Prasaiboi as an ethnos and as a koinon across ‘old’ and ‘new’ Epirus
Abstract
The Prasaiboi offer a revealing case study in the dynamics of ethnic identity formation, territorial redefinition, and political community-building in post-Pydna Epirus. Documented epigraphically within the framework of the Chaonian koinon at Bouthroton around 200 BC, this little-known sub-ethnos subsequently became the eponyms of a new political formation (to koinon ton Prasaibon), established under Roman aegis before the mid-second century BC, with Bouthroton as its institutional pivot – a trajectory that raises the question of what may have determined their rise from local sub-group to eponyms of a new political formation. The article investigates the multiple connections in which the Prasaiboi are involved with the aim of exploring this question, reassessing various layers of ethnic and territorial affiliation – among which the connection with the Perrhaiboi is here critically re-examined. Particular weight is given to the Thesprotian dimension of Prasaibian identity, preserved in Stephanus of Byzantium’s terse designation ethnos Thesprotikon, which the article interprets as a form of identity construction in the ‘new’ Epirus, one that evoked continuity with the archaic, ‘Homeric’ Epirus as a meaningful framework for political legitimation under Roman aegis.
open access | peer reviewed
Presentato: 16 Luglio 2025 | Lingua: en
Keywords Koinon of the Prasaiboi • Post-Pydna Epirus • Bouthroton • Perrhaiboi • Ethnos-koinon • Political community formation • Thesprotia
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