Paeonia (kingdom)

In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia (Ancient Greek: Παιονία, romanized: Paionía) was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians or Paionians (Ancient Greek: Παίονες, romanized: Paíones).

The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are obscure, but it is known that it roughly corresponds to most of present-day North Macedonia and north-central parts of Greek Macedonia (i.e. probably the Greek municipalities of Paionia (excluding the village of Evropos^[1]), Almopia, Sintiki, Irakleia, and Serres), and a small part of south-western Bulgaria.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Ancient authors placed it south of Dardania (an area corresponding to modern-day Kosovo and northern North Macedonia), west of the Thracian mountains, and east of the southernmost Illyrians.^[7] It was separated from Dardania by the mountains through which the Vardar river passes from the field of Scupi (modern Skopje) to the valley of Bylazora (near modern Sveti Nikole).

In the Iliad, the Paeonians are portrayed as allies of the Trojans. During the Persian invasion of Greece, the conquered Paeonians from as far as the Lake Prasias, including the Paeoplae and Siropaiones, were deported from Paeonia to Asia.^[8]

In 355–354 BC, Philip II of Macedon took advantage of the death of King Agis of Paeonia and campaigned against its northern neighbor in order to conquer it. Subsequently, the southern part of ancient Paeonia was annexed by the ancient kingdom of Macedon and was named "Macedonian Paeonia"; this province included the cities Astraion (later Stromnitsa), Stenae (near modern Demir Kapija), Antigoneia (near modern Negotino), etc.