The Pieres (

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 ...

,"''Πίερες''") were a

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an 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 between north-eastern Greece, ...

tribe connected with the Brygi, that long before the

archaic period in Greece Archaic Greece was the period in History of Greece, Greek history lasting from to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, following the Greek Dark Ages and succeeded by the Classical Greece, Classical period. In the archaic period, the ...

occupied the narrow strip of plain land, or low hill, between the mouths of the Peneius and the

Haliacmon The Haliacmon (, ''Aliákmonas''; formerly: , ''Aliákmon'' or ''Haliákmōn'') is the longest river flowing entirely in Greece, with a total length of . In Greece there are three rivers longer than Haliacmon: Maritsa (), Struma (Strymónas), bot ...

rivers, at the foot of the great woody steeps of

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

. This region was named after them as Pieria ().

Expulsion

The Pieres were expelled by the

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 in the 8th century BC from their original seats, and driven to the North beyond the Strymon river and Mount Pangaeus, where they formed a new settlement which they named ''Pieris'' (

,"''Πιερίς''").

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 ...

mentions that they had mines in Mount Pangaeus and two fortresses. He writes the Pierians were among the nations that supplied the army of Xerxes. This district, which, under the name of Pieria or ''Pieris'', is mentioned in the

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 ...

ic poems, was, according to legend, the birthplace of the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

s and of

Orpheus In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...

,Orpheus and Greek Religion (Mythos Books) by William Keith Guthrie and L. Alderlink, 1993), , page 62 the father of song. When this worship was introduced into

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

, the names of the mountains, grottos, and springs with which this poetic religion was connected, were transferred from the North to the South. The boundaries which historians and geographers give to this province vary. In the systematic geography of

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 ...

the name is given to the extent of coast between the mouths of the Ludias and the Haliacmon rivers. Pieria was bounded on the West from the contiguous district of the

Thessalian Thessaly ( ; ; 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, Thessaly was known as Aeolia (, ), and appea ...

Perrhaebia Perrhaebia () was the northernmost district of ancient Thessaly, where the tribe of the Perrhaebi lived. Major cities were: Pythion, Doliche, Azorus, Oloosson and Phalanna the capital. Perrhaebia was part of Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), ...

by the great chain of Olympus. An offshoot from Olympus advances along the Pierian plain, in a North-west direction, as far as the ravine of the Haliacmon, where the mountains are separated by that chasm in the great eastern ridge of Northern Greece from the portion of it anciently called Bermius. The highest summit of the Pierian range called ''Pierus Mons'' and is a conspicuous object in all the country to the East. It would seem that there was a city called Pieria, which may be represented by a tumulus, overgrown with trees upon the extremity of the ridge of Andreotissa, where it ends in a point between Dium and

Pydna Pydna (; Greek: Πύδνα, ''Pýdna'') is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern part of Pieria regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pydna-Kolindros, of which it is a ...

, the other two chief cities of Pieria. Beyond

was a considerable forest, called Pieria Silva, which may have furnished the Pierian pitch, which had such a high reputation. The road from

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

in Thessaly passed through Pieria, and was probably the route which the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Quintus Marcius Philippus pursued in the third and fourth years of the

third Macedonian War The Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) was a war fought between the Roman Republic and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC, King Philip V of Macedon died and was succeeded by his ambitious son Perseus. He was anti-Roman and stirred anti-Roman fe ...

(171 BC–168 BC).

References

{{SmithDGRBM Ancient tribes in the Balkans Thracian tribes of Macedonia Ancient Pierians Thracian tribes

Expulsion

See also

References