Aristidh Kola retweetledi

In his 1562 Venetian edition of Strabo’s Geography, Alfonso Buonaccivoli equates Macedonia with Albania, following a Renaissance scholarly tradition that regarded these names as successive designations of the same historical and ethnic entity. Drawing upon Strabo, Theopompus, and Polybius, he reports that after the defeat of the Macedonians, Paulus Aemilius destroyed seventy cities belonging to the Albanians, thereby linking the Albanians directly to the territories formerly associated with Macedonia. He further locates the celebrated silver mines of Damastion within this Albanian region, among the lands of the Bylliones, Parthini, and Brygians situated between Dyrrachium and the Ceraunian Mountains.
Buonaccivoli’s interpretation is firmly rooted in Strabo’s own geographical description. Strabo states: « For above Epidamnus and Apollonia, as far as the Ceraunian mountains, live the Bulliones, Taulantii, Parthini, and Brygi. » This passage places these populations in the inland zone of what is now central Albania, extending from the Adriatic coast toward the mountainous interior. The inclusion of the Brygians in this region is particularly significant, as Buonaccivoli associates them with the area surrounding Damastion, thereby reinforcing the localization of the ancient mining district within Albanian territory.
He further asserts that the nations of Albania were fourteen in number and that the most distinguished among them, the Molossians and the Chaonians, descended from the Aeacid dynasty, the royal house of Epirus. Through this synthesis, Buonaccivoli unites ancient Macedonia, Epirus, and Albania into a single historical continuum. His work reflects a broader Renaissance understanding in which the Albanians were viewed not as newcomers to the Balkans, but as the direct heirs of the ancient Macedonian and Epirote peoples, inhabiting the same territories described by the classical geographers.
#albania #brygi #silvermines #damastion #strabo


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