PAEONIA, the land of the Paeonians, the boundaries of which, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure. The Paeonians are regarded as descendants of the Phrygians of Asia Minor. According to the national legend they were colonists from Troy, and Homer (Iliad, ii. 848) speaks of Paeonians from the Axius fighting on the side of their Trojan kinsmen. Before the reign of Darius Hystaspes, they had made their way as far east as Perinthus. When Xerxes crossed Chalcidice on his way to Therma *(Thessalonica) he is said to have marched "through Paeonian territory." They occupied the entire valley of the Axius as far inland as Stobi, and the valleys to the east of it as far as the Strymon. In consequence of the growth of Macedonian power their territory was considerably diminished, and in his torical times was limited to the north of Macedonia from Illyria to the Strymon. The Paeonians included several independent tribes, later united under a single king. They adopted the cult of Dionysus, known amongst them as Dyalus or Dryalus, and Herod otus (iv. 33) mentions that the Thracian and Paeonian women offered sacrifice to Queen Artemis (probably Bendis). They worshipped the sun in the form of a small round disc fixed on the top of a pole. They drank barley beer and various decoctions made from plants and herbs. The country was rich in gold and a bituminous kind of wood. The women were famous for their industry. Herodotus (v. 12) tells the story that Darius, having
seen at Sardis a beautiful Paeonian woman carrying a pitcher on her head, leading a horse to drink, and spinning flax, all at the same time, enquired who she was. Having been informed that she was a Paeonian, he sent instructions to Megabyzus, com mander in Thrace, to deport two tribes of the nation without delay to Asia. At the time of the Persian invasion the Paeonians on the lower Strymon had lost, while those in the north main tained their independence. They frequently made inroads into Macedonian territory until they were finally subdued by Philip, who permitted them to retain their government by kings. 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 Cynane upon Langarus who had shown himself loyal to Philip. In 28o the Gallic invaders under Brennus ravaged the land of the Paeonians. After the Roman conquest, Paeonia east and west of the Axius formed the second and third districts respectively of Macedonia. Under Diocletian Paeonia and Pelagonia formed a province called Macedonia secunda or salutaris, belonging to the prefecture of Illyricum.
See W. Tomaschek, "Die alten Thraker," in Sitzungsberichte der k.
Akad. der Wissenschaften, xxviii. (Vienna, 1893). (See MACEDONIA.)