Atintanians
Atintanes or Atintanians was an ancient tribe that dwelled in the borderlands between Epirus and Illyria, in an inland region which was called Atintania. They have been described as either an Epirote tribe that belonged to the northwestern Greek group, or as an Illyrian tribe. They were occasionally subordinate to the Molossians.
Name
The suffix -anes is quite typical in north-western Doric Greek and is found in several ethnonyms in Epirus but is also found in other Greek regions apart from Epirus. A. J. Toynbee argues that the suffix -anes perhaps suggests that the name Atintanes may have been of Greek origin. He also states that they gave the Greeks their name for the Titanes, a race of giants in mythology. Toynbee has linked their name to the tribal ethnikon Tyntenoi attested in coinage and inscriptions, while N.G.L Hammond has argued that it is linked to the Illyrian Atintani as according to him Tyntenoi is an Ionic form of Atintani. The ending -anes in Doric Greek is a typical feature in the name of various Doric tribes that participated in the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages with many of them originating from Epirus.Language
According to Filos, there is an overall consensus in scholarship that the Greek-speaking population of Epirus, including the Atintanes, spoke a Northwestern Doric variety similar to that spoken by several neighbouring peoples of central and western Greece. Papamichail states that a number of variation existed in the speech of those tribes nevertheless their language was based on Doric Greek. N. G. L. Hammond, who proposed the existence of two distinct homonymous tribes – the Epirotic Atintanes and the Illyrian Atintani, stated that the Epirotic Atintanes spoke Greek at least from the time of the Dorian invasion as the rest of the Doric tribes that share the common suffix -anes in their name. Marjeta Šašel Kos has argued that the Atintanes spoke a language similar to other southern Illyrian tribes which acquired a certain degree of Hellenization through contact with their Greek neighbours, she also argued that they were conceivably closely associated in terms of language with those tribes.Ancient sources
The Atintanes are mentioned in classical antiquity by Thucydides, Pseudo-Skylax, Pseudo-Aristotle, Lycophron, Polybius, Strabo, Livy, Appian, Polyaenus, Stephanus of Byzantium and on a 4th-century B.C. inscription from Dodona. They are reported on the above ancient sources in the historical context of the Peloponnesian War, the Roman-Illyrian Wars, the first Roman-Macedonian War, and the 167 BC Roman settlement of Macedonia.Thucydides, describing the Acarnanian campaign of 429 B.C., lists the Epirote forces; among them the Atintantes, as well as the Chaones, Thesprotians, Molossians, Paravaii, and Orestae, as "barbarians" living north-west from the Greek lands. They are listed along with the Molossians under the same commander, one Sabylinthos. Thucydides depicts a clear distinction between the Hellenic contingents and the barbarian forces, while Macedonian troops are mentioned immediately after the list of the barbarian forces. It has been suggested that the Atintanes are mentioned as "barbarians" not in the sense that their culture, customs or behavior were in diametrical opposition to Greek norms but rather because of their seemingly more primitive way of life marked them as "failed Greeks". The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax locates the Atintanes inland in contact with the Amantes and the Chaonians to their west and the area of Idonia to their south. The poem Alexandra by Lycophron locates the land of the Atintanes near the city of Amantia, which corresponds to the hinterland of Apollonia. Strabo based on Hecateus' account listed them among the fourteen Epirote tribes, drawing a border between them and the Illyrians to the north.
According to Livy Atintania formed part of Upper Macedonia in terms of Roman administration. Upper Macedonia was located next to Illyria and Epirus, however part of Atinania was certainly found inside Epirus. Appian is the only ancient author that specifically refers to the tribe of the Atintani using the ethnonym "Illyrian". Hatzopoulos states that this appears in reference to their political situation due to their annexation by Illyrian rulers as already explained by P. Cabanes. Šašel Kos has argued that Appian may be in agreement with Pseudo-Scylax, who included the Atintanes among the Illyrian peoples, barbarians, located to the north of Chaonia. In the lexicon "Ethnika" of Stephanus of Byzantium, Atintania appears as a region of Macedonia, named after Atintan, a son of Makednos in the version of Lycaon. The tradition of an eponymous Atintan, as the son of Makednos, was probably created during the reign of Philip V of Macedon in order to tighten the connection between the Macedonian authorities and Atintanians.
Identity and location
There is no consensus in current scholarship on the origin and precise location of the Atintanes. Modern scholarship mentions the Atintanes either as one of the various Epirote tribes or in connection with the Illyrians. They also appear sometimes as Epirotes and other times as Macedonians, based on which neighbouring state gained control of their area.In the early 20th century, M. Holleaux sketched Atintania on the middle valley of the Aoos. P. Lévêque located the Atintanes on the middle valley of the Aoos similarly to Holleaux, but he also included the valley of the Drino. A. J. Toynbee located the Atintanes in Epirus, between the Chaonians and the Parauaioi; according to him they were an authentic Epirote people. H. Kreissig stressed that they were among the Epirote tribes in contrast to the Illyrian Parthini. Martin Nilsson considers them as an Epirote tribe of north-western Greece.
F. Papazoglou and Pierre Cabanes stated that there was only one tribe with the name Atintanians and that the area they inhabited was located in the mountain ranges between the Aous and the Apsus rivers. Cabanes located Atintania in a region between Byllis and Dassaretis, without the Drino valley, and considered them the southernmost Illyrian people, on the border with Epirus.
According to M.B. Hatzopoulos, the Atintanes, together with the Chaonians constitute the northernmost Epirote community. Hatzopoulos considers that to their north, and between them and the Parthini, Taulantians and the Dassaretii, existed a mixed zone; though part of Illyria, according to him it was a cultural extension of Greek speaking Epirus. C. Habicht considered Atintania an Illyrian region. S. Thiry listed the Atintanes among the Epirotes. T. J. Winnifrith associated the diverse positions of Atintanes reported in ancient accounts with peaceful transhumans activity, but he also stated that two tribes with a similar name may have existed. He also classifies the Atitanians among the Epirote tribes. Sasel Kos included the Atintanians among the most outstanding Illyrian peoples who conceivably were closely related with each other in terms of culture, institutions and language. She placed them somewhere in the hinterland of Epidamnus and south of it though she argued that the location of the Atintanians is not certain.
M.P. Castiglioni considered that the area suggested by Cabanes would seem in accordance with the data from Lycophron, and for a more in-depth analysis on the location she referred the reader to Hatzopoulos. The collective work Index du bulletin épigraphique, 1987 - 2001 published by the Association des études grecques and Universite de Paris IV, Sorbonne classifies Atintantes as an Epirote tribe though their precise location is a matter of dispute. Kirgin located Atintania on the area to the east of Apollonia and he mentioned the Atintanes as an Illyrian tribe. M. Dieterle considered that Atintania was part of Epirus, and together with Chaonia and Parauaea comprised the northern Epirote tribal region. Stocker notes that
Pseudo-Scylax recorded the Atintanes as a tribe dwelling in the hinterland and to the south of Apollonia, inland from the coast, and that he mentioned no tribe in the immediate proximity of the apoikia. According to her there is no evidence about Cabanes' view that Atintanes controlled the Myzeqe plain and Apollonia. Stocker also questions the claim about their inclusion in a southern Illyrian koinon; commenting on the suggestion concerning a koinon that included three proposed Illyrian tribes, Stocker argues that the proposed Illyrian koinon was more likely limited in size to the southern, non-Greek speaking area of Illyria that did not include Epirus, since the latter was Greek speaking.
According to Burton the Atintani were located in the Illyrian interior. Heinz Warnecke considers the Atintanians as a tribe residing inland in northwestern Epirus. V. Parker considered Atintania as an inland region of Illyria. R. Waterfield considered Atintania as a district on the border between Illyria and Epirus, and he located the Atintani around Antigonea and Byllis. E. Shehi locates the Atintanes in southern Illyria, and he accepted the possibility of the inclusion of three main koina among the Atintanes: the Bylliones, the Amantes, and the Atintanes proper. Timothy Edward Schaefer considers Atinania as a part of Epirus.
Cartography by L. Martinez-Sève shows a large area between Illyria, Epirus and Macedonia, consisting of Atintania, Parauaea and Tymphaea, which according to M. P. Dausse can be considered a border or "intermediate area", as also stated by P. Cabanes. Dausse argued that the border between Illyrians and Epirotes depends on the location of the Atintanes, however it seems very difficult to set clear limits in those regions, especially because little is known about some peoples to precisely locate them. L. Martinez-Sève depicted Atintania on the lower valley of the Aoos, between Apollonia and Orikos. C. J. King considered the Atintani as an Illyrian tribe, and located Atintania alternatively in Illyria, Epirus or in Upper Macedonia. P. Filos listed the Atintanes among the Greek-speaking minor tribes of Epirus. A. V. Vasilyev locates Atintania in Illyria. Jaupaj lists the Atintanes among the southern Illyrian tribes that inhabited a large territory reached as far as the area of Dodona at some point. According to him the Atintanes probably formed a larger koinon which may have included both Illyrian and Epirotic tribes and was reduced in territory over time as its communities formed their own polities. Hatzopoulos described the location proposed by M. Holleaux and P. Lévêque as "obvious and after all roughly correct solution", however he stated that in his proposal "Lévêque added the valley of the Drynos for no good reason".
Winnifrith concludes that the location of the Atintanes or Atintani is not clear and states that it is odd to locate the Illyrian Atintanes too far south in Epirote territory, as their presumed domicile in southern Albania or the Pindus range would give a quite weird shape to the Roman protectorate that included them. Also the Atintanian particular form of treachery, being unreliable components of the Roman protectorate, is not suitable for a southern location, since the Atintanes were detached from the Roman protectorate both by the Illyrian kingdom of the Ardiaei and by the kingdom of Macedon.