Amantes (tribe)

This article is about the ancient tribe in modern southern Albania. For the northern Illyrian tribe, see Amantini.

The Amantes (alternatively attested in primary sources, as Amantieis or Amantini) (Ancient Greek: Άμαντες or Αμαντιείς; Latin: Amantinii) were an ancient Illyrian tribe located in the inland area of the Bay of Vlora north of the Ceraunian Mountains and south of Apollonia, in southern Illyria near the boundary with Epirus, nowadays modern Albania.^[1][2][3] A site of their location has been identified with the archaeological settlement of Amantia, placed above the river Vjosë/Aoos.^[4] Amantia is considered to have been their main settlement.^[5] The Amantes also inhabited in the area of an ancient sanctuary of the eternal fire called Nymphaion.^[2]

A bronze coin bearing the legend ΑΜΑΝΤΩΝ (AMANTON) with a serpent on the reverse, and the heads of Zeus and Dione on the obverse.

The Amantes firstly appear in ancient literature in the 4th century BCE in the Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax as an Illyrian tribe bordering the Epirote Chaonians.^[6] In Hellenistic sources they are mentioned among the Epirotes.^[7] In Roman-times literature they appear as barbarians.^[7] In modern historiography a number of scholars regard the Amantes as Illyrians,^[8] and others consider them as Epirotes.^[9] Although no definite evidence has been found to ensure a political organisation of the Amantes as a koinon,^[10] its institution is indicated by archaeological findings in the area.^[11] The tribal polity (perhaps a koinon) of the Amantes and the koinon of the Bylliones are today considered important examples of Illyrian koina, organized in a manned similar to the Koinon of the Epirotes.^[12][13][14]

Name

The name is first attested in the Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax in the mid-4th century BCE.^[6][15] It has been suggested that the ethnonym Amantes contains the Indo-European stem ab- "water, river", as the interchanging -m- to -b- can be found in Greek,^[16][17] while the shift -b- to -m- can be found in Thracian and Illyrian,^[17] and is characteristic of the north Aegean region.^[18] Whether the name Amantes corresponded to the interchanging of -b- to -m- is disputed.^[19] Some ancient sources merged the term Abantes with Amantes, and the name of the territory of Abantis with that of Amantia. Stephanus of Byzantium attributed this variation in spelling to Antigonus Gonatas, which was afterwards adopted by some Hellenistic poets.^[20]

It has been suggested that the names Amantes and Amantia are connected with the Albanian term amë/ãmë ("river-bed, fountain, spring"). The tribal name Amantes, in particular, has been translated as "riparians".^[21] A homonymous Illyrian tribe lived in eastern Slavonia.^[22]

Geography

 

Adriatic
Sea

Strait of
Otranto

Sason  •
Island

• Margëlliç

Lofkënd •

Byllis
•

• Nikaia

• Triport

Aulon •

Kaninë •

Olympe •

Amantia •

Matohasanaj •

Bay of
Vlorë

Akrokeraunia

Orikos •

Palaeste •

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Shushicë

Shushicë

Shushicë

Dukat

Llogara

Cerje •

Ceraunian
Mountains

Chimera •

Panormos •

Borsh •

Ionian
Sea

Ancient sites in the Lower Aoös,
Bay of Vlorë and Ceraunian Mts.

The territory of the Amantes was located around the left shore of the lower Aoos valley and inland of the Bay of Vlorë, and it was known as Amantia, which was interpreted by ancient Greeks as Abantia.^[23][24]

The chief seat of their tribal community has been identified with the archaeological settlement of Amantia, placed above the river Vjosë/Aoos.^[5][4] The city was built around 450 BC on the site of a proto-urban settlement. Already from the beginning it had a fortified acropolis that was surrounded by a 2.1 km long wall, with also a lower town. The original walls made of irregularly slammed limestone were renewed in the 4th century with isodomic ashlar layers.^[5]

Their territory extended to the east of the Shushicë valley, where the fortresses of Matohasanaj and Cerje marked the southernmost limit of their community, on the border with Chaonia.^{[25][24][26][27]} With the strategic position of the Matohasanaj settlement, the Amantes were able to control the natural route from Amantia towards Epirus or Macedonia. Their territory stretched westward to the Bay of Vlorë and the Orikos area, while its northwestern limit seems to have been the town of Triport.^[24][26] Kaninë in the Bay of Vlorë provided the main route of the Amantes to the sea.^[25] Thronium, a city located in Abantis, was traditionally founded by Ancient Greek colonists on the Bay of Vlorë, however its present-day location has not yet been identified, and a possible placement in Triport or near Kanina has been proposed.^{[28][29][30][31]}

The territorial extension of the state of the Amantes was better suited to the ethnos- or koinon- type organisation than to the polis organisation. Its territory combined agricultural lands and large mountain areas suitable for livestock breeding, summer pastures and winter pastures near the seashore.^[26]

Historiography

Ancient

The Amantes are firstly mentioned by Pseudo-Skylax in the 4th century BCE, who regarded them as Illyrioi (Illyrians).^[32][33][34] Proxenus, Pyrrhus' court historian in the 3rd century BCE, and the lexicographer Hesychius listed the Abantes (a variant form of Amantes), among the Epeirotai (Epirotes).^[35][36][37] Pliny regarded them as barbarians.^[37][7] Pausanias locates the territory of Abantis in the region of Thesprotia "by the Ceraunian Mountains", and attributed its colonization to Abantes from Eubeoa.^[37] Stephanus of Byzantium considered Amantia as part of the land inhabited by Illyrians, which was colonized by the Abantes.^[38][37]

Modern

Their ethnic origin has been the subject of debate in modern Historiography.^[39] Among older historians and archaeologists, Fanula Papazoglou considered them to be Illyrian,^[40] Arnold J. Toynbee considered them to be Illyrian-speaking,^[41] while N. G. L. Hammond considered them to be Greek.^[42] Chrisoula Ioakimidou (1997) states that they can't be labeled Greeks with certainty, and that Pliny at least calls them barbari, however according to her they seem to have not been Illyrians.^[43] Hadeli (2020) points out that Pliny's characterization of the Amantes as 'barbarians' isn't ethnic, but rather cultural.^[44] As stated by Winnifrith (2002), some scholars discount the evidence of Pliny that the Abantes/Amantes were barbarians by pointing out that Proxenus and Hesychius call the Abantes "Epirotes", however it is about the Hellenistic period, when Ancient Greek influence did expand towards the north.^[7] A number of scholars regard them as Illyrians,^[45] while others consider them Epirotes.^[46]

Euboean hypothesis

 

View of the landscape surrounding Amantia.

See also: Abantes and Euboea

A mythological story, attested in the work of Pausanias, produced an ancestral connection between them and the Abantes (Ancient Greek: Άβαντες) who were claimed to be colonists in Amantia after their return from the Trojan War.^[47][39] The interpretation of the toponym Amantia as Abantia besides mythological stories has been rationalized as a part of a colonization from Euboia. As part of this connection a local settlement under the name Thronium bears the same name of a Locrian settlement located in Euboia.^[23] Although there is some geographic inaccuracy in the description of Pausanias the tradition of the Euboian colonization is dated at least from the 5th century BCE and those toponyms existed since the archaic era (800–480 BCE). The Apollonnians the time they erected their monument in Olympia for their victory in Thronium were aware of these Locrian-Euboian identifications of the territory they had annexed.^[48] It has been suggested that the data from Pausanias is more in accordance with the settlement of the Euboean colony in Thronium in the coastal site of Triport located in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains northwest of Aulon (Vlorë), not in Amantia in the site of Ploç located south of the Aoos valley in the hinterland of Aulon.^[49][50] Pausanias' data have been compared with the information provided by the Apollonian commemorative monument, suggesting an "oppositional ethnicity" between the Greek colonial associations of the Bay of Aulon (i.e. the area called Abantis), and the barbarians of the hinterland.^[51] Both cities (Apollonia and Thronium) were Greek establishments.^[28]

M.V. Sakellariou states that although many scholars accept the historicity of the Euboian colonization dating some time after the colonisation of Corfu by the Eretrians,^[52] concludes that there was no direct connection between the Amantes and the Abantes but that they both came from an older Indo-European tribe which he termed Proto-Abantes, who settled in present-day Caucasus, Albania and Greece.^[19] According to S.C. Bakhuizen (1976), all scholarly constructions about a relation between the Amantes and the Euboean Abantes are fictional.^[53] Guy Smoot (2015) has proposed an opposite direction of a connection between the two tribes which he dates to the EIA (ca. 1100-850 BCE). Instead of a colonization of the Abantes from the Argolid and Euboea to Epirus, he proposes that a part of the original Abantes moved south from their homeland in Epirus to central Greece, to Euboea and as far south as Argolid, as part of the Dorian migration.^[54][55] According to him the Amantes that remained in Epirus came to be called Amantes, following a b/m shift typical of the North Aegean.^[54] According to Sakellariou, the correlation of the ethnic names Ἄβαντες (Abantes) and Ἄμαντες (Amantes) from the ancients, based on the hypothetical shift β > μ is considered reasonably doubtful.^[56]

Culture

 

God of fertility holding a cornucopia, 3rd-2nd century BCE from Amantia, now in the Archaeological Museum of Tirana, Albania.

The culture of the region had a language that is not well known, and it seems to have not had its own writing system.^[57] In the Hellenistic period Greek influence spread from the south towards the north, involving the Amantes.^[7] In the Hellenistic era Greek inscriptions appear in Amantia, and the onomastics was mainly Greek, however there were non-Greek names in 4th century BCE inscriptions.^[37][7] The local culture readily borrowed iconography and technique from the Greeks.^[57] Many cults of Amantia are typically Greek (Zeus, Aphrodite, Pandemos, Pan).^[37] Other cults like that of the male fertility deity are common of southern Illyria.^[58] It seems that the iconographies of this deity were derivations of Egyptian or Italic iconographies (Bes-Silenus), mainly from the Greek colony of Taras, which were widespread in the region from the 4th century BCE, but enriched with very stylistic innovations. In the Roman period this deity has undergone transformations mainly of Eastern influence.^[59] Some label this deity as the Illyrian god of fertility. In reality, it is futile to approach ancient cults in ethnic or national terms.^[57] The South of the Adriatic is clearly a region of religious exchanges, in which facts must be shifted, before considering them to belong to just one culture.^[60] The Illyrian-Greek cult of the nymphs was widespread in the region.^[61][62] An ancient sanctuary of the eternal fire called Nymphaion was placed in an area inhabited by Amantes and Bylliones, which was also located near Apollonia.^[2][63]

 

Acropolis of Amantia

 

Stadium of Amantia

The stadium of Amantia shows that the koinon of the Amantes was the one on which Greek influences were strongest, no doubt because of its maritime openness and its close proximity to Apollonia.^[24] Inscriptions in Latin appear after 200 AD when the region became part of the Roman sphere of influence and later the Roman Empire.^[64]

Hellenistic political organisation

In describing the Hellenistic political organisation of the Amantes, until recently scholars have hesitated to recognize the existence of a koinon of the Amantes, and they have spoken rather of Amantia as a City-State on the model of Greek colonial cities. According to Lavdosh Jaupaj (2019), the existence of a koinon of the Amantes (AMANTΩΝ) is strongly supported by Greek inscriptions from the 3rd-1st centuries BCE, which were recently discovered within the Illyrian tribal territory of the Amantes, in particular the inscription of Matohasanaj, which attests to the function of the figure of peripolarchos (Greek: περιπολάρχος). The role of this figure was to preside over the peripoloi to ensure the security of the state borders. Until the finding of the Matohasanaj inscription this function was known in this area only for the koinon of the Bylliones. The fortress of Matohasanaj where the inscription was found is located on the eastern border of the territory of the Amantes, in a strategic position between southern Illyria and Epirus, bordering the koinon of the Chaonians.^[65] On the other hand, Vasiliki Hadeli argues that there is no evidence for a koinon of the Amantes and that there is no record of the term koinon in any context concerning the tribe.^[66] She proposes that the Amantes were organized in an autonomous polis, and perhaps a city-state type.^[67] According to Lippert and Matzinger (2021) Amantia was the seat of the Illyrian tribe of the Amantes, and according to them, like the other Illyrian cities, Amantia was not a Greek-style polis.^[3] The koinon of the Amantes and the koinon of the Bylliones are today considered to have been the most notable Illyrian koina, organized in a manned similar to the Koinon of the Epirotes.^[68][69][70]

The community of the Amantes seceded from the Epirote state only at the moment of the fall of the monarchy. At the time of Pyrrhus, his son Alexander II and his descendants, Epirus was still strong and controlled both southern Illyria in the north and part of Acarnania in the south. In this context it is no wonder that the bronze coins of Amantia, starting from 230 BCE, used symbols of the Epirote tradition with which the inhabitants of the city were accustomed, and only the legend on the coins was changed from ΑΠΕΙΡΩΤΑΝ (of the Epirotes) to ΑΜΑΝΤΩΝ (of the Amantes), both written in Greek letters.^[71][72]

Taking into account archaeological and historical considerations, the city of Olympe should have been founded in the ethnic context of the Amantes, but later it was organized as a proper polis turning away from its ethnic context.^[73][74] The dissociation from the ethnic to the polis coincided with Philip V of Macedon's conquest of a number of cities in Illyria.^[73]

References

1. Green 2007, p. 382: "Amantes: Inhabitants of an area of Illyria south of Apollonia in the Keraunian mountains (the "Thunderers"), near the Kolchian foundation of Orikon (q.v.).
2. Bejko et al. 2015, p. 4.
3. Lippert & Matzinger 2021, pp. 99–100.
4. Elsie 2015, p. 2.
5. Lippert & Matzinger 2021, p. 100.
6. Shipley 2019, pp. 62, 115
7. Winnifrith 2002, p. 174.
8. Elsie 2015, p. 2; Counillon 2006, p. 27; Tzitzilis 2007, p. 745; Picard 2013, p. 79; Ceka 2012, p. 60; Mesihović 2014, p. 116; Jaupaj 2019, p. 449; Lippert & Matzinger 2021, pp. 13, 100.
9. Hadeli 2020, p. 147;Haensch 2012, p. 75; Warnecke 2014, pp. 307–308; Smoot 2015, p. 266.
10. Hadeli 2020, pp. 167–174
11. Jaupaj 2019, pp. 450–453
12. Shpuza 2022, p. 13
13. Jaupaj 2019, pp. 450–453
14. Zindel et al. 2018, pp. 42–43
15. Funke, Moustakis & Hochschulz 2004, p. 342.
16. Christopoulos 1975, p. 373
17. Sakellariou 2018, p. 89: "Οι γλωσσολόγοι, δεχόμενοι τον συσχετισμό αυτόν, κρίνουν ότι πρόκειται για το ίδιο εθνικό όνομα, εφόσον στην ελληνική γλώσσα το β και το μ εναλλάσσονται προ φωνήεντος στο Ἀβυδὼν/Ἀμυδών, και η τροπή του β σε μ μαρτυρείται στην ιλλυρική και τη θρακική."
18. Smoot 2015, p. 267
19. Cabanes 2011, p. 77: (..) amantët e Epirit verior nuk mund të identifikohen me abantët e Eubesë të cilët rreth fundit të periudhës së bronzit bënin pjesë në botën greke të atëhershme, por mund të identifi kohen ndoshta me një pjesë të izoluar të proto-abantëve, të vendosur në afërsitë e lumit Abas në Kaukazi. Për më tepër ka arsye për të dyshuar për afërsinë e emrave etnikë Abante- dhe Amante- nga banorët antikë mbi bazën e hipotezës së një kalimi nga b në m
20. Stocker 2009, p. 228.
21. Çabej 1996, pp. 119 (117, 444): "1. guègue amë "lit de fleuve", "canal", "source, fontaine"; tosque e preva vijën e ujit më të ëmët, etc.; on peut grouper ici même le nom de la tribu illyrienne des Amantes comme "reverains", ainsi que le nom de la ville antique d'Amantia à Ploçë actuelle;".
22. Mesihović 2014, p. 116: "A uz to, i kod Ilira se nailazi na još jedan sličan slučaj odnosno istoimnosti dvije zajednice, pa tako imamo Amantine u istočnoj Slavoniji i prilično južno skoro na granicama ilirskog svijeta i Epira."
23. Dominguez-Monedero 2014, p. 197: "Que todo ese territorio que se situaba en torno al curso bajo del río Aoos, a espaldas del golfo de Valona (o Vlora) era llamado Amantia, interpretado por los griegos como Abantia, es algo bien conocido y no es extraño que esa homonimia fuese explicada como resultado del nostos de los abantes43 y que otros autores antiguos, menos proclives a los relatos míticos, lo racionalizasen hablando simplemente de los eubeos, establecidos en Orico, situada en ese mismo golfo de Vlora44. Lo sorprendente resulta, sin embargo, encontrar allí una ciudad llamada Tronio, homónima de la ciudad locria oriental, que es además una de las mencionadas en el Catálogo de la Naves homérico. Lo sorprendente resulta, sin embargo, encontrar allí una ciudadllamada Tronio, homónima de la ciudad locria oriental, que es además una de las mencionadas en el Catálogo de la Naves homérico ( Il. II, 533)".
24. Jaupaj 2019, p. 88.
25. Çipa 2020, p. 216.
26. Cabanes 2011, p. 78.
27. Ceka & Ceka 2017, p. 491.
28. Winnifrith 2002, pp. 46–47: "At some stage Apollonia seems to have taken over Thronium, another Greek city probably sited near Kanina."
29. Ioakimidou, Chrissula (1997). Die Statuenreihen griechischer Poleis und Bünde aus spätarchaischer und klassischer Zeit (in German). tuduv-Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 224. ISBN 978-3-88073-544-6. Stadt Thronion im Nachbarlant Abantis
30. Zindel et al. 2018, p. 346
31. Cabanes 2008, p. 171; Cabanes 2011, p. 76
32. Ceka 2012, p. 60.
33. Jaupaj 2019, pp. 87–88.
34. Shipley 2019, pp. 62, 115.
35. Hammond 1989, p. 19.
36. Sakellariou 2018, p. 89: "Ο Στέφανος Βυζάντιος έχει αντιγράψει ένα κείμενο του Πρόξενου, ο οποίος αναφέρει τους Άβαντες μεταξύ άλλων λαών της Ηπείρου: «Χάονες, Θεσπρωτοί, Τυμφαίοι, Παραυαίοι, Αμύμονες, Άβαντες, Κασσωποί»."
37. Chatzopoulos 1997, p. 143: "Pausanias places the territory of Abantis in Thesprotia "by the Ceraunian mountains" and attributes its colonization to Lokrians from Thronium and Abantes from Euboia. Stephen Byzantium places it in Illyria, but he too attributes its foundation to the Euboian Abantes. Pliny calls the Abantes "barbarians", but the third century BC historican Proxenos regards them as Epirots, an opinion repeated by Hesychios. The language of the inscriptions is undoubtedly Greek and, in particurlar, all the known citizens have Greek names. The cults of Amantia are typically Greek (Zeus, Aphrodite, Pandemos, Pan and Nymphs).
38. Billerbeck 2008, p. 253: "253. Amantia, Teil <des> von Illyriern <bewohnten Landes>, in der Nähe <der Stadt> Orikos und <der Insel> Korfu, von Abanten, die von Troia heimgekehrt waren, besiedelt.368 Kallimachos (fr. 12,5 Pfeiffer) nennt dieses Gebiet Amantine. Davon <bildet man im Femininum> das Ktetikon amantinische. <Die Bewohner> heissen <also> auch Amanten. Das Ethnikon <lautet> Amantieer. Man nennt die Bewohner auch Abanten."
39. Cabanes 2011, pp. 76–77
40. Toynbee 1969, p. 109.
41. Papazoglou 1986, p. 439.
42. Hammond 1989, p. 11.
43. Ioakimidou, Chrissula (1997). Die Statuenreihen griechischer Poleis und Bünde aus spätarchaischer und klassischer Zeit (in German). Tuduv-Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 245. ISBN 3-88073-544-1. Abantes oder Amantes : Barbaren ? Thronion lag also in der Landschaft nördlich des akrokeraunischen Gebirges , in dem wahrscheinlich die sog . Amantes wohnten , deren Name vermutlich identisch mit dem der Abantes war. Ob diese Amantes tatsächlich Griechen waren oder nicht , läßt sich nicht mit Sicherheit ermitteln . Plinius ( nat . III 145 ) wenigstens bezeichnet sie als barbari. Illyrier scheinen sie allerdings nicht gewesen zu sein. Abantes or Amantes: Barbarians? Thronion was therefore in the landscape north of the Acroceraunian Mountains, where the so-called Amantes wer located, whose name was probably identical to that of the Abantes. Whether or not these Amantes were actually Greeks cannot be determined with certainty. Pliny (nat. III 145) at least calls them barbari. However, they do not seem to have been Illyrians
44. Hadeli 2020, p. 149.
45. Elsie 2015, p. 2; Counillon 2006, p. 27; Tzitzilis 2007, p. 745; Picard 2013, p. 79; Ceka 2012, p. 60; Mesihović 2014, p. 116; Jaupaj 2019, p. 449; Lippert & Matzinger 2021, pp. 13, 100.
46. Haensch 2012, p. 75; Warnecke 2014, pp. 307–308; Smoot 2015, p. 266.
47. Cabanes 2008, p. 171.
48. Dominguez-Monedero 2014, p. 197: "Aunque en el texto de Pausanias hay alguna inexactitud, como ubicar Amantia y Tronio en la Tesprotia, cuando está en los confines entre la Caonia epirota y la Iliria, y aunque se puedan haber ido añadiendo capas sucesivas al nostos, lo cierto es que la tradición es tan antigua como, al menos, el siglo V a.C. lo cual descarta que se trate de alguna de esas historias de época helenística o romana que tienden a ubicar antiguas tradiciones legendarias en entornos geográficos diversos. Esas homonimias han funcionado ya desde época arcaica pero, al menos, el pasaje de Pausanias y, sobre todo el monumento con epígrafe de Olimpia, le confieren a la información cierta antigüedad. No podemos dudar de que los apoloniatas, cuando erigen su monumento en Olimpia, son conscientes de la identificación locrio-eubea de ese territorio que acaban de anexionarse y de las resonancias épicas de su acción."
49. Cabanes 2011, p. 76: "Thronion mund të ndodhet në sitin e Triportit, në veriperëndim të Vlorës, dhe jo në dy sitet e tjera arkeologjike të kësaj zone: Mavrovë e cila është Olympe antike dhe Plloça që korrespondon me Amantian antike. Ky lokalizim i Thronionit i korrespondon më mirë të dhënave të Pausanias, i cili e vendos këtë ... domethënë "përballë Maleve Akrokeraune": po aq sa ky pohim mund të aplikohet në sitin e Triportit, po aq ai nuk i përshtatet sitit të Amantias në fshatin Plloçë ose atij të Olympes në Mavrovë."
50. Cabanes 2008, p. 171: " the descendants of the Euboean colonists who had settled in Thronium (Pausanias 5. 22. 2–4), which should be located on the archaeological site of Treport on the coast, north-west of Aulon (Vlorë), and not in Amantia situated in Ploça village, south of the Aoos valley in the Vlorë hinterland."
51. Malkin 2001, pp. 192–193
52. Sakellariou 2018, pp. 88–89: "Όσον αφορά την ιστορικότητα μιας μετανάστευσης των Αβάντων (ή άλλων Ευβοέων) από την Εύβοια στην Ήπειρο, αυτή είναι δεκτή από πολλούς σύγχρονους μελετητές που την τοποθετούν λίγο μετά ή λίγο πριν από τον αποικισμό της Κέρκυρας από τους Ερετριείς... Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τα στοιχεία αυτά, οι Άβαντες της βόρειας Ηπείρου δεν θα μπορούσαν να συνδεθούν με τους Άβαντες της Εύβοιας, που προς το τέλος της Εποχής του Χαλκού αποτελούσαν μέρος του τότε ελληνικού κόσμου, αλλά θα ανάγονταν ίσως σε ένα μεμονωμένο τμήμα Πρωτοαβάντων, εγκατεστημένο στην περιοχή γύρω από τον ποταμό Άβαντα στην Καυκασία. Εξάλλου είναι εύλογο να αμφιβάλλουμε για τον συσχετισμό από τους αρχαίους των εθνικών ονομάτων Ἄβαντες και Ἄμαντες με βάση την υπόθεση μιας τροπής β > μ."
53. Bakhuizen 1976, p. 25.
54. Smoot 2015, p. 266: "At the end of the Bronze Age or in the EIA (ca. 1100-850 BC), the Abantes had left their homeland in Epirus and moved south into central Greece (hence Abai in Phokis; the Abantes in Euboea) and even further south into the Argolid, as part of the Dorian migrations. Those that were left behind in Epirus came to be known as the Amantes, following a b/m regional shift, which is characteristic of the North Aegean.
55. Walker 2004, p. 151.
56. Sakellariou 2018, p. 88–89: "Εξάλλου είναι εύλογο να αμφιβάλλουμε για τον συσχετισμό από τους αρχαίους των εθνικών ονομάτων Ἄβαντες και Ἄμαντες με βάση την υπόθεση μιας τροπής β > μ."
57. Quantin & Dimo 2011, p. 149.
58. Quantin & Dimo 2011, p. 150.
59. Quantin & Dimo 2011, p. 148.
60. Quantin & Dimo 2011, p. 135.
61. Anamali 1992, pp. 135–136.
62. Chatzopoulos 1997, p. 143.
63. Ceka & Ceka 2017, p. 493.
64. Cabanes 2011, p. 98.
65. Jaupaj 2019, pp. 450–453.
66. Hadeli 2020, pp. 167–174: Επίσης, στο οχυρό Matohasanaj στην περιοχή του Τεπελενίου βρέθηκε μία αναθηματική ασβεστολιθική πλάκα, που χρονολογείται στο β ́ μισό του 3ου αι.π.Χ...Παρόλα αυτά, στην πραγματικότητα δεν έχει βρεθεί κανένα κατηγορηματικό στοιχείο για τη φυλετική οργάνωση των Αμάντων και καμία καταγραφή του όρου «Κοινόν», με την πολιτική έννοια, που να τους αφορά. Οι μελετητές, λοιπόν, έχουν επισημάνει ότι δεν είναι ξεκάθαρο αν τελικά αποτελούσαν τους πολίτες ενός έθνους-κράτους ή μιας πόλης-κράτους.
67. Hadeli 2020, p. 176: Συνεπώς, οι Άμαντες μπορεί να μην ήταν οργανωμένοι σε Κοινόν, που περιελάμβανε ελάσσονες φυλετικές υποδιαιρέσεις, αλλά σε μία αυτόνομη πόλη, ίσως ακόμη και τύπου-κράτους.
68. Shpuza 2022, p. 13: "Ainsi, il faut noter que l'Illyrie n'a jamais constitué un État unifié et centralisé40. L'organisation politique d'une partie des Illyriens était fondée sur le koinon. Les plus réputés d'entre eux étaient le Koinon des Bylliones et celui des Amantes, d'une organisation similaire à celle du Koinon des Épirotes. Parallèlement à ces koina, existait aussi un royaume illyrien, dont l'autorité s'exerçait sur une ou plusieurs tribus. Le royaume était plus solide dans la partie méridionale de Illyrie, où les rois sont attestés dès le siècle avant notre ère, même si leur dynastie ne peut être suivie qu'à partir du milieu du IIIe siècle avant notre ère."
69. Jaupaj 2019, pp. 450–453
70. Zindel et al. 2018, pp. 42–43
71. Cabanes 2011, p. 75.
72. Cabanes, P. (1997). "Development of the Settlements". In M. V. Sakellariou (ed.). Epirus: 4000 Years of Greek History and Culture. Ekdotike Athenon. p. 91. ISBN 9789602133712. Archaeological excavations have revealed a number of hoards of coins which show that there was an abundance of Epirote coins at Amantia, and also at Apollonia after 232.
73. Shpuza 2017, p. 43.
74. Cabanes 2011, p. 80.

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