Maedi

MAEDI(Μαιδοί, Μαῖδοι, Thue. 2.98; Plb. 10.41), a powerful people in the west of Thrace, dwelling near the sources of the Axius and Margus, and upon the southern slopes of Mt. Scomius. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 3. p. 472.) Strabo says that the Maedi bordered eastward on the Thunatae of Dardania (7. p. 316), and that the Axius flowed through their territory (7. p. 331). The latter was called Maedica (Μαιδική, Ptol. 3.11.9; Liv. 26.25, 40.22). They frequently made incursions into Macedonia; but in B.C. 211, Philip V. invaded their territory, and took their chief town Iamphorina, which is probably represented by Vraniáor Ivorína, in the upper valley of the Margus or Morava. (Liv. 26.25.) We also learn from Livy (Liv. 40.22) that the same king traversed their territory in order to reach the summit of Mt. Haemus; and that on his return into Macedonia he received the submission of Petra, a fortress of the Maedi. Among the other places in Maedica, we read of Phragandae (Liv. 26.25) and Desudaba, probably the modern Kumánovo, on one of the confluents of the upper Axius. (Liv. 44.26.) The Maedi are said to have been of the same race as the Bithynians in Asia, and were hence called Maedobithyni (Steph. B. s. v. Μαιδοί;Strab. 7. p. 295). (Comp. Strab. 7. p. 316; Plin. Nat. 4.11. s. 18.)