The Bottiaeans or Bottiaei (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: ) were an ancient people of uncertain origin, living in

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( ; , ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting the central part of the Geographic regions of Greece, geographical and historical region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. With a ...

. Sometime, during the Archaic period, they were expelled by

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

ians from

Bottiaea Bottiaea (Greek: ''Bottiaia'') was a geographical region of ancient Macedonia and an administrative district of the Macedonian Kingdom. It was previously inhabited by the Bottiaeans, a people of uncertain origin, later expelled by the Macedon ...

to Bottike. During the Classical era, they played an active role in the military history of ancient

Chalcidice Chalkidiki (; , alternatively Halkidiki), also known as Chalcidice, is a peninsula and regional units of Greece, regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region of Macedon ...

, but after the Macedonian conquest under Philip II nothing remained except the names of these two regions and the adjective

n, which was limited to sole geographical meaning. Unlike other tribes of Macedonia ruled by kings or living in villages, Bottiaeans developed some

polis Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word ''polis'' had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (polē) is located within a (''khôra''), "country", which is a πατ ...

form of self-government. No Bottiaean individual is known to historians and the limited historical or archaeological sources shed no further light.

Origin

According to

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

, the Bottiaeans were

Cretans Crete ( ; , Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete is loc ...

who sailed with

Minos Main injector neutrino oscillation search (MINOS) was a particle physics experiment designed to study the phenomena of neutrino oscillations, first discovered by a Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) experiment in 1998. Neutrinos produced by the NuMI ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, but on the voyage back they were driven out of their course and reached

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. They were named Bottiaeans after their leader , Botton, in pre-

Argead The Argead dynasty (), also known as the Temenid dynasty (, ''Tēmenídai'') was an ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorian Greek provenance. They were the founders and the ruling dynasty of the kingdom of Macedon from about 700 to 310 BC. T ...

( Emathia), most of which, as Strabo says, was held by Bottiaeans and

Thracians The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared betwee ...

, as well as Paionians and

Epirotes Epirus () is a geographical and 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 of Vlorë and the Acroceraunian Mountains in ...

. According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, they were

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

slaves of

Minoan Crete The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan palaces at K ...

: The same story is related by the Roman-era mythographer Conon.

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

and early Epic poets make no mention of them.

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

in 7.185.1 lists them along with various other tribes in the

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a List of monarchs of Persia, Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC. He was ...

's European army. In 8.127.1:

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

(2.99) includes Bottiaeans with other deported nations by Macedonians. They were deported from

to Bottike after the expulsion of the

Pieres The Pieres (Ancient Greek,"''Πίερες''") were a Thracians, Thracian tribe connected with the Brygi, that long before the archaic period in Greece occupied the narrow strip of plain land, or low hill, between the mouths of the Pineios River (T ...

from Pieria to Pieris. According to ''

The Cambridge Ancient History ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' is a multi-volume work of ancient history from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, published by Cambridge University Press. The first series, consisting of 12 volumes, was planned in 1919 by Irish historian J. B. Bur ...

'': However, if two 6th and early 5th century BC cow-and-calf coins found in

belong to Bottiaeans, it seems that not all of them were expelled. Some toponyms of

have been proposed as having Cretan origin (

Gortynia Gortynia () is a municipality in the Arcadia regional unit, Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Dimitsana. The municipality has an area of 1,050.882 km2. Municipality The municipality Gortynia was formed at the 20 ...

- Gortys, Axius - Oaxos, Europos - Europa etc.) but nothing is conclusive. Various origins have been speculated: for example,

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and Minoan art, energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan pa ...

and Mycenaean.

League

Spartolos the chief city of Bottiaeans in Bottike, was one of the first (454 BC) and stable members of the

Delian League The Delian League was a confederacy of Polis, Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, founded in 478 BC under the leadership (hegemony) of Classical Athens, Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Achaemenid Empire, Persian ...

under the Thracian phoros. It appears in most of the Athenian tribute lists except in 446/5 BC; there we have the phrase ''Bottiaeans and s..'' , which may be read as ''Bottiaeans and Spartolos'' or ''Bottiaeans and synteleis'' (contributors). No doubt the Bottiaean league was formed between 432 and 421. In the beginning of the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

, Bottiaeans and Chalcidians revolted from the Athenian Empire (432 BC, Thuc. 1.57). In 429 BC the Athenians ''arriving before Spartolus in Bottike, they destroyed the corn and had some hopes of the city coming over through the intrigues of a faction''. In the battle of Spartolos, the heavy Chalcidian infantry, the Spartolian

psiloi In Ancient Greek warfare, Ancient Greek armies, the ''psiloi'' (Ancient Greek , singular ψιλός, ''psilos'', literally "bare, stripped") were the light infantry who usually acted as skirmishers and missile troops, and who were distinguished f ...

and

peltast A ''peltast'' (, ) was a type of light infantry originating in Thracians, Thrace and Paeonia (kingdom), Paeonia and named after the kind of shield he carried.

s from Crusis and

Olynthus Olynthus ( ''Olynthos'') is an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice, Greece. It was built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the head of the Gulf of Torone, near the neck of the peninsula of Pallene, Cha ...

, jointly defeated the Athenian army and ''set up a trophy, took up their dead, and dispersed to their several cities'' (Thuc. 2.79.1). In 425 BC Bottiaeans and Chalcidians defeated again the Athenian general Simonides (Thuc.4.7.1), when he attacked Eion. However, in the Athenian tribute list of 425/4 BC, Spartolians is mentioned. The name is partly restored. Only ΣΠ is legible and since no other name in the Thracian phoros begins with ''Sp'', the restoration seems inevitable. Olynthus also is listed next. In 422 BC or after, before or as a consequence of the

Peace of Nicias The Peace of Nicias was a peace treaty signed between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in March 421 BC that ended the first half of the Peloponnesian War. Background In 425 BC, the Spartans had lost the battles of Pylos and Sphacteri ...

, Athenians made a special alliance and oath with Bottiaeans. As the inscription reads ''with the boule and

strategoi ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek term to mean 'military general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also used to describe a military governor. In the modern Hellenic ...

of Bottiaeans, as well the other

archon ''Archon'' (, plural: , ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem , meaning "to be first, to rule", derived from the same ...

tes of the Bottiaean cities''. Not all the names of the cities are legible; only

Kalindoia Calindoia or Kalindoia (Ancient Greek, Greek: ) was an ancient Bottiaean city in Mygdonia (modern Thessaloniki (regional unit), Thessaloniki regional unit, Kalamoto village). The name also comes down to us in the form Calindaea. The town also bore ...

, Tripoiai, Kemakai or Kamakai and Aioleion or Haioleion. This mention of

, a city of

Mygdonia Mygdonia (; ) was an ancient territory, part of ancient Thrace, later conquered by Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon, which comprised the plains around Therma (Thessalonica) together with the valleys of Klisali and Besikia, including the ar ...

, means that Bottike may refer either to regions of Mygdonia and Chalcidice, inhabited by Bottiaeans or that Bottiaean cities existed also outside of geographical Bottike. In early 4th century BC, Bottiaeans are mentioned, for the last time, in a treaty between Amyntas III and the Chalcidians: ''With the Amphipolitans, Bottiaeans, Acanthians and Mendaeans, they shall not make friendship, neither Amyntas nor the Chalcidians separately, but with common consent;''. As for the silver and bronze coinage of Bottice (Βοττιαίων, ''of Bottiaeans'') it may be categorized to : 1. the same type of Chalcidian League coins (Apollo or Artemis with

cithara The kithara (), Latinized as cithara, was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the yoke lutes family. It was a seven-stringed professional version of the lyre, which was regarded as a rustic, or folk instrument, appropriate for teaching mus ...

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

)Coins from Bottice
/ref> which means that they were at that time allies of Chalcidians. 2. Demeter and forepart of bull in incuse square. There were between six and twelve Bottiaean cities: Spartolos,

, Kamakai, Tripoiai, Haioleion and Olynthos (until 479). Other six cities can be classified as probable Bottiaean: Kithas, Tinde, Prassilos, Pleume, Sinos and Thamiskos.

Aftermath

In the Hellenistic and Roman era the name Bottiaean denotes ''of the

'' district. In epigraphy, the

ians for clarification used the suffix -eatai , Botteatai, Botteatôn (cf.

Italiotes The Italiotes (, ') were the pre- Roman Greek-speaking inhabitants of the Italian Peninsula, between Naples and Calabria. Greek colonisation of the coastal areas of southern Italy and Sicily started in the 8th century BC and, by the time o ...

and Egyptiotes). It may refer either to coins or to the inhbabitans of

. The phrase of

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

that Nikaea in

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

was a colony of Bottiaeans (Bottiaiôn apoikos) may mean that

Lysimachus Lysimachus (; Greek language, Greek: Λυσίμαχος, ''Lysimachos''; c. 360 BC – 281 BC) was a Thessaly, Thessalian officer and Diadochi, successor of Alexander the Great, who in 306 BC, became king of Thrace, Anatolia, Asia Minor and Mace ...

used as colonists population from

or Bottike. The citizens of

must have been relocated somewhere else, since the city was given to Macedonians. Some towns of Bottike may also have been among the 26 relocated settlements under Cassander for the creation of

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...

References

*The Bottiaians and their poleis by Pernille Flensted-Jensen - Studies in the ancient Greek polis By Mogens Herman Hansen, Kurt A. Raaflau
Page 103 -132
(1995) {{reflist Ancient tribes in Macedonia Cretan mythology