Nikaia, Illyria

Nikaia (Greek: Νίκαια, Latin: Nicaea) was a settlement of the koinon of the Bylliones, an Illyrian tribe that through contact with their Greek neighbours became bilingual.[1] The tribe was found in southern Illyria (today's Fier District, southern Albania).[2][3][4]

Epirus in antiquity.
For other uses, see Nicaea.

History

The name of the settlement is of Greek etymology.[5] Sources from the classical era point to a location in the vicinity of Byllis. It has been identified c. 1,500 meters south of Byllis in the modern settlement of Klos, near Fier.[2][6][3] Archaeologist Neritan Ceka led the expedition. Its size, organization and administrative relation to Byllis are debated. It was too large to be a kome and had walled fortifications in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Stephanus of Byzantium is the only primary source who calls it a polis.[3] The city plan resembles that of the Greek city of Amantia.[7] After its foundation Byllis went into decline, however it was not completely abandoned.[8]

Papazoglou and Hammond also stressed that the development of Nikaia as a city wasn't part of the beginning of the development of an "Illyrian city" system.[9] Rather, Nikaia like other settlements in southern Illyria (Byllis, Amantia, Lissus etc.) represents the adoption of the Greek city model by the 4th century BC or later in an indigenous settlement.[10] Papazoglou states that Nikaia together with nearby Byllis were "Greek foundations on barbarian territory".[11]

Organisation and onomastics

Inscriptions at both Byllis and Nikaia begin in the middle of the 4th century BC and are related to a polis-like organization. They are exclusively in Greek, as are institutions, the gods worshiped, the titles of the officials and other parts of the organization of the settlement.[2][9] Those inscriptions are written in fluent Greek and reveal typical features of the north-western Greek dialect.[12]

The Gods worshipped in Nikaia as well as Byllis are the typical deities of the Greek Pantheon: Zeus Tropaios, Hera Teleia, Poseidon, Parthenos,[lower-alpha 1] etc.[12]

The vast majority of the corpus of names is Greek (Alexander, Andriscus, Archelaus, Kebbas, Maketa, Machatas, Nikanor, Peukolaos, Phalakros, Philotas, Drimakos and Alexommas) with a few Illyrian names. The latter exceptions can't challenge the initial Greek character of the local element.[13] A 2nd-century BC inscription in a festival in Boetia, mentions an Illyrian contestant, Byllion from Nikaia (Βυλλίων απο Νίκαιας).[7] This inscription indicates that the city was a member of the Koinon of the Bylliones.[3]

The political institutions were typical of the Greek polis though it is difficult to define their precise content.[2] A Hellenistic inscription records a strategos eponymos (Greek: Στρατηγός επώνυμος) a general of the Koinon of the Bylliones. The term Koinon did not necessarily[14] refer to an ethnos. As a term it was also used to refer to a coalition of settlements, in this case: Byllis and Nikaia to which it was restricted.[15][2] Fanoula Papazoglou considered Nikaia to have been a deme of Byllis.[14]

See also

Notes
  1. Several goddesses in the Greek Pantheon had the epithet Parthenos ("virgin"), including Artemis, Athena, Hera and Persephone.

References

Inline citations
  1. The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC by D. M. Lewis (Editor), John Boardman (Editor), Simon Hornblower (Editor), M. Ostwald (Editor), ISBN 0-521-23348-8, 1994, page 423, "Through contact with their Greek neighbors some Illyrian tribe became bilingual (Strabo Vii.7.8.Diglottoi) in particular the Bylliones and the Taulantian tribes close to Epidamnus..."
  2. Hatzopoulos, Sakellariou & Loukopoulou 1997, p. 144.
  3. Hansen & Nielsen 2004, p. 346.
  4. Silva 2019, p. 71.
  5. Hatzopoulos, Sakellariou & Loukopoulou 1997, p. 144
  6. Papadopoulos et al. 2015, p. 6.
  7. Fossey 2014, p. 111.
  8. Hatzopoulos, Sakellariou & Loukopoulou 1997, p. 144: "In contrast, the foundation of Nikaia, a mere 1,500 metres south of Byllis, is earlier by almost a century: Byllis went into decline some-what after the foundation of Nikaia, though it was not totally abandoned."
  9. Hammond, N. G. L. (1989). "The Illyrian Atintani, the Epirotic Atintanes and the Roman Protectorate". The Journal of Roman Studies. 79: 11–25. doi:10.2307/301177. ISSN 0075-4358. JSTOR 301177. The fallacy of supposing that the cities of northern Epirus were 'Illyrian cities', made clear in my book Epirus in I967, has been reasserted by F. Papazoglou I986, 439 as regards Amantia, Byllis, Nicaea and Olympe ('J'ai dit 'a bon escient "cites grecques"... There is little point in proposing an Illyrian label for cities in which the language, the institutions, the officials, the onomastics, the city-planning and the fortifications were Greek.
  10. John Papadopoulos (2016). Molloy, Barry (ed.). Of Odysseys and Oddities: Scales and Modes of Interaction Between Prehistoric Aegean Societies and their Neighbours. Oxbow Books. p. 382. ISBN 978-1785702341. (...) indigenous sites that became, by the 4th century BC or later, cities very much organised on a Greek model (e.g. Byllis, Nikaia, Amantia, Lissos)
  11. Hatzopoulos, Sakellariou & Loukopoulou 1997, p. 144: "Fanoula Papazoglou also speaks of "Greek foundations on barbarian territory"
  12. Hatzopoulos, Sakellariou & Loukopoulou 1997, p. 144: "The texts in the inscriptions of the city date from the middle of the 4rth century B.C. and reveal typical features of the north-western Greek dialect. The cults of the cities are Greek ( Zeus Tropaios72 , Hera Teleia73 , Poseidon ? 4 , Parthenos75 etc . ) , as are the political institutions , though it is difficult to clarify their precise content "
  13. Hatzopoulos, Sakellariou & Loukopoulou 1997, p. 144: "...This important testimony to the basically Greek character of the inhabitants is not invalidated by the presence of a few Illyrians names (Preuratos...)"
  14. Pleket, H. W. Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume XXXIX: 1989.
  15. Robert, L. "Discours inaugaural", L' Illyrie meridionale et L'Epire dans l'antiquite, Actes du colloque international de Clermont-Ferrand. Clermont-Ferrand, 1984, p. 14

Sources
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