Tylis (

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 ...

: Τύλις) or Tyle was a capital of a short-lived Balkan state mentioned by

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

that was founded by

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

led by

Comontorius Comontorius was a Celtic king in Thrace who in 278 BC founded the kingdom of Tylis, imposing a tribute on the city of Byzantium. His successor on the throne was Cavarus under whom Tylis was destroyed by the Thracians in 212 BC.Polybius Polybiu ...

in the 3rd century BC. Following their invasion of

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in 279 BC, the Gauls were defeated by the

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...

ian king Antigonus II Gonatas in the

Battle of Lysimachia The Battle of Lysimachia was fought in 277 BC between the Gallic tribes settled in Thrace and a Greek army of Antigonus at Lysimachia, Thracian Chersonese. After the Greek defeat at Battle of Thermopylae, the Gauls retreated out of Greece and ...

in 277 BC, after which they turned inland to Thrace and founded their kingdom at Tylis. It was located near the eastern edge of the Haemus (Balkan) Mountains in what is now western

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Some bands of Celts, namely the

Tectosages The Tectosages or Tectosagii (Gaulish: *''Textosagioi'', 'Dwelling-Seekers', or 'Possessions-Seekers') were one of the three ancient Gallic tribes of Galatia in central Asia Minor, together with the Tolistobogii and Trocmii.Livy, xxxviii. 16 ...

Tolistobogii Tolistobogii (in other sources Tolistobogioi, Tolistobōgioi, Tolistoboioi, Tolistobioi, Toligistobogioi or Tolistoagioi) is the name used by the Roman historian, Livy, for one of the three ancient Gallic tribes of Galatia in central Asia Minor, ...

and

Trocmi The Trocmii or Trocmi were one of the three ancient tribes of Galatia in central Asia Minor, together with the Tolistobogii and Tectosages,Livy, xxxviii. 16 part of the possible Gallic group who moved from Macedonia into Asia Minor Anatolia ...

, did not settle in Thrace, but crossed into

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

to become known as the Galatians. The last king of Tylis was

Cavarus Cavarus was a Celtic king in Thrace and the last king of Tylis Tylis (Greek: Τύλις) or Tyle was a capital of a short-lived Balkan state mentioned by Polybius that was founded by Celts led by Comontorius in the 3rd century BC. Following thei ...

who maintained good relations with the city of Byzantium. His capital was destroyed by the

Thracians The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. ...

in 212 BC and this was also the end of his kingdom.Nikola Theodossiev
"Celtic Settlement in North-Western Thrace during the Late Fourth and Third Centuries BC"
The modern Bulgarian village of Tulovo in Stara Zagora Province now occupies the site.Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer

Honours

Tile Ridge Tile Ridge (''Rid Tile'' ) is a partly ice-free ridge of elevation 240 m in Dryanovo Heights, Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The ridge is named after the ancient Tile (Tylis), capital town of the Celtic Kingdom in ...

Greenwich Island Greenwich Island (variant historical names ''Sartorius Island'', ''Berezina Island'') is an island long and from (average ) wide, lying between Robert Island and Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. Surface area . The name Greenwic ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named for Tylis.

References

Celtic kingdoms Celtic towns Geography of Stara Zagora Province Former populated places in Bulgaria Ancient tribes in Bulgaria {{Bulgaria-geo-stub