Nikaia, Illyria

For other uses, see Nicaea.

Coordinates: 40°32′25″N 19°44′15″E / 40.54028°N 19.73750°E / 40.54028; 19.73750

Epirus in antiquity.

Nicaea or Nikaia (Greek: Νίκαια) was an ancient Greek city in the region of Illyria.[1][2]

History

Nicaea is located 1500 meters south of Byllis[1] or near Fier.[3] Stephanus of Byzantium calls it a polis. It was too large to be a kome and had walled fortifications in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The city plan resembles that of another Greek city, Amantia. As a 2nd-century BC inscription indicates (Σώστρατος...Βυλλίων απο Νίκαιας), the city was a member of the Koinon of the Bylliones. The corpus of names found in Nikaia is Greek, (Alexander, Andriscus, Archelaus, Kebbas, Maketa, Machatas, Nikanor, Peukolaos, Phalakros, Philotas, Drimakos and Alexommas) with very few Illyrian names.[1]

A Hellenistic inscription records a strategos eponymos (Greek: Στρατηγός επώνυμος) a general of the Koinon of the Bylliones. This Koinon of the Bylliones did not refer[4] to an ethnos, but to the coalition of Byllis and Nikaia to which it was restricted.[5] Byllis considered[4] Nikaia to be one of its demes. Inscriptions at both Byllis and Nikaia begin in the middle of the 4th century BC and are both in ancient Greek, as are institutions and the gods worshiped.[1]

See also

References

Inline citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hatzopoulos, Sakellariou & Loukopoulou 1997, p. 144.
  2. ↑ Hansen & Nielsen 2004, p. 346.
  3. ↑ Klos (Fier).
  4. 1 2 Pleket, H. W. Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume XXXIX: 1989.
  5. ↑ 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

  • Hatzopoulos, M. B.; Sakellariou, M.; Loukopoulou, L. D. (1997). Epirus, Four Thousand Years of Greek History and Civilization. Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 960-213-377-5. 
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman; Nielsen, Thomas Heine (2004). An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814099-1. 
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