northern dominion of the Chaonians in an area which expanded form the Bay of Vlorë in the south to the Korçë Plain in the north and the lakeland area in the east. According to Hammond's historical reconstruction, Chaonians might have lost some pastures, but they would have kept control of the pastures in the area that stretched from Grammos to the south-western side of the lakeland region. Also they would have suffered losses at the hands of the Taulantii and the settlers at Apollonia, who would have captured the southern part of the coastal plain, which coincides with the present-day region of Malakastra. Hammond's hypothesis is based on an information provided by Hecataeus, according to which Chaonians and Enchelei were neighboring peoples, and on the appearance of some 6th century BC tumuli in the Korça basin containing the burials of new rulers, who are considered Chaonians by Hammond. However according to Bogdani the archaeological evidence is far from certain, since there are no elements of connection between Chaonians and these new rulers, and the same consideration can be made for the historical source, especially taking into account the fact that the knowledge about the northern Chaonian tribe of the Dexaroi is limited to a single fragment of Hecataeus of Miletus. During 650 B.C, the Chaonians were the most powerful tribal state in Epirus. They were later succeeded by the Molossians. The Illyrians and Chaonians appear to have had, at least at times, a confrontational relationship; Polybius recounts a devastating raid mounted in 230 BC by the Illyrians against Phoenice, the chief city of the Chaonians. The incident had major political ramifications where many Italian traders who were in the town at the time of the sacking were killed or enslaved by the Illyrians, prompting the Roman Republic to launch the first of the two Illyrian Wars the following year. During the 2nd century, the Prasaebi replaced the Chaones in their control of Buthrotum, as attested in inscriptions from that period. The Prasaebi, themselves a member of the larger association 'The Chaones', consisted of at least five subsidiary tribes, since the officials and members of their community had as ethnics: Aixonios, Tharios, Kotulaios, O...-atas and Prochtheios. Political structure The Chaonians were settled Kata Komas () meaning in a collection of villages and not in an organized polis (despite the fact that they called their community a polis) and were a tribal