Enchele

The Enchelei were an ancient people that lived around Lake Ohrid and in the upper River Drin valley, later expanding as far as Lake Shkodra and on the Adriatic coast in modern-day Albania and North Macedonia. They are one of the oldest known peoples of the central Balkan and also the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. In ancient sources they sometimes appear as an ethnic group distinct from the Illyrians, but they are mostly mentioned as one of the Illyrian tribes. They held a central position in the earlier phase of Illyrian history and established the first Illyrian Kingdom in the 8th–7th century BC. In ancient Greek literature they are linked with the end of the mythical narrative of Cadmus and Harmonia.

The name Sesarethii/Sesarethioi was used by Strabo as an alternative name for the Enchelei in the lakeland area of Ohrid. Mentioned for the first time by Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BC, the name Sesarethii/Sesarethioi is also considered a variant of Dassaretii/Dassaretioi, an Illyrian tribe that has been recorded since Roman times and that is attested in coinage and inscriptions found around lake Ohrid.

The region inhabited by the Enchelei was known as Enchele. Their neighbors to the west were the Taulantii, to the north the Autariatae, to the north-east the Dardani, to the south-east the Paeones, and to the south the Dexaroi.