Etniczny charakter Epirotów i Macedończyków

Abstract

The Ethnic Character of Ancient Epirotes and Macedonians The inhabitants of Epirus and Macedonia were treated as “barbarians” by ancient Greeks (so Hecataeus of Miletus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Ps.-Scylax, Ps.-Scymnus, Strabo, and others). According to Plutarch (Pyrrhus I 3), the intensive hellenization of Epirus started with Tharrypas’ reign in the end of fifth century BC. According to Strabo (VII 7.8), ancient Epirotes and Macedonians spoke the same language but some of them were bilingual. This means that the original language of Epirotes and Macedonians was non-Greek, but they used Greek in the capacity of the international language of the East Mediterranean area. Numerous preserved glosses demonstrate an Indo-European (and non-Greek) origin of Epirotes and Macedonians.

Keywords

• ancient Macedonia
• Epirus
• Epirotic-Macedonian linguistic area
• the Greek language
• Palaeo-Balkan languages
• language contacts