Paionia or
Paeonia (
Greek ?a????a) was in ancient geography, the land of the
Paeonians (
Ancient Greek ?a???e?), the exact boundaries of which, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure but they were in the region of
Thrace. In the time of
Classical Greece, Paionia originally including the whole
Axios River valley and the surrounding areas, in what is now the northern part of the
Greek region of
Macedonia, most of the
Republic of Macedonia, and a small part of western
Bulgaria.
[1] It was located immediately north of ancient
Macedon (roughly corresponding to the modern
Greek region of
Macedonia) and south of
Dardania (Europe) (roughly corresponding to modern-day
Kosovo). In the east were other
Thracians and in the west the
Illyrians.
The Paionian tribes were
They seem to have been of either Thracian,[2] or to be of mixed Thraco-Illyrian origins.[3] Linguistically Paionian language has been variously connected to his neighboring languages - Illyrian and Thracian; (and every possible Thraco-Illyrian mix in between).[4] Several eastern Paionian tribes including the Agrianes, clearly fell within the Thracian sphere of influence. Yet according to the national legend (Herodotus v. 13), they were Teucrian colonists from Troy. Homer (Iliad, book II, line 848) speaks of Paionians from the Axios fighting on the side of the Trojans, but the Iliad does not mention whether the Paionians were kin to the Trojans. Homer gives the Paionian leader as a certain Pyraechmes (parentage unknown); but later on in the Iliad Homer mentions a second leader, named Asteropaeus, son of Pelagon.
Before the reign of Darius Hystaspes, they had made their way as far east as Perinthus in Thrace on the Propontis. At one time all Mygdonia, together with Crestonia, was subject to them. When Xerxes crossed Chalcidice on his way to Therma (later renamed Thessalonica) he is said to have marched through Paionian territory. They occupied the entire valley of the Axios (Vardar) as far inland as Stobi, the valleys to the east of it as far as the Strymon and the country round Astibus and the river of the same name, with the water of which they anointed their kings. Emathia, roughly the district between the Haliacmon and Axios, was once called Paionia; and Pieria and Pelagonia were inhabited by Paionians. In consequence of the growth of Macedonian power, and under pressure from their Thracian neighbors, their territory was considerably diminished, and in historical times was limited to the north of Macedonia from Illyria to the Strymon.
