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 peri ...
: 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
In Greek mythology, Peneus (; Ancient Greek: Πηνειός) was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers (Potamoi), a child of Oceanus and Tethys.
Family
The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapi ...
and the
Haliacmon
The Haliacmon ( el, Αλιάκμονας, ''Aliákmonas''; formerly: , ''Aliákmon'' or ''Haliákmōn'') is the longest river flowing entirely in Greece, with a total length of . In Greece there are three rivers longer than Haliakmon, Maritsa ( e ...
[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, 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 t ...
, 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 of ...
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
Bryges or Briges ( el, Βρύγοι or Βρίγες) is the historical name given to a people of the ancient Balkans. They are generally considered to have been related to the Phrygians, who during classical antiquity lived in western Anatolia. Bot ...
, 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 by ...
ians in the 8th century BC from their original seats, and driven to the North beyond the
Strymon river and
Mount Pangaeus, 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 peri ...
,"''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 f ...
mentions that they had mines in
Mount Pangaeus 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 the ...
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 Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...
,
[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 Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its lar ...
, 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 importanc ...
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 Perrhaebia ( el, Περραιβία) was the northernmost district of ancient Thessaly, where the tribe of the Perrhaebi lived. Major cities were: Pythion, Doliche, Azorus, Oloosson and Phalanna the capital. Perrhaebia was part of Macedon
...
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 c ...
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. Sin ...
, 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. Sin ...
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 throu ...
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 Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...
*
Pierian Spring
In Greek mythology, the Pierian Spring of Macedonia was sacred to the Pierides and the Muses. As the metaphorical source of knowledge of art and science, it was popularized by a couplet in Alexander Pope's 1711 poem "An Essay on Criticism": "A li ...
*
Pieria (disambiguation)
References
{{SmithDGRBM
Ancient tribes in the Balkans
Thracian tribes of Macedonia
Ancient Pierians
Thracian tribes