In ancient geography, Paeonia or Paionia (Greek: Παιονία) was the land of the Paionians (Ancient Greek Παίονες). The exact original boundaries of Paionia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure, but it is believed that they lay in the region of Thrace. In the time of Classical Greece, Paionia originally included the whole Axios valley and the surrounding areas, in what is now the northern part of the Greek region of Macedonia, most of the present-day Republic of Scopia, and a small part of western Bulgaria. It was located immediately north of the ancient Macedonian kingdom (corresponding to the modern Greek region of Macedonia) and south of Dardania (corresponding to modern-day Kosovo). In the east were the Thracians and in the west the Illyrians.
The Paionian tribes were: Agrianes (also, Agriani and Agrii) Almopians, Laeaeans, Derrones, Odomantes, Doberes, Paeonians, Siropaiones.
In Greek mythology the Paeonians were said to have derived their name from Paion, son of Endymion. So, their national origin was greek like thracians and illyrians. Linguistically the Paionian language has been variously connected to its neighboring languages, i.e., Illyrian, Thracian, and every possible Thraco-Illyrian mix in between. Several eastern Paionian tribes, including the Agrianes, clearly fell within the Thracian sphere of influence. Yet according to the national legend (Herodotus v. 13) they were Teucrian colonists from Troy. Homer (Iliad, II.848) speaks of 'Paionians from the Axios fighting on the side of the Trojans', but does not mention whether the Paionians were kin to the Trojans. Homer gives the Paionian leader as a certain Pyraechmes (parentage unknown); but later on in the Iliad (Book 21) he mentions a second leader, named Asteropaeus, son of Pelagon. All the paionian names were greek. Before the reign of Darius Hystaspes, they had made their way as far east as Perinthus in Thrace on the Propontis. At one time Mygdonia, together with Crestonia, was subject to them. When Xerxes crossed Chalcidike on his way to Therma (later renamed Thessalonike) he is said to have marched through Paionian territory. They occupied the entire valley of the River Axios (Vardar) as far inland as Stobi, the valleys to the east of it as far as the River Strymon and the country round Astibus and the river of the same name, with the water of which they anointed their kings. Emathia, roughly the district between the Haliakmon and Axios, was once called Paionia; and Pieria and Pelagonia were inhabited by Paionians. Due to the growth of Macedonian power, and under pressure from their Thracian neighbors, their territory was considerably diminished, and in historical times was limited to the north of Macedonia, from Illyria to the River Strymon.
Paeonian kingdom
The Paionian tribes
In early times, the chief town and seat of the Paionian kings was Bylazora (now Veles in FYROM) on the River Axios (rerenamed Vardar by the Slavs). Later, the seat of the kings was moved to Stobi (now Pusto Gradsko). At some point thereafter, the Paionian princedoms coalesced into a kingdom centered in the central and upper reaches of the Vardar and Struma rivers. They joined with the Illyrians to infiltrate the northern most populated areas of the Hellenic Kingdom of Macedonia. The Illyrians, who had a culture of piracy, would have been cut off from some trade routes, if movement through this land had been blocked. They attacked the northern defenses of the Macedonians unsuccessfully, in an attempt to occupy the region. In 360-359 BCE, southern Paionian tribes launched raids into Macedon in support of an Illyrian invasion (Diodorus xvi.2.5). The Macedonian Royal House was thrown into a state of uncertainty by the death of Perdiccas III, but his brother Philip II assumed the throne, reformed the army (and the phalanx), and stopped both the Illyrian invasion and the Paionian raids through the boundary of the "Macedonian Frontier", which was the northern perimeter he intended to defend as a part of his domain. He followed Perdiccas's success in 358 BCE with a campaign deep into the north, into Paionia itself.
A Paionian contingent was attached to Alexander the Great's army. At the time of the Persian invasion, the Paionians on the lower Strymon had lost their territorial autonomy, while those in the north maintained it. The daughter of Audoleon, one of these kings, was the wife of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and Alexander the Great wished to bestow the hand of his sister Cynnane upon Langarus, who had shown himself loyal to Philip II. Alexander the Great's mother was from the Hellenic kingdom of Epirus and was an Epirot by blood. A genial dynasty also continued through the reigns of Paionian kings.
Culture
The Paionians included several independent tribes, all later united under the rule of a single king. Little is known of their manners and customs. They adopted the cult of Dionysus, known amongst them as Dyalus or Dryalus. Herodotus mentions that the Thracian and Paionian women offered sacrifice to Queen Artemis (probably Bendis). They worshipped the sun in the form of a small round disk fixed on the top of a pole. A passage in Athenaeus seems to indicate the affinity of their greek language with Mysian. They drank barley beer and various decoctions made from plants and herbs. The country was rich in gold and a bituminous kind of wood or stone, which burst into a blaze when in contact with water. It was called tanrivoc (or tsarivos).
The Paionian women were famous for their industry. In this connection Herodotus (v. 12) tells the story that Darius, having seen at Sardis a beautiful Paionian girl carrying a pitcher on her head, leading a horse to drink and spinning flax, all at the same time, inquired who she was. Having been informed that she was a Paionian, he sent instructions to Megabazus, commander in Thrace, to deport two tribes of the nation without delay to Asia. An inscription discovered in 1877 at Olympia on the base of a statue, states that it was set up by the community of the Paionians in honor of their king and founder Dropion. Another king whose name appears as Lyppeius on a fragment of an inscription found at Athens relating to a treaty of alliance is probably Lycceius or Lycpeius figuring on Paionian coins (see B. V. Head, Historia numorum, 1887, p. 207).
Decline
In 280 BCE the Gallic invaders under Brennus ravaged the land of the Paionians, who, being further hard pressed by the Dardani, had no alternative but to join the Macedonians. Despite their combined efforts, however, the Paionians and Macedonians were defeated. Paionia consolidated again but in 217 BCE the Macedonian king Philip V of Macedon (220-179 BC), the son of Demetrius II, succeeded in uniting and incorporating into his empire the separate regions of Dassaretia and Paionia. A mere 70 years later, in 146 BCE, Roman legions conquered Macedon in turn. Paionia around the Axios formed the second and third districts respectively of the Roman province of Macedonia (Livy xiv. 29). Centuries later under Diocletian, Paionia and Pelagonia formed a province called Macedonia Secunda or Macedonia Salutaris, belonging to the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
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