The Halizones (
Greek Ἁλιζῶνες, also Halizonians, Alizones or Alazones) are an obscure people who appear in
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 ...
's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
'' as allies of
Troy
Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...
during the
Trojan War
The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...
. Their leaders were Odius and
Epistrophus, said in the ''
Bibliotheca'' to be sons of a man named Mecisteus. According to Homer, the Halizones came from "Alybe far away, where is the birth-place of silver,..."
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 ...
(in his ''Geography'') speculates that "Alybe far away" may originally have read as "Chalybe far away", and he suggests that the Halizones may have been
Chalybes, as well as
Chaldians. Strabo's speculation equating the Halizones with the Chalybes still has proponents, such as the Russian historian
Igor Diakonoff.
There has been much other speculation as to the origin of the name 'Halizones', with connections to both the '
Amazons
The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. ...
' and the River
Halys being suggested.
A scholiast on Homer derived the name from ''hals'', sea, explaining that they lived in a land surrounded by the sea. However, he stated elsewhere that Odius was chief of the
Paphlagonians. Herodotus (4.17, 52) placed the Halizones among the
Scythians
The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...
in the region of modern
Vinnytsia Ukraine, while
Ephorus, equating them with Amazons, located them near
Cyme in Asia Minor. A later scholiast to Homer calls them a Thracian tribe.
''The Greek Colonization of the Black Sea'' p. 74
/ref> Meanwhile, Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
, 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 ...
, Menecrates of Elaea, and Palaephatus all placed the Halizones or Alazones in Mysia
Mysia (UK , US or ; ; ; ) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lyd ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Characters in the Iliad
People of the Trojan War
Legendary tribes in classical historiography