Dassaretae

Epirus and its environs.

The Dassaretae, or Dexaroi, (Greek: Δασσαρέται or Δεξάροι) were an ancient Greek tribe of Epirus living from Mount Amyron (Mount Tomorr) to Lake Lychnitis (Lake Ohrid) on the border with Illyria.^[1][2] They were the northern-most subtribe of the Chaonians.^[3] Strabo, quoting Theopompus, wrote of fourteen tribes of Epeirotes, speakers of a strong west-Greek dialect (of which the Dexaroi were a part).^[4] The 6th century BC geographer Hecataeus of Miletus described the Dexaroi, the most northern tribe of the Chaonians, as a Greek-speaking people residing next to the Illyrian tribe of the Encheleae.^[5] Their cities were Pellion, Antipatrea, Chrysondyon, Gertus (or Gerous) and Creonion.^[2]

An Illyrian tribe of the same or similar name laid further north between the Dardani and the Ardiaei, which is often confused with that of the Dassaretae of the (Greek) Chaonian group.^[6] This is confirmed by the fact that Illyrius, according to Appian of Alexandria, had a daughter, Dassaro, from whom sprang the Illyrian tribe of Dassaretae (or Dasaretii).^[7]

See also

• Epirus (ancient state)

References

1. Boardman & Hammond 1982, p. 265; Lewis & Boardman 1994, p. 423.
2. Wilkes 1995, p. 98.
3. Lewis & Boardman 1994, p. 432; Sakellariou 1997, p. 55.
4. Strabo. Geography, VII.7.5.
5. Lewis & Boardman 1994, p. 423 (Hecataeus, FGrH I F 103).
6. Lewis & Boardman 1994, p. 423; Wilkes 1995, p. 174.
7. Appian. History of Rome, "The Illyrian Wars", §2.

Sources

• Boardman, John; Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1982). The Cambridge Ancient History - The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C., Part 3: Volume 3 (Second Edition). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23447-6.
• Lewis, David Malcolm; Boardman, John (1994). The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23348-8.
• Sakellariou, M. V. (1997). Epirus, 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilization. Athens: Ekdotikē Athēnōn. ISBN 960-213-371-6.
• Wilkes, John (1995) [1992]. The Illyrians. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Limited. ISBN 0-631-19807-5.