Bottike or ''Bottice'' (Greek: ) was a western region of ancient Chalcidice, inhabited by

Bottiaeans Bottiaeans or ''Bottiaei'' (Ancient Greek: ) were an ancient people of uncertain origin, living in Central Macedonia. Sometime, during the Archaic period, they were expelled by Macedonians from Bottiaea to Bottike. During the Classical era, they p ...

, who, were expelled from their homeland

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 Macedoni ...

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled b ...

ians sometime in the

Archaic Archaic is a period of time preceding a designated classical period, or something from an older period of time that is also not found or used currently: *List of archaeological periods **Archaic Sumerian language, spoken between 31st - 26th cent ...

period . Their chief

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

was

Spartolos Spartolus or Spartolos ( grc, Σπάρτωλος) was the chief city of the Bottiaeans, perhaps in Bottike, in the northwest of the ancient Chalcidice, at no great distance from Olynthus. It was a member of the Delian League under the Thracian pho ...

. Bottiaeans were members and allies of the

Delian League The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pl ...

. In 432 they revolted from Athens, along with the

Chalkidian League The Chalcidian League ( el, Κοινόν τῶν Χαλκιδέων, '' Koinon tōn Chalkideōn'', "League of the Chalcidians"), also referred to as the Olynthians or the Chalcidians in Thrace (, ''Chalkideis epi Thrakēs'') to distinguish them ...

, but in 422 they entered in an alliance with the Athenians. It seems from the inscriptions that they had formed a confederacy (

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 ...

) and struck silver and bronze coins. There were between six and twelve Bottiaean cities but not all of them inside Bottike. According to Herodotus (8.127)

Olynthus Olynthus ( grc, Ὄλυνθος ''Olynthos'', named for the ὄλυνθος ''olunthos'', "the fruit of the wild fig tree") was an ancient city of Chalcidice, built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the he ...

, close to Bottike, was originally a Bottiaean community. Bottike is mentioned by

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

and

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies of ...

in the battles taken place in Chalcidice between late 5th and early 4th century BC. ''Bottikois'', which means ''for Bottic ones'') is only mentioned in epigraphy.SEG 45:824
/ref> After the conquest by Philip II, unlike

, the name of Bottike disappeared.

References

*An inventory of archaic and classical poleis By Mogens Herman Hansen, Thomas Heine Nielsen, Københavns universitet Page 811 *Studies in the ancient Greek polis By Mogens Herman Hansen, Kurt A. Raaflaub Page 105 {{ISBN, 3-515-06969-0

External links

Coins of BotticeCoins of Bottice, Chalcidian allied type
Geography of ancient Chalcidice