The Pieres (Ancient Greek,"Πίερες") were a Thracian tribe [1] connected with the Brygi, [2] that long before the archaic period in Greece occupied the narrow strip of plain land, or low hill, between the mouths of the Peneius and the Haliacmon [3] rivers, at the foot of the great woody steeps of Mount Olympus. [4] This region was named after them as Pieria (Greek : Πιερία).
The Pieres were expelled [5] by the Macedonians in the 8th century BC [6] from their original seats, and driven to the North beyond the Strymon river and Mount Pangaeus, [7] where they formed a new settlement which they named Pieris (Ancient Greek,"Πιερίς"). Herodotus mentions that they had mines in Mount Pangaeus [8] and two fortresses. He writes the Pierians were among the nations that supplied the army of Xerxes. [9] This district, which, under the name of Pieria or Pieris, is mentioned in the Homeric poems, was, according to legend, the birthplace of the Muses [10] and of Orpheus, [11] the father of song. When this worship was introduced into Boeotia, the names of the mountains, grottos, 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 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 Perrhaebia 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 and Pydna, the other two chief cities of Pieria. Beyond Pydna was a considerable forest, called Pieria Silva, which may have furnished the Pierian pitch, which had such a high reputation. The road from Pella to Larissa in Thessaly passed through Pieria, and was probably the route which the consul Quintus Marcius Philippus pursued in the third and fourth years of the third Macedonian War (171 BC–168 BC).
Pieria is one of the regional units of Greece located in the southern part of the Region of Central Macedonia, within the historical province of Macedonia. Its capital is the town of Katerini.The name Pieria originates from the ancient Pieres tribe. In Pieria, there are many sites of archeological interest, such as Dion, Pydna, Leivithra and Platamonas. Pieria contains Mount Pierus, from which Hermes takes flight in order to visit Calypso, and is the home of Orpheus, the Muses, and contains the Pierian Spring. Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece and throne of the ancient Greek gods, is located in the southern part of Pieria. Other ancient cities included Leibethra and Pimpleia.
In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians or Paionians.
Pieris may refer to:
The Macedonians were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancient Greek people, they gradually expanded from their homeland along the Haliacmon valley on the northern edge of the Greek world, absorbing or driving out neighbouring non-Greek tribes, primarily Thracian and Illyrian. They spoke Ancient Macedonian, which is usually classified by scholars as a dialect of Northwest Doric Greek, and occasionally as a distinct sister language of Greek or an Aeolic Greek dialect. However, the prestige language of the region during the Classical era was Attic Greek, replaced by Koine Greek during the Hellenistic era. Their religious beliefs mirrored those of other Greeks, following the main deities of the Greek pantheon, although the Macedonians continued Archaic burial practices that had ceased in other parts of Greece after the 6th century BC. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility. Similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle.
Eion, ancient Chrysopolis, was an ancient Greek Eretrian colony in Thracian Macedonia specifically in the region of Edonis. It sat at the mouth of the Strymon River which flows into the Aegean from the interior of Thrace. It is referred to in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War as a place of considerable strategic importance to the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War.
Darrhon or Darron was a Paeonian god of healing, whose cult was adopted by the ancient Macedonians, as mentioned by Hesychius as a Macedonian Daemon and attested hapax in one inscription of Pella c. 200 – 150 BC.
Ἀμφίπολις Δάρρωνι εὐξαμένη ἐπηκόωι. Amphipolis Darrhoni euxamene epekooi. Amphipolis who prayed to benevolent Darrhon.
In Greek mythology, Orpheus was a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and even descended into the underworld of Hades, to recover his lost wife Eurydice.
Bottiaeans or Bottiaei were an ancient people of uncertain origin, living in Central Macedonia. Sometime, during the Archaic period, they were expelled by Macedonians from Bottiaea to Bottike. During the Classical era, they played an active role in the military history of ancient Chalcidice, but after the Macedonian conquest under Philip II nothing remained except the names of these two regions and the adjective Bottiaean, which was limited to sole geographical meaning. Unlike other tribes of Macedonia ruled by kings or living in villages, Bottiaeans developed some polis form of self-government. Unfortunately, no Bottiaean individual is known to us and the limited historical or archaeological sources shed no further light.
Lower Macedonia or Macedonia proper or Emathia is a geographical term used in Antiquity referring to the coastal plain watered by the rivers Haliacmon, Axius on the west and bounded by Strymon on the east. Its districts were: Pieria, Bottiaea, Emathia, Crestonia, Mygdonia and Bisaltia. There were also included the subregions Anthemous and Crousis in it which were originally part of Chalcidice but were annexed earlier. The region corresponds roughly to the modern Greek region of Central Macedonia, except for the Chalcidice peninsula.
Pimpleia was a city in Pieria in Ancient Greece, located near Dion and ancient Leivithra at Mount Olympus. Pimpleia is described as a "κώμη" of Dion by Strabo. The location of Pimpleia is possibly to be identified with the modern village of Agia Paraskevi near Litochoron.
Odomanti or Odomantes were an ancient tribe. Some regard it as Paeonian, while others claim, that the tribe was with certainty Thracian. The Odomanti are noted by Herodotus, Thucydides, Stephanus of Byzantium and Pliny the Elder.
Thraco-Macedonian is a conventional name in the study of ancient history to describe the political geography of Macedonia (region) in antiquity. It may refer to:
Edonis or Edonida, also transliterated as Edonia, was an ancient region of Thrace which later became a district of Macedon. Its name is derived from the ancient Thracian inhabitants of the region, the Edonians. Later, the Greeks settled in the region, drove out the Edonians and built several colonies, including Amphipolis and Eion. It was bordered by Odomantice in the north, Bisaltia in the west, and the Aegean Sea in the south, and was separated from Thrace proper by the river Nestos in the east.
In Greek mythology, Pierus was the king of Emathia in Macedonia. He was the eponym of Pieria and Mt. Pierus. Pierus was credited to be the first to write in the praise of the Muses.
Pydna is an ancient Greek city in the regional unit of Pieria, Central Macedonia, Greece. It is an important place in the history of Pieria and a major archaeological site located directly at the Aegean Sea, 16 km northeast of Katerini, 28 km north-east of Dion and 2.5 km from the village of Makrygialos. Nearby are two Macedonian tombs, discovered by the French archaeologist Heuzey during his Greek travels in the mid-19th century. Furthermore, the fortress-like bishop's seat Louloudies is located a few kilometers south of Pydna.
This is a reflection of the main historical events in Pieria (Πιερία), Central Macedonia.
The Illyrians were a conglomeration of Indo-European peoples and tribes in the Balkan Peninsula, Southeastern Europe.
Paeonians were an ancient Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania, to the west of Thrace and to the east of Illyria, most of their land was in the Axios river basin, roughly in what is today North Macedonia.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology .{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)