Antigonia (Paeonia)
Encyclopedia
Antigonia also transliterated as Antigonea and Antigoneia was a Hellenistic city in Paeonia
Paionia
In ancient geography, Paeonia or Paionia was the land of the Paeonians . The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure, but it is believed that they lay in the region of Thrace...

, North Macedonia, placed in the Peutinger Table between Stena and Stobi
Stobi
Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and later turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris . It is located on the main road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the...

, now called Negotino
Negotino
Negotino is a town in the Republic of Macedonia. Its population is about 15,000. It is the seat of Negotino Municipality.-Geography:Negotino is situated on the right bank of the river Vardar. It is about above sea level. Negotino is in a vineyard region and the gates of the Tikves basin, known...

. (Scymnus
Scymnus
Scymnus of Chios was a Greek geographer. He was said to have been the author of a periegesis in prose.An anonymous verse periegesis first published at Augsburg in 1600, originally ascribed to Marcianus of Heraclea, was long thought to be the lost work of Scymnus, but this was shown not to be the...

, 631; Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 iv. 10. s. 17; Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

 iii. 13. § 36.)

ANTIGONIA in Paeonia
Our written sources about Antigonia in Paeonia are quite obscure. In description of the greatness of former Macedonia, Pliny (23-73 AD) accounts a number of nations, places and towns. He tells us that Stobi is a town with the rights of Roman citizens, followed by the meaning "next comes Antigonea, Europus upon the river Axius" and so on. Thus, we know that Antigonia is located somewhere nearby Stobi and that Antigonia is not placed on the bank of the river Axius alike Aeropus as said by Pliny.In 272 BC Antigonus II Gonatas gained full control of Macedonia and we know that he founded at least three name-cities, an Antigonia on the mainland of Chalkidike near Kassandreia, another in Antintai, Epyrus as a useful barrier against the Illyrians and a third one as we assume in Paeonia, with aim to control the conquered province. Simply, Psaphara in Paraxia, i.e. Philippoupolis in Parorbelia was consequently renamed to Antigonia, located in Paeonia. Livy (59 BC - 17 AD) who described the events of the war at Pydna 168 BC gives details of the formation of the Macedonian troops before the battle. On the right wing were Macedonian cavalry, and Cretans interspersed among their troops; Midon of Beroea was in charge of the latter force, Menon of Antigonea commanded the cavalry and the formation as a whole. Next to the wings were posted the royal cavalry and mixed units of the picked auxiliaries of many nation; Petrocles of Antigonea and Didas the governor of Paeonia were in command of these. At last we are informed that Paeonia was commanded by a Macedonian governor and that Antigonia in Paeonia played a central role for providing troops and cavalry to the Macedonian army. After the defeat of the battle at Pydna 168, Macedonia was severely punished and reduced to a Roman Province. Aemilius authorized his troops to massacre the whole Macedonian army, to ravage and plunder the countryside and to spoil the thousands of dead. Antigonia in Paeonia as a seat of governor of Paeonia and the main supplier of cavalry to the Macedonian army was in no means spared, because the military order was mass murder and destruction. However, in spite of that, we know that Antigonia in Paeonia existed as a city since Ptolemaus (90 -168 AD) listed it in his work Geographiae.
http://www.macedonia.se/en/Load/58/antigonia/

External links

  • Smith, William
    William Smith (lexicographer)
    Sir William Smith Kt. was a noted English lexicographer.-Early life:Born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he was originally destined for a theological career, but instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, and when he entered University College...

     (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
    Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
    The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, first published in 1854, was the last of a series of classical dictionaries edited by the English scholar William Smith , which included as sister works A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and...

    , "Antigoneia", London
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    , (1854)
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