The Enchelei^[a] were an ancient people that lived around Lake Ohrid and in the upper River Drin valley, later expanding as far as Lake Shkodra and Buthroe on the Adriatic coast ^[4][5][6] in modern-day Albania and North Macedonia. They are one of the oldest known peoples of the central Balkan and also the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.^[7] In ancient sources they sometimes appear as an ethnic group distinct from the Illyrians, but they are mostly mentioned as one of the Illyrian tribes.^[8] They held a central position in the earlier phase of Illyrian history and established the first Illyrian Kingdom in the 8th–7th century BC.^[9] In ancient Greek literature they are linked with the end of the mythical narrative of Cadmus and Harmonia. ^[10][11][6]

The name Sesarethii/Sesarethioi was used by Strabo as an alternative name for the Enchelei in the lakeland area of Ohrid. Mentioned for the first time by Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BC, the name Sesarethii/Sesarethioi is also considered a variant of Dassaretii/Dassaretioi,^[12] an Illyrian tribe that has been recorded since Roman times and that is attested in coinage and inscriptions found around lake Ohrid.

The region inhabited by the Enchelei was known as Enchele.^[b][13] Their neighbors to the west were the Taulantii, to the north the Autariatae, to the north-east the Dardani, to the south-east the Paeones, and to the south the Dexaroi.^[14][15]

Name

Mythological accounts

A legend widespread in antiquity reports that Cadmus – the Phoenician prince, brother of Europa, and founder of Thebes, and a Boeotian and Enchelean figure^{[9][20][21][22]} – 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).^[23] As the legend says it and reported by, at that time the Enchele were at war with neighboring Illyrian tribes and Cadmus, after orders from the Oracle of Delphi, became leader of the people and came to their aid. After the victory against the Illyrians, the Enchele chose Cadmus as their king.^[24]

Apollodorus wrote that the Encheleis/Engelanes would win a war against Illyrians only if led by Cadmus (Apoll., Bibl. 3.5.4), which actually happened according to Herodotus. After that, Cadmus ruled over the Illyrians, where his son Illyrius was born. According to Virgil, Harmonia gave birth to Illyrius near the Illyrian river (presumably Drin/Drilon). (Virgil, Aeneid, Scholia Vaticana I, 243).

In Euripides’ Bakchai, Bacchus pronounces Zeus’ prophetic words that Cadmus will ruin many cities and will loot the sanctuary of Phoebus (Eurip., Bakchai 1335-1340), leading a mixed barbarian army (this is obviously the Illyrian and Enchelean army mentioned by Herodotus), and that he (Cadmus) and Harmonia would anyway be saved by Ares transformed into dragon and taken to the land of the blessed---the Elysian Fields. In the account of Philo of Byblos (2nd century AD), the myth of the reptilian transformation of Cadmus and Harmonia is linked to the Illyrian tribes, as the location of Elysian Fields was considered by the Greeks to be somewhere on the Adriatic Sea coast. According to Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC), the graves of Cadmus and Harmonia were on the banks of the {[Illyrian|Illyrian]] river, and somewhere there were the Encheleis/Engelanes.^{[25] [26]}

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.^[27][28][29] According to Appian's account the progenitor to the Enchele was Encheleus, a son of Illyrius.^{[30] [31]}

According to Polybius andcited 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.^[32]

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 Enchelei.^[33][34] 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.^[33] Some authors hypothesize that the seeming weakening of the Enchele kingdom resulted from their assimilation and inclusion into the newly established Illyrian realm of the Dassareti^[34][35], however, per Polybius and Strabo’s accounts, the Enchele were also called Dassareti/Sessarethii ^[19].

As reported in a fragment of Hecataeus of Miletus (around 6th century BC), Enchelei neighbored the Dexaroi, a Chaonian tribe.^[36][37][38]

The Enchelei were often at war with the northern Greeks. From written sources from Greek writers such as Herodotus, the Enchelean army is recorded attacking the temple of Delphi.^[39]

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.^[40] 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.^[41]

In 217 BC, Enchelei/Engelanes ^{[42] [43]} are mentioned in Polybius’ account of the battle between Philip V and the Illyrian ruler Scerdilaidas in Dassaretia (Polyb.5.108) ^[19].

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.^[6]

The Enchelei are mentioned for the last time in mid-1st c. AD by Pomponius Mela (Pomp. Mela, Chorographia 2.54–56) who distinguished them from the Illyrian tribes whom he names proprie Illyrios vocant.

Archeological Finds

An ancient necropolis dating from the Iron Age (circa 7th century BC to ) was discovered in Trebeništa near the northern shore of Lake Ohrid^[44]. It is believed that the necropolis was used from the end of 7th century to the 4th/3rd century BC by the people from the nearby Illyrian town Lychnidos of the Enchelei.^[45][46]

A large amounts of graves have been excavated. Among the notable findings are five golden masks, some iron earrings and plates,^[47] a bronze krater, several Illyrian type helmets, and a Corinthian helmet^[48]. The five golden funeral masks are reminiscent of the much older Mask of Agamemnon from the Mycenae culture.

While a number of artifacts excavated in the necropolis are said to be imported from ancient Greece, most are of a local origin with possible Greek or Thracian influences ^[49] or a mixed Balkano-Aegean cultural expression.^[45] Archaeological material with gold-riches from the burials at Trebeništa, Aiani on the Haliacmon river valley, and Sindos on the Thermaic Gulf indicates substantial cultural continuity, trade and exchange throughout the wider Balkan region despite the fact that different tribes lived in it.^[50]

See also

• List of ancient Illyrian peoples and tribes
• List of ancient tribes in Illyria

Notes

References

Bibliography