are very densely found in the wider area, it appears that speakers of the proto-Greek language inhabited a region which included Chaonia before the late Bronze Age migrations (late 3rd-early 2nd millenium B.C) during several centuries or even millennia before.[18] There is an overall consensus that the Chaonians were among the Greek-speaking population of Epirus, which spoke the North-West Doric dialect of Ancient Greek, akin to that of Aetolia, Phocis, and certain other regions, based on the available epigraphic evidence.[19] Hammond argues the Chaonians and other Epirote tribes spoke Greek at least from the Dark Ages (1100-800 BC).[20] Pseudo-Scylax' description of the Greek World of c. 380-360 B.C indicates that they didn't speak Illyrian, while Hammond argued that their acceptance in 330 B.C of the Epirote League indicates that they spoke Greek. Chaonian inscriptions (all in Greek) began around 329 B.C.E.[21]

Thucidydes describes them as "barbaroi", while the "ruling family" (τό άρχικόν γένος) apparently had Greek names.[22] Crossland argues that Thucydides' writings indicate that during his lifetime, the tribes from Amphilochia northward were not Greek-speaking, though already under strong Greek influence, and they would later adopt the Greek language in the fourth century.[22] On the other hand, Hammond argues that they spoke Greek during and before the time of Thucydides considering that Greek language and Greek names of their inscriptions were not suddenly adopted.[23] As for the identity of the language they spoke before Greek, it may have been neither Greek nor Illyrian.[24]

Filos argues that there were some local peculiarities among the Greek speaking tribes of Epirus. Additionally, in the northern part of the region of Epirus, contact with Illyrian increased sub-dialectal variation within North-West Doric, although he admits that concrete evidence outside of onomastics is lacking.[19]

Mythological origins

The Chaonians claimed that their royal house was of Trojan descent, asserting ancestry through the eponymous hero Chaon (Ancient Greek: Χάων) who gave his name to Chaonia. The stories are unclear as to whether he was the friend or the brother of Helenus, the son of Priam of Troy, but in either case, he accompanied him to the court of Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles who was credited with founding the city of Buthrotum.[2] The stories concerning Chaon's death are as unclear as that of his relationship to Helenus. Chaon was either killed in a hunting accident or offered himself as a sacrifice to the gods during an epidemic, thus saving the lives of his countrymen. In either case, when Helenus became the ruler of the country, he named a part of the kingdom after Chaon.[25] The Chaonians' neighbours, the Molossians and Thesprotians, also asserted Trojan ancestry. It has been suggested that the very similar Chaonian origin-myth may have arisen as a response to the self-definitions of the Molossians and Thesprotians.[26]


List of Chaonians
  • Photius and Nicanor, leaders of the Chaonians in the Peloponnesian War (circa 431–421 BC).
  • Doropsos Δόροψος, theorodokos in Epidauros (circa 365 BC).[27]
  • Antanor (son of Euthymides), proxenos in Delphi (325–275 BC).[28]
  • Peukestos, proxenos in Thyrrheion, Acarnania (3rd century BC) -πητοῦ Χάονα Πευκεστόν, Σωτι-.[29]
  • Myrtilos, officer who gave proxeny decree to Boeotian Kallimelos (late 3rd century BC).[30]
  • Boiskos (son of Messaneos), prostates (late 3rd century BC).[31]
  • Lykidas (son of Hellinos), prostates (circa 232–168 BC).[32]
  • -tos (son of Lysias), winner in Pale (wrestling) Panathenaics (194/193 BC).[33]
  • Charops, father of Machatas, father of Charops the younger - philoroman politicians (2nd century BC).[34]
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See also

References

Citations
  1. Encyclopædia Britannica ("Epirus") 2013; Errington 1990, p. 43; Hammond 1998, p. 75; Hammond 1994, pp. 430, 434; Hammond 1982, p. 284; Wilkes 1995, p. 104.
  2. Virgil. Aeneid, 3.295.
  3. Strabo. The Geography. Book VII, Chapter 7.5.
  4. Hammond 1994, p. 433.
  5. Boardman, John; Hammond, N. G. L. (1982). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-521-23447-4. ... and the Epirotic tribes, whether Chaonian or Molossian, holding the plain of Korçë and the eastern side of the... as the plain by the Erigon was called
  6. Hammond 1982, p. 266
  7. Errington 1989, pp. 81–106.
  8. Nielsen 1997, p. 14.
  9. Reckford 1987, p. 167.
  10. Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, 2.80.5.
  11. προστάτης. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
  12. Horsley 1987, p. 243; Hornblower 2002, p. 199.
  13. Hammond 1982, p. 266
  14. Franke 1989, p. 459.
  15. Hammond 1982, p. 266
  16. Hansen & Nielsen 2004, p. 348.
  17. Hammond 1982, p. 269.
  18. Crossland, R. A.; Birchall, Ann (1973). Bronze Age migrations in the Aegean; archaeological and linguistic problems in Greek prehistory: Proceedings of the first International Colloquium on Aegean Prehistory, Sheffield. Duckworth. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-7156-0580-6. Proto Greek: ... khaonina, Khanoes, derived from Khaon = *khaw-on, 'place of gulfs' or 'chasms'; cf. khaos, 'empty space, yaming aperture, chasm, abyss'... Thus in the region defined just above, roughly northern and northwestern Greece... Since Greek place- names are very dense in that region and they have a very archaic appearance, one may suppose that the proto-Greeks were settled in it during many centuries and even millennia."'
  19. Filos, Panagiotis (December 18, 2017). Giannakis, Georgios; Crespo, Emilio; Filos, Panagiotis (eds.). The Dialectal Variety of Epirus. Walter de Gruyter. p. 224. There is an overall consensus nowadays that the Greek-speaking population of Epirus, despite its fragmentation into major (Molossoi, Thesprotoi, Chaones) and minor... tribes, spoke a North-West Doric variety akin to that of the numerous neighboring populations of central and western Greece (Aettolia, Acarnania, Phocis, Doris, cf. also certain affinities with the dialects of Elis and Macedonia), even though there were obviously some inevitable local peculiarities... the contact with non-Greek populations (Illyrians) in the northern part of Epirus may have further boosted sub-dialectal variation in this part of the region at least (e.g. lexicon), although we lack any concrete evidence, especially outside the field of onomastics...
  20. Hammond 1982, p. 285: "Greek speech of the tribes in Epirus should not be ascribed to the influence of the Greek colonies on the coast. Nowhere in fact did the Greek colonies convert the peoples of a large hinterland to Greek speech. If these tribes of the hinterland spoke Greek, it was because they had done so before the Dark Age. What we have seen in this chapter is the consolidation of the Greek-speaking in the north, which enable them to fulfil their future role of defending the frontiers of a city-state civilization and later of leading that civilisation into wider areas."
  21. Hammond 1982, p. 284.
  22. Crossland, R.A. (2006). "The Illyrians". In Boardman, John; Edwards, I. E. S.; Hammond, N. G. L.; Sollberger, E. (eds.). The Prehistory of the Balkans; the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C. (6 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 841. ISBN 0-521-22496-9. ..he regards the Aetolians and the Acarnanians ... as 'Hellenes' (cf. Str. 334)... He designates the Taulantii who lived around Epidamnus as Illyrian without question and classes them as barbaroi... He describes the Chaones as 'barbaroi' (11.80.5-6) though their leaders from the 'ruling family' ... have Greek names... In 11.68.5-6 he writes that most of the Ampilochi are barbaroi, although the inhabitants of the Ampilochian Argos had adopted Greek... under the influence of Ambracian colonists... the natural conclusion from Thucydides' statements is that the tribes of Epirus from Amphilochia northwards did not have Greek as their native language in his time, though they were already under strong Greek influence which led to the widespread adoption of Greek early in the fourth century...
  23. Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1967). Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas. Clarendon P. p. 423. The Greek language and the Greek names of the inscriptions were not suddenly adopted before the Peloponnesian War. These tribes certainly spoke Greek during and before the time of Thucydides
  24. Crossland, R.A. (2006). "The Illyrians". In Boardman, John; Edwards, I. E. S.; Hammond, N. G. L.; Sollberger, E. (eds.). The Prehistory of the Balkans; the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C. (6 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 841. ISBN 0-521-22496-9. ...Tribes... between the Gulf of Arta and southern Albania, such as the Chaones, may have spoken non-Greek idioms other than Illyrian.
  25. Grimal & Maxwell-Hyslop 1996, "Chaon", p. 98.
  26. Malkin 1998, p. 138.
  27. IG IV²,1 95 col I.1 Line 29.
  28. FD III 4:409 II.7
  29. IG IX,1² 2:243.
  30. Cabanes, L'Épire 547,16.
  31. SEG 38:468.
  32. SEG 48:683 (Manumission Record).
  33. IG II² 2313 col II.8 Line 34.
  34. Toynbee 1965, p. 472.

Sources
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