The Balaites ( grc, Βαλαιειταί, Βαλαιιταί) were an ancient tribe in southern
Illyria, modern-day
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. The tribe is known from a number of Greek
inscriptions, otherwise unmentioned among ancient written sources.
Location
It has been suggested that the Balaites probably were a subdivision or local district of
Apollonia, located on the fringes of its territory, and that they were not one of its citizen communities.
Neritan Ceka
Neritan Ceka (born 11 February 1941) is an Albanian archaeologist, professor, and politician. He served as Albania's Minister of Internal Affairs from 27 July 1997 to 18 April 1998.
Early life
Ceka was born in Tirana. Ceka studied at the Qema ...
raised the likelihood that the ancient fortifications near the modern-day
Gurëzeza or
Klos Klos or KLOS may refer to:
* Klos (surname)
* Klos, Dibër, a town in eastern Albania
** Harketari Klos KF, a defunct football club based in Klos, Dibër
* Klos, Elbasan, a village in central Albania
* Klos, Mallakastër, a village in south-central ...
might have been belonging to the Balaites.
M.B. Hatzopoulos based on observations by
N.G.L. Hammond proposes a location at Treport on the
Bay of Vlorë
The Bay of Vlorë ( sq, Gjiri i Vlorës — ) is a large bay of the Adriatic Sea situated along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast on the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Europe. It opens to the sea in the northwest and is largely surrounded by the la ...
.
Organization and Onomastics
The political organization and institutions of the Balaites were inspired either from
Apollonia or
Corfu.
The most important archaeological finding related to them is a public memorial carved of
chalkstone
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk i ...
(so-called ''chalkoma'') that conveys the thankful message to a certain
poliperarchon Aristen of Parmenon on behalf of the
koinon
''Koinon'' ( el, Κοινόν, pl. Κοινά, ''Koina''), meaning "common", in the sense of "public", had many interpretations, some societal, some governmental. The word was the neuter form of the adjective, roughly equivalent in the government ...
of the Balaites. The text provides a list of the Hellenistic political institutions of the Balaites, the
ecclesia and the
presbyter
Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning a ...
s, whereas the
prytaneis
The ''prytaneis'' (πρυτάνεις; sing.: πρύτανις ''prytanis'') were the executives of the '' boule'' of ancient Athens.
Origins and organization
The term (like '' basileus'' or ''tyrannos'') is probably of Pre-Greek etymology (po ...
and the tamia (tax collector) are even mentioned by name. The social organization of the Balaites suggests a developed Hellenistic community which, according to the scholars, might have been located within the radius of cultural influence of
Apollonia, most likely close to the territories of the
Amantes or
Bylliones
The Bylliones were an Illyrian tribe that lived near the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria (modern Albania), on the lower valley of the Vjosa river, in the hinterland of Apollonia. The Bylliones were firstly attested in epigraphic material f ...
territory.
Neritan Ceka and Olgita Ceka (2017) concluded that the ethnic features of the Balaites were similar to the nearby Illyrian
Bylliones
The Bylliones were an Illyrian tribe that lived near the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria (modern Albania), on the lower valley of the Vjosa river, in the hinterland of Apollonia. The Bylliones were firstly attested in epigraphic material f ...
, while some personal names were similar to the nearby Corinthian colony of Apollonia, suggesting an affiliation of the Balaites to a political community in the town of
Gurëzeza. The honorary decree of the Balaites displays their onomastics, political institutions and calendar features which are written in the Greek language with the use of Greek technical terms (Epirote and Corinthian), perhaps under the influence of nearby Corinthian colony of Apollonia. Balaites formed a
koinon
''Koinon'' ( el, Κοινόν, pl. Κοινά, ''Koina''), meaning "common", in the sense of "public", had many interpretations, some societal, some governmental. The word was the neuter form of the adjective, roughly equivalent in the government ...
(league). The offices of the Balaties were of mixed character and displayed
Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to:
*Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible:
**First Epistle to the Corinthians
**Second Epistle to the Corinthians
**Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox)
*A demonym relating to ...
,
Epirote
Epirus (; el, Ήπειρος, translit=Ípiros, ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region in northwestern Greece.Π.Δ. 51/87 “Καθορισμός των ...
and
Macedonian features.
Based on the specific inscriptions Hatzopoulos (1997) concluded that the koinon of the Balaites had a Greek identity.
The text of the decree includes two forms of ethnicons: Βαλαιειταί (''Balaieitai'') and Βαλαιιταί (''Balaiitai''). The latter are indicated as the recipients of Aristen's philanthropic actions and later of the thanksgivings of the ''peripolarchos'', while the former are indicated as the political subject issuing the decrees and as the political community that was official recipient of the crown mutually conferred by Aristen. The difference between these two terms, the ethnos with its territory on one hand, and the tribal polis, which was the capital of the ethnos on the other hand, seems to be observed in other epigraphy and numismatic material of the area, including the cases of the Hellenized Illyrian city-states of
Dimale
Dimale or Dimallum ( Illyrian: Διμάλη /Dimálē/ ; Ancient Greek: Διμάλη or Διμάλλον; Latin: ''Dimallum'') was a town in southern Illyria in classical antiquity which was situated in the vicinity or within the territory of the ...
(''Dimallitan/Dimalla'') and
Byllis
Byllis ( gr, Βύλλις; sq, Bylis; la, Byllis) or Bullis or Boullis (Βουλλίς) was an ancient city and the chief settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the c ...
(''Byllionon/Byllis'').
See also
*
List of ancient tribes in Illyria
This is a list of ancient tribes in the ancient territory of Illyria ( grc-gre, Ἰλλυρία; la, Illyria). The name ''Illyrians'' seems to be the name of a single Illyrian tribe that was the first to come into contact with the ancient Greeks ...
Citations
General bibliography
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External links
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{{Albania topics
Ancient tribes in Albania
Illyrian Albania