A bronze coin bearing the legend ΑΜΑΝΤΩΝ (AMANTON) with a serpent on the reverse, and the heads of Zeus and Dione on the obverse.
The Amantes (alternatively attested in primary sources, as Amantieis or Amantini) (Ancient Greek: Άμαντες or Αμαντιείς; Latin: Amantinii) were an ancient tribe located in the inland area of the Bay of Vlora north of the Ceraunian Mountains and south of Apollonia, in southern Illyria near the boundary with Epirus, nowadays modern Albania.[1][2][3] A site of their location has been identified with the archaeological settlement of Amantia, placed above the river Vjosë/Aoos.[4] Amantia is considered to have been their main settlement.[5] The Amantes also inhabited in the area of an ancient sanctuary of the eternal fire called Nymphaion.[2]
Although no definite evidence has been found to ensure the establishment of a political organisation of the Amantes as a koinon, its institution is indicated by archaeological findings in the area.[11] The tribal polity (perhaps a koinon) of the Amantes and the koinon of the Bylliones are today considered important examples of Illyriankoina, organized in a manned similar to the Koinon of the Epirotes.[12][13][14]
Name
The name is first attested in the Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax in the mid-4th century BCE.[6][15] It has been suggested that the ethnonym Amantes contains the Indo-European stem ab- "water, river", as the interchanging -m- to -b- can be found in Greek,[16][17] while the shift -b- to -m- can be found in Thracian and Illyrian,[17] and is characteristic of the north Aegean region.[18] Whether the name Amantes corresponded to the interchanging of -b- to -m- is disputed.[19] Some ancient sources merged the term Abantes with Amantes, and the name of the territory of Abantis with that of Amantia. Stephanus of Byzantium attributed this variation in spelling to Antigonus Gonatas, which was afterwards adopted by some Hellenistic poets.[20]
The territory of the Amantes was located around the left shore of the lower Aoos valley and inland of the Bay of Vlorë, and it was known as Amantia, which was interpreted by ancient Greeks as Abantia in Hellenistic times.[23][24][20]
The chief seat of their tribal community has been identified with the archaeological settlement of Amantia, placed above the river Vjosë/Aoos.[5][4] The city was built around 450 BC on the site of a proto-urban settlement. Already from the beginning it had a fortified acropolis that was surrounded by a 2.1 km long wall, with also a lower town. The original walls made of irregularly slammed limestone were renewed in the 4th century with isodomicashlar layers.[5]
The territory of the Amantes extended to the east of the Shushicë valley, where the fortresses of Matohasanaj and Cerje marked the southernmost limit of their community, on the border with Chaonia.[25][24][26][27] Those fortifications delimited and protected the country of the Amantes against the Chaonians.[28][29][30] In particular the fortress of Matohasanaj served to ensure the security of the Amantian southeastern borders facing the Chaonians established in the Drino valley, around their center of Antigoneia.[30]
With the strategic position of the Matohasanaj settlement, the Amantes were able to control the natural route from Amantia towards Epirus or Macedonia. Their territory stretched westward to the Bay of Vlorë and the Orikos area, while its northwestern limit seems to have been the town of Triport.[24][26]Kaninë in the Bay of Vlorë provided the main route of the Amantes to the sea.[25]Thronium, a city located in Abantis, was traditionally founded by Ancient Greekcolonists on the Bay of Vlorë, however its present-day location has not yet been identified, and a possible placement in Triport or near Kanina has been proposed.[31][32][33][34]
The territorial extension of the state of the Amantes was better suited to the ethnos- or koinon- type organisation than to the polis organisation. Its territory combined agricultural lands and large mountain areas suitable for livestock breeding, summer pastures and winter pastures near the seashore.[26]
Although still unproven, some scholars have suggested that the Amantes along with the Bylliones may have once constituted a part of Atintania forming an Illyrian confederacy.[35][36][37]
Historiography
Ancient
The Amantes are firstly mentioned by Pseudo-Skylax in the 4th century BCE, who regarded them as Illyrioi (Illyrians).[7][38][39][40] Proxenus, Pyrrhus' court historian in the 3rd century BCE, and the lexicographer Hesychius listed the Abantes (a variant form of Amantes), among the Epeirotai (Epirotes).[41][42][43] Pliny regarded them as barbarians.[43][8] Pausanias locates the territory of Abantis in the region of Thesprotia "by the Ceraunian Mountains", and attributed its colonization to Abantes from Eubeoa.[43]Stephanus of Byzantium considered Amantia as part of the land inhabited by Illyrians, which was colonized by the Abantes.[44][43]
Modern
Their ethnic origin has been the subject of debate in modern Historiography.[45] Among older historians and archaeologists, Fanula Papazoglou considered them to be Illyrian,[46]Arnold J. Toynbee considered them to be Illyrian-speaking,[47] while N. G. L. Hammond considered them to be Greek.[48] Chrisoula Ioakimidou (1997) states that they can't be labeled Greeks with certainty, and that Pliny at least calls them barbari, however according to her they seem to have not been Illyrians.[49] As stated by Winnifrith (2002), some scholars discount the evidence of Pliny that the Abantes/Amantes were barbarians by pointing out that Proxenus and Hesychius call the Abantes "Epirotes", however it is about the Hellenistic period, when Ancient Greek influence did expand towards the north.[8]
The ethnicity of the Amantes is not well established in present-day scholarship.[50] As such, a number of scholars regard them as Illyrians,[51] while others consider them Epirotes.[52]
A mythological story, attested in the work of Pausanias, produced an ancestral connection between them and the Abantes (Ancient Greek: Άβαντες) who were claimed to be colonists in Amantia after their return from the Trojan War.[53][45] The interpretation of the toponym Amantia as Abantia besides mythological stories has been rationalized as a part of a colonization from Euboia. As part of this connection a local settlement under the name Thronium bears the same name of a Locrian settlement located in Euboia.[23] Although there is some geographic inaccuracy in the description of Pausanias the tradition of the Euboian colonization is dated at least from the 5th century BCE and those toponyms existed since the archaic era (800–480 BCE). The Apollonnians the time they erected their monument in Olympia for their victory in Thronium were aware of these Locrian-Euboian identifications of the territory they had annexed.[54] It has been suggested that the data from Pausanias is more in accordance with the settlement of the Euboean colony in Thronium in the coastal site of Triport located in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains northwest of Aulon (Vlorë), not in Amantia in the site of Ploç located south of the Aoos valley in the hinterland of Aulon.[55][56] Pausanias' data have been compared with the information provided by the Apollonian commemorative monument, suggesting an "oppositional ethnicity" between the Greek colonial associations of the Bay of Aulon (i.e. the area called Abantis), and the barbarians of the hinterland.[57] Both cities (Apollonia and Thronium) were Greek establishments.[31]
M.V. Sakellariou states that although many scholars accept the historicity of the Euboian colonization dating some time after the colonisation of Corfu by the Eretrians,[58] concludes that there was no direct connection between the Amantes and the Abantes but that they both came from an older Indo-European tribe which he termed Proto-Abantes, who settled in present-day Caucasus, Albania and Greece.[19] According to S.C. Bakhuizen (1976), all scholarly constructions about a relation between the Amantes and the Euboean Abantes are fictional.[59] Guy Smoot (2015) and Keith G.Walker (2004) proposed an opposite direction of a connection between the two tribes which he dates to the EIA (ca. 1100-850 BCE). Instead of a colonization of the Abantes from the Argolid and Euboea to Epirus, they propose that a part of the original Abantes moved south from their homeland in Epirus to central Greece, to Euboea and as far south as Argolid, as part of the Dorian migration.[60][61] According to him the Amantes that remained in Epirus came to be called Amantes, following a b/m shift typical of the North Aegean.[60] According to Sakellariou, the correlation of the ethnic names Ἄβαντες (Abantes) and Ἄμαντες (Amantes) from the ancients, based on the hypothetical shift β > μ is considered reasonably doubtful.[62]
The culture of the region had a language that is not well known, and it seems to have not had its own writing system.[63] In the Hellenistic period Greek influence spread from the south towards the north, involving the Amantes.[8] In the Hellenistic era Greek inscriptions appear in Amantia, and the onomastics was mainly Greek, however there were non-Greek names in 4th century BCE inscriptions.[43][8]
The local culture readily borrowed iconography and technique from the Greeks.[63] Many cults of Amantia are typically Greek (Zeus, Aphrodite, Pandemos, Pan).[43] Other cults like that of the male fertility deity are common of southern Illyria.[64] It seems that the iconographies of this deity were derivations of Egyptian or Italic iconographies (Bes-Silenus), mainly from the Greek colony of Taras, which were widespread in the region from the 4th century BCE, but enriched with very stylistic innovations. In the Roman period this deity has undergone transformations mainly of Eastern influence.[65] Some label this deity as the Illyrian god of fertility. In reality, it is futile to approach ancient cults in ethnic or national terms.[63] The South of the Adriatic is clearly a region of religious exchanges, in which facts must be shifted, before considering them to belong to just one culture.[66] The Illyrian-Greek cult of the nymphs was widespread in the region.[67][68] An ancient sanctuary of the eternal fire called Nymphaion was placed in an area inhabited by Amantes and Bylliones, which was also located near Apollonia.[2][69]
The stadium of Amantia shows that the koinon of the Amantes was the one on which Greek influences were strongest, no doubt because of its maritime openness and its close proximity to Apollonia.[24] Among the Amantes substantially imbued with ancient Greek culture, the attestation of the presence of a peripolarchos and his subordinates peripoloi provides evidence for the adoption of ephebic institutions, very similar to those of central Greece, especially those of Athens. The Amantes in Amantia built a stadium and were considered as Hellenes by the inhabitants of Delphi registering them on their list of theorodokos, and inviting them to take part in the panhellenicPythian Games, so they would have been able to adopt a system of training young people very similar to that in usage in the cities of central Greece.[70]
Inscriptions in Latin appear after 200 AD when the region became part of the Roman sphere of influence and later the Roman Empire.[71]
Hellenistic political organisation
In describing the Hellenistic political organisation of the Amantes, until recently scholars have hesitated to recognize the existence of a koinon of the Amantes, and they have spoken rather of Amantia as a City-State on the model of Greek colonial cities. The existence of a koinon of the Amantes (AMANTΩΝ) is strongly supported by Greek inscriptions from the 3rd-1st centuries BCE, which were recently discovered within the Illyrian tribal territory of the Amantes, in particular the inscription of Matohasanaj, which attests to the function of the figure of peripolarchos (Ancient Greek: περιπολάρχος). The role of this figure was to preside over the peripoloi to ensure the security of the state borders. Until the finding of the Matohasanaj inscription this function was known in this area only for the koinon of the Bylliones. The fortress of Matohasanaj where the inscription was found is located on the eastern border of the territory of the Amantes, in a strategic position between southern Illyria and Epirus, bordering the koinon of the Chaonians.[72]
Through the intermediary of the Greek colonies, in particular of Apollonia the institution of the peripoloi spread in the neighboring indigenous communities, among the Balaïites, the Bylliones as well as the Amantes, providing evidence for the adoption of an ephebia similar to that of the Greeks.[73]
According to Lippert and Matzinger (2021) Amantia was the seat of the Illyrian tribe of the Amantes, and according to them, like the other Illyrian cities, Amantia was not a Greek-style polis.[3] The koinon of the Amantes and the koinon of the Bylliones are today considered to have been the most notable Illyriankoina, organized in a manned similar to the Koinon of the Epirotes.[74][75][76]
The community of the Amantes seceded from the Epirote state only at the moment of the fall of the monarchy. At the time of Pyrrhus, his son Alexander II and his descendants, Epirus was still strong and controlled both southern Illyria in the north and part of Acarnania in the south. In this context it is no wonder that the bronze coins of Amantia, starting from 230 BCE, used symbols of the Epirote tradition with which the inhabitants of the city were accustomed, and only the legend on the coins was changed from ΑΠΕΙΡΩΤΑΝ (of the Epirotes) to ΑΜΑΝΤΩΝ (of the Amantes), both written in Greek letters.[77][78] At the same year Amantia joined the Koinon of the Epirotes.[79]
Taking into account archaeological and historical considerations, the city of Olympe should have been founded in the ethnic context of the Amantes, but later it was organized as a proper polis turning away from its ethnic context.[80][81] The dissociation from the ethnic to the polis coincided with Philip V of Macedon's conquest of a number of cities in Illyria.[80]
References
^Green 2007, p. 382: "Amantes: Inhabitants of an area of Illyria south of Apollonia in the Keraunian mountains (the "Thunderers"), near the Kolchian foundation of Orikon (q.v.).
^ abŠašel Kos 2005, p. 276: "Appian specifically referred to the Atintani as an Illyrian people, which may be in accordance with the data in Pseudo-Scylax (...). The author of the Periplus distinguished between the Illyrian peoples, barbarians, to the north of Chaonia, i.e. the Bulini,..., Atintanes, and Amantini, while others, i.e. the Chaones,..., and Molossi, whom he did not identify in terms of their ethnicity, inhabited the regions to the south of Chaonia, were living in villages, while Greece began at the Greek polis of Ambracia (c. 33) . In the Periplous, the Atintanes were located in the regions extending above Oricum and reaching towards Dodona (c. 26).
^ abSakellariou 2018, p. 89: "Οι γλωσσολόγοι, δεχόμενοι τον συσχετισμό αυτόν, κρίνουν ότι πρόκειται για το ίδιο εθνικό όνομα, εφόσον στην ελληνική γλώσσα το β και το μ εναλλάσσονται προ φωνήεντος στο Ἀβυδὼν/Ἀμυδών, και η τροπή του β σε μ μαρτυρείται στην ιλλυρική και τη θρακική."
^ abCabanes 2011, p. 77: (..) amantët e Epirit verior nuk mund të identifikohen me abantët e Eubesë të cilët rreth fundit të periudhës së bronzit bënin pjesë në botën greke të atëhershme, por mund të identifi kohen ndoshta me një pjesë të izoluar të proto-abantëve, të vendosur në afërsitë e lumit Abas në Kaukazi. Për më tepër ka arsye për të dyshuar për afërsinë e emrave etnikë Abante- dhe Amante- nga banorët antikë mbi bazën e hipotezës së një kalimi nga b në m
^Çabej 1996, pp. 119 (117, 444): "1. guègue amë "lit de fleuve", "canal", "source, fontaine"; tosque e preva vijën e ujit më të ëmët, etc.; on peut grouper ici même le nom de la tribu illyrienne des Amantes comme "reverains", ainsi que le nom de la ville antique d'Amantia à Ploçë actuelle;".
^Mesihović 2014, p. 116: "A uz to, i kod Ilira se nailazi na još jedan sličan slučaj odnosno istoimnosti dvije zajednice, pa tako imamo Amantine u istočnoj Slavoniji i prilično južno skoro na granicama ilirskog svijeta i Epira."
^ abDominguez-Monedero 2014, p. 197: "Que todo ese territorio que se situaba en torno al curso bajo del río Aoos, a espaldas del golfo de Valona (o Vlora) era llamado Amantia, interpretado por los griegos como Abantia, es algo bien conocido y no es extraño que esa homonimia fuese explicada como resultado del nostos de los abantes43 y que otros autores antiguos, menos proclives a los relatos míticos, lo racionalizasen hablando simplemente de los eubeos, establecidos en Orico, situada en ese mismo golfo de Vlora44. Lo sorprendente resulta, sin embargo, encontrar allí una ciudad llamada Tronio, homónima de la ciudad locria oriental, que es además una de las mencionadas en el Catálogo de la Naves homérico. Lo sorprendente resulta, sin embargo, encontrar allí una ciudadllamada Tronio, homónima de la ciudad locria oriental, que es además una de las mencionadas en el Catálogo de la Naves homérico ( Il. II, 533)".
^Çipa 2020, p. 216: "The ancient authors, but the geographic context too, include Borshi in the territory of the Chaonian koinon. Plini and Strabo define the natural border of Chaonia at the Acroceraunian Mountains101. Further North, Shushica River is also a second barrier that sets a clear boundary between the two koinons. For Amantes in this area the centre and boundary fortification with Chaonia, is Cerja, located on the right side of Shushica River. The main route of the Amantes to the sea is provided by Kanina in the Bay of Vlora, while the only natural harbor that could serve the Amantes on the Ionian coast was Panormus, which is geographically located North of Borshi and can be reached through the valley of Kudhësi."
^Jaupaj 2019, p. 88: "Les Amantes se situent donc sur la rive gauche de l’Aôos et occupent un territoire qui s’étend à l’est de la vallée de la Shushicë, à la frontière de la Chaonie où se trouve la forteresse de Matohasanaj la plus méridionale du Koinon des Amantes302. Sa position stratégique permet de contrôler la voie naturelle qui venait d’Amantia et se poursuivait vers l’Épire ou vers la Macédoine303. Une inscription découverte récemment, provenant de la forteresse de Matohasanaj, relève le rôle des péripolarques dans ce Koinon304. À l’ouest, ils occupent le golfe de Vlora et la région d’Orikos, tandis que la ville de Triport semble être la limite nord-ouest de leur territoire. Le Koinon fédère plusieurs centres autour du chef lieu d’Amantia: Olympè, Triport et de plus petits établissements comme Vlora et Kanina. La ville de Thronion, connue seulement de Pausanias, correspond peut-être au site de Triport."; p. 449: "Amantia est considérée comme la capitale de la tribu illyrienne des Amantes (ou Abantes) au sein du pays des Atintanes2005. La ville aurait été fondée vers le Ve siècle av. J.-C2006. Elle se situe près du village actuel de Ploça, au sud-est de Vlora, dans la vallée de la Shushicë, sur une voie de communication en provenance de Vlora, qui par le col de Sevaster rejoint la route venant de Byllis et permet de rejoindre l’Épire (fig. 89). Cette position fait d’Amantia un carrefour important dans les rapports commerciaux entre la côte sud de l’Illyrie et les régions de l’intérieur. Le site d’une surface de 13 ha se caractérise par sa colline rocheuse isolée qui se dresse à une altitude à 613 m parmi les contreforts épaulant à l’ouest la montagne de Tartari. Au sud, le territoire des Amantes est limitrophe de celui des Chaones, la forteresse de Matohasanaj marquant l’extrême défense des Amantes dans cette direction2007.
^ abCabanes et al. 2016, p. 405: "Inscription gravée sur un fragment de stèle brisée en biais, dont manque une grande partie ; trouvée dans le rempart sur le très beau site de Matohasanaj, qui est la forteresse gardant l’entrée au pays des Amantes en venant de la région de Tepelen, c’est-à-dire des confins avec la Chaonie;" p. 406: "Ce péripolarque commande les peripoloi, dont le rôle est certainement d’assurer la sécurité des frontières de l’État des Amantes, dont la forteresse de Matohasnaj marque l’extrémité Sud-Est face aux Chaones établis dans la vallée du Drino, autour de leur centre d’Antigoneia."
^ abWinnifrith 2002, pp. 46–47: "At some stage Apollonia seems to have taken over Thronium, another Greek city probably sited near Kanina."
^Sakellariou 2018, p. 89: "Ο Στέφανος Βυζάντιος έχει αντιγράψει ένα κείμενο του Πρόξενου, ο οποίος αναφέρει τους Άβαντες μεταξύ άλλων λαών της Ηπείρου: «Χάονες, Θεσπρωτοί, Τυμφαίοι, Παραυαίοι, Αμύμονες, Άβαντες, Κασσωποί»."
^ abcdefChatzopoulos 1997, p. 143: "Pausanias places the territory of Abantis in Thesprotia "by the Ceraunian mountains" and attributes its colonization to Lokrians from Thronium and Abantes from Euboia. Stephen Byzantium places it in Illyria, but he too attributes its foundation to the Euboian Abantes. Pliny calls the Abantes "barbarians", but the third century BC historican Proxenos regards them as Epirots, an opinion repeated by Hesychios. The language of the inscriptions is undoubtedly Greek and, in particurlar, all the known citizens have Greek names. The cults of Amantia are typically Greek (Zeus, Aphrodite, Pandemos, Pan and Nymphs).
^Billerbeck 2008, p. 253: "253. Amantia, Teil <des> von Illyriern <bewohnten Landes>, in der Nähe <der Stadt> Orikos und <der Insel> Korfu, von Abanten, die von Troia heimgekehrt waren, besiedelt.368 Kallimachos (fr. 12,5 Pfeiffer) nennt dieses Gebiet Amantine. Davon <bildet man im Femininum> das Ktetikon amantinische. <Die Bewohner> heissen <also> auch Amanten. Das Ethnikon <lautet> Amantieer. Man nennt die Bewohner auch Abanten."
^Ioakimidou, Chrissula (1997). Die Statuenreihen griechischer Poleis und Bünde aus spätarchaischer und klassischer Zeit (in German). Tuduv-Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 245. ISBN3-88073-544-1. Abantes oder Amantes : Barbaren ? Thronion lag also in der Landschaft nördlich des akrokeraunischen Gebirges , in dem wahrscheinlich die sog . Amantes wohnten , deren Name vermutlich identisch mit dem der Abantes war. Ob diese Amantes tatsächlich Griechen waren oder nicht , läßt sich nicht mit Sicherheit ermitteln . Plinius ( nat . III 145 ) wenigstens bezeichnet sie als barbari. Illyrier scheinen sie allerdings nicht gewesen zu sein. Abantes or Amantes: Barbarians? Thronion was therefore in the landscape north of the Acroceraunian Mountains, where the so-called Amantes wer located, whose name was probably identical to that of the Abantes. Whether or not these Amantes were actually Greeks cannot be determined with certainty. Pliny (nat. III 145) at least calls them barbari. However, they do not seem to have been Illyrians
^Dominguez-Monedero 2014, p. 197: "Aunque en el texto de Pausanias hay alguna inexactitud, como ubicar Amantia y Tronio en la Tesprotia, cuando está en los confines entre la Caonia epirota y la Iliria, y aunque se puedan haber ido añadiendo capas sucesivas al nostos, lo cierto es que la tradición es tan antigua como, al menos, el siglo V a.C. lo cual descarta que se trate de alguna de esas historias de época helenística o romana que tienden a ubicar antiguas tradiciones legendarias en entornos geográficos diversos. Esas homonimias han funcionado ya desde época arcaica pero, al menos, el pasaje de Pausanias y, sobre todo el monumento con epígrafe de Olimpia, le confieren a la información cierta antigüedad. No podemos dudar de que los apoloniatas, cuando erigen su monumento en Olimpia, son conscientes de la identificación locrio-eubea de ese territorio que acaban de anexionarse y de las resonancias épicas de su acción."
^Cabanes 2011, p. 76: "Thronion mund të ndodhet në sitin e Triportit, në veriperëndim të Vlorës, dhe jo në dy sitet e tjera arkeologjike të kësaj zone: Mavrovë e cila është Olympe antike dhe Plloça që korrespondon me Amantian antike. Ky lokalizim i Thronionit i korrespondon më mirë të dhënave të Pausanias, i cili e vendos këtë ... domethënë "përballë Maleve Akrokeraune": po aq sa ky pohim mund të aplikohet në sitin e Triportit, po aq ai nuk i përshtatet sitit të Amantias në fshatin Plloçë ose atij të Olympes në Mavrovë."
^Cabanes 2008, p. 171: " the descendants of the Euboean colonists who had settled in Thronium (Pausanias 5. 22. 2–4), which should be located on the archaeological site of Treport on the coast, north-west of Aulon (Vlorë), and not in Amantia situated in Ploça village, south of the Aoos valley in the Vlorë hinterland."
^Sakellariou 2018, pp. 88–89: "Όσον αφορά την ιστορικότητα μιας μετανάστευσης των Αβάντων (ή άλλων Ευβοέων) από την Εύβοια στην Ήπειρο, αυτή είναι δεκτή από πολλούς σύγχρονους μελετητές που την τοποθετούν λίγο μετά ή λίγο πριν από τον αποικισμό της Κέρκυρας από τους Ερετριείς... Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τα στοιχεία αυτά, οι Άβαντες της βόρειας Ηπείρου δεν θα μπορούσαν να συνδεθούν με τους Άβαντες της Εύβοιας, που προς το τέλος της Εποχής του Χαλκού αποτελούσαν μέρος του τότε ελληνικού κόσμου, αλλά θα ανάγονταν ίσως σε ένα μεμονωμένο τμήμα Πρωτοαβάντων, εγκατεστημένο στην περιοχή γύρω από τον ποταμό Άβαντα στην Καυκασία. Εξάλλου είναι εύλογο να αμφιβάλλουμε για τον συσχετισμό από τους αρχαίους των εθνικών ονομάτων Ἄβαντες και Ἄμαντες με βάση την υπόθεση μιας τροπής β > μ."
^ abSmoot 2015, p. 266: "At the end of the Bronze Age or in the EIA (ca. 1100-850 BC), the Abantes had left their homeland in Epirus and moved south into central Greece (hence Abai in Phokis; the Abantes in Euboea) and even further south into the Argolid, as part of the Dorian migrations. Those that were left behind in Epirus came to be known as the Amantes, following a b/m regional shift, which is characteristic of the North Aegean.
^Sakellariou 2018, p. 88–89: "Εξάλλου είναι εύλογο να αμφιβάλλουμε για τον συσχετισμό από τους αρχαίους των εθνικών ονομάτων Ἄβαντες και Ἄμαντες με βάση την υπόθεση μιας τροπής β > μ."
^Shpuza 2022, p. 13: "Ainsi, il faut noter que l'Illyrie n'a jamais constitué un État unifié et centralisé40. L'organisation politique d'une partie des Illyriens était fondée sur le koinon. Les plus réputés d'entre eux étaient le Koinon des Bylliones et celui des Amantes, d'une organisation similaire à celle du Koinon des Épirotes. Parallèlement à ces koina, existait aussi un royaume illyrien, dont l'autorité s'exerçait sur une ou plusieurs tribus. Le royaume était plus solide dans la partie méridionale de Illyrie, où les rois sont attestés dès le siècle avant notre ère, même si leur dynastie ne peut être suivie qu'à partir du milieu du IIIe siècle avant notre ère."
^Cabanes, P. (1997). "Development of the Settlements". In M. V. Sakellariou (ed.). Epirus: 4000 Years of Greek History and Culture. Ekdotike Athenon. p. 91. ISBN9789602133712. Archaeological excavations have revealed a number of hoards of coins which show that there was an abundance of Epirote coins at Amantia, and also at Apollonia after 232.
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