p. 92: Appian's description of the Illyrian territories records a southern boundary with Chaonia and Thesprotia where Epirus began south of the river Aous.
p. 96: Yet this first authentic accoun of the Adriatic lists the names of several Illyrian peoples on the east coast down as far as the river Aous.
N.G.L. Hammond, "Illyris", in Cambridge Ancient History, Boardman & Hammond (eds)., 1982.
p. 261 [2]: Illyris, a geographical term with the Greeks applied to a territory neighboring their own, covers more or less the territory of modern northern and central Albania, down to the mouth of the river Aous.
Panayotis Filos, "The dialectical variety of Epirus", in "Studies in Ancient Greek dialects: from central Greece to the Black Sea", 2018
p. 216-217 [3]: Nonetheless one may say with some degree of certainty that from the 4th century BC onwards the geographic boundaries of Epirus were by and large set as follows: the so-called Keraunia or Akrokeraunia mountain range to the north...
p. 241 [4]: The northern parts of Epirus, e.g. Chaonia, bordered on S. Illyrian territory
p.12: [5]: These reconstructions of prehistory 'houses of cards' according to one scholar - prove surprisingly difficult to demolish even long after their foundations have been shown not to exist. Similar problems arise regarding the peoples of ancient Epirus, now divided between Albania and Greece. Against a widespread view that they spoke a form of Greek the Albanians argue that the Epirotes were one with the rest of the Illyrians.
Panayotis Filos, "The dialectical variety of Epirus", in "Studies in Ancient Greek dialects: from central Greece to the Black Sea", 2018.
p.224: [6]: In fact, contact with non-Greek populations (Illyrians) in the northern part of Epirus...
Panayotis Filos, "The dialectical variety of Epirus", in "Studies in Ancient Greek dialects: from central Greece to the Black Sea", 2018.
p. 221-222 [7]: In spite of some ancient testimonies, the epigraphic evidence from the late Archaic period (6th-5th century BC) indicates that population of Epirus proper spoke a dialectical variety akin to the so-called North-West (NW) Doric, (or North-West Greek).
p. 224 [8]: There is an overall consensus nowadays that the Greek-speaking populations of Epirus...spoke a North West Doric variety akin to numerous populations of Central and Western Greece.
p. 241 [9]: The northern parts of Epirus, e.g. Chaonia, bordered on S. Illyrian territory.
Johannes Engels, "Macedonians and Greeks", in Oxford Companion to Macedonia, 2010.
p. 83 [10]: Old genealogical links...strongly connected Epirus to the rest of Greece...and precluded any serious debate about the Greekness of the Epirotans. Epirotic language was regarded a primitive North-Western Greek dialect, but there was no discussion that it was basically Greek. Epirotans...lived an archaic way of life with old fashioned and some crude customs...Nevertheless there was never a sharp discussion of their Greekness.
..there has been no consensus on the location of Atintania. The obvious and after all roughly correct solution...that Atintania was the middle valley of the Aoos.
Polybius' authority is confirmed by Thucydides, who couples the Atintanes with the Molossi going to battle under the same commander, by Strabo, who cites the Atintanes along with the Epiroteethne...
Appian's use of the ethnic "Illyrian" for the Atintanes has been explained away as referring to their political situation after annexation by Illyrian rulers.
Panayotis Filos, "The dialectical variety of Epirus", in "Studies in Ancient Greek dialects: from central Greece to the Black Sea", 2018.
p. 224 [12]: There is an overall consensus nowadays that the Greek-speaking populations of Epirus, despite its fragmentation into major (Molossoi, Thesprotoi, Chaones) and minor (Athamanes, Atintanes...), spoke a North West Doric variety akin to numerous populations of Central and Western Greece..
Ils peuvent apparaître comme Épirotes à certains moments et Macédoniens à d'autres. C'est le cas des Atintanes, cédés à Pyrrhos en 295 mais qui reviennent aux Macédoniens lors de la paix de Phoinicé en 205."
Hammond, N. G. L. (1994a). "Illyrians and North-west Greeks". In Lewis, D. M.; Boardman, John; Hornblower, Simon; Ostwald, M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: The Fourth Century B.C. Cambridge University Press. pp. 422–443.
The north-west Greeks occupied a large area, extending in the west from the Gulf of Ambracia to the Gulf of Oricum and in the east to an imaginary line from the upper Achelous valley to the upper Erigon valley... The main groups from south to north were called Thesproti, Athamanes, Molossi, Atintanes, Chaones, Parauaei, Orestae, Elimeotae, Lyncestae and Pelagones.
Wilkes, John (1995). Pierre Cabanes (ed.). "L'Illyrie méridionale et l'Epire dans l'antiquité. II". Journal of Hellenic Studies.
Unable to accept Hammond's duality, Hatzopoulos presumes an error on the part of Polyaenus (based on Hieronymus of Cardia) who would have been ignorant of local geography. Along with the Chaones, the Atintanes will have been the most northerly of the Epirote communities. On the north, between them and the Parthini, Taulantians and the real Illyrian Dassareatii, existed a mixed zone as a part of Illyria but culturally an extension of Greek-speaking Epirus
According to M. B. Hatzopoulos, the Atintanes, together with the Chaonians constituted the northernmost Epirote community.
Hatzopoulos, M. B. (1997). "The Borders of Hellenism in Epirus during Antiquity". In M. V. Sakellariou (ed.). Ηπειρος: 4000 χρόνια ελληνικής ιστορίας και πολιτισμού. Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 9789602133712.
Various hypotheses have been formed to reconcile the contradictory statements in the sources. H. and N. Ceka for example consider Byllis and Nikaia to be part of the great Illyrian tribe of Atintanes, which also included Amantia, Olympe, and even Antigoneia. Hammond asserts that Byllis was a Greek colony...Fanoula Papazoglou also speaks of "Greek foundation on barbarian territory". The theory of greater Atintania has been rebutted.
Mallios, Georgios (2011). Μύθος και ιστορία: η περίπτωση της Αρχαίας Μακεδονίας (in Greek).
Ωστόσο, χρειάζεται να επισημάνουμε ότι οι Ατιντάνες βρίσκονταν παραδοσιακά εκτός των συνόρων του μακεδονικού βασιλείου. Άλλοι τους κατατάσσουν στα ποικιλώνυμα ηπειρωτικά φύλα, άλλοι τους συνδέουν με τους Ιλλυριούς. Ο Hammond πειστικά επιχειρηματολόγησε για την ένταξή τους στα ηπειρωτικά φύλα και υποστήριξε την αποσύνδεση τους από τους Ιλλυριούς· από την άλλη όμως θεώρησε ότι οι Ηπειρώτες Ατιντάνες, τους οποίους τοποθέτησε περίπου στην περιοχή του Άνω Δρίνου και του Καλαμά, στα δυτικά των Μολοσσών, διαχωρίζονται από τους Ατιντανούς που περιλήφθηκαν στο μακεδονικό βασίλειο στα τέλη του 3ου αι. π.Χ. Αυτούς τους τοποθέτησε στην περιοχή βορείως και δυτικά της Λυχνίτιδας και της Λυγκηστίδας, επισημαίνοντας ότι ένα τμήμα του πληθυσμού αυτού παρέμεινε σε ιλλυρικά εδάφη. Ως μια υποδιαίρεση των Ατιντανών της Μακεδονίας αναγνωρίζει τους Αντανούς που εντοπίζονται από επιγραφικές μαρτυρίες στην περιοχή της Ηράκλειας. Σε σχετικό του άρθρο ο Χατζόπουλος συμφώνησε με τον Hammond ως προς την αποσύνδεση των Ατιντανών από τους Ιλλυριούς, ωστόσο,μετά από μια λεπτομερή εξέταση των γραπτών πηγών, απέρριψε το ενδεχόμενο να υπάρχουν δύο έθνη (ένα ηπειρωτικό και ένα μακεδονικό) με το ίδιο όνομα.
