
The Perrhaebi () were an
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
people who lived on the western slopes of
Olympus
Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to:
Mountains
In antiquity
Greece
* Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology
* Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Les ...
, on the border between
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
and
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 traditional geographic reg ...
.
They took part in the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ha ...
under
Guneus and also fought in the
Battle of Thermopylae.
History
Still independent at the time of the ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") 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 '' Odys ...
'', they were tributary ''períoikoi'' to the neighbouring Thessali in the 5th century BC, with a special dependence upon the city of
Larisa. They could, however, enjoy some degree of autonomy whenever the
Thessalian League was weaker, and they had retained from their independence two votes in the Delphic
Amphictyonic League (''Amphiktyonía''), until
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the a ...
took one vote from them. They were part of the
Macedonian Kingdom until the
Roman conquest by
Titus Quinctius Flamininus in 196 BC.
They were listed in Xerxes' vast army by Herodotus. A coin of the Perrhaebi depicted a man restraining a bull on one side and a horse on the other. The inscription was "Περραιβών".
[Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins: An Official Whitman Guidebook by Zander H. Klawans and K. E. Bressett, 1995, , page 104, "... Horse r1EPPAIBQN A tribe which occupied a section 480-400 B.C. Perrhaebi of Thessaly in Greece ..."]
Geography
Most of their country was mountainous and sparsely inhabited.
Their principal towns were Phalanna, situated in fertile plains, and
Oloosson, the tribal capital.
See also
Perrhaebus
In Greek mythology, Perrhaebus ( Ancient Greek: Περραιβός) was one of the sons of Illyrius and the eponymous founder of the Perrhaebi.
Characters in Greek mythology
Note
{{Greek-myth-stub ...
:Eponymous founder
References
{{reflist
*Westlake, Henry Dickinson and Hornblower, Simon. "Perrhaebi" in ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' London: OUP, 2003. p. 1142.
Perrhaebia
Ancient tribes in Thessaly
Ancient Thessalians
Greek tribes