Dexaroi

Geography

The Dexaroi are mentioned as dwelling under mount Amyron, near the Enchelei. The mountain has been identified by some modern scholars with Mount Tomorr, in present-day Albania. The mountain was probably located in a region that in Roman times was called Dassaretis. However, all these hypothetical connections remain uncertain.

N. G. L. Hammond reconstructed for the period from the 6th century BC a vast northern dominion of the Chaonians in an area which expanded form the Bay of Vlorë in the south to the Korçë Plain in the north and the lakeland area in the east. In particular Hammond located the Dexaroi in a region that stretched from mount Amyron (Tomorr) up to the southern coast of lake Lychnitis (Lake Ohrid). He further conjectured that the burials of Tumulis II in Kuç i zi in the Korçe-Maliq plain belonged to Dexaroi leaders. Hammond's hypothesis is based on an information provided by Hecataeus, according to which Chaonians and Enchelei were neighboring peoples, and on the appearance of some 6th century BC tumuli in the Korça basin containing the burials of new rulers, who are considered Chaonians by Hammond. However the archaeological evidence is far from certain, since there are no elements of connection between Chaonians and these new rulers, and the same consideration can be made for the historical source, especially taking into account the fact that the knowledge about the Chaonian tribe of the Dexaroi is limited to the single fragment of Hecataeus.

Wilkes (1991) equates the Dexaroi with the Roman times Dassaretae and states that their cities were Pellion, Antipatrea, Chrysondyon, Gertus (or Gerous), Creonion. Hecataeus mentions the Dexaroi dwelling around Korçë. In their east/southeast they bordered with the Orestae tribe of the Molossian group. The precise border on the east of the Dassaretae can't precisely be drawn: some scholars place it at the Tsangon pass, while others at the lake Maliq, near Korce. The regions of Chaonia and Parrhaeuaea were located on their southern border.

History

The Dexaroi were probably neighboring to the north various Illyrian tribes when the latter would have started raiding the Chaonian lands possibly from c. 900 BC, weakening the Chaonian power. The Dexaroi were part of the wider tribal state of the Chaonians during the 6th century BC. At a later period they presumably formed their own independent association.

During the reign of Philip II (359–336 BC) the Macedonians managed to terminate the Dardanian rule in the land of the Dassaretae. As such the Dassaretae became not only independent again but Philip also managed to create a Macedonian buffer zone on their northern border with the Dardanians. The destruction of Pelium in 335 BC by Dardanian Cleitus came probably due to the fact that the local Dassaratean inhabitants were not friendly towards the Dardanian raiders. Macedonian control was re-established in Dassaretis that year and remained as such during the era of Macedonian domination. In 319-317 B.C an Epirote army under Polyperchon and Olympias marched against the local settlement of Euia during their struggle against Cassander of Macedon.

Antipatrea (modern Berat) was founded by the regent of Macedon, Antipater. During the reign of Pyrrhus of Epirus (306–302, 297–272 BC) Dassaretis came possibly into Epirote control. In 217 BC Illyrian Scerdilaidas advanced against Philip V of Macedonia through the region of Pelagonia and the Dassaretian territory capturing Antipatreia, Chrysondyon, and Gertus. As such in 213-212 B.C apart from Dassaretis Philip also campaigned in Illyria, Dardania and Thrace.

Identity

Hammond has argued that before the reign of Philip II of Macedon, Illyrian tribes likely had occupied Dassaretis since no more information about Dexari is recorded and the siege of Pelium (335 B.C) was described as a campaign of Alexander in Illyria. The same scholar proposed the existence of two distinct homonymous tribes, the Illyrian one dwelling between the Dardani and the Ardiaei or next to the Dalmatian coast, and the Chaonian one (equated by him with the Dexari) dwelling between Macedonia and Epirus, since according to Hammond Strabo, Livy and Polybius make a clear distinction between the Dassaretae and the Illyrians. Hammond states that the genealogy of Illyrian tribes recorded by Appian of Alexandria is probably associated with a tribe that lived further north from the Chaonian Dassaretae of the Korce-Maliq region which bore a similar name with the latter. J. J. Wilkes has also equated the Chaonian Dexari with the Dassaretae, who according to Polybius possessed many towns, including Pellion, Antipatrea, Chrysondyon, Gertus (or Gerous), Creonion, Tom Winnifrith (2020) states that the Illyrian tribes, including the Dassareti, bordered on peoples of Epirotic origins and dubious ethnicity like the Molossians and the Chaonians, and the Dassaretae were probably the same as Dexari.

According to Radoslav Katičić (1995) there is no way to rule out the identification of Dexari with Dassareti advocated by Hammond, though it cannot be accepted as reliable. According to him necessary caution should be maintained about the equation of the two tribes. He argues that in later sources of antiquity the Dassareti always appear as Illyrians, while the Chaones are never considered as such, furthermore the Dassareti never intermingle with the Chaones nor are they mentioned as Epirotes. He also states that in Hecataeus' times the situation might have been different, and the information he gathered may not have been reliable at all. A possible Illyrian link of the Dassaretae faces many allegedly impenetrable issues in terms of epigraphic and archaeological evidence. Historian Dragic Danica (2013) concludes that the dominant view in modern historiography accepts the fact that the Dassaretae were counted among the northern Epirote tribes that settled in the northern regions of Epirus including Dassaretis.

Dassaretaean onomastics share similarities with those of ancient Macedonia in particular in the field of names based on divinities from the Greek pantheon, such as Apollodoros.