Illyrian Eneti

The Eneti were a tribe or people who lived in a landlocked part of Illyria north and/or northwest of Macedonia in classical antiquity. They were neighbors of the Dardani and the Triballi. Classical accounts of them frequently conflate them with the separate Veneti around the northern Adriatic Sea and the Eneti around the southern Black Sea.

Name

Eneti is the Latin form of the Greek Eneti (Ancient Greek: Ἐνετοί, Enetoí). Herodotus calls them the "Eneti of the Illyrians" (Ἰλλυριῶν Ἐνετοί, Illyriō̂n Enetoí).[1]

History

Along with the Taulanti, the Eneti were the oldest attested peoples expressly considered Illyrian in early Greek historiography.[2] They were neighbors of the Dardani, Triballi,[3] and Macedonians.

They are first attested in the 5th-century BC History of the Greek ethnographic historian Herodotus.[4] While discussing the former custom of Babylonian villages' holding an annual auction of young women for marriage,[5] he mentions that he has been told the Illyrian Eneti follow the same practice.[1][6][7]

In his 2nd-century work on the 88–63 BC Mithridatic Wars between the Roman Republic and Mithridates VI of Pontus, Appian states at one point that the consul Sulla killed time while awaiting a reply from Mithridates by launching reprisal attacks from Macedonia against the neighboring Eneti, Dardani, and Sintians, who had been raiding Macedonia before his arrival. Sulla is reported to have devastated their territory.[8][9]

The 12th-century Commentaries on Homer's Iliad written by Eustathius of Thessalonica includes the note that the 6th-century gazetteer Ethnica (Εθνικά, Ethniká) written by Stephanus of Byzantium mentioned the Eneti as dwelling beside the Triballi.[10][11]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Herodotus, Hist., Book I, Ch. 196.
  2. ^ Eichner 2004, pp. 97, 99.
  3. ^ Papazoglu 1978, p. 218; Polomé 1982, p. 866; Stipčević 1989, p. 26; Eichner 2004, pp. 97, 99; Šašel Kos 2005, p. 235; Demiraj 2006, pp. 56–57; Matijašić 2011, p. 301.
  4. ^ Papazoglu 1978, p. 177; Matijašić 2011, pp. 300–301; Eichner 2004, pp. 97, 99.
  5. ^ See also slavery in antiquity.
  6. ^ Papazoglu 1978, p. 177.
  7. ^ Matijašić 2011, pp. 300–301.
  8. ^ Appian, Mithridatic Wars, Book VIII, Ch. 55.
  9. ^ Papazoglu 1978, p. 177; Matijašić 2011, pp. 300–301.
  10. ^ Eustathius, Comm. Hom. Il., Book II, Ch. 852, §1.
  11. ^ Matijašić 2011, p. 301

Bibliography

  • Demiraj, Shaban (2006). The origin of the Albanians: linguistically investigated. Academy of Sciences of Albania. ISBN 9789994381715. Archived from the original on 20 November 2020.
  • Eichner, Heiner (2004). "Illyrisch – die unbekannte Sprache". In Eichner, Heiner (ed.). Die Illyrer. Archäologische Funde des 1. Vorchristlichen Jahrtausends aus Albanien (in German). Museum für Urgeschichte Asparn an der Zaya. pp. 92–117. ISBN 3-85460-215-4.
  • Matijašić, Ivan (2011). ""Shrieking like Illyrians": Historical geography and the Greek perspective of the Illyrian world in the 5th century BC". Arheološki Vestnik. 62. Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts: 289–316.
  • Papazoglu, Fanula (1978). The Central Balkan Tribes in pre-Roman Times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians. Amsterdam: Hakkert. ISBN 9789025607937.
  • Polomé, Edgar (1982). "Balkan Languages (Illyrian, Thracian and Daco-Moeasian)". In J. Boardman; I. E. S. Edwards; N. G. L. Hammond; E. Sollberger (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: The Prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean world, tenth to eighth centuries B.C. Vol. III (part 1) (2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521224969.
  • Šašel Kos, Marjeta (2005). Appian and Illyricum. Narodni muzej Slovenije. ISBN 961616936X.
  • Stipčević, Aleksandar (1989). Iliri: povijest, život, kultura (in Croatian). Zagreb: Školska knjiga. ISBN 9788603991062.