Macedonia’s influence in Pelagonia

The exact location of the Kingdom of Pelagonia is still eluding archaeologists and historians but they agree that it is somewhere in the region of Bonče in Northern Macedonia, close to the Greek border. 

Based on historical sources, Pelagon was established in the early 4^th century BC as the capital of the Pelagonian tribe. In the Iliad, however, Homer mentions that Asteropaius, who fought against Achilles in Troy, is the son of King Pelagon. Many other historical and mythological figures go by the name Pelagon, which does not help to define who is who. 

The kingdom was known to be adjacent to Paeonia and early in his kingship, Philip II of Macedonia campaigned in those countries north of Macedonia. Paeonia was led by Parmenion, who decided to rally to the side of the new king. What exactly happened elsewhere remains rather obscure. 

Between the villages of Bonče and Podme, a necropolis with several tumuli has been located. These tombs date from between the 4^th to the 2^nd century BC and are all in Macedonian style. 

A larger grave site was surrounded by a circular stone wall, not unlike the Kasta Hill tomb of Amphipolis. Because of its impressive 30 meters in diameter, the tumulus has been attributed to a king of Pelagonia. A particularly long vaulted corridor of 20 meters, 2.95 meters high and 2.15 meters wide, led to the antechamber and the burial chamber proper. This room was rectangular and measured 8 x 6.6 meters with a height of 5.60 meters. Like the corridor, the main section of the tomb was cut onto the rock surface and lined with large stone blocks that reached up to a length of three meters. 

All tombs have been thoroughly plundered well before WW1. The roofs of the burial chambers have been dismantled and the stones reused in more recent local constructions. Although nothing of any historical value has been found inside the graves, the remains confirm that the 4^th century BC was a period of exceptional wealth.

In the fields of Bonče not far from these grave sites, bits of three partially preserved royal shields have been discovered with a close link to Macedonia. They display a central sun with 12 rays surrounded by three concentric circles. Around these, a series of smaller suns with 8 rays are represented. 

One of the shields carried the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟ (King Demetrius). It is generally accepted that it belonged to Demetrius II of the Antigonid dynasty, whose ancestral capital Antigona was located not far from Bonče, but this is not certain. 

[Reconstruction picture from the Macedonian Times]

The symbolic meaning of each and every detail remains problematic as so many variations have been found over the years. A handful of examples have been discussed in my earlier blog post, How Macedonian is a Macedonian shield?

[Two top pictures are from Wikipedia]

Spolia, giving stones a second life

Spolia most commonly appear as simple stone blocks or column drums used to quickly and cheaply build larger walls at a later date. 

Ruins from antiquity are readily available quarries used in the construction of city walls, houses, or larger buildings. Basically, and beyond the best-known examples, everything goes from bits of statues, capitals, and reliefs to inscriptions. 

Strolling through the remains from antiquity, we often come across monuments that have been partially dismantled. The larger or heavier pieces are left behind to trigger our imagination to mentally reconstruct the buildings. I have encountered many such examples, mostly in remote regions with little or no control by the authorities. 

Spotting spolia is always very rewarding. One of my first artifacts was a statue of Aegle, the Greek goddess of radiant good health, and an adjacent head in the Byzantine city wall of Dion in Greece. 

Another striking spolia was a list of Greek gods in the back of the mosque of Dodurga, a settlement sitting on top of ancient Sidyma in Lycia. The mosque had been carefully plastered and covered in soft yellow paint but the marble slab, although inserted sideways, was kept in its pristine white marble. Some reverence to the ancient gods, I wonder? 

Recently a spolia in the west facade of the Church St. Anna in Oleveni near Bitola and Florina in the Republic of Macedonia was brought to my attention. It carries a seriously weathered but still readable inscription that has been recognized as a letter by Philip II of Macedonia dated from June 345 BC. It was addressed to the Katlestai, either a military unit or a small mountain community in Illyria. Philip’s whereabouts at that time are obscured by his intense transpopulation of peoples aiming to subdue them and secure his own borders. Hence, it is unclear who the Katlestai exactly were. 

The inscription reads: to those of the Katlestai who stood in battle with Philip the king against the Dardanians and conquered. Here too, a pagan text has been used in a Greek-Orthodox church. 

Especially in the cases of Dodurga and Oleveni the builders either could not read the inscription on the spolia or, if they could, they did not understand it. 

Anyway, precious information is being saved this way for posterity as it is of particular interest to historians and archaeologists alike.