Pelagonia ( mk, Пелагонија, Pelagonija; el, Πελαγονíα, Pelagonía) is a geographical region of

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

named after the ancient kingdom. Ancient Pelagonia roughly corresponded to the present-day municipalities of

Bitola Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...

, Prilep, Mogila, Novaci, Kruševo, and

Krivogaštani Krivogaštani ( mk, ) is a village situated near Prilep on the Pelagonian plain in North Macedonia. The village is a seat of the Krivogaštani municipality. Demographics According to the 1467-68 Ottoman defter, Krivogaštani appears being largel ...

in North Macedonia and to the municipalities of Florina,

Amyntaio Amyntaio ( el, Αμύνταιο, before 1928: Σόροβιτς - ''Sorovits''; Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Суровичево, Сорович), is a town and municipality in the Florina regional unit of Macedonia, Greece. The population of Amyntaio p ...

and Prespes in Greece.

History

In antiquity, Pelagonia was roughly bounded by Paeonia to the north and east,

Lynkestis Lynkestis, Lyncestis, Lyngistis, Lynkos or Lyncus ( grc, Λυγκηστίς or Λύγκος la, Lyncestis or ''Lyncus'') was a region and principality traditionally located in Upper Macedonia. It was the northernmost mountainous region of Upper ...

and

Almopia Almopia ( el, Αλμωπία), or Enotia, also known in the Middle Ages as Moglena (Greek: Μογλενά, Macedonian and Bulgarian: Меглен or Мъглен), is a municipality and a former province (επαρχία) of the Pella regional uni ...

to the south and

Illyria In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...

to the west; and was inhabited by the Pelagones, an ancient Greek tribe of

Upper Macedonia Upper Macedonia (Greek: Ἄνω Μακεδονία, ''Ánō Makedonía'') is a geographical and tribal term to describe the upper/western of the two parts in which, together with Lower Macedonia, the ancient kingdom of Macedon was roughly divided. ...

, who were centered at the Pelagonian plain and belonged to the Molossian tribal state or '' koinon''. The region was annexed to the

Macedonian kingdom Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...

during the 4th century BC and became one of its administrative provinces. In medieval times, when the names of

and Orestis had become obsolete, Pelagonia acquired a broader meaning. This is why the

Battle of Pelagonia The Battle of Pelagonia or Battle of Kastoriae.g. ; . took place in early summer or autumn 1259, between the Empire of Nicaea and an anti-Nicaean alliance comprising Despotate of Epirus, Sicily and the Principality of Achaea. It was a decisive ev ...

(1259) between Byzantines and Latins includes also the current Kastoria regional unit and ancient Orestis. Strabo calls Pelagonia by the name ''Tripolitis'' and names only one ancient city of the supposed three in the region; Azorus. Two notable Pelagonians include the mythological Pelagon, the eponym of the region, who, according to Greek mythology, was son of the river-god Axius (modern Axios or Vardar river) and father of the Paeonian

Asteropaeus In the ''Iliad'', Asteropaios (; Greek: Ἀστεροπαῖος; Latin: ''Asteropaeus'') was a leader of the Trojan-allied Paeonians along with fellow warrior Pyraechmes. Family Asteropaios was the son of Pelagon, who was the son of the river ...

in Homer's '' Iliad''. The second one is Menelaus of Pelagonia (ca. 360 BC) who, according to Bosworth, fled his kingdom when it was annexed by Philip II, finding refuge and citizenship in Athens.Bosworth, A.B. "Philip II and Upper Macedonia", CQ, 21 (1971). Today, Pelagonia is a plain shared between North Macedonia and the Greek region of

. It incorporates the southern cities of

and Prilep in North Macedonia and the northwestern city of Florina in Greece; it is also the location of Medžitlija-Niki, a key border crossing between the two countries. Many Mycenaean objects have been found in the area, such as the

double axe ''Labrys'' ( gr, , lábrus) is, according to Plutarch (''Quaestiones Graecae'' 2.302a), the Lydian word for the double-bitted axe. In Greek it was called (''pélekus''). The Ancient Greek plural of ''labrys'' is ''labryes'' (). Etymology P ...

, later found in Mycenae and are exhibited in the Museum of Bitola.

Environment

Important Bird Area

A 137,000 ha tract of the plain has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports populations of ferruginous ducks, white storks, Dalmatian pelicans,

Eurasian thick-knee The Eurasian stone-curlew, Eurasian thick-knee, or simply stone-curlew (''Burhinus oedicnemus'') is a northern species of the Burhinidae (stone-curlew) bird family. Taxonomy The Eurasian stone-curlew was formally described by the Swedish natur ...

little owl The little owl (''Athene noctua''), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva, is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea, and North Africa. It was introduced into Britain at ...

s, Eurasian scops owls, European rollers, lesser kestrels and lesser grey shrikes.

References

External links

Pelagonian margins in central Evia island (Greece)The oldest rocks of Greece: first evidence for a Precambrian terrane within the Pelagonian Zone
{{coord, 41.0000, N, 21.3500, E, source:wikidata, display=title Upper Macedonia Plains of Greece Plains of Europe Ancient Macedonia Geography of North Macedonia Bitola Municipality Resen Municipality Landforms of Florina (regional unit) Landforms of Western Macedonia Prilep Municipality Geography of ancient Macedonia Important Bird Areas of North Macedonia

History

Environment

Important Bird Area

See also

References

External links