The Pieres (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: Πίερες) were an ancient tribe that long before the
archaic period in Greece
Archaic Greece was the period in Greek history lasting from circa 800 BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, following the Greek Dark Ages and succeeded by the Classical period. In the archaic period, Greeks settled across the M ...
occupied the narrow strip of plain land, or low hill, between the mouths of the
Peneius and the
Haliacmon[E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2,Στενήν—the Paeonians had possessed ‘a narrow strip on the bank of the Axius, down to Pella and the sea.’ Grote points out that this would leave hardly any room for the Bottiaeans, who dwelt north of the Pierians, between the mouth of the Haliacmon (the Indjeh Kara-su) and that of the Axius. Probably Thuc. is mistaken in saying μέχρι θαλάσσης, and the Paeonians did not extend so far east] rivers, at the foot of the great woody steeps of
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...
. This region was named after them as
Pieria ( el, Πιερία).
Origins
The tribe's origins are disputed. According to
W. K. C. Guthrie
William Keith Chambers Guthrie (1 August 1906 – 17 May 1981), usually cited as W. K. C. Guthrie, was a Scottish classical scholar, best known for his ''History of Greek Philosophy'', published in six volumes between 1962 and his dea ...
, the tribe was
Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...
, whereas
Maximilian Wolfgang Duncker
Maximilian Wolfgang Duncker (15 October 1811 – 21 July 1886) was a German historian and politician.
Life
Duncker was born in Berlin, Province of Brandenburg, as the eldest son of the publisher Karl Duncker. He studied at the universities o ...
and
Karl Otfried Müller believed them to have been
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 ...
.
Nevertheless, they seemed to have been connected to the
Brygi, the European ancestors of the
Phrygians
The Phrygians (Greek: Φρύγες, ''Phruges'' or ''Phryges'') were an ancient Indo-European speaking people, who inhabited central-western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) in antiquity. They were related to the Greeks.
Ancient Greek authors used ...
.
Expulsion
The Pieres were expelled by the
Macedon
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 b ...
ians in the 8th century BC from their original seats, and driven to the North beyond the
Strymon river and
Mount Pangaeus
The Pangaion Hills (; ; Homeric Greek: Nysa; also called Pangaeon, Pangaeum) are a mountain range in Greece, approximately 40 km from Kavala. The highest elevation is 1,956 m at the peak of Koutra. The Aegean Sea lies to the south and ...
, where they formed a new settlement which they named ''Pieris'' (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
,"''Πιερίς''").
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...
mentions that they had mines in
Mount Pangaeus
The Pangaion Hills (; ; Homeric Greek: Nysa; also called Pangaeon, Pangaeum) are a mountain range in Greece, approximately 40 km from Kavala. The highest elevation is 1,956 m at the peak of Koutra. The Aegean Sea lies to the south and ...
and two fortresses. He writes the Pierians were among the nations that supplied the army of
Xerxes. This district, which, under the name of Pieria or ''Pieris'', is mentioned in the
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...
ic poems, was, according to legend, the birthplace of the
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
s and of
Orpheus
Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to ...
,
[Orpheus and Greek Religion (Mythos Books) by William Keith Guthrie and L. Alderlink, 1993), , page 62] the father of song. When this worship was introduced into
Boeotia
Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, wikt:Βοιωτία, Βοιωτία; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is pa ...
, the names of the mountains, grots, and springs with which this poetic religion was connected, were transferred from the North to the South.
The boundaries which historians and geographers give to this province vary. In the systematic geography of
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...
the name is given to the extent of coast between the mouths of the
Ludias and the Haliacmon rivers. Pieria was bounded on the West from the contiguous district of the
Thessalian
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thess ...
Perrhaebia by the great chain of Olympus. An offshoot from Olympus advances along the Pierian plain, in a North-west direction, as far as the ravine of the Haliacmon, where the mountains are separated by that chasm in the great eastern ridge of Northern Greece from the portion of it anciently called
Bermius. The highest summit of the Pierian range called ''Pierus Mons'' and is a conspicuous object in all the country to the East. It would seem that there was a city called Pieria, which may be represented by a tumulus, overgrown with trees upon the extremity of the ridge of
Andreotissa, where it ends in a point between
Dium
Dion ( el, Δίον; grc, Δῖον; la, Dium) is a village and municipal unit in the municipality of Dion-Olympos in the Pieria regional unit, Greece. It is located at the foot of Mount Olympus at a distance of 17 km from the capital ...
and
Pydna
Pydna (in Greek: Πύδνα, older transliteration: Pýdna) was a Greek city in ancient Macedon, the most important in Pieria. Modern Pydna is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern part of Pieria regional unit, Greece. Sinc ...
, the other two chief cities of Pieria. Beyond
Pydna
Pydna (in Greek: Πύδνα, older transliteration: Pýdna) was a Greek city in ancient Macedon, the most important in Pieria. Modern Pydna is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern part of Pieria regional unit, Greece. Sinc ...
was a considerable forest, called Pieria Silva, which may have furnished the Pierian pitch, which had such a high reputation. The road from
Pella
Pella ( el, Πέλλα) is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is best-known for serving as the capital city of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, and was the birthplace of Alexander the Great.
On site of the ancient cit ...
to
Larissa
Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...
in Thessaly passed through Pieria, and was probably the route which the
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states th ...
Quintus Marcius Philippus pursued in the third and fourth years of the
third Macedonian War
The Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) was a war fought between the Roman Republic and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC, King Philip V of Macedon died and was succeeded by his ambitious son Perseus. He was anti-Roman and stirred anti-Roman ...
(171 BC–168 BC).
See also
*
Orpheus
Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to ...
*
Pierian Spring
*
Pieria (disambiguation)
Pieria may refer to:
* Pieria (regional unit) in Greece
* Pieria (Syria), a province of Roman Syria
* Pieria (mythology), the wife of Danaus
* Pieria (Thessaly), ancient city of Thessaly
* Pieria, wife of Oxylus and mother by him of Aetolus
* T ...
References
{{SmithDGRBM
Ancient tribes in the Balkans
Thracian tribes of Macedonia
Ancient Pierians
Thracian tribes