Ein Thrakischer und ein Päonischer Volksstamm am Oberstrymon
A Thracian and a Paionian Tribe along the Upper Strymon River

Summary/Abstract: The paper studies the history of two peoples: the Denteletai are defined as a Thracian tribe, the Agrianes – as a Paionian tribe. It can be assumed that the Denteletai preserved their independence during the campaign of Philip ІІ in the Hebros valley in 342–341 BC, because they remained aside from the military activities, but for some reason they entered in contact with the Macedonian king who reigned over the Hebros valley, where he founded Philippopolis. One possible explanation of their fixing in writing by the ancient authors can also be sought in their possible participation in the rebellion of the Maidoi in 340 BC. The Denteletai were last mentioned under Dio Cassius in 16 BC, when they attacked the Macedonia Province together with the Skordiskoi, but were defeated by Rome.There are different hypotheses on the ethnic belonging of the Agrianes: some researchers believe that people to have been Paionian, others – Thracian. However, the oldest sources define the Agrianes as Paionians, and when they are mentioned together with the Thracians, they are always differentiated from them. The earliest reference to the Agrianes is in Thucydides in connection with the march of the King of the Odrysae Sitalkes in 429 BC. According to Stephanus Byzantinus, the Agrianes were attested as far back as in Theopompos, but unfortunately he does not specify where that reference is to be found in his writings. The Agrianes apparently fell under the power of Sitalkes during one of his earlier military campaigns. They took part in the march of the Odrysian king in Macedonia as his subjects. In 335 BC, when Alexander ІІІ returned from his campaign against the Triballoi across the lands of the Agrianes and the Paiones, he received information that the Illyrians were out of the game, but the Autariatai were preparing an ambush. After 169 BC, the Agrianes are not mentioned in the ancient sources. They were probably absorbed by the autochthonous Thracian population, who assimilated what was left of them.

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