Lynkestis

Lynkestis (Lynkos)
"Lyncestis" redirects here. For the noctuoid moth genus, see Melipotis.

Lynkestis or Lynchestia (Greek: Λυγκηστίς, Λυγκηστία meaning "land of the lynx") was a region (in earlier times, a kingdom) of Upper Macedonia on the southern borders of Illyria which was ruled by kings, lords and independent or semi-independent chieftains until the later Argead rulers of Macedon (Amyntas IV, Philip II) neutralized their independence with dynastic alliances and the practice of bringing up tribal chieftains' sons in the palaces of Philip. To the north of Lynchestia was the region of Deuriopus, while Paeonia was to the north-east, Pelagonia bordered on the east, Emathia and Almopia to the south-east, and Orestia, Eordaia and the Haliacmon river at some distance to the south.

The rich and turbulent[1] kings of Lyncestis traced their origins to the Bacchiad kings that were expelled from Corinth in the seventh century.[2][3] During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) Arrhabaeus the king of Lyncestis waged war against Perdiccas II of Macedon (Battle of Lyncestis).

The tribes of Lynkestis were known as Lynkestai (Λυγκησταί). According to Strabo, Irra was the daughter of Arrhabaeus, and that his granddaughter was Eurydice, the mother of Philip II.[4]

The Lynkestai were a Northwestern Greek tribe and belonged to the Molossian group of the Epirotes.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great 1973:32, 34, 36ff.
  2. ↑ Strabo, Geography, 7.7
  3. ↑ Ian Michael Plant, ed. (2004). Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0806136226. The kings of Lyncestae, however, were Greek-speaking and claimed descent from the Bacchiadae, an important Corinthian Aristocratic family
  4. ↑ Strabo, Geography, 7.7: "The Lyncestae were under Arrhabaeus, who was of the race of the Bacchiadae. Irra was his daughter, and his grand-daughter was Eurydice, the mother of Philip Amyntas."
  5. ↑ Hammond, edited by John Boardman [and] N.G.L. (1982). The expansion of the Greek world, eighth to sixth centuries B.C. (2nd ed. ed.). London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-23447-4.
  6. ↑ Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1993). Collected Studies: Further studies on various topics. A.M. Hakkert. p. 158.

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