Illyrians
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The Illyrians (Ancient Greek, Ἰλλυριοί, romanized: Illyrioi, in Latin, Illyrii)) were a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleobalkanic populations, together with the Thracians and the Greeks.
The territory inhabited by the Illyrians became known as Illyria by later Greek and Roman authors, who identified a territory corresponding to most of Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, much of Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, western Serbia and central and some parts of Slovenia between the Adriatic Sea to the west, the Drava River to the north, the Morava River to the east, and the Ceraunias Mountains to the south. The first mention of the Illyrian peoples dates back to the VI a. C., in the works of the ancient Greek writer Hecateus of Miletus.
Origins
According to paleogenetic research, the Illyrians arose from a fusion between an Indo-European population linked to the Yamna culture, which arrived in the Balkans around 2500 BC. C., and a pre-existing Neolithic population that forms the "proto-Illyrian" cultures of the Bronze Age. The genetics of the ancient Illyrians were studied in 2018 from the analysis of DNA from skeletons found in the Balkan territory, including Vucedol, Veliki Vanik, Lepenski Vir Starcevo and Vinca. Genomic data from 225 individuals living in and around southeastern Europe between 1200 and 500 BC were analyzed. C.
The name "Illyrians", applied by the ancient Greeks to their neighbors to the north, may refer to a broad and ill-defined group of peoples. It has been suggested that the Illyrian tribes never collectively identified themselves as "Illyrians", and that it is unlikely that they used any collective nomenclature. Illyrians appears to be the name of a specific Illyrian tribe that was among the first to encounter the ancient Greeks. during the Bronze Age. The Greeks later applied this term Illyrians, pars pro toto, to all people with similar language and customs.
Names and Terminology
The Illyrian terms Illyria and Illyric have been used throughout history for ethnic and geographic contextualizations that have changed over time. Recontextualizations of these terms often confused ancient writers with modern scholars. Considerable scholarly efforts have been devoted to trying to analyze and explain these changes.
The first known mention of the Illyrians came in the late VI and early <span style=" century V a. C. in fragments of Hecataeus of Miletus, the author of Γενεαλογίαι (Genealogies) and Περίοδος Γῆς or Περιήγησις (Description of the Earth or Periegesis), where they are described as a barbarian people.
In the history of Macedonia during the VI century and the V a. The term Illyrian had a fairly definite political meaning, denoting a kingdom established on the northwestern borders of Upper Macedonia. From the 16th century V a. C. onwards, the term Illyrian was already applied to a large ethnic group whose territory stretched deep into the continental Balkans. The ancient Greeks clearly considered the Illyrians to be a completely different ethnic group from the Thracians (Θρᾷκες) and the Macedonians (Μακεδόνες).
Most scholars hold that the territory originally designated as Illyrian lay roughly in the southeastern Adriatic region (present-day Albania and Montenegro) and its interior, and that it was later extended to the entire Roman province of Illyrian, which stretched from the eastern Adriatic to the Danube. After the Illyrians were widely known to the Greeks because of their proximity, this ethnic designation was expanded to include other peoples who, for whatever reason, were considered by ancient writers as related to the peoples originally designated as Illyrians (Ἰλλυριοί, Illyrioi).
The original designation may have occurred during the Middle/Late Bronze Age or early VIII century BCE. According to the first hypothesis, the name was taken by southern Greek traders from a small group of coastal inhabitants, the Illyrians/Illyrians. In the V century a. C., Herodotus considers the peoples near the northern borders of Greece Illyrian. In the IV century B.C. C., the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax begins the country of the Illyrians to the south of the country of the Liburnians and extends it to Caonia, northwest of Epirus. In the I century a. C., Strabo drew the dividing line between the Greeks and Illyrians in Epirus. For Pliny the Elder, in the I century, "Illyrians proper" refers only to the Illyrian population of southern Dalmatia living in close proximity to the Greek world. In Appian, in the 18th century I, the enlargement of Illyria is accentuated. According to him, the Greeks call the peoples living in the region beyond Macedonia and Thrace and from Caonia to the Danube Illyrians. The name was applied from then on to all the inhabitants of the region; this has been explained by the substantial evidence of Minoan and Mycenaean contact in the valley where the Illyrioi/Illyrii presumably lived. According to the latter hypothesis, the Illyrian label was first used by outsiders, particularly ancient Greeks; this has been argued on the basis that when the Greeks began to frequent the eastern Adriatic coast with the colonization of Corcyra, they began to have some knowledge and perception of the indigenous peoples of the western Balkans.
It has been suggested that the Illyrian tribes evidently never collectively identified themselves as "Illyrian" and that it is unlikely that they used any collective nomenclature. Most modern scholars are certain that all western Balkan peoples who were collectively labeled "Illyrians" were not a culturally or linguistically homogeneous entity. For example, some tribes such as the Brygians would not have been identified as Illyrians. It cannot be said with certainty what criteria were initially used to define this group of Illyrians. peoples or how and why the term "Illyrians" came to be used to describe the indigenous population of the Western Balkans. Scholarly debates have been held to find an answer to the question of whether the term Illyrians (Ἰλλυριοί) derives from some eponymous tribe, or if it has been applied to designate the indigenous population as a general term for some other specific reason.
Illyrii proprie dicti
The ancient Roman writers Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela used the term Illyrii proprie dicti ("Illyrians proper") to designate a people located on the coast of present-day Albania and Montenegro The "Illyrians proper" are considered by many modern scholars to be a remnant of the Illyrian kingdom known in sources from the 4th century a. C. until 167 a. C., which was ruled in Roman times by the Ardieans and the Labeatans when it was centered on the Bay of Kotor and Lake Shkodër. According to other modern scholars, the term Illyrii may have originally referred only to a small ethnic group in the area between Epidaurum and Lisos, and Pliny and Mela may have followed a literary tradition dating back to Hecataeus of Miletus. Situated in central Albania, the Illyrii proprie dicti may also have been Rome's first contact with the Illyrian peoples. In that case, it would not indicate an original area from which the Illyrians spread..
Hellenization
In Archaic times, Greek colonization, especially by the Corinthians, affected northwest Greece, from Ambracia in Epirus to Epidamnos. The following cities were founded: Apollonia of Illyria, Epidamno, Lisos, Orico, Apsoris, Isa, Córcira, Melaina and Faros. The colonies then spread over the land of the Illyrians, considered barbarians, to exploit the land and develop trade. Between the 6th century and the II a. C., the Illyrians of the coastal regions became Hellenized thanks to the Greek colonies. Around the year 200 a. C., the Delphians invited two Illyrian tribes, the lovers and the bilions, to participate in the Pythian Games, which meant that these populations were considered, if not as Greek, at least as strongly Hellenized.
Archaeology
The Illyrians arose from the fusion of Proto-Indo-Europeans and Yamnas around 2500 BC. in the Balkans with the pre-existing Balkan Neolithic population, initially forming Bronze Age "Proto-Illyrian" cultures in the Balkans. The Pro-Illyrians, in the course of their settlement towards the Adriatic coast, merged with such populations of pre-Illyrian substratum —as the Enkelia might have been—, giving rise to the formation of the historical Illyrians attested in later times. It has been suggested that the myth of Cadmus and Harmonia could be a mythological reflection of the end of the pre-Illyrian era.
In total, at least six material cultures have been described from Illyrian territories. On the basis of extant archaeological finds, a comparative archaeological and geographic definition of them has proven difficult. Archaeogenetic studies have shown that an important Y-DNA haplogroup among the Illyrians, J-L283, spread through the Cetina culture across the eastern Adriatic, from the Cetina river valley in Croatia to Montenegro and northern Albania. The first archaeogenetic find related to Cetina in Albania is the Shkrel burial mound (XIX century BC. It is the find J- oldest L283 in the region historically known as Illyria Freilich et al (2021) determined that Cetina-related samples from Veliki Vanik have similar ancestry to a Copper Age sample from the Beli Manastir-Popova Zemlja (late of the Vučedol culture), eastern Croatia. The same autosomal profile persists in the Iron Age sample from Jazinka cave. millennium in southern Italy In Albania, new excavations show the diffusion of Cetin culture at sites in central Albania (Blazi, Nezir, Keputa) Inner Cetina extended into Bosnia and Herzegovina, in particular Kotorac, a site near Sarajevo and has No demonstrated contacts with the Belotić Bela Crkva culture. During the developed Middle Bronze Age, the Belotić Bela Crkva which has been recognized as another proto-Illyrian culture developed in northeastern Bosnia and western Serbia (Čačak area). In the sites of this culture, both burials and cremations have been observed. Similar burial customs have been observed on the Glasinac Plateau of eastern Bosnia, where the Glasinac culture first developed.
During the VII century a. C.o the Illyrians emerge as an ethnic group with its own culture and art. Several Illyrian tribes appeared, under the influence of the northern Hallstatic cultures, which organized their regional centers. The cult of the dead played an important role in the life of the Illyrians, which can be seen in their careful burials and funeral ceremonies, as well as in the wealth of the burial places. In the northern parts of the Balkans, there was a long tradition of cremation and burial in shallow graves, while in the southern parts, the dead were buried in large stone or earth mounds (natively called gromile). which in Herzegovina reached monumental sizes, more than 50 meters wide and 5 meters high. Small jade sculptures in the form of Archaic Ionian plastic are also characteristically Istrian. Numerous monumental sculptures have survived, as well as walls of the Nezakcij citadel near Pula, one of the many Istrian cities from the Iron Age. Illyrian chieftains wore bronze torcs around their necks much like the Celts did. The Illyrians were influenced by the Celts in many cultural and material aspects and some of them became Celtic, especially the Dalmatian tribes and the Pannonians. In Slovenia, the Vače situla was discovered in 1882 and attributed to the Illyrians. The prehistoric remains indicate a height not higher than average, 165 cm for men and 153 cm for women.
Old Pan-Illyrian theories that arose in the 1920s placed the Proto-Illyrians as the original inhabitants of a vast area extending as far as central Europe. These theories, which have been dismissed, were used in the politics of the time and its racist notions of Norseism and Arianism. The main fact these theories tried to address was the existence of traces of Illyrian place names in parts of Europe beyond the Western Balkans, a matter whose origins are still unclear. Specific theories have found little archaeological corroboration, as no convincing evidence of significant migratory movements of the Lusatian-urnfield culture to the Western Balkans has ever been found. Autareus had a son Pannonius or Paion and they had Scordiscus and Tribalus as sons. Apian's genealogy was evidently composed in Roman times encompassing barbarian peoples other than the Illyrians such as Celts and Galatians and choosing a specific history for his audience that included to most of the peoples who inhabited Illyricum at the time of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. However, his inclusion in his genealogy of the enquelios and autariatas, whose political force was greatly weakened, reflects a pre-roman historical situation.
Some Illyrian dynasties left rich tombs, such as in Trebeništa, where gold masks and bronze vessels from the II century a. C., and in Selcë e Poshtme (present-day Albania), where ceramics, ornaments, coins, tools and weapons from the II century were found. span> a. C. The Illyrians were influenced by the Celts in many cultural and material aspects, especially the Dalmatian tribes. For example, the Illyrian chiefs wear bronze torques around their necks, like the Celts. The Illyrian populations practiced burial in mounds until the early Christian era and deposited various objects (jewelry, weapons, coins) imported or manufactured next to the deceased. by local artisans.
The development of cities began in the 5th century BCE. C. The first stone enclosures were built, as in Gajtan, near Scutari (Shkodër). This type of construction was then found in the north and south of Illyria, such as on the island of Hvar (Faros). The urbanization developed mainly in the south of Illyria, with polygonal or cyclopean walls. In the following century, the Illyrians founded new cities: Búlice, Lisos, Zgërdhesh, Scodra and Pelion (not located). They are characterized by the progress of the polyorcetic with walls equipped with better defended towers and gates.
High Middle Ages
It is also evident that in a region stretching from the southern Dalmatian coast, its hinterland, Montenegro, northern Albania to Kosovo and Dardania, in addition to a uniformity in name days there were also some archeological similarities. However, it cannot be determined whether these tribes who lived there also formed a linguistic unit.
The Komani-Kruja culture is an archaeological culture attested from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages in central and northern Albania, southern Montenegro, and similar sites in the western parts of North Macedonia. It consists of settlements generally built under hillforts along the Lezhë (Praevalitana)-Dardania and Via Egnatia road networks, which connected the Adriatic coast with the Roman provinces in the central Balkans. Its type site is Komani and its fort is on the nearby hill of Dalmace, in the valley of the Drin river. Krujë and Lezhë represent significant sites of culture. The population of Komani-Kruja represents a local, non-Slavic people of the Western Balkans who were linked to the Justinian Roman military system of fortresses. The development of Komani-Kruja is significant for the study of the transition between the classical antiquity population of Albania and the medieval Albanians attested in historical records in the XI. Within Albanian archaeology, based on the continuity of pre-Roman Illyrian ways in the production of various types of local objects found in tombs, the population of Komani-Kruja is framed as a group descended from local Illyrians who "reasserted their independence". » of the Roman Empire after many centuries and formed the core of the later historical region of Arbanon. Illyrian-Albanian ties were the main focus of Albanian nationalism during the communist period. What was established in this early phase of the investigation was that the Komani-Kruja settlements represented a local non-Slavic population who have been described as Romanized Illyrian, Latin-speaking or Latin-literate, which is corroborated by the absence of Slavic place-names and the survival of the Latinos in the Komani-Kruja area. From the historiographical point of view, the older Albanian archeology thesis is an unverifiable hypothesis, since there are no historical sources that could link Komani-Kruja to the first definitive attestation of medieval Albanians in the XI. The nationalist interpretation of the Komani-Kruja cemeteries has been roundly rejected by non-Albanian scholars. John Wilkes has described it as "a highly improbable reconstruction of Albanian history." Some Albanian scholars continue to defend this model of continuity.
Limited excavation campaigns were carried out until the 1990s. In Dalmatia and other sites, objects were found from a vast area that included nearby regions, the entire Byzantine Empire, the northern Balkans and Hungary, as well as maritime routes from Sicily to Crimea, coming from very different production centers: local, Byzantines, Sicilians, Avaro-Slavs, Hungarians, Crimeans and even possibly Merovingians and Carolingians. Within Albanian archaeology, based on the continuity of pre-Roman Illyrian ways in the production of various types of local objects found in tombs, the Komani-Kruja population was framed as a group descended from local Illyrians who "reasserted their independence." » of the Roman Empire after many centuries and formed the core of the later Arbanon historical region. As research focused almost exclusively on tomb and burial contexts, settlements and living spaces were often ignored. Other points of view emphasized that, as an archaeological culture, it should not be linked to a single social or ethnic group, but rather contextualized within a broader Romano-Byzantine or Christian framework, nor should material finds be separated into ethnic categories, as they cannot be correlated with a specific culture. From this point of view, cemeteries from nearby regions classified as belonging to Slavic groups should not necessarily be considered representative of another people, but of class and other social factors, since "ethnic identity was only a factor of variable importance".
Yugoslav archeology proposed an opposing narrative and attempted to frame the population as Slavic, especially in the region of western Macedonia. Archaeological research has shown that these sites were not related to regions then inhabited by Slavs and even to regions such as No Slavic settlements had been founded in Macedonia in the century.
From an archaeological point of view, although it was considered possible and even probable that the Komani-Kruja sites were used continuously from the 17th century VII, remained an unproven hypothesis, as research was still limited.
At the time it was not clear whether this population represented a local continuity or had arrived at an earlier time from more northerly, when the Slavs entered the Balkans, but regardless of their geographic origins, these groups maintained the traditions Justinian era of the century, possibly as a statement of their collective identity, and their material cultural references came from the military establishment Justinian. In this context, they may have used burial customs as a means of reference to an "idealized image of past Roman power".
Research was greatly expanded after 2009, and the first survey of the topography of Komani was conducted in 2014. Until then, except for the cemetery area, the size of the settlement and its extent were unknown. In 2014, it was revealed that Komani covered an area of more than 40 ha, a much larger territory than originally thought. Its earliest settlement phase dates from the Hellenistic period. Development proper began in late antiquity and continued well into the Middle Ages (centuries XIII-XIV). This indicates that Komani was a late Roman fortress and an important trade node in the Praevalitan and Dardanian networks. Participation in the eastern Mediterranean trade networks via shipping routes seems to have been very limited even in the near coastal territory at this time.
The collapse of Roman administration in the Balkans was followed by a broad demographic collapse with the exception of Komani-Kruja and neighboring mountainous regions. During the Avar-Slavic raids, the communities of present-day northern Albania and Nearby areas clustered around hill sites for better protection, as is the case in other areas such as Lezhë and Sarda. During the , as Byzantine authority was reestablished following Avaro-Slavic raids and the prosperity of the settlements increased, Komani it experienced an increase in population and a new elite began to take shape. The increase in population and wealth was marked by the establishment of new settlements and new churches in its vicinity. Komani formed a local network with Lezhë and Krujë, and this network in turn integrated into the wider Byzantine Mediterranean world, maintained contacts with the northern Balkans, and engaged in long-distance trade. Winnifrith (2020) recently described to this population as the survival of a "Latin-Illyrian" culture that emerged later in historical records as Albanians and Vlachs. In Winnifrith's view, the geographical conditions of northern Albania favored the continuation of the Albanian language in hilly and mountainous areas as opposed to lowland valleys. He adds that the language and religion of this culture remain uncertain. With bishops absent abroad, "the mountain herds cannot have been too well versed in theological or linguistic niceties".
Archaogenetics
The archaeogenetic study by Mathieson et al. in 2018 included three samples from Dalmatia: two Early and Middle Bronze Age samples (1631-1521/1618-1513 calBCE) from Veliki Vanik (near Vrgorac) and one Iron Age sample (805-761 calBCE) from Jazinka cave in Krka national park. According to the ADMIXTURE analysis, they were of approximately 60% ancestry from early European farmers, 33% western steppe herders, and 7% western hunter-gatherer ancestors. The male individual from Veliki Vanik carried the Y-DNA haplogroup J2b2a1-L283 while his and two female individuals' mitochondrial DNA haplogroup were I1a1, W3a1, and HV0e. et al. in 2021 they identify the Veliki Vanik samples as related to the Cetina culture (EBA-MBA Western Balkans).
The study by Patterson et al. in 2022 he examined 18 specimens from the Middle Bronze Age to the Ancient Iron Age of Croatia, which was part of Illyria. Of the nine Y-DNA samples recovered, matching the historical territory where the Illyrians lived (including proven Yapid and Liburnian sites), almost all belonged to the patrilineal line J2b2a1-L283 (subclades >J-PH1602 > J-Y86930 and >J-Z1297) with the exception of one R1b-L2. The mtDNA haplogroups belonged to several subclades of H, H1, H3b, H5, J1c2, J1c3, T2a1a, T2b, T2b23, U5a1g, U8b1b1, HV0e. In a three-way admixture model, they had approximately 49-59% EEF ancestry, 35-46% Steppe ancestry, and 2-10% WHG-related ancestry. In Lazaridis et al. (2022) analyzed key parts of the historical territory of Illyria. In 18 samples from the Cetina culture, all but one male (R-L51 > Z2118) carried the Y-DNA haplogroup J-L283. Many of them could also be identified as J-L283 > Z597 (> J-Y15058 > J-Z38240 > J-PH1602). Most of the individuals carried the mtDNA haplogroups J1c1 and H6a1a. The related culture from Posušje produced the same Y-DNA haplogroup (J-L283 > J-Z38240). The same population J-L283 occurs in the MBA-IA Velim Kosa burial mounds of Liburni in Croatia (J-PH1602), and similar in the LBA-IA Velika Gruda burial mounds of Montenegro (J-Z2507 > J-Z1297 > J- Y21878). The oldest sample J-L283 (> J-Z597) in the study was found at MBA Shkrel in northern Albania as early as the 16th century XIX a. In northern Albania, IA Çinamak, half of the men carried J-L283 (> J-Z622, J-Y21878) and the other half carried R-M269 (R-CTS1450, R-PF7563). The oldest sample from Çinamak dates from the early post-Yamnas (EBA) movements and bears R-M269. According to autosomes, Croatian Bronze Age samples from various sites, from the Cetina Valley and from Bezdanjača cave were "extremely similar in their ancestral composition", while those from Velika Gruda in Montenegro featured mostly a mix of Neolithic Anatolian (~50%), Eastern European (~50%) hunter-gatherers (~12%) and Balkan hunter-gatherers (~18%)". The oldest samples of J-L283 from the Balkans have been found at the Mokrin site in Serbia from the Early Bronze Age (around 1950 BC), and some 100-150 years later at Shkrel in northern Albania.
Aneli et al. (2022), based on EIA samples from Dalmatia, argue that the Early Iron Age Illyrians were "part of the same Mediterranean continuum" with the "autochthonous... Roman republicans" and had a strong affinity with the Daunios, part of the Yapigians of Apulia, in southeastern Italy. Iron Age male samples from Daunian sites have yielded lineages J-M241>J-L283+, R-M269>Z2103+ and I-M223. Three males have been found in Late Bronze Age Nuragic culture of Sardinia J-L283 carriers. This late find in Sardinia compared to samples from the Western Balkans suggests a dispersal from the Western Balkans to this region, perhaps through an intermediary group on the Italian peninsula.
In ancient Greek and Roman traditions
In the ancient world, different versions of the genealogy of the Illyrians, their tribes, and their eponymous ancestor, Illyrian, existed in both fictional and nonfictional Greco-Roman literature. The fact that there were many versions of the Illyrian genealogical history was confirmed by the Greek historian Appian (centuries I-II). However, only two versions of all these genealogical stories are on record. by Pseudo-Apolodorus (centuries I-II).
According to the first version, Illyrian was the son of Cadmus and Harmonia, whom the Enkelia had chosen as leaders. He in time ruled Illyria and became the eponymous ancestor of all the Illyrian people.; In one of these versions, Illyrian was named after Cadmus abandoned him by a river called Illyrian, where a snake found him and raised him. Šašel Kos, 2005, p. 124
Apian writes that many mythological stories were still circulating in his day, and he chose a particular version because it seemed to him the most correct. Apian's genealogy of tribes is not complete, as he writes that there are other Illyrian tribes, which he has not included. According to Appian's tradition, Polyphemus and Galatea gave birth to Celtus, Galas, and Illyrian, three brothers, parents respectively. of Celts, Galatians and Illyrians. Ilirio had several sons: Enqueleo, Autarieo, Dárdano, Medo, Taulas and Perrebo, and daughters: Parto, Daorto, Dasaro and others. From them arose the Taulantios, Partinos, Dardanians, Enquelios, Autariatas, Dasaretios and the Daorsi.
Basically, the ancient Greeks included in their mythological accounts all the peoples with whom they had close contacts. The ancient Romans created more mythical or genealogical relationships to include various new peoples, regardless of their vast ethnic and cultural differences. Appian's genealogy lists the earliest known Illyrian peoples in the first generation group, consisting mostly of southern Illyrian peoples first encountered by the Greeks, some of whom were the Enkelians, the Taulantians, the Dasaretians and the partinos. Some peoples who arrived in the Balkans at a later date, such as the Scordis, are included in the group belonging to the third generation. The Escordiscos were a Celtic people mixed with the indigenous Illyrian and Thracian population. The Greeks were unaware of the Pannonians, and it seems that before the II century B.C. C.. did not come into contact with the Romans. Almost all Greek writers referred to the Pannonians as Paones until late Roman times. The Scordis and Pannonians were considered to be Illyrian primarily because they had belonged to Illyricum since early Roman Imperial times.
History
Iron Age
Organized kingdoms were formed in southern Illyria earlier than in other parts of this region. One of the oldest known Illyrian kingdoms is that of the Enchelei, which seems to have reached its height between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. C., but the kingdom lost its dominant power around the VI century B.C. The weakening of the Enkeli kingdom seems to have led to its assimilation and inclusion into a newly established Illyrian kingdom at the latest in the century V a. This marked the rise of the Dasaretians, who seem to have replaced the Enkelians in the Lake Ohrid lake area. According to several modern scholars, the Bardilis dynasty—the first attested Illyrian dynasty—was Dasaretian. The weakening of the kingdom of the Enkelians was also due to the strengthening of another Illyrian kingdom established in its vicinity, that of the Taulantians, which existed for some time together with that of the Enkelians[63]. [63] The Taulantians—another people among the earlier known Illyrian tribe groups—lived on the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria (present-day Albania), dominating at various times much of the plain between the Drin and Aoós rivers, comprising the area around Epidamnus/Dyrrhachium. In the VII century B.C. C., the taulantios invoked the help of Corcyra and Corinth in a war against the Liburnians. After the defeat and expulsion from the region of the Liburnians, the corcireos founded in the year 627 a. On the Illyrian mainland, a colony called Epidamnus, believed to be the name of a barbarian king of the region, sprung up. A thriving trade center sprang up and the city grew rapidly. The Taulantians continued to play an important role in Illyrian history between the 5th century and the IV and III century a. C. and, in particular, in the history of Epidamno, as neighbors and as part of its population. They greatly influenced the issues of internal conflicts between aristocrats and democrats. The Taulantian kingdom seems to have reached its height during the rule of Glaucias, in the years between 335 BC. C. and 302 a. C.
The Illyrian kingdoms were frequently in conflict with neighboring Macedonians in ancient times, and Illyrian pirates were also considered a major threat to neighboring peoples.
In the Neretva delta, there was a strong Hellenistic influence on the Illyrian tribe of the Daorizos. Their capital was Daorson, located at Ošanići, near Stolac, in Herzegovina, which became the main center of Illyrian culture classical. In the IV century B.C. C., Daorson was surrounded by megalithic walls 5 meters high, made up of large blocks of trapezoidal stone. Daorson also minted coins and carved unique bronze sculptures. The Illyrians even conquered Greek colonies on the Dalmatian islands.
After Philip II of Macedon defeated Bardilis I (358 BC), the Graboi under Grabos II became the strongest state in Illyria. Philip II killed 7,000 Illyrians in a great victory and became annexed the territory up to Lake Ohrid. Philip II next reduced the Grabians, and then went after the Ardians, defeated the Tribalians (339 BC) and fought Pleurias (337 BC).
̟During the second half of the century III a. C., several Illyrian tribes seem to have united to form a proto-state that extended from the central part of present-day Albania to the Neretva River in Herzegovina. The political entity was financed by piracy and was governed from 250 BC. C.. by King Agrón. Polybius describes the attack of the Illyrians under Agron against the Aetolians in 232 or 231 BC. C. He was succeeded by his wife Teuta, who assumed the regency of her stepson Pinnés after the death of Agrón in 231 a. C.
In his work Histories, Polybius (II century B.C.) reports that the first diplomatic contacts between Romans and Illyrians. In the Illyrian wars of 229 BC. C., 219 a. C. and 168 a. In BC, Rome invaded the Illyrian settlements and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe for Roman trade. There were three campaigns, the first against Teuta, the second against Demetrius of Pharos, and the third against Gentius. initial in 229 a. It marks the first time the Roman navy crossed the Adriatic to launch an invasion.
The impetus for the emergence of larger regional groups such as the Yapods, Liburnians, Pannonians, etc., is attributed to increased contacts with the Mediterranean and La Tène "global worlds", which catalyzed "the development of more complex political institutions and the increase in differences between individual communities". Emerging local elites selectively adopted La Tène or Hellenistic and later Roman cultural models "to legitimize and reinforce domination within their communities. They competed fiercely through alliance or conflict and resistance to Roman expansion. Thus, they established more complex political alliances, which convinced (Greco-Roman) sources to see them as "ethnic" identities.
The Roman Republic subdued the Illyrians during the II century BCE. C. An Illyrian revolt was crushed under Augustus, which led to the division of Illyria into the provinces of Pannonia to the north and Dalmatia to the south. Descriptions of the Illyrians, usually described as "barbarians" or "savages", are universally negative in Greek and Roman sources.
On either side of the border region between southern Illyrian and northern Epirus, contact between the Illyrian and Greek languages produced a zone of bilingualism between the two, though how the impact of one language on the other developed is unclear. the other due to the scarcity of available archaeological material. However, this did not occur to the same degree on both sides, with the Illyrians being the most willing to adopt the more prestigious Greek language. The Illyrians knew not only Doric and Epirote Greek, but also Attic and Ionian.
Roman Period and Late Antiquity
Before the Roman conquest of Illyria, the Roman Republic had begun to expand its power and territory across the Adriatic Sea. However, the Romans entered into a series of conflicts with the Illyrians, also known as the Illyrian Wars, which began in 229 BC. C. until 168 a. C., when the Romans defeated Gentius at Scodra. The great Illyrian revolt took place in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century d. C.., in which an alliance of native peoples rose up against the Romans. The main ancient source that describes this military conflict is Veleyus Paterculus, in the second book of his Roman History. Another ancient source in this regard is the biography of Octavian Augustus written by Pliny the Elder.
Geographically, the name Illyria comes from the Roman Iirico, which dates from the IV century to the VII designated the Illyrian praetorian prefecture. It covered much of the western and central Balkans. After the defeat of the great Illyrian revolt and the consolidation of Roman power in the Balkans, the process of integrating the Illyrians into the Roman world accelerated even more. Some Illyrian communities organized themselves on their pre-Roman sites under their own civitates. Others emigrated or were forcibly resettled in different regions. Some groups, like the Azalios, were transferred from their homeland to border areas (northern Hungary) after the great Illyrian revolt. In Dacia, Illyrian communities such as the Pirusta, who were skilled miners, settled in the gold mines of Alburnus Maior, where they formed their own communities. In Trajan's time, these population movements were probably part of a deliberate resettlement policy, while later they involved free migrations. In their new regions, they were free wage laborers. Inscriptions show that by this time many Illyrians had acquired Roman citizenship.
Late II and early III, the Illyrian populations were highly integrated into the Roman Empire and formed a core population of its Balkan provinces. During the crisis of the 3rd century and the establishment of the Dominate, a new elite faction of Illyrians who were part of the Roman army throughout the Pannonians and Danubians rose in Roman politics. This faction produced many emperors from the late III century to the VI, known collectively as the Illyrian Emperors and include the Constantinian, Valentinian, and Justinian dynasties. A native of Sirmium, Decius is generally recognized as the first Illyrian emperor in historiography. The rise of the Illyrian emperors represents the increasing role of the army in imperial politics and the increasing shift of the center of imperial politics from the city of Rome itself to the eastern provinces of the empire.
The term Illyrian appears for the last time in history in the VII, in the Miracula Sancti DemetriiMiracula Sancti Demetrii]], referring to a Byzantine garrison operating in the former Roman province of Illyricum. However, in the acts of the Council of Nicaea II of 787, Nicephorus of Durrës signed himself as "Episcopus of Durrës, province of the Illyrians". Since the Middle Ages, the term Illyrian has been used mainly in relation to the Albanians, although it was also used to describe the western wing of the South Slavs until the XIX, being revived in particular during the Habsburg monarchy. In Byzantine literature, references to Illyria as a region defined in administrative terms end after 1204 and the term began to specifically refer only to to Albanian territory, more confine ado.
Social and political organization
The structure of Illyrian society is characterized by a conglomerate of numerous tribes (or ethnic groups) and small kingdoms ruled by warrior elites. In the V century a. C., Thucydides pointed out in the History of the Peloponnesian War that the populations of northern Epirus were characterized by their language, very different from Greek, their unfortified villages, royalty, the use of weapons and individual justice, similar to vendetta. He also refers to the social organization of the Illyrian tribes in a speech he attributes to the Spartan general Brásidas, in which he tells us that the mode of government among the Illyrian tribes is that of the dynasty (dynasteia). Tucídides considers that these political customs are foreign to the Greeks, since they are neither democratic nor oligarchic. Brásidas continues the speech explaining that, in this dynastic regime, the ruler achieves power "by no other means than superiority in combat". Pseudo Scymnos (century I BC) refers to the social organization of the Illyrian tribes in an earlier era, distinguishing between three modes of social organization: a part of the Illyrians was organized around hereditary kingdoms, a second part was organized around elected chiefs and a third part was organized in autonomous communities governed by their own tribal laws. In these communities, social stratification had not yet really emerged. Finally, unlike the Greeks of the cities, the Illyrians practiced transhumance., Dalmatians, Liburnians, Escordiscos, Autariatas, Trales and Tribalians, among others.
Each major tribe (Dalmatians, Taulantians, Autarians, Ardians, Dardanians, etc.) was ruled by a king. The title "King of the Illyrians" (Basileus tôn Illyriôn) is often cited in Late Antique sources. Some scholars have proposed the hypothesis of a hereditary transmission from a single ethnic group, the Illyrians themselves. Later works, such as those of N. G. L. Hammond or Pierre Cabanes, have refuted this hypothesis as it is impossible to establish. The tribes could unite around a chief who received the title of "king of the Illyrians". Bardilis I, for example, was considered King of the Illyrians, but the title seems fragile due to the different ethnicity. Bardilis, thanks to his victories, was able to federate different tribes without ceasing to be king of an ethnic group, the Dardanians. Cleito, supposed son of Bardilis, was also "king of the Illyrians", but in a context of war against the Illyrians. Macedonians. Toward the end of the II century B.C. C.., the title returned to the hands of the Ardiean kings. The title "king of the Illyrians" had no dynastic continuity, unlike the kingship in Epirus, where the Molossian ethnic group was ruled by the Aeacids. This fact is illustrated by the case of Glaucias, who is not related to his predecessor Clitus. The Dardanians, a Thracho-Illyrian people, were always independent of the Illyrian monarchy.
Religion
The Illyrians, like most ancient civilizations, were polytheistic, worshiping numerous gods and deities developed from the powers of nature. The most numerous vestiges —still insufficiently studied— of the religious practices of the pre-Roman era are those related to religious symbolism. The symbols are depicted in a variety of ornaments and reveal that the main object of prehistoric Illyrian worship was the Sun, venerated in a widespread and complex religious system. The solar deity was represented as a geometric figure, like the spiral, the concentric circle and the swastika, or as an animal figure of the type of birds, snakes and horses[132. [Symbols of waterfowl and horses were more common in the north, while the serpent was more common in the south. Illyrian deities were mentioned in inscriptions on statues, monuments, and coins from Roman times, and some writers Ancient times interpreted them through comparative religion. There does not appear to be a single most prominent god for all Illyrian tribes, and various deities evidently appear only in specific regions.
In Illyria, Deipaturos was a god revered as a father of the heavens. Prende was the goddess of love and consort of the thunder god Perendi, En or Enji was the god of fire, Jupiter Partino was a principal deity of the Partinos, Redon was a tutelary deity of sailors who appeared in many inscriptions from coastal cities of Lisos, Daorson, Shkodër and Dirraquio, while Medaurus was the patron deity of Risinium, with a monumental equestrian statue that dominated the city from the acropolis. In Dalmatia and Pannonia, one of the most popular ritual traditions during Roman times was the cult of the Roman tutelary deity of the wild, forests and fields Silvano, represented with iconography of Pan.
It appears that the Illyrians did not develop a uniform cosmology on which to focus their religious practices. Several Illyrian place names and anthroponyms were derived from animal names and reflected beliefs in animals as mythological ancestors and protectors. The snake was one of the most important animal totems. The Illyrians believed in the power of spells and the evil eye, in the magical power of protective and beneficial amulets that could ward off the evil eye or bad intentions from enemies. Human sacrifices also played a role in the lives of the Illyrians. Flavius Arrianus records that the Illyrian chief Cletus sacrificed three boys, three girls, and three rams just before his battle against Alexander the Great.
The most common type of burial among the Iron Age Illyrians was the [tumulus or burial mound. The higher the status of those buried, the higher the burial mound. Archeology has found many artifacts placed inside these burial mounds, such as weapons, ornaments, clothing, and clay pots. The rich spectrum of religious beliefs and burial rituals that arose in Illyria, especially during Roman times, may reflect the variation in cultural identities in this region.
War
The history of Illyrian warfare and weaponry spans from about the X century BCE. C. up to the I century d. C., in the region defined by ancient Greek and Roman historians as Illyria. It refers to the armed conflicts of the Illyrian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkan and Italian peninsulas, as well as their pirate activity in the Adriatic.
The Illyrians were a notorious seafaring people with a reputation for piracy, especially common during the regency of King Agron and later Queen Teuta. They used fast, maneuverable ships of the types known as lembuss and liburna, which later they used the ancient Macedonians and Romans. Titus Livy described the Illyrians along with the Liburnians and Istrians as nations of savages generally noted for their piracy.
Illyria appears in Greco-Roman historiography from the IV century BC. The Illyrians were considered bloodthirsty, unpredictable, turbulent and bellicose by the Greeks and Romans, as savages in the confines of their world. Polybius (III BC) wrote: "the Romans had freed the Greeks from the enemies of all mankind". According to the Romans, the Illyrians were tall and well built. Herodian writes that " the Pannonians are tall and strong, always ready for fight and danger, but slow-witted." Illyrian rulers wore bronze torcs around their necks.
Apart from the conflicts between the Illyrians and neighboring nations and tribes, there were also numerous wars between the Illyrian tribes.
Barco ilirio del sigloVIII to the centuryVIIa. C.
Sica.
Helmet.
Culture
Language
The languages spoken by the Illyrian tribes are an extinct and poorly attested Indo-European language group, and it is unclear whether the languages belonged to the centum or satem group. The Illyrians were subject to varying degrees of Celticization, Hellenization, Romanization, and later Slavicization, possibly leading to the extinction of their languages. In modern research, the use of concepts such as ""Hellenization" . 4; and "“romanization”" has diminished, as they have been criticized as simplistic notions that cannot describe the actual processes through which material development moved from the centers of the ancient Mediterranean to its periphery.
Due to the paucity of evidence, Indo-European studies have not been able to determine, in a consensual and definitive way, the exact location of Illyrian within the Indo-European language family, to which it undoubtedly belongs. The Messapian spoken in the Italian peninsula in the second half of the first millennium BC. C. is commonly attributed to the same Indo-European trunk as the Illyrian; historical evidence from Roman times and the presence of identical onomastics on both sides of the Adriatic converge in support of this dialectal link, but the fragmentary nature of knowledge about Illyrian makes it impossible, at the current state of research, to definitively demonstrate the identity—or close affinity—between him and the Messapian.
For the same reasons, any attempt to indicate dialectal links between Illyrian (including Messapian) and other Indo-European language families remains hypothetical. More for considerations of geographical proximity than of a linguistic nature, correlations have been proposed between Illyrian and other Indo-European languages attested in the Balkan area in the II-I millennium BC. C., such as Dacian, Thracian, Macedonian and Paeonian, as well as Phrygian attested in Anatolia,
Numerous scholars (among them Vladimir Toporov, Ivan Duridanov, Mircea-Mihai Radulescu and Francisco Villar Liébana, although with different nuances) have hypothesized that Illyrian was the result of crystallization in situ of a vast Indo-European continuum stretching from the Baltic Sea to the southern Balkans, Indo-Europeanized at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. C. and that would have included, in addition to the Illyrian, the Baltic, the Thracian and the Dacian and perhaps, in a more marginal position, the Proto-Germanic and the Proto-Slavic. This continuum would have been the epicenter of later migratory movements that would have Indo-Europeanized central-western Europe.
On either side of the border region between southern Illyrian and northern Epirus, contact between the Illyrian and Greek languages produced a zone of bilingualism between the two, though how the impact of one language on the other developed is unclear. the other due to the scarcity of available archaeological material. However, this did not occur to the same extent on both sides, as the Illyrians were more willing to adopt the more prestigious Greek language. Ongoing research may shed more light on these contacts beyond the limited current sources. The Illyrians were exposed not only to Doric and Epirotic Greek, but also to Attic-Ionian.
The Illyrian languages were once thought to be connected with Venetian on the Italian peninsula, but this view has been abandoned. Other scholars have related them to the adjacent Thracian language, assuming an intermediate convergence zone or dialect continuum, but this view is not generally supported either. All of these languages probably became extinct in the V century AD. C., although Albanian is traditionally identified as descending from Illyrian dialects that survived in remote areas of the Balkans during the Middle Ages, but the evidence "is too scant and contradictory to know whether the term Illyrian even referred to a single language ».
The ancestral dialects of the Albanian language would have survived somewhere along the border of Latin and ancient Greek linguistic influence, the Jireček line. There are several modern historians and linguists who believe that the modern Albanian language could be descended from a southern Illyrian dialect, while an alternative hypothesis holds that Albanian descended from the Thracian language. Not enough is known of the ancient language to prove or completely refute either of the two hypotheses.
Linguistic evidence and subgrouping
Modern studies on Illyrian onomastics, the main field through which the Illyrians have been investigated linguistically, since no written records have been found, began in the 1920s and tried to define the tribes more precisely Illyrian, the commonalities, the relationships and the differences between them, since they were conditioned by specific local cultural, ecological and economic factors, which in turn subdivided them into different groupings.
This approach has led in contemporary research to the definition of three main name provinces in which Illyrian personal names appear almost exclusively in the archaeological material of each province. The southern Illyrian or south-eastern Dalmatian province was the area of the Illyrians proper (whose core was the territory of the Illyrii proprie dicti of classical authors, located in modern Albania) and includes most of Albania, Montenegro and their hinterlands. This area stretched along the Adriatic coast from the Aous in the south, to and beyond the Neretva valley in the north.
The second name province, the Central Illyrian or Middle Dalmatian-Pannonian province, began in the north and covered a larger area than the southern province. It stretched along the Adriatic coast between the Krka and Cetina rivers, encompassing much of Bosnia (except its northern regions), central Dalmatia (Lika), and its hinterland in the central Balkans included western Serbia and Sandžak. The third, northernmost name province, defined as the Northern Adriatic zone, includes Liburnia and the region of modern Ljubljana in Slovenia. It is part of a larger language area, distinct from Illyrian, which also includes Venetian and its Istrian variety. These areas are not strictly defined geographically, as there was some overlap between them. The region of the Dardanians (modern Kosovo, northern parts of North Macedonia, eastern parts of Serbia) saw overlapping name provinces from southern Illyrian and Dalmatian. Local Illyrian anthroponymy is also found in the area.
In its onomastics, South Illyrian (or South East Dalmatian) has close relations with Messapian. Most of these relationships are shared with central Dalmatia.
Nationalism
Albanians
The possible continuity between the Illyrian populations of the western Balkans in antiquity and the Albanians has played an important role in Albanian nationalism since the XIX to the present day.
South Slavs
In the early 19th century century, many educated Europeans considered the South Slavs to be descendants of the ancient Illyrians. However, this is incorrect, since the South Slavs are descended from Slavic tribes that migrated to the Balkans. Consequently, when Napoleon conquered part of the southern Slavic lands, these areas were renamed the former Illyrian provinces (1809-1814). After the demise of the first French Empire in 1815, the Habsburg monarchy became increasingly centralized and authoritarian, and fear of Magyarization aroused patriotic resistance among Croats. Influenced by romantic nationalism, a self-styled Illyrian movement, in the form of Croatian national revival, launched a literary and journalistic campaign initiated by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the years 1835-49.
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