Enchele

Name

Attestation and variants

The Enchelei are mentioned for the first time by Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BC. A variant in ancient Greek literature is Εγχελάνες Enchelanes, which bears the suffix -anes typical in the western Greek dialects spoken by the Greek neighbors of the Enchelei. As such this makes it a native form of the name compared to Enchelei which has been influenced by Ionic Greek. In Polybius the word is written with a voiceless aspirate kh, Enchelanes, while in Mnaseas it was replaced with a voiced ng, Engelanes, the latter being a typical feature of the Ancient Macedonian and northern Paleo-Balkan languages.

Etymology

The name Enchelei is thought to have meant "eel people", as in Ancient Greek ἔγχελυς means "eel", like in modern Albanian ngjalë "eel"

Other names

An alternative name for the Enchelei in the lakeland area of Ohrid is recorded by Strabo as Sesarethii. The name Sesarethioi is mentioned for the first time by Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BC. Hecataeus reported that the tribe of Chelidonioi (Χελιδόνιοι) lived to the north of the Sesarethioi (Σεσαρήθιοι). Furthermore he reports that Sesarethos (Σεσάρηθος) was a Taulantian city, with Sesarethioi as its ethnicon. The name Sesarethii/Sesarethioi is also considered a variant of Dassaretii/Dassaretioi, an Illyrian tribe that has been recorded since Roman times and that is attested in coinage and inscriptions found around lake Ohrid.

Mythological accounts

A legend widespread in antiquity reports that Cadmus – a Phoenician prince who became king of Thebes, and a Boeotian and Enchelean figure{{sfn|Castiglioni|2010|p=41|ps=: Cette imagerie aurait eu pour fonction d’établir, en vertu des ressemblances avec l’icône – familière au public athénien – d’Athéna et d’Erichthonios, un parallélisme entre le cycle d’Erichthonios et la représentation de la fondation cadméenne de Thèbes, en se servant de la rhétorique de l’autochtonie. Ce serpent thébain inoffensif et placide aurait été assimilé par les Athéniens du Ve siècle au paisible gardien autochtone de l’acropole de Thèbes, le serpent d’Arès, dont le meurtre aurait permis au barbare Cadmos son installation sur le sol de Thèbes, usurpé et souillé par un crime.}} – with his wife Harmonia arrived among the Enchelei and helped them build many towns on the shores of Lake Ohrid and Lake Shkodra, among them Lychnidus (Ohrid) and Bouthoe (Budva). As the legend says it, at that time the Enchele were at war with neighboring Illyrian tribes and Cadmus after orders from the Oracle became leader of the people and came to their aid. After the victory against the Illyrians, the Enchele chose Cadmus as their king.

A mythological tradition reported by Appian (2nd century AD) tells that the Enchelei were among the South-Illyrian tribes that took their names from the first generation of the descendants of Illyrius, the eponymous ancestor of all the Illyrian peoples. According to Appian's account the progenitor to the Enchele was Encheleus, a son of Illyrius.

According to a legendary account reported by Polybius, cited by Stephanus of Byzantium, after the disappearance of Amphiaraus during the siege of Thebes, his charioteer Baton settled in Illyria, near the country of the Enchelei.

History

In southern Illyria organized states were formed earlier than in other areas of this region. The oldest known state in the region which can be discussed about from ancient sources is that of the Encheli. The height of the Enchelean state was from the 8th–7th centuries BC, but the kingdom fell from dominant power around the 6th century BC. It seems that the weakening of the kingdom of Enchelae resulted in their assimilation and inclusion into a newly established Illyrian realm at the latest in the 6th–5th century BC, marking the arising of the Dassareti, who appear to have replaced the Enchelei in the lakeland area of Ohrid and Prespa. While the Enchelean area of river Drilon and lake Shkodra in northern Albania saw in later times the emergence of the Labeates, an Illyrian tribe who retained their distinct identity until the early Roman period. As reported in a fragment of Hecataeus of Miletus (around 6th century BC), Enchelei neighbored the Dexaroi, a Chaonian tribe.

The Enchelei were often at war with the northern Greeks. From written sources from Greek writers such as Herodotus, the Enchelean army is even recorded attacking the temple of Delphi. Justin (2nd century AD) reports that at a time when the ruler of Macedonia was the infant Aeropus I (around 6th century BC), the Illyrians attacked successfully Macedonia until the infant ruler was brought to a battle by his Macedonian subjects, benefitting from his presence and avenging their initial defeat against the Illyrians. The name of the specific Illyrian tribe or group of tribes that attacked Macedonia is not reported in Justin's account, but it has been suggested that they would have been either the Enchelei, whose realm was centered at that time in the area of Lake Lychnidus, or the Taulantii, who were based farther west, in the coastal area within and around Epidamnos and Apollonia. The Illyrian raids against the Argeads who were based at Aegae indicate that Illyrian attacks also involved the Upper Macedonian regions of Lynkestis, Orestis and Eordaea, Elimea, and Tymphaea, as they were located between Illyrian territory and Argead lands.

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

1. Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus). Library]]'', 3.5.4. "As the Encheleans were being attacked by the Illyrians, the god declared by an oracle that they would get the better of the Illyrians if they had Cadmus and Harmonia as their leaders. They believed him, and made them their leaders against the Illyrians, and got the better of them. And Cadmus reigned over the Illyrians, and a son Illyrius was born to him."
2. Strabo, Geography (ed. H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A.), book 7, chapter 7: "...had established their sway, and Enchelii, who are also called Sesarethii. Then come the Lyncestæ, the territory Deuriopus, Pelagonia-Tripolitis..."
3. {{harvnb. Katičić. 1977
4. Robin Hard, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology'', Routledge, 2004, p. 643 n. 53.
5. [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Cadmus.html Cadmus]: "After having many children, Cadmus and Harmonia left Thebes in order to defend the Encheleans, a people living in southern Illyria, which is the region north of Epirus, and there defeated the Illyrian intruders..."
6. {{harvnb. Grimal. Maxwell-Hyslop. 1996. Apollodorus. Hard. 1999
7. (2006). "Le vie della storia: migrazioni di popoli, viaggi di individui, circolazione di idee nel Mediterraneo antico : atti del II Incontro internazionale di storia antica (Genova 6-8 ottobre 2004)". G. Bretschneider.