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The Albanoi (also Albani; , ''Albanoi''; ) were an Illyrian tribe. They were possibly first mentioned by
Hecataeus of Miletus Hecataeus of Miletus (; ; c. 550 – c. 476 BC), son of Hegesander, was an early Greek historian and geographer. Biography Hailing from a very wealthy family, he lived in Miletus, then under Persian rule in the satrapy of Lydia ...
(550-476 BCE) under the name '' Abroi''.
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
(100–170 CE) is the first author who mentions them under the name ''Albanoi''. Their central settlement was called '' Albanopolis'' () and was located roughly between the Mat and Shkumbin rivers, in central
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
. The archaeological site of Zgërdhesh has been identified as the likely location of Albanopolis. Stephanus of Byzantium who reproduced Hecataeus added an entry for another settlement named ''Arbon'' in Illyria whose inhabitants were called ''Arbonioi'' or ''Arbonites''. Another ''Arbon'' was recorded by
Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...
. John of Nikiû wrote in the 7th century CE about a people known as ''Arbanitai'' in the Greek translation of the manuscript. In the Middle Ages, the names ''Albanoi'' and ''Arbanitai/Albanitai'' referred to medieval
Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...
as an ethnic group. The equivalent terms in Latin are ''Albanenses''/''Arbanenses'', in Slavic ''Arbanasi'' and later in Turkish '' Arnaut''. These names reflect the Albanian ethnic endonym ''Arbëreshë''/''Arbëneshë'', which itself derives from ''Albanoi''. In the archaeological record, the Albanoi are mentioned on a funeral inscription in Stobi and Albanopolis is mentioned on another funeral inscription near Scupi. Another ethnonym, ''Arbaios'' found in Phoenice is likely linked to them.


Name

The Albanoi were possibly first mentioned by
Hecataeus of Miletus Hecataeus of Miletus (; ; c. 550 – c. 476 BC), son of Hegesander, was an early Greek historian and geographer. Biography Hailing from a very wealthy family, he lived in Miletus, then under Persian rule in the satrapy of Lydia ...
(550-476 BCE) under the name '' Abroi'', who lived around the same area. ''Abroi'' may have been produced via a metathesis of ''Arboi'', another linguistic process or a common misassociation by Hecataeus of the indigenous name with the ancient Greek term '' abros'' to better adapt it to Greek.
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
(100–170 CE) is the first author who mentions them under the name ''Albanoi''. The name of this Illyrian tribe – ''Abroi/Arboi'' and ''Albanoi'' – gave rise to the ethnonym ''Аrbёn'' / ''Arbёr'', ''Albanians'', early generalized to all the Illyrian tribes speaking the same idiom. The process was similar to the spread of the name ''
Illyrians The Illyrians (, ; ) were a group of Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking people who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan populations, alon ...
'' from a small group of people on the Adriatic coast, the '' Illyrioi''. It occurred also in the spread of the ethnonym ''Greeks'' / ''Hellenes'' from '' Graeci'' and '' Hellenes''.


Ancient and medieval literature

The Albanoi may have likely first appeared under the name Abroi in ancient literature. The Abroi may have been a constituent tribe of the larger group of the
Taulantii Taulantii or Taulantians ('swallow-men'; Ancient Greek: , or , ; ) were an Illyrians, Illyrian people that lived on the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria (modern Albania). They dominated at various times much of the plain between the rivers Dri ...
. They are first mentioned by
Hecataeus of Miletus Hecataeus of Miletus (; ; c. 550 – c. 476 BC), son of Hegesander, was an early Greek historian and geographer. Biography Hailing from a very wealthy family, he lived in Miletus, then under Persian rule in the satrapy of Lydia ...
(550-476 BCE) in fragment 69 of ''Periodos Ges''. Hecataeus places them near the Taulanti who lived along the Adriatic and the Enchelei. In 19th century and 20th century cartographies, they are variously placed in the upper Devoll or the coastal area between Mat and Shkumbin rivers. Their name may have actually been ''Arboi'' as ''Abroi'' may have been produced via a metathesis, another linguistic process or a common misassociation by Hecataeus of their name with the ancient Greek term abros to better adapt it to Greek. The name ''Arboi'' directly connects them to the later ''Albanoi'' who lived in the same region. Stephanus of Byzantium who copied much of the work of Hecataeus in the 6th century CE added another entry about a city named Arbon in Illyria per Polybius and identified its demonyms as ''Arbonios'' and ''Arbonitis''.
Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...
(200-118 BCE) mentions a location named "Arbon" in his description of the Illyrian Wars. "Arbon" in a series of mistranslations has been named an "island" or a "city" even though Polybius never mentions it as such. The place has not been identified, and it is unlikely that it refers to the northern Adriatic island of Rab (attested for the first time as Arba by Pliny). An interdisciplinary reading of the passage indicates that "Arbon" might actually have been in central Albania, roughly in the same location as the later Albanopolis (
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
) and Arbanon ( Anna Komnene). Wilhelm Tomaschek (1841-1901) considered ''Arbon'' to be the "first attestation of the modern name of Albania".
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
(100-170 CE) is the first author who mentions the ethnonym of the Albanoi in ''Geographia''. The Albanoi are mentioned in the third book of Geographia. They were a people who lived in the region between Mat and Shkumbin and held the settlement Albanopolis. Johann Georg von Hahn first noted that the suffix -polis ("city") was probably added at a later date by other authors as in other editions it is mentioned as "Albanos polis" or "Albanos". Zgërdhesh has been identified as the likely location of Albanopolis. It is not certain if its location corresponds to the region mentioned as Arbanon mentioned by Anna Komnene in the Alexiad about events related to the First Norman invasion of the Balkans (1081). An indication of movement from higher altitudes in a much earlier period has been detected in the distribution of Albanian place names ending in ''-esh'', derives from the Latin ''-ensis'' (
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...
''-ēsis''), between the Shkumbin and the Mat rivers, with a concentration between Elbasan and Krujë. John of Nikiû (7th century), a Coptic bishop mentions in the French translation of a manuscript titled ''Chronicle'' that ''barbarians, foreign peoples and Illyrians, ravaged the cities of the Christians and took the inhabitants alive'' in the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
. Hermann Zotenberg who translated the Chronicle from
Geʽez Geez ( or ; , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. Today, Geez is used as the main liturgical langu ...
to French rendered with the term ''Illyrians'', a term which in the original manuscript corresponded to ''Alwerikon''. Alwerikon in the Byzantine Greek translation of the Chronicle corresponded to the term Albani(k/t)on (genitive of Albanitai). Constantine Sathas (1842-1912) who first recorded the discrepancy between different translations considered the mention of ''Alwerikon'' an attestation of the same population as the Illyrian Albanoi. Michael Attaleiates (1022-1080) mentions the term ''Albanoi'' twice and the term ''Arbanitai'' once. The term ''Albanoi'' is used first to describe the groups which rebelled in southern Italy and Sicily against the Byzantines in 1038-40. The second use of the term ''Albanoi'' is related to groups which supported the revolt of George Maniakes in 1042 and marched with him throughout the Balkans against the Byzantine capital,
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
. The term ''Arvanitai'' is used to describe a revolt of
Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...
(Boulgaroi) and ''Arbanitai'' in the theme of Dyrrhachium in 1078-79. It is generally accepted that ''Arbanitai'' refers to the ethnonym of medieval
Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...
. As such, it is considered to be the first attestation of Albanians as an ethnic group in Byzantine historiography. The use of the term ''Albanoi'' in 1038-49 and 1042 as an ethnonym related to Albanians have been a subject of debate. In what has been termed the "Vranoussi-Ducellier debate", Alain Ducellier proposed that both uses of the term referred to medieval Albanians. Era Vranoussi counter-suggested that the first use referred to
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
, while the second didn't have an ethnic connotation necessarily and could be a reference to the Normans as "foreigners" ( aubain) in
Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...
which Maniakes and his army traversed. This debate has never been resolved. A newer synthesis about the second use of the term ''Albanoi'' by Pëllumb Xhufi suggests that the term ''Albanoi'' may have referred to Albanians of the specific district of Arbanon, while ''Arbanitai'' to Albanians in general regardless of the specific region they inhabited. From thereon, in the next centuries, the term ''Albanoi'' is used extensively as the ethnonym for medieval Albanians in Byzantine literature. ''Albanoi'' is the formal term for Albanians in modern Greek and until the 20th century it was used interchangeably with the term ''Arbanitai'', which now in Greek refers exclusively to Arvanites. These names reflect the Albanian endonym Arbër/n + esh which itself derives from the same root as the name of the Albanoi.


Archaeology

In the archaeological record, the Albanoi and Albanopolis have been directly attested on two funeral inscriptions. The toponym Albanopolis has been found on a funeral inscription in Gorno Sonje, near the city of
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
(ancient Scupi), present-day
North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
. It was excavated in 1931 by Nikola Vulić and its text was curated and published in 1982 by Borka Dragojević-Josifovska. The inscription in Latin reads: It dates to the end of the 1st century CE and the beginning of the 2nd century CE. Dragojević-Josifovska added two lines to the existing reading: VIVA P(OSUIT) SIBI/ ET VIRO SUO. Like others, he presumably had settled in Scupi from Albanopolis. The name of the mentioned peoples' progenitor – ''Mucatus'' – bears the Palaeo-Balkan root ''Muk-'', ''Μουκ-'', which is spread throughout the central Balkans featuring different suffixes depending on the language that used it. In particular the form ''Mucatus'' is characteristic of the
Dardani The Dardani (; ; ) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Kingdom of Dardania, Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their society wa ...
(a similar form is also attested among Pirustae in Dardania). The site of Zgërdhesh, southwest of Krujë in central Albania, has been identified as the likely location of Albanopolis. The settlement covered 10ha at a hill-fort location. Excavations show that the site was abandoned shortly after the Roman conquest of southern Illyria ( Third Illyrian War). As an Albanopolis did exist long after as the Scupi inscription highlights, it is possible that the inhabitants had relocated their settlement. The ethnonym ''Albanos'' was found on a funeral inscription of the 2nd/3rd century CE from ancient Stobi, near Gradsko about 90 km to the southeast of Gorno Sonje. The inscription in ancient Greek reads: An inscription in ancient Greek in Phoenice, southern Albania related to the liberation act of the slave Nikarchos Nikomachou Arbaios is linked to the Albanoi as Arbaios is an ethnonym which has the same root as that of the Albanoi and hasn't been attested anywhere else. Arbaios is considered to not have been a local of the city of Phoenice, but someone who had been moved there from more northern areas in central Albania. The inscription was excavated in the 1920s by Luigi Ugolini. It dates to the 3rd/2nd century BCE.


See also

* List of Illyrian peoples and tribes * Origin of Albanians * Names of the Albanians and Albania


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albanoi Illyrian tribes Ancient tribes in Albania Illyrian Albania Tribes conquered by Rome Tribes conquered by the Roman Republic