![Beautiful Byllis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Beautiful_Byllis.jpg)
The Bylliones were an
Illyrian tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
that lived near the
Adriatic coast of southern
Illyria (modern
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
), on the lower valley of the
Vjosa
The Vjosa (; indefinite form: ) or Aoös ( el, Αώος) is a river in northwestern Greece and southwestern Albania. Its total length is about , of which the first are in Greece, and the remaining in Albania. Its drainage basin is and its ave ...
river, in the hinterland of
Apollonia. The Bylliones were firstly attested in epigraphic material from the oracle of
Dodona
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
dating back to the 4th century BC, and their ''
koinon
''Koinon'' ( el, Κοινόν, pl. Κοινά, ''Koina''), meaning "common", in the sense of "public", had many interpretations, some societal, some governmental. The word was the neuter form of the adjective, roughly equivalent in the government ...
'' was firstly attested in a 3rd century BC inscription from the same oracle. Their territory was trapezoidal on the right side of the rivers
Luftinje and Vjosa, extending in the west to the
Mallakastra mountains. The chief city of their ''koinon'' was
Byllis
Byllis ( gr, Βύλλις; sq, Bylis; la, Byllis) or Bullis or Boullis (Βουλλίς) was an ancient city and the chief settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the c ...
. Another important centre of their ''koinon'' was
Klos Klos or KLOS may refer to:
* Klos (surname)
* Klos, Dibër, a town in eastern Albania
** Harketari Klos KF, a defunct football club based in Klos, Dibër
* Klos, Elbasan, a village in central Albania
* Klos, Mallakastër, a village in south-central ...
, an earlier Illyrian settlement later called
Nikaia
Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and se ...
, as an inscription attests. The Bylliones also inhabited in the area of an ancient sanctuary of the
eternal fire called ''
Nymphaion''.
Through contact with their
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
neighbours, the Bylliones became
Hellenized
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...
and bilingual during the height of Molossian rule in the region in the 3rd century BCE.
Their ''koinon'' minted coins as attested by inscriptions reporting their ''ethnicon'' in Greek letters. The ''koinon'' of the Bylliones survived until
Roman Imperial times. In the Roman era, the Bylliones reappear in the late 1st century CE when they are mentioned by
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
in the ''
Natural History'' (c. 79 CE) as one of the "barbarian" tribes which lived in the area of Nymphaeum. The ''koinon'' of the Bylliones and the ''koinon'' of the
Amantes were the most notable
Illyrian ''koina''.
Name
Their name is recorded as ''Boulinoi'' by
Pseudo-Scymnus
Pseudo-Scymnus is the name given by Augustus Meineke to the unknown author of a work on geography written in Classical Greek, the ''Periodos to Nicomedes''. It is an account of the world ('' periegesis'') in 'comic' iambic trimeters which is dedi ...
(404), ''Boulimeis'' by
Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes ( grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Περιηγητής, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia ...
(386), ''Ballini'' by
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
(44. 30), ''Bylliones'' by
Strabo (7. 7. 8), ''Buliones'' by
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
(3. 21/139). Bronze coins dating back to the period 230 BC – 148 BC have been found in the site of
Byllis
Byllis ( gr, Βύλλις; sq, Bylis; la, Byllis) or Bullis or Boullis (Βουλλίς) was an ancient city and the chief settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the c ...
, bearing the legend ΒΥΛΛΙΟΝΩΝ.
Geography
There is not a certain geographic extension of the community of the Bylliones, 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
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
.
Byllis
Byllis ( gr, Βύλλις; sq, Bylis; la, Byllis) or Bullis or Boullis (Βουλλίς) was an ancient city and the chief settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the c ...
seems to have constituted the main center of the Bylliones. Another important center of the Bylliones was
Klos Klos or KLOS may refer to:
* Klos (surname)
* Klos, Dibër, a town in eastern Albania
** Harketari Klos KF, a defunct football club based in Klos, Dibër
* Klos, Elbasan, a village in central Albania
* Klos, Mallakastër, a village in south-central ...
, a more ancient Illyrian settlement later called
Nikaia
Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and se ...
, as an inscription attests. The Bylliones formed a ''
koinon
''Koinon'' ( el, Κοινόν, pl. Κοινά, ''Koina''), meaning "common", in the sense of "public", had many interpretations, some societal, some governmental. The word was the neuter form of the adjective, roughly equivalent in the government ...
'', which was firstly attested in a 3rd century BC inscription, also this time from Dodona.
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
(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. Its urban layout seems to have been structured around the middle of the 3rd century BC. It was built on a roughly 500 m hill on the right bank of the
Vjosa
The Vjosa (; indefinite form: ) or Aoös ( el, Αώος) is a river in northwestern Greece and southwestern Albania. Its total length is about , of which the first are in Greece, and the remaining in Albania. Its drainage basin is and its ave ...
river, one of the main river axes of central-southern Albania. The hill had a dominant view over the river's valley, and today's
Mallakastra region, over much of which the ''koinon'' of the Bylliones stretched. The site permitted also to see the coastline while, towards the hinterland, the more internal centers.
The territory of the Bylliones was composed by a whole network of fortifications constructed to protect them from nearby
Apollonians in the west and
Atintanians in the east. It was delimited to the southeast by the fortifications of
Rabije and
Matohasanaj. The ''koinon'' of the
Amantini was located on the opposite coast of the
Vjosa
The Vjosa (; indefinite form: ) or Aoös ( el, Αώος) is a river in northwestern Greece and southwestern Albania. Its total length is about , of which the first are in Greece, and the remaining in Albania. Its drainage basin is and its ave ...
river. The proximity of the prehistoric burial tumulus at
Lofkënd to both Byllis and
Nymphaion indicates that the tumulus was located in the territory of the Bylliones.
Although still unproven, some scholars have suggested that the Bylliones may have once constituted a part of
Atintania, which may have overshadowed with its name the ''koinon'' of Bylliones, and perhaps even the
Amantes, in the ancient accounts during the years 230–197 BC. Despite the important place it occupied behind
Apollonia, the community of the Bylliones was not mentioned, for instance, either in the treaty between
Philip V of Macedon
Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king ( Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon ag ...
and
Hannibal in 215 BC, nor in the terms of peace submitted to Philip V by the
Aetolians in 208 BC, and neither in the
Peace of Phoenice
The Treaty of Phoenice, also known as the Peace of Phoenice, was a treaty''Hannibal's War: A Military History of the Second Punic War'' by J. F. Lazenby, , 1998, page 178, "... the two belligerents with peace proposals, both were more than ready to ...
in 205 BC, when historical accounts report only Atintanes and Atintanina. It has been suggested that about 224 BC, when Atintania separated from
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
but remaining outside the dominion of the Illyrian dynast
Demetrius of Pharos
Demetrius of Pharos (also Pharus) ( grc, Δημήτριος ἐκ Φάρου and Δημήτριος ὁ Φάριος) was a ruler of Pharos involved in the First Illyrian War, after which he ruled a portion of the Illyrian Adriatic coast on behalf ...
, the westernmost part of Atintanes began to organize themselves as a separate unit with the name "''koinon'' of Bylliones", holding the support of the
Epirote League
The Epirote League ( Epirote: , ''Koinòn Āpeirōtân''; Attic: , ''Koinòn Ēpeirōtôn'') was an ancient Greek coalition, or ''koinon'', of Epirote tribes.
History
The coalition was established between 370 and 320 BC (firstly as the Moloss ...
. A ''koinon of the Bylliones'' is attested in epigraphic material from
Dodona
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
that has been dated about the last decades of the 3rd century BC. This koinon was most probably restricted to a southern Illyrian, non-Greek speaking, region without including parts of Epirus.
Culture
Language
The idiom spoken by the Bylliones belonged to the southeastern
Illyrian linguistic area. Through contact with their
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
neighbours, the Bylliones became
Hellenized
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...
and bilingual in the 3rd century BCE, as indicated by Greek legends on their coins.
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
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
,
Hera,
Dionysius and
Artemis
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...
. Another inscription indicates that the area included a
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
sanctuary with an
oracle, the
Nymphaion located on the border with nearby
Apollonia. The nymphaeum also appears as a fire symbol engraved on coins of Byllis minted in the 3rd-2nd century BC. A relief found near Byllis also shows the nymphs and a cloth wrapped around this fire, a scene that is repeated only with the nymphs depicted on a 1st century BC silver coin of Apollonia, suggesting an admixture of
local traditions and religions with the forms and practices brought by
Greek colonists. Under Greek influence the local Illyrian spontaneous and
naturalistic cult started its canonization. In the sanctuary of
Dodona
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
a 4th century BC inscription on a lead foil reports Bylliones asking to which deity they should sacrifice in order to ensure the safety of their possessions. By the end of the 3rd century BC, the Bylliones appear among the lists of
theorodokoi The ''theorodokoi'' ( Greek: , ) in ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ...
at Delphi.
Economy
The
koinon
''Koinon'' ( el, Κοινόν, pl. Κοινά, ''Koina''), meaning "common", in the sense of "public", had many interpretations, some societal, some governmental. The word was the neuter form of the adjective, roughly equivalent in the government ...
of the Bylliones minted its own coins in the period between 230 BC and 148 BC.
See also
*
List of ancient tribes in Illyria
This is a list of ancient tribes in the ancient territory of Illyria ( grc-gre, Ἰλλυρία; la, Illyria). The name ''Illyrians'' seems to be the name of a single Illyrian tribe that was the first to come into contact with the ancient Greeks ...
References
Bibliography
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{{Albania topics
Illyrian tribes
Illyrian Albania
Ancient tribes in Albania