PART OF THE PUBLICATION "FROM PANNONIA TO THE AEGEAN" BY ACADEMICIAN ANTONIJE SHKOKLEV - DONCHO AND SLAVE NIKOLOWSKI - KATIN
From mythology we learn that the eponymous hero of the Pelagonians was Pelagon, that the greatest and brightest symbol of all the Pelasgians was the dove (peristera), personified in the Pelister mountain range (peri-much, excessively and stereos-strong, hard). In Pelasgian mythology, the goddess of the world, Eurynome, took the form of a dove and laid a common egg from which her children hatched: the sun, the sky, the earth, the mountains, animals, plants, etc.
Therefore, the dove became a universal symbol of the peace-loving nature of all Pelasgians and a sacred symbol of the greatest sanctuary in the world at that time, the Pelasgian oracle of Dodoni, in neighboring Thesprotia.
Another mythological symbol of all Pelasgians, located in Pelagonia, are two mountains named Boreas (voras-north), Nidze with Kaimakchalan and Babuna, from "where the north wind Boreas blows".
This “snake-tailed” wind was another name among the Pelasgians for the Creator (Demiurga) Ophion, who played and impregnated Eurynome. The cult of Boreas was widespread throughout the Aegean world. Boreas is believed to have blown in winter from the mountain ranges of Babuna, Nidze and Strymon and that as a stallion he impregnated mares and sank enemy ships, such as those of the Persians at Athos and off the coast of Magnesia (Herodotus, VII, 189).
Apart from the myths, the first written records about the Pelagonians appear only during the 1957th century BC. According to the research of Papazoglou (199, 365), these are two inscriptions from Athens, from 363 and XNUMX BC, to the Pelagonian king Menelaus. These were letters of thanks for the military and financial assistance that the king gave to the Athenian strategist Timotheus in the war against the Chalcidians and Amphipolans.
From a historical perspective, these data prove that the Pelagonians had their own separate political community, headed by a king, as early as the middle of the 4th century BC. During the strengthening of the Paeonian state, the Pelagonians politically joined its composition. During the period of strengthening and expansion of the Macedonian state under the leadership of Philip II of Macedon, Pelagonia became an integral part of ancient Macedonia.
Otherwise, the capital of Pelagonia was also called Pelagonia and was located on the left bank of the Erigone River. In the following centuries, Pelagonia is mentioned in several places by Livy, Strabo and Diodorus, and in connection with the Roman conquests of Macedonia and its divisions, stating that Pelagonia was the center, the fourth Macedonian merida. The trace of the city of Pelagonia is lost after the Gothic invasions towards the end of the 5th century AD, but the Pelagonia region in Macedonia remains.
Among the prehistoric peoples of the central Balkans are the Paeonians, and their country was called Paeonia. The ancestor of the Paeonians and their king was the eponymous hero Paeon. In mythology, Paeon was the son of Poseidon and Hela, father of Scordiscus and Tribalus. According to Homer, Paeon was the physician of the gods, after whom the physicians of the war heroes were called Paeonides, and Apollo and Aesculapius had the same adjective. Otherwise, the verb peonizo means singing a solemn military, battle song.
Paeon's brothers were Edon (from the word edis - kind, dear and according to him the Thracian people of Strymon and Nestus under the name edoni, as well as the mountain of the same name) and Almopa. After his brother, the name Almopia (almiros - salty and pieo - to create, make, work) in Lower Macedonia is mentioned. The name of Paeon as a deity is mentioned very early, around 1400 BC, on clay tablets inscribed with Linear B script (Ventris, Chadwich, 1956, 122).
The Paeonians inhabited the Balkans south of the Dardanus, between the Thracians, the Pelagonians and the Macedonians. They lived in the middle reaches of the Axius (Vardar) river, around the Erigon (Crna) and Astybos (Bregalnica), in whose waters the ritual coronation of the Paeonian kings took place, as well as in the Strymon valley. Among the tribes that stood out were the Agrians (agrios - cruel, fierce, wild), who lived around the source of the Strymon and participated in the campaign of Alexander the Great with 1000 archers.
Next come the Siripeons (siros - grain pit), who lived in the plain of the city of Serres, then the Peoples, the Doberians, etc.
In Paeonia, the following kings are mentioned: Astropeus, Lycaeus, Patraeus, Nicraeus, Bastareus, Andoleon, Leon, Dopeon and others.
Archaeological excavations in Gevgelija and Marvinci in Macedonia confirm their high culture and trade ties with Asia Minor, and above all with Troy, Ionia and Mycenae. The very rich archaeological finds in Demir Kapija have revealed gold and silver jewelry of high value and coins with the images of the already mentioned Paeonian kings (Mikulic, 1989).
In the Trojan War, the Paeonians were allies of Troy. Homer, in the chapter on “The Composition of the Trojan Army” (III, II, 848), says about the Paeonians: “And the Paeonians were led by the hero Pyrechmus through the winding paths/, from distant Amydon to the broad river Axius/, Axius who fertilizes the land with the most beautiful water”. After the death of Pyrechmus, the poet in the epic (I 1.XVII, 348), says about the death of the second Paeonian hero Apisason “…And Apisason, a human shepherd, son of Hippas/, wounded him in the liver… he is from the fertile land of Paeonia…”
The main cities of Paeonia were Astibo, today's Shtip and Stobi. Other cities were: Arg, Vilazora (Veles), Karpi (Demir Kapija), Eurystus, Bargala, Armochia, Zapara, Dober, Astreon, etc. Rivers: Axius (Vardar), Erigon (Crna), Strymon (Struma), Astibos (Bregalnica), etc.
There is information about the Paeonians and their customs from Herodotus (IV, 33) who visited those regions. He speaks of the existence of lions in Paeonia, that when offering sacrifices to the goddess Artemis, they wrapped the promised gifts in wheat straw. During the Persian occupation of Paeonia, some of their tribes put up fierce resistance, so the Syropeonians and Pipliians were resettled in Phrygia, in Asia Minor. After their successful revolt, they returned to Paeonia. During the time of King Philip II of Macedon, Paeonia was annexed to ancient Macedonia.
The data provided by Herodotus (V, 16) are also interesting: “Those around the Pangea Mountain and the Prasiad Lake did not fall into the hands of Megabazus. He tried to subdue those who lived on the lake as well, and this is how: in the middle of the lake there were wooden scaffolds on high stakes, and access from the mainland was made possible by a narrow bridge. The stakes under the scaffolds, in ancient times, were brought by all the inhabitants of the settlement together, and later they created such a custom. When someone took a wife, from the mountain, whose name was Orbel, he brought three stakes and placed them under the scaffolds; and among them each man married many times.
Everyone had a hut on the scaffold in which they lived, and from which an opening through the scaffold led down to the lake. They fed the horses and cattle with fish, and there was so much fish that when they lowered the fishing basket through the opening into the lake, after a short time, when it was pulled out, it was full of fish…”
To be continued
It says: SLAVE KATIN
