Epirus

Flag of Epirus

 **Epirus** (330 BCE-207 BCE; 238-267 CE) was an ancient Greek state and kingdom located in the geographical region of Epirus, in north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the **ancient Epirotes**, the state was bordered by the Aetolian League to the south, Ancient Thessaly and Ancient Macedonia to the east, and Illyrian tribes to the north. The Greek king Pyrrhus is known to have made Epirus a powerful state in the Greek realm (during 280–272 BCE) that was comparable to the likes of Ancient Macedonia. Pyrrhus even managed to assert control of Macedonia, from 274-272 BCE. Pyrrhus was killed in battle and Epirus lost its power. The monarchy was abolished in 233 BCE and an Epirote republic was established. Epirus was made a vassal state of Pontos from 86 BCE to 235 CE, then was occupied by the Goths until 331. That same year Epirus was integrated into the newly formed Hellenic League. From 447-453, the Huns under Attila shortly occupied Greece.

## History

### Prehistory

Epirus has been occupied since at least Neolithic times by seafarers (along the coast) and by hunters and shepherds (in the interior) who brought with them the Greek language. These neolithic peoples buried their leaders in large tumuli (mounds of earth that were raised over a grave) containing shaft tombs similar to those made by Mycenaean peoples. Due to these ritualistic similarities, an ancestral link may exist between the Epirotes and the Mycenaeans. A number of Mycenaean remains have also been found in Epirus at the most important ancient religious sites in the region, including at the Necromanteion of Acheron (on the Acheron river) and at the Oracle of Zeus at Dodona. It is also known that Epirus had strong contact with other Ancient Greek regions, including those of Macedonia, Thessaly, Aetolia and Acarnania.

The Dorians invaded Greece from Epirus and Macedonia at the end of the 2nd millennium BCE (circa 1100–1000 BCE), though the reasons for their migration are obscure. The region's original inhabitants were driven southward into the Greek mainland by the invasion, and by the early 1st millennium BCE three principal clusters of Greek-speaking tribes emerged in Epirus. These were the Chaonians of northwestern Epirus, the Molossians in the center, and the Thesprotians in the south. The region inhabited by each of these *ethne* had its own name (Chaonia, Molossia, Thesprotia), thus there was no single name for the entire region originally.

The Greek toponym *Epirus*, meaning "mainland" or "continent", first appears in the work of Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BCE and is one of the few Greek names from the view of an external observer with a maritime-geographical perspective. Although not originally a native Epirote name, it later came to be adopted by the inhabitants of the area.

### Molossian expansion (470–330 BCE)

The Molossian Aeacidae dynasty managed to create the first centralized state in Epirus from about 370 BCE onwards, expanding their power at the expense of rival tribes. The Aeacids allied themselves with the increasingly powerful kingdom of Macedon, in part against the common threat of Illyrian raids, and in 359 BCE the Molossian princess Olympias, niece of Arybbas of Epirus, married King Philip II of Macedon (r. 359–336 BCE). She was to become the mother of Alexander the Great. On the death of Arybbas, Alexander the Molossian, uncle of Alexander the Great of Macedon, succeeded to the throne with the title *King of Epirus*.

In 334 BCE, the time Alexander the Great crossed into Asia, Alexander I the Molossian led an expedition in southern Italy in support of the Greek cities of Magna Graecia against the nearby Italian tribes. After some successes on the battlefield, he was defeated by a coalition of Italic tribes at the Battle of Pandosia in 331 BCE.

### Kingdom of Epirus (330–306 BCE)

In 330 BCE, upon Alexander the Molossian's death, the term "Epirus" appears as a single political unit in the ancient Greek records for the first time, under the leadership of the Molossian dynasty. Subsequently, the coinages of the three major Epirote tribal groups came to an end, and a new coinage was issued with the legend *Epirotes*. After Alexander's I death, Aeacides of Epirus, who succeeded him, espoused the cause of Olympias against Cassander, but was dethroned in 313 BCE.

Aeacides's son Pyrrhus came to the throne in 295 BCE. Pyrrhus, being a skillful general, was encouraged to aid the Greeks of Taras and decided to initiate a major offensive against Carthage, mainly its client state of Rasenna, in the Italian peninsula and Sicily, known as the Pyrrhic War (280-275 BCE). Due to its superior martial abilities, the Epirote army defeated the Rasenno-Phoenician forces in the Battle of Heraclea (280 BCE). Subsequently, Pyrrhus's forces defeated their enemy near Neapolis and captured the city, however he suffered a costly victory, and had to retreat to avoid an unequal conflict with a more numerous Carthaginian army.

In 277 BCE, Pyrrhus captured the Phoenician fortress in Eryx, Sicily. This prompted the rest of the Carthaginian-controlled cities to defect to Pyrrhus. Meanwhile, he had begun to display despotic behavior towards the Sicilian Greeks and soon Sicilian opinion became inflamed against him. Though he defeated the Phoenicians in battle, he was forced to abandon Sicily.

Pyrrhus's Italian campaign came to an end following the inconclusive Battle of Maloenton (OTL Beneventum) (275 BCE). Having lost the vast majority of his army, he decided to return to **Epirus**, which finally resulted in the loss of all his Italian holdings. Because of his costly victories, the term "Pyrrhic victory" is often used for a victory with devastating cost to the victor.

### After Pyrrhus (272-231 BCE)

Pyrrhus son, Alexander II succeeded his father as king in 272 BCE, and continued the war which his father had begun with Antigonus II Gonatas, whom he succeeded in driving from the kingdom of Macedon. He was, however, dispossessed of both Macedon and Epirus by Demetrius II of Macedon, the son of Antigonus II; upon which he took refuge amongst the Acarnanians. By their assistance and that of his own subjects, who entertained a great attachment for him, he recovered Epirus. It appears that he was in alliance with the Aetolians.

Alexander II married his paternal half-sister Olympias, by whom he had two sons, Pyrrhus ΙΙ, Ptolemy Ι and a daughter, Phthia. On the death of Alexander II, around 242 BCE, Olympias assumed the regency on behalf of her sons, and married Phthia to Demetrius.

Pyrrhus II, succeeded him. He was a brother of Ptolemy I and Phthia of Macedon. He ruled as king of Epirus from 242 BCE to 237 BCE. He had two daughters: Deidamia II who was the last ruler of the Aeacid Dynasty and Nereis who married Gelon of Syracuse.

Ptolemy I, reigned as king of Epirus from 237 BCE–234 ВСE, was the second son of Alexander II, king of Epirus, and Olympias, grandson of the great Pyrrhus and brother of Phthia of Macedon. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his elder brother, Pyrrhus II of Epirus, but reigned only a very short time, having set out on a military expedition, during the course of which he fell sick and died or, according to Polyaenus, he was treasonably assassinated. The date of his reign cannot be fixed with certainty, but as he was a contemporary of Demetrius II, king of Macedonia, it may be placed between 239 and 229 BCE. He was succeeded by his niece Deidamia.

Deidamia (died c. 233 BCE) was a Greek princess, daughter of Pyrrhus II of Epirus, king of Epirus. After the death of her father and that of her uncle Ptolemy I, she was the last surviving representative of the royal Aeacid dynasty in Epirus. She had a sister, Nereis, who married Gelo of Syracuse. During a rebellion in Epirus her sister sent her 800 mercenaries from Gaul. Part of the Molossians supported her, and with the aid of the mercenaries she briefly took Ambracia.

When the Epirots sued for peace as suppliants, she granted it only on condition that they acknowledged her hereditary rights, and the honours of her ancestors. But some of the Epirots plotted against her and bribed Nestor, one of Alexander's guards, to murder her. Nestor returned without accomplishing his purpose and she fled for refuge in the temple of Artemis Hegemone, but was murdered in the sanctuary by Milon, a man already responsible of killing his own mother Philotera; who shortly after this crime committed suicide. According to Polyaenus, she said to Milon before he murdered her: "Slaughter, thou matricide, on slaughter raise":

The date of this event cannot be accurately fixed, but it as well occurred during the reign of Demetrius II in Macedonia (239–229 BCE).

### Epirote League and conquest (231-207 BCE)

In 233 BCE, the last surviving member of the Aeacid royal house, Deidamia, was murdered. Her death brought the Epirote royal family to an abrupt extinction and a federal republic was set up, though with diminished territory, since western Acarnania had asserted its independence, and the Aetolians seized Ambracia, Amphilochia, and the remaining land north of the Ambracian Gulf. The new Epirote capital was therefore established at Phoenice, the political center of the Chaonians. The reasons for the swift fall of the Aeacid dynasty were probably complex. Aetolian pressure must have played a part, and the alliance with Macedonia may have been unpopular; in addition, there were perhaps social tensions. However, Epirus remained a substantial power, unified under the auspices of the Epirote League as a federal state with its own parliament (or *synedrion*).

During the Second Social War (213–211 BCE), Philip V crushed the last opposition against Macedon and the Hellenic League in all of Greece. However, after defeating the Aetolian League, Philip V provoked Epirus into attacking the Achaean League, and shortly after attacked both nations and all other members of the Hellenic League, during the Third Social War (210-207 BCE). All of Greece was now under Macedonian control, including Epirus.

### Pontic Vassal (86 BCE-238 CE)

After the collapse of the Second Macedonian Empire, Epirus became a client state of Pontos, ruled by Mithridates VI the Greats' son, Arcathias.

### After Pontic Hegemony (238-331 CE)

After the collapse of the Pontic Empire in 238 CE, caused by the Sassanids during the Ardashid War (231-238 CE), the Epirote League gained independence, until the Gothic invasion of Greece from 265-267 CE. This lasted until 331, when Epirus was integrated into the newly formed Hellenic League.

## List of Epirote kings

These are the names and reign dates.

**Aeacid dynasty**

Admetus (before 470–430 BCE)

Tharrhypas (430–392 BCE)

Alcetas I (390–370 BCE)

Neoptolemus I (370–357 BCE)

Arybbas (373–343 BCE)

Alexander I (342–331 BCE)

Aeacides (331–317 BCE)

Neoptolemus II (317–313 BCE)

Aeacides (313 BCE) - second reign

Alcetas II (313–306 BCE)

Pyrrhus I (307–302 BCE)

Neoptolemus II (302–297 ВСE) - Second reign.

Pyrrhus I (297–272 BCE) - Second reign. Briefly occupied most of Macedonia. He got killed while invading Sparta in 272 BCE.

Alexander II (272–255 ВСE)

Olympias II of Epirus, regent after Alexander II, her husband died.

Pyrrhus II (255–237 BCE) - Brother to Ptolemy.

Ptolemy I (237–234 BCE) - Brother to Pyrrhus II.

Pyrrhus III (234 BCE)

Deidamia (234–233 BCE) - ruled very briefly.

*End of the monarchy, see Epirote League*

## Source

This page uses content from **Wikipedia**. The original article was at **Epirus** (view authors). As with Sine Roma - What if Rome never existed? Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epirus\_(ancient\_state)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus\_of\_Epirus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander\_II\_of\_Epirus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus\_II\_of\_Epirus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deidamia\_II\_of\_Epirus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy\_of\_Epirus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_the\_kings\_of\_Epirus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QBA6ZPmj3Q

## Flag credits

This flag was made by myself.