The Enchelei[a] were an ancient people that lived around the River Drin and the region of Lake Shkodra and Lake Ohrid,[4][5][6] in modern-day Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. They are one of the oldest known peoples of the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.[7] In ancient sources they sometimes appear as an ethnic group distinct from the Illyrians, but they are mostly mentioned as one of the Illyrian tribes.[8] They held a central position in the earlier phase of Illyrian history.[9] In ancient Greek literature they are linked with the end of the mythical narrative of Cadmus and Harmonia, a tradition deeply rooted among the Illyrian peoples.[10][11][6]
The name Sesarethii was used by Strabo as an alternative name for the Enchelei in the lakeland area of Ohrid. Mentioned for the first time by Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BC, the name Sesarethii/Sesarethioi is also considered a variant of Dassaretii/Dassaretioi,[12] an Illyrian tribe that has been recorded since Roman times and that is attested in coinage and inscriptions found around lake Ohrid. The weakening of the kingdom of the Enchelei presumably led to Enchelei's assimilation and inclusion into a newly established Illyrian realm at the latest in the 6th–5th centuries BC, marking the arising of the Dassaretii, who appear to have replaced the Enchelei in the lakeland area.[13][14] During Classical and Hellenistic antiquity the Enchelei were more a historical memory than a contemporary group.[15]
The region inhabited by the Enchelei was known as Enchele.[16] Their neighbors to the west were the Taulantii, to the north the Autariatae, to the north-east the Dardani, to the south-east the Paeones, and to the south the Dexaroi.[17][18]
^Apollodorus, Library, 3.5.4. "As the Encheleans were being attacked by the Illyrians, the god declared by an oracle that they would get the better of the Illyrians if they had Cadmus and Harmonia as their leaders. They believed him, and made them their leaders against the Illyrians, and got the better of them. And Cadmus reigned over the Illyrians, and a son Illyrius was born to him."
^Strabo, Geography (ed. H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A.), book 7, chapter 7: "...had established their sway, and Enchelii, who are also called Sesarethii. Then come the Lyncestæ, the territory Deuriopus, Pelagonia-Tripolitis..."
^Šašel Kos 1993, p. 119.
^Wilkes 1992, pp. 98–99.
^Hammond 1982, p. 265.
^ abDedvukaj 2023, p. 7.
^Dzino 2014, p. 53.
^Katičić 1977, p. 81: "Bald ist es, als verträten sie in ältester Zeit für die Griechen das illyrische Volkstum schlechthin, manchmal erscheinen sie als eigene Volksgruppe n eben den Illy riern , meistens aber werden sie als einer unter den illyrischen Stämmen erwähnt."
^Katičić 1977, p. 5.
^Katičić 1977, p. 81: an sie knüpft sich der Mythos vom Ende des Kadmos und der Harmonia. Bald ist es, als verträten sie in ältester Zeit für die Griechen das illyrische Volkstum schlechthin,
^Šašel Kos 1993, p. 113.
^Theodossiev 1998, p. 348.
^Šašel Kos 2004, p. 500.
^Castiglioni 2010, pp. 93–95.
^Hatzopoulos 1997, p. 145: "The Illyrian origins of the Encheleis, too, are debatable, but the question is of rather academic character, since in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, there were rather a historical memory than a contemporary ethnic group."
^Robin Hard, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology, Routledge, 2004, p. 643 n. 53.
^Hammond 1982, p. 284.
^Wilkes 1992, pp. 93, 96, 98, 99.
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contemporary group. The region inhabited by the Enchelei was known as Enchele. Their neighbors to the west were the Taulantii, to the north the Autariatae...
Enchele tribe that was known to live in the region. According to E. Hamp, a connection with Albanian ’ngjalë’ makes it possible that the name Enchele...
Mela (43 AD) the stricto sensu Illyrians lived north of the Taulantii and Enchele, on the Adriatic shore; Pliny the Elder used "properly named Illyrians"...
evolved into kingdoms. The earliest recorded kingdom in Illyria was the Enchele in the 8th century BCE. The Autariatae under Pleurias (337 BCE) were considered...
of the city in Aromanian is Ohãrda. Historical affiliations Illyrians (Enchele, Dassaretii) –3rd century BC Kingdom of Macedonia 210 BC-208 BC Kingdom...
Mela (43 AD) the stricto sensu Illyrians lived north of the Taulantii and Enchele, on the Adriatic shore; Pliny the Elder used "properly named Illyrians"...
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