Paeonia or Paionia (, Latinized: Paeonia), was the land and the kingdom of the Paeonians in classical antiquity. Paeonia roughly corresponded to present-day North Macedonia. It also included parts of northern Greece and western Bulgaria.
In the Iliad, the Paeonians are portrayed as allies of the Trojans. Ancient authors placed Paeonia south of Dardania, northeast of Pelagonia, north of Lower Macedonia, west of the Thracian mountains, and east of the southernmost Illyrians of the Ohrid–Prespa basin.Strabo. Geography, 7, Frg.4, 9.5.1 Pelagonia was used as a name for the westernmost part of Paeonia, while the north-westernmost part of Pelagonia was referred to as Derriopos. Paeonia was separated from Dardania by the mountains through which the Vardar river passes from the field of Scupi (modern Skopje) to the valley of Bylazora (near modern Sveti Nikole), which was the Paeonian capital. In 356 BC, the Paeonian king Lyppeius became a subject to Philip II. Starting from Agis in the 4th century BC down to 227 BC, at least seven Paeonian kings reigned Paeonia as a distinct entity, either subject to Macedon or independent.
Mythology
In Greek mythology, the Paeonians were said to have derived their name from Paeon, son of Endymion. Cites Endymion of Elis, the lover of the goddess of the Moon (Selene), had three sons: Paeon, Epeios, and Aetolus; the eponymous ancestors of the Paeonians, Epeians, and Aetolians, respectively. Endymion, in order to give his kingdom to one of them, made them run a race in Olympia, where Epeios won and took the kingdom. Paeon left in disappointment to settle in the Upper Valley of Axios which was since called Paeonia.
Appian wrote of a genealogy in which Paeon, the eponym of the Paeonians, is the son of Autarieus, the eponym of the Autariatae, and father of Skordiskos and Triballos, the eponyms of two central Balkanic tribes, one Celtic and the other Thracian. This might connect the Paeonians with the Illyrian complex, although as Katičić suggests, Appian might not refer to the Paeonians but might refer instead to the Pannonians, since Appian uses the Paeonian name to denote that ethnic group as well.
There is relatively little mention of the Paeonians in the works of the ancient Greeks. In the Trojan War, the Paeonians "with ankylosed bows" and "wearing helmets with horsetails" were allies of the Trojans, fighting on their side under their king Pyraechmes and Asteropaios, son of Pelagon. Thus, Homer speaks of Paeonians from the Axios with their capital at Amydon, fighting on the side of the Trojans, but the Iliad does not mention whether the Paeonians were kin to the Trojans, and instead connects them to the Phrygians.
Several eastern Paeonian tribes, including the Agrianes, clearly fell within the Thracian sphere of influence, but Herodotus and Thucydides distinguish the Paeonians from the Thracians. According to their national legend,Herodotus V, 13. they were Teucrian colonists from Troy. Polybius mentions that Emathia was earlier called Paeonia, and Strabo, that it extended to Pieria and Pelagonia; these references are related to the Bronze Age period before the Trojan War according to N. G. L. Hammond.Prehistory of Macedonia, i. 418 n. 2
History Paeonian tribes
Before the reign of Darius the Great, Paeonians had made their way as far east as Perinthus in Thrace on the Propontis. At one time all Mygdonia, together with Crestonia, was subject to them. When Xerxes crossed Chalcidice on his way to Therma (near later Thessalonica), he is said to have marched through Paeonian territory. They occupied the entire valley of the Axios (Vardar) as far inland as Stobi, the valleys to the east of it as far as the Strymon and the country round Astibus and the river of the same name, with the water of which they anointed their kings. As a consequence of the growth of the Macedonian power, and under pressure from their Thracian neighbors, their territory was considerably diminished, and in historical times was limited to the north of Macedon, from Illyria to the Strymon.
The Paeonian tribes included: Agrianes (it is also claimed that the tribe was Thracian) OdomantesAn Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Heine Nielsen, 2005, , p.854: "Various tribes have occupied this part of Thrace: Bisaltians (lower Strymon valley), Odomantes (the plain to the north of the Strymon)..." (it is also claimed that the tribe was ThracianThrace in the Graeco-Roman world, p.112: "but others claim that together with the Agrianes and Odomanti, at least the latter of which were with certainty Thracian, not Paeonian.") DerronesThe Cambridge Ancient History, Martin Percival Charlesworth, , Volume 4, Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, C. 525 to 479 B.C, John Boardman, p.252: "The Paeonians were the earlier owners of some of these mines, but after their defeat in the coastal sector they maintained their independence in the mainland and coined large denominations in the upper Strymon and the Upper Axius area in the names of the Laeaei and the Derrones" (it is also claimed that the tribe was Thracian) Laeaeans PaeoplaeThe Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, , 2003, p.315: "was that a number of Paeonian tribes – the Siriopaeones, Paeoplae,..." Doberes Siropaiones Almopians
War with the Achaemenid Empire The subjugation of the Paeonians happened as a part of Persian military operations initiated by Darius the Great (521–486) in 513 after—immense preparations—a huge Achaemenid army invaded the Balkans and tried to defeat the European Scythians roaming to the north of the Danube River. Darius' army subjugated several Thracian peoples, and virtually all other regions that touch the European part of the Black Sea, such as parts of nowadays Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia, before it returned to Asia Minor. Darius left in Europe one of his commanders named Megabazus whose task was to accomplish conquests in the Balkans. The Persian troops subjugated gold-rich Thrace, the coastal Greek cities, as well as defeating and conquering the powerful Paeonians.
Pigres of Paionia, hoped that by the favour of Darius, he and his brother might be established as tyrants over the Paeonians. Darius, however, sent orders to Megabazus to transport Paeonians into Asia. The conquered Paeonians from as far as Lake Prasias, including the Paeoplae and Siropaiones, were deported from Paeonia to Asia.) At the time of the Persian invasion, the Paeonians on the lower Strymon had lost, while those in the north maintained, their territorial integrity.
Paeonian kingdom
At some point after the Greco-Persian Wars, the Paeonian princedoms coalesced into a kingdom centred in the central and upper reaches of the Axios and Strymon rivers, corresponding with today's central and eastern parts of North Macedonia and western Bulgaria. In early times, the chief town and seat of the Paeonian kings was Bylazora (in modern Sveti Nikole municipality in North Macedonia) on the Vardar; later, the seat of the kings was moved to Stobi (near modern Gradsko).
War with Macedon Paeonians joined with the Illyrians to attack the northern areas of the kingdom of Macedonia. The Illyrians, who had a culture of piracy, would have been cut off from some trade routes if movement through this land had been blocked. They unsuccessfully attacked the northern defences of Macedonian territory in an attempt to occupy the region. In 360–359 BC, southern Paeonian tribes—then ruled by Agis—were launching raids into Macedon (Diodorus XVI. 2.5) in support of an Illyrian invasion.
The Macedonian royal house was thrown into a state of uncertainty by the death of Perdiccas III, but his brother Philip II assumed the throne, reformed the army (providing phalanxes), and proceeded to stop both the Illyrian invasion and the Paeonian raids after the death of Agis. Shortly after Philip's chaotic accession in 359/8, following the death in battle of his brother Perdiccas III, he was forced to bribe the Paeonians to abandon their invasion of Macedonia. The payment, judged as small by modern historians, may have been made with promises of future tribute from Macedonia, but this never materialized.
Philip followed Perdiccas's succession in 358 BC with a campaign deep into the north, into Paeonia itself. on Perseus Philip reformed the army and invaded Paeonia after learning about the death of Agis, perhaps in the spring of 358 BC. The details of the subsequent battle are unknown, but apparently the Paeonians, now led by Lyppeius, met Philip's 10,000 strong force in a pitched battle and were defeated.Worthington 2014, pp. 38–39 According to Diodorus, they were then forced to swear allegiance to the Macedonians.
In late 357, in an attempt to curb Philip's relentless expansion, Athens entered into an anti-Macedonian coalition with King Grabus II of Illyria, the Thracian kings, Olynthus, and Lyppeius of Paeonia. These efforts proved fruitless, however, as Philip neutralized each of Athens' allies one-by-one.Worthington 2014, p. 42 In 356 BC, Paeonia became subject to Philip.
Paeonian kings become subjects to Philip II and Alexander This reduced the Paeonian Kingdom then ruled by Lyppeius to a semi-autonomous, subordinate status, which led to a process of gradual and formal Hellenization of the Paeonians, who, during the reign of Philip II, began to issue coins with Greek legends like the Macedonian ones. Lyppeius was consequently reduced to a vassal status for the remainder of his reign, but he evidently retained a degree of independence as he continued to mint coins in his own name. He was succeeded by Patraus. Although Paeonians retained their territory and the right to mint coins, they were expected to provide both tribute and manpower for Macedonian military campaigns.
Paeonian cavalry
A Paeonian cavalry contingent, led by Ariston, possibly brother of King Patraus and father of the later king Audoleon, was attached to Alexander the Great's army. His service with Alexander the Great, like that of the Thracian Sitalces II and others, helped to ensure the loyalty of his nation to Macedon in Alexander's absence during the campaign against Persia. Ariston's command consisted initially of only one squadron of 150 cavalrymen. He crossed with Alexander's army into Asia Minor in 334. The Paeonians received 500 reinforcements in Egypt and a further 600 at Susa.
At the Battle of Gaugamela, the Paeonian cavalry was placed on the right flank with the sarissophoroi. In 331 BC, the Paeonian cavalry routed a large force of Persian cavalry near the Tigris, and Ariston personally slew the Persian leader Satropates; he then presented Alexander with the Persian's severed head. He asked Alexander for a gold cup as a reward for his feat, and the king publicly saluted him and drank to his health.
Agrianian peltasts
Alexander the Great wished to bestow the hand of his sister Cynane upon Langarus, king of the Agrianians, who had shown himself loyal to Philip II. The Agrianes were armed with javelins and were the elite unit of Alexander the Great's army's light infantry. They fought under king Langarus against the Triballians in 335 BC, English summary on: and succeeded in protecting the lands of Alexander and were thus rewarded with the right to govern themselves, a move that led to a long-lasting and most reliable alliance. At the Battle of Gaugamela, the contingent of Agrianian peltasts numbered 1,000 men.
Hellenistic age