The Illyrians ( Ancient Greek : Ἰλλυριοί , Illyrioi ; Latin : Illyrii ) were a group of Indo-European-speaking people who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, along with the Thracians and Greeks .
150-603: (Redirected from Dardanians ) Dardania , Dardanian or Dardanians may refer to ancient peoples or locations. People [ edit ] Dardani , an ancient tribe in the Balkans Dardanians (Trojan) ( Dardanoi ), a people closely related to the Trojans and believed to be related to the Dardani Bato of Dardania (ruled c. 206–176 BC), Illyrian king of
300-525: A 'small water snake'. The Illyrian ethnonym shows a dl > ll shift via assimilation as well as the addition of the suffix - uri(o) which is found in Illyrian toponyms such as Tragurium . Eichner also points out the tribal name's close semantic correspondence to that of the Enchelei which translates to 'eel-people', depicting a similar motif of aquatic snake-like fauna. It is also pointed out that
450-642: A Celtic people mixed with the indigenous Illyrian and Thracian population. The Pannonians have not been known to the Greeks, and it seems that before the 2nd century BC they did not come into contact with the Romans. Almost all the Greek writers referred to the Pannonians with the name Paeones until late Roman times. The Scordisci and Pannonians were considered Illyrian mainly because they belonged to Illyricum since
600-518: A characteristic Albanian phonetic change in which the voiced palatal velar *ĝ(h)- turned into the interdental dh or the dental d , passing through intermediate stages represented by the palato-alveolar affricate voiced ȷ́ [dʑ], dental affricate dz and further through a final stage dð (i.e. *ĝ(h)- > ȷ́ [dʑ] > dz > dð > dh/d : Alb. dielli < PAlb. *dðiella < *dziella- < EPAlb. *ȷ́élu̯a- < PIE *ǵʰélh₃u̯o- "yellow, golden, bright/shiny"). This phenomenon reflects
750-406: A common Indo-European root has been tentatively reconstructed by scholars: * ĝʰor-d- "thorn bush"; * (n)ĝʰ∂rdis ; * ĝʰerzd⁽ʰ⁾- "thorny, grain, barley". However it has been suggested that this connection is only conceivable assuming an ancient common Balkano-Aegean substrate word for Albanian and Greek. A proposed Indo-European root * dʰeregh- "a thorny plant", with
900-694: A dispersal from the western Balkans towards this region, perhaps via an intermediary group in the Italian peninsula. Different versions of the genealogy of the Illyrians, their tribes and their eponymous ancestor, Illyrius , existed in the ancient world both in fictional and non-fictional Greco-Roman literature. The fact that there were many versions of the genealogical story of Illyrius was ascertained by Ancient Greek historian Appian (1st–2nd century AD). However, only two versions of all these genealogical stories are attested. The first version—which reports
1050-464: A fight and to face danger but slow witted". Illyrian rulers wore bronze torques around their necks. Apart from conflicts between Illyrians and neighbouring nations and tribes, numerous wars were recorded among Illyrian tribes too. The languages spoken by the Illyrian tribes are an extinct and poorly attested Indo-European language group, and it is not clear whether the languages belonged to
1200-756: A great victory over the Macedonian army the Dardani invaded Macedon proper. The Dardanian expansion in Macedon, similar to the Ardiaean expansion in Epirus around the same years, may have been part of a general movement among the Illyrian peoples. In this period Dardanian influence on the region grew and some other Illyrian tribes deserted Teuta , joining the Dardani under Longarus and forcing Teuta to call off her expedition forces in Epirus. When Philip V rose to
1350-514: A kingdom established on the north-western borders of Upper Macedonia . From the 5th century BC onwards, the term Illyrian was already applied to a large ethnic group whose territory extended deep into the Balkan mainland. Ancient Greeks clearly considered the Illyrians as a completely distinct ethnos from both the neighboring Thracians and the Macedonians . Most scholars hold that
1500-617: A mythological tradition reported by Appian (2nd century AD), Dardanos (Δάρδανος), one of the sons of Illyrius (Ἰλλυριός), was the eponymous ancestor of the Dardanoi (Δάρδανοι). In ancient sources the Dardani are mentioned as one of the Illyrian people and/or as a distinct grouping in the region of Dardania. As such, the Dardani were Illyrians from an ethno-linguistic perspective, but they had followed their own peculiar geographical, social and political development in Dardania . In
1650-708: A political party in Kosovo KF Dardania See also [ edit ] Dardan (disambiguation) All pages with titles containing Dardania Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Dardania . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dardania&oldid=1208250418 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
SECTION 10
#17327662870121800-717: A similar letter, instead of /d/, is refutable by the attestation of the Proto-Albanoid term diellina " henbane ". This term was mentioned as a "Thracian-Dacian" phytonym by the Ancient Greek pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides (1st century AD), and it has a clear etymological connection with the Albanian word diell "sun" ( diellina " henbane " belongs to the genus called solanum with the Latin root sol "sun", being so named because of its yellow leaves), displaying
1950-580: A small group of people on the coast, the Illyrioi / Illyrii (first mentioned by Pseudo-Skylax and later described by Pliny the Elder ), and thereafter applied to all of the people 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 label Illyrians
2100-409: A speech he attributes to Brasidas , in which he recounts that the mode of rulership among the Illyrian tribes is that of dynasteia —which Thucidides used in reference to foreign customs—neither democratic, nor oligarchic. Brasidas then goes on to explain that in the dynasteia the ruler rose to power "by no other means than by superiority in fighting". Pseudo-Scymnus (2nd century BC) in reference to
2250-637: A strong reputation for piracy especially common during the regency of king Agron and later queen Teuta . They used fast and maneuverable ships of types known as lembus and liburna which were subsequently used by the Ancient Macedonians and Romans. Livy described the Illyrians along with the Liburnians and Istrians as nations of savages in general noted for their piracy. Illyria appears in Greco-Roman historiography from
2400-469: A war which proved catastrophic, with a few years later, in 170 BC, the Macedonians defeating the Dardani. Macedonia and Illyria became Roman protectorates in 168 BC. The Scordisci , a tribe of Celtic origin, most likely subdued the Dardani in the mid-2nd century BC, after which there was no mention of the Dardani for a long time. Illyria and Macedonia became Roman protectorates in 168 BC. In 97 BC,
2550-554: Is Velleius Paterculus , which was incorporated into the second book of Roman History . Another ancient source about it is the biography of Octavius Augustus by Pliny the Elder . The two leaders of uprising were Bato the Breucian and Bato the Daesitiate . Geographically, the name 'Illyria' came to mean Roman Illyricum which from the 4th century to the 7th century signified the prefecture of Illyricum . It covered much of
2700-548: Is a matter of debate among scholars, and includes the hypothesis of the origin of the Albanian language from an Illyrian language , which is often supported by scholars for obvious geographic and historical reasons but not proven. While the Illyrians are largely recorded under the ethnonyms of Illyrioi ( Ἰλλυριοί ) and Illyrii, these appear to be misspelt renditions by Greek or Latin-speaking writers. Based on historically attested forms denoting specific Illyrian tribes or
2850-514: Is attested since Roman times for a tribe close to the Dardani or living in Dardania, is considered to be the Latin translation of Dardani (cf. Latin pirus "pear"), which would confirm the link with the Albanian dardhë . In 1854, Johann Georg von Hahn was the first to propose that the names Dardanoi and Dardania were related to the Albanian word dardhë ("pear, pear-tree"). This
3000-671: Is close to onomatopoeic Lithuanian dardĕti "to rattle" Latvian dàrdêt "to creak", Welsh go-dyrddu "to mumble, to gumble" (the semantic development of "pear" that occurs in Albanian can also be seen in the Slavic parallel gruša , kruša "pear, pear tree" < * grušiti , * krušiti "to crumble, to break", and also in the Indo-European parallel * peisom "pear" < * peis- ). Slavic toponyms with "Kruševo" (from Proto-Slavic kruša, "pear") and other related toponyms particularly found in
3150-416: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Dardani The Dardani ( / ˈ d ɑːr d ə n aɪ / ; Ancient Greek : Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι ; Latin : Dardani ) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their society
SECTION 20
#17327662870123300-591: Is far from certain there seems little doubt that most of the Dardanians were excluded from Illyricum and were to become a part of the province of Moesia) The assumption that the Dardanian kingdom was composed of a considerable number of tribes and tribal groups, finds confirmation in Strabo's statement about Whether the Dardanians were an Illyrian or a Thracian people has been much debated and one view suggests that
3450-465: Is mentioned in ancient sources describing the events of the region of the early 3rd century BC. He offered the Macedonian king Ptolemy Ceraunos 20,000 soldiers to counteract the invading Celts , but Ceraunos declined the offer. Tribal chiefs Longarus and his son Bato took part in the wars against Romans and Macedonians . Etuta (Etleva) was the daughter of Monunius II of Dardania and
3600-599: Is recorded as Darda in a 1671 ecclesiastical report and on a 1688 map by a Venetian cartographer. Dardha is also the name of an Albanian tribe in the northern part of the District of Dibra . Opinions differ on the etymon of the root in Proto-Albanian , and eventually in Proto-Indo-European . On the basis of an alleged connection between Albanian dardhë and Greek ἄχερδος, ἀχράς "wild pear",
3750-1166: Is suggested by the fact that toponyms related to fruits or animals are not unknown in the region (cf. Alb. dele, delmë "sheep" supposedly related to Dalmatia, Ulcinj in Montenegro < Alb. ujk, ulk "wolf" etc.). Albanian typical toponyms formed with the same root as dardhë have been attested: Dardhan-i (in 1467 CE), Dardhanesh-i (1431), Dardhasi (1431), Dardas (1467), Dardhë-a (1417), Darda , Dardhicë-a (1431). Several modern toponyms are found in various parts of Albania , including Dardha in Berat , Dardha in Korça , Dardha in Librazhd , Dardha in Puka , Dardhas in Pogradec , Dardhaj in Mirdita , and Dardhës in Përmet . Dardha in Puka
3900-735: Is traced to increased contacts with the Mediterranean and La Tène 'global worlds'. This catalyzed "the development of more complex political institutions and the increase in differences between individual communities". Emerging local elites selectively adopted either La Tène or Hellenistic and, later, Roman cultural templates "in order to legitimize and strengthen domination within their communities. They were competing fiercely through either 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
4050-468: Is unlikely that they used any collective nomenclature at all. Most modern scholars are certain that all the peoples of western Balkans that were collectively labeled as 'Illyrians' were not a culturally or linguistically homogeneous entity. For instance, some tribes like the Bryges would not have been identified as Illyrian. What criteria were initially used to define this group of peoples or how and why
4200-683: The Adriatic Sea in the west, the Drava river in the north, the Morava river in the east and the Ceraunian Mountains in the south. The first account of Illyrian people dates back to the 6th century BC, in the works of the ancient Greek writer Hecataeus of Miletus . The name "Illyrians", as applied by the ancient Greeks to their northern neighbors, may have referred to a broad, ill-defined group of people. It has been suggested that
4350-556: The Adriatic Sea . The Romans came nevertheless into a series of conflicts with the Illyrians, equally known as the Illyrian Wars , beginning in 229 BC until 168 BC as the Romans defeated Gentius at Scodra . The Great Illyrian Uprising took place in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples revolted against the Romans. The main ancient source that describes this military conflict
4500-758: The Azali were transferred from their homeland to frontier areas (northern Hungary) after the Great Illyrian Revolt. In Dacia , Illyrian communities like the Pirustae who were skilled miners were settled to the gold mines of Alburnus Maior where they formed their own communities. In Trajan 's period these population movements were likely part of a deliberate policy of resettling, while later they involved free migrations. In their new regions, they were free salaried workers. Inscriptions show that by that era many of Illyrians had acquired Roman citizenship. By
4650-573: The Daunii and the Peucetii . Based on historical and archaeological data, it has been widely thought that Messapic reached Apulia through the Illyrian migrations across the Adriatic Sea. On both sides of the border region between southern Illyria and northern Epirus, the contact between the Illyrian and Greek languages produced an area of bilingualism between the two, although it is unclear how
Dardania - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-425: The Enchelei had chosen to be their leaders. He eventually ruled Illyria and became the eponymous ancestor of the whole Illyrian people. In one of these versions, Illyrius was named so after Cadmus left him by a river named the Illyrian , where a serpent found and raised him. Appian writes that many mythological stories were still circulating in his time, and he chose a particular version because it seemed to be
4950-458: The Enchelei , which seems to have reached its height from the 8th–7th centuries BC, but the kingdom fell from dominant power around the 6th century BC. It seems that the weakening of the kingdom of Enchelae resulted in their assimilation and inclusion into a newly established Illyrian realm at the latest in the 5th century BC, marking the arising of the Dassaretii , who appear to have replaced
5100-583: The Taulantii , Parthini , Dardani , Encheleae , Autariates , Dassaretii and the Daorsi . Autareius had a son Pannonius or Paeon and these had sons Scordiscus and Triballus . Appian's genealogy was evidently composed in Roman times encompassing barbarian peoples other than Illyrians like Celts and Galatians . and choosing a specific story for his audience that included most of the peoples who dwelled in
5250-690: The Urnfield - Lusatian culture into the west Balkans has ever been found. Mathieson et al. 2018 archaeogenetic study included three samples from Dalmatia : two Early & Middle Bronze Age (1631-1521/1618-1513 calBCE) samples from Veliki Vanik (near Vrgorac ) and one Iron Age (805-761 calBCE) sample from Jazinka Cave in Krka National Park . According to ADMIXTURE analysis they had approximately 60% Early European Farmers , 33% Western Steppe Herders and 7% Western Hunter-Gatherer -related ancestry. The male individual from Veliki Vanik carried
5400-581: The Venetic language in the Italian Peninsula but this view was abandoned. Other scholars have linked them with the adjacent Thracian language supposing an intermediate convergence area or dialect continuum , but this view is also not generally supported. All these languages were likely extinct by the 5th century AD although traditionally, the Albanian language is identified as the descendant of Illyrian dialects that survived in remote areas of
5550-669: The Y-DNA haplogroup J2b2a1-L283 while his and two female individuals mtDNA haplogroup were I1a1 , W3a1 and HV0e . Freilich et al. 2021 identify the Veliki Vanik samples as related to the Cetina culture (EBA-MBA western Balkans). Patterson et al. 2022 study examined 18 samples from the Middle Bronze Age up to Early Iron Age Croatia, which was part of Illyria. Out of the nine Y-DNA samples retrieved, which coincide with
5700-447: The centum or the satem group. The Illyrians were subject to varying degrees of Celticization , Hellenization , Romanization and later Slavicization which possibly led to the extinction of their languages. In modern research, use of concepts like "Hellenization" and "Romanization" has declined as they have been criticized as simplistic notions which cannot describe the actual processes through which material development moved from
5850-559: The illyrian queen of Ardiaei . Some scholars believe that Illyrian rulers Bardylis , Audata , Cleitus (son of Bardylis), Bardylis II , Bircenna (daughter of Bardylis II), and Monunios were Dardanian, however this is considered an old fallacy because it is unsupported by any ancient source, while some facts and ancient geographical locations go squarely against it. Nevertheless, Bardylis , if not Dardanian, probably had some kind of hegemony on Dardanians during his reign. Unlike their Thracian neighbors, in pre-Roman times
6000-548: The wind and string type. the Dardanians ... living in the frontiers of the Illyrian and the Thracian worlds retained their individuality and, alone among the peoples of that region, succeeded in maintaining themselves as an ethnic unity even when they were militarily and politically subjected by the Roman arms [...] and when, towards the end of the ancient world, the Balkans were involved in far-reaching ethnic perturbations,
6150-428: The "land of Autariatae ." The term was used to describe the Dardanian political status as a semi-independent country in the later Roman Republic . Little data exists about the territory of the Dardani prior to Roman conquest, especially on its southern extent which has been contested with Macedon, so scholars use information provided in Roman times to define the bounds of Dardanian territory. An unnamed Dardanian king
Dardania - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-665: The 10th century BC up to the 1st century AD in the region defined by the Ancient Greek and Roman historians as Illyria . It concerns the armed conflicts of the Illyrian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkan Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula as well as their pirate activity in the Adriatic Sea within the Mediterranean Sea . The Illyrians were a notorious seafaring people with
6450-581: The 1920s placed the proto-Illyrians as the original inhabitants of a very large area which reached central Europe. These theories, which have been dismissed, were used in the politics of the era and its racialist notions of Nordicism and Aryanism . The main fact which these theories tried to address was the existence of traces of Illyrian toponymy in parts of Europe beyond the western Balkans, an issue whose origins are still unclear. The specific theories have found little archaeological corroboration, as no convincing evidence for significant migratory movements from
6600-483: The 2010s, also taking into consideration current Balkan historical linguistics. Dana concludes that the Illyrian character of Dardanian onomastics is unquestionable and that it is appropriate to definitively rule out the idea of a Thracian origin or participation (at least appreciable) in the ethnogenesis of the Dardani. Since the Dardani were neighbored to the east by the Thracians, the eastern parts of Dardania were at
6750-429: The 4th century BC. Illyrians were regarded as bloodthirsty, unpredictable, turbulent, and warlike by Ancient Greeks and Romans. They were seen as savages on the edge of their world. Polybius (3rd century 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. Herodianus writes that " Pannonians are tall and strong always ready for
6900-426: The 6th century), there was a Byzantine province of Dardania that included cities of Ulpiana , Scupi , Justiniana Prima , and others. A Dardanian polity began to develop from the 4th century BC. The Kingdom of Dardania was attested since the 4th century BC in ancient sources reporting the wars the Dardanians waged against their south-eastern neighbor – Macedon – until the 2nd century BC. The Dardanian kingdom
7050-598: The Ancient Greeks must have learned this name from a tribe in southern Illyria, later applying it to all related and neighbouring peoples. The terms Illyrians , Illyria and Illyricum have been used throughout history for ethnic and geographic contextualizations that have changed over time. Re-contextualizations of these terms often confused ancient writers and modern scholars. Notable scholarly efforts have been dedicated to trying to analyze and explain these changes. The first known mention of Illyrians occurred in
7200-664: The Balkan-Danubian complex. It dates between the 14th and 10th centuries BCE, and appears in Kosovo, Morava valley, Sandzak, Macedonia and South-East Serbia. In Yugoslavian historiography, starting from Milutin Garašanin in the 1970s and 1980s, the Brnjica culture came to be interpreted as the " Daco-Moesian " and non-" Illyrian " linguistic component of the later Dardani. Before that change, Yugoslavian scholars had regarded
7350-462: The Balkans and Anatolia, respectively include: Eneti and Enetoi , Bryges and Phryges . These parallels indicate closer links than simply a correlation of names. According to a current explanation, the connection is likely related to the large-scale movement of peoples that occurred at the end of the Bronze Age (around 1200 BC), when the attacks of the ' Sea Peoples ' afflicted some of
7500-513: The Balkans during the Middle Ages but evidence "is too meager and contradictory for us to know whether the term Illyrian even referred to a single language". The ancestor dialects of the Albanian language would have survived somewhere along the boundary of Latin and Ancient Greek linguistic influence, the Jireček Line . There are various modern historians and linguists who believe that
7650-711: The Balkans established by the Dardani Dardania (Roman province) , a Roman and Byzantine province in the Balkans Dardania (Troad) , a city and a district of the Troad, in Asia Minor on the Hellespont (the modern Dardanelles) Dardania (Samothrace) , old name of Samothrace according to Pausanias Other [ edit ] Democratic League of Dardania ( Lidhja Demokratike e Dardanisë ),
SECTION 50
#17327662870127800-404: The Dalmatian islands. After Philip II of Macedon defeated Bardylis (358 BC), the Grabaei under Grabos II became the strongest state in Illyria. Philip II killed 7,000 Illyrians in a great victory and annexed the territory up to Lake Ohrid . Next, Philip II reduced the Grabaei, and then went for the Ardiaei , defeated the Triballi (339 BC), and fought with Pleurias (337 BC). During
7950-412: The Dardani actually lost independence in 28 BC thus, the final occupation of Dardania by Rome has been connected with the beginnings of Augustus ' rule in 6 AD, when they were finally conquered by Rome. Dardania was conquered by Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Latin language was soon adopted as the main language of the tribe as many other conquered and Romanized. After the Roman emperor Domitian divided
8100-493: The Dardani are mentioned again, defeated by the Macedonian Roman army. In 88 BC, the Dardani invaded the Roman province of Macedonia together with the Scordisci and the Maedi . The Romans found an ancient formed economy in Dardania, based on agriculture and animal husbandry, mining and metallurgy, in different handicrafts and in trade. The Romans focused especially in exploitation of mines, same as in other provinces, and in road construction. It seems quite probable that
8250-426: The Dardani as of Illyrian origin. The narrative of a distinct "Daco-Moesian" concept developed as a response to Albanian and Bulgarian researchers, and especially to changes inside Yugoslavia due to increasing local nationalisms. In Dardania tribal aristocracy and pre-urban development emerged from the 6th–5th centuries BC. The contacts of the Dardanians with the Mediterranean world began early and intensified during
8400-567: The Dardani were not Hellenized. From the Greek point of view, they were barbarians. Because of this prejudice they received some bad press in the Ancient Greek and Roman historiography. The tribe was viewed of as "extremely barbaric". Claudius Aelianus and other writers wrote that they bathed only three times in their lives. At birth, when they were wed and after they died. Strabo refers to them as wild and dwelling in dirty caves under dung-hills. This however may have had to do not with cleanliness, as bathing had to do with monetary status from
8550-446: The Dardanian State Capys of Dardania , king of Dardania during the Iliad and Aeneid Cleitus of Dardania (ruled c. 356–335 BC), Illyrian ruler Erichthonius of Dardania , king of Dardania in Greek mythology Ilus of Dardania , king of Dardania in Greek mythology Monunius of Dardania (ruled c. 176–167 BC), Illyrian king of the Dardanian State Places [ edit ] Kingdom of Dardania , an ancient kingdom in
8700-406: The Dardanian language area in the Central Illyrian area ( "Central Illyrian" consisting of most of former Yugoslavia, north of southern Montenegro to the west of Morava, excepting ancient Liburnia in the northwest, but perhaps extending into Pannonia in the north). Another extensive study based on onomastics in Thrace, eastern Macedonia, Moesia, Dacia and Bithynia has been carried out by Dan Dana in
8850-538: The Dardanian perception of the cosmic order and the interconnection between the material world and the higher realm. Dardanian funerary stelae portray representations of their mourning practice, which accurately mirrors the Albanian traditional lamentation of the dead – gjâma . The lamentation of the dead is represented on the stelae through the depiction of the mourners with raised hands, grabbing their heads and beating their chests. Strabo writes that Dardanians cared about music, always using musical instruments, both of
9000-448: The Dardanian region and the Trojan-Dardanian area in several other ancient ethnonyms, personal names, and toponyms: Dardas , an opraetor epiratrum ; Δερδιενις , name of Macedonian-Elimiot princes; Δερδια in Thessaly ; Δερδενις in Lesbos ; in ancient Apulia Dardi , a Daunian tribe, Derdensis a region and Δαρδανον , a Daunian settlement. The suffix -ano in Dard- was common to many Indo-European languages. The names of
9150-411: The Dardanians lost their important political role. The strengthening of the Illyrian ( Ardiaean – Labeatan ) state on their western borders also contributed to the restriction of Dardanian warlike actions towards their neighbors. Dardanians fought against Roman proconsuls, and were finally defeated probably by Marcus Antonius in 39 BC or by Marcus Licinius Crassus in 29/8 BC. They were included in
SECTION 60
#17327662870129300-458: The Dardanians, of all the Central Balkan tribes, played the greatest part in the genesis of the new peoples who took the place of the old ... Autariatae at the expense of the Triballi until, as Strabo remarks, they in their turn were overcome by the Celtic Scordisci in the early third century Here the old name of Dardania appears as a new province formed out of Moesia, along with Moesia Prima, Dacia (not Trajan's old province but a... Though its line
9450-526: The Early Iron Age Illyrians made "part of the same Mediterranean continuum" with the "autochthonous [...] Roman Republicans " and had high affinity with Daunians , part of Iapygians in Apulia , southeastern Italy. Iron Age male samples from Daunian sites have yielded J-M241>J-L283+, R-M269>Z2103+ and I-M223 lineages. Three Bronze Age males which carry J-L283 have been found in the Late Bronze Age Nuragic civilization of Sardinia . This late find in Sardinia in comparison to western Balkan samples suggests
9600-412: The Elder and Pomponius Mela used the term Illyrii proprie dicti ('properly called Illyrians') to designate a people that was located in the coast of modern Albania and Montenegro. Many modern scholars view the 'properly called Illyrians' as a trace of the Illyrian kingdom known in the sources from the 4th century BC until 167 BC, which was ruled in Roman times by the Ardiaei and Labeatae when it
9750-425: The Enchelei in the lakeland area of Lychnidus . According to a number of modern scholars the dynasty of Bardylis —the first attested Illyrian dynasty—was Dassaretan. The weakening of the Enchelean realm was also caused by the strengthening of another Illyrian kingdom established in its vicinity—that of the Taulantii —which existed for some time along with that of the Enchelei. The Taulantii—another people among
9900-405: The Illyrian and Amynander king of Athamania, cooperated with Roman consul Sulpicius in his expedition against Philip V. Being always under the menace of Dardanian attacks on Macedonia, around 183 BC Philip V made an alliance with the Bastarnae and invited them to settle in Polog, the region of Dardania closest to Macedonia. A joint campaign of the Bastarnae and Macedonians against the Dardanians
10050-476: The Illyrian settlements and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe for Roman commerce. There were three campaigns : the first against Teuta , the second against Demetrius of Pharos and the third against Gentius . The initial campaign in 229 BC marks the first time that the Roman Navy crossed the Adriatic Sea to launch an invasion. The impetus behind the emergence of larger regional groups, such as "Iapodes", "Liburnians", "Pannonians" etc.,
10200-474: The Illyrian tribes never collectively identified as "Illyrians", and that it is unlikely that they used any collective nomenclature at all. Illyrians seems to be the name of a specific Illyrian tribe who were 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. In archaeological, historical and linguistic studies, research about
10350-455: The Illyrians as a whole (e.g., Úlloí ( Ύλλοί ) and Hil(l)uri ), the native tribal name from which these renditions were based has been reconstructed by linguists such as Heiner Eichner as * Hillurio- (< older * Hullurio- ). According to Eichner, this ethnonym, translating to 'water snake', is derived from Proto-Indo-European * ud-lo ('of water, aquatic') sharing a common root with Ancient Greek üllos ( ϋλλος ) meaning 'fish' or
10500-454: The Illyrians during the 2nd century BC. An Illyrian revolt was crushed under Augustus , resulting in the division of Illyria in the provinces of Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south. Depictions of the Illyrians, usually described as "barbarians" or "savages", are universally negative in Greek and Roman sources. Prior to the Roman conquest of Illyria , the Roman Republic had started expanding its power and territory across
10650-428: The Illyrians expanded. The area of the Illyrii proprie dicti is largely included in the southern Illyrian onomastic province in modern linguistics. The Illyrians emerged from the fusion of PIE-descended Yamnaya -related population movements ca. 2500 BCE in the Balkans with the pre-existing Balkan Neolithic population, initially forming "Proto-Illyrian" Bronze Age cultures in the Balkans. The proto-Illyrians during
10800-675: The Illyrians". Since the Middle Ages the term "Illyrian" has been used principally in connection with the Albanians , although it was also used to describe the western wing of the Southern Slavs up to the 19th century, being revived in particular during the Habsburg monarchy . In Byzantine literature, references to Illyria as a defined region in administrative terms end after 1204 and the term specifically began to refer only to
10950-482: The Illyrians, from the late 19th to the 21st century, has moved from Pan-Illyrian theories , which identified as Illyrian even groups north of the Balkans to more well-defined groupings based on Illyrian onomastics and material anthropology since the 1960s as newer inscriptions were found and sites excavated. There are two principal Illyrian onomastic areas: the southern and the Dalmatian-Pannonian, with
11100-697: The Illyricum of the Antonine era . However, the inclusion in his genealogy of the Enchelei and the Autariatae , whose political strength has been highly weakened, reflects a pre-Roman historical situation. Basically, ancient Greeks included in their mythological accounts all the peoples with whom they had close contacts. In Roman times, ancient Romans created more mythical or genealogical relations to include various new peoples, regardless of their large ethnic and cultural differences. Appian's genealogy lists
11250-602: The Iron Age habitation further developed with the emergence of the Glasinac-Mat culture , an Illyrian material culture which developed in the Iron Age western Balkans. The Dardani - as they became known in classical antiquity - were one of the particular groups of the Glasinac-Mat culture. The Brnjica cultural group was a Late Bronze Age cultural manifestation in what was to become Dardania, closely connected to
11400-453: The Iron Age. Trade connections with the Ancient Greek world were created from the 7th century BC onwards. The proto-urban development was followed by the creation of urban centers and the emergence of craftsmanship, and a Dardanian polity began to develop from the 4th century BC. Material culture and accounts in classical sources suggest that Dardanian society reached an advanced phase of development. The Dardani are referred to as one of
11550-593: The Linguistic Society of America . 9 (1). Linguistic Society of America : 5681. doi : 10.3765/plsa.v9i1.5681 . [REDACTED] Media related to Dardani (Balkans) at Wikimedia Commons Illyrians The territory the Illyrians inhabited came to be known as Illyria to later Greek and Roman authors, who identified a territory that corresponds to most of Albania , Montenegro , Kosovo , much of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina , western and central Serbia and some parts of Slovenia between
11700-715: The MBA-IA Velim Kosa tumuli of Liburni in Croatia (J-PH1602), and similar in LBA-IA Velika Gruda tumuli in Montenegro (J-Z2507 > J-Z1297 > J-Y21878). The oldest J-L283 (> J-Z597) sample in the study was found in MBA Shkrel , northern Albania as early as the 19th century BCE. In northern Albania, IA Çinamak, half of them men carried J-L283 (> J-Z622, J-Y21878) and the other half R-M269 (R-CTS1450, R-PF7563). The oldest sample in Çinamak dates to
11850-418: The Macedonian throne, skirmishing with Dardani began in 220-219 BC and he managed to capture Bylazora from them in 217 BC. Skirmishes continued in 211 and in 209 when a force of Dardani under Aeropus, probably a pretender to the Macedonian throne, captured Lychnidus and looted Macedonia taking 20.000 prisoners and retreating before Philip's forces could reach them. In 201 Bato of Dardania along with Pleuratus
12000-506: The Macedonian throne. Indeed, the Dardani have not been mentioned in the ancient accounts concerning the events of Alexander's Balkan campaign . It appears that the Dardani evaded the Macedonian rule during the Wars of the Diadochi between 284 BC and 281 BC, at the time of Lysimachus 'empire. Thereafter the Dardani became a constant threat to Macedon on its northern borders. In 279 BC, at
12150-593: The Neolithic population and the PIE-speakers gave rise to the material culture which developed in the Bronze Age (2100-1100 BCE) in settlements including Vlashnjë, Korishë, Pogragjë, Bardhi i Madh and Topanicë. Archaeological research in the territory of Dardania greatly expanded since 2000. In contemporary research, a periodization of four phases of development of pre-Roman Dardania is being utilized: In
12300-572: The PIE root *dhereĝh- "to hold", "strong", which would have evolved to dard- in consistency with the phonetic change of voiced palatal velars that are a characteristic trait of Albanian. The opinion criticising the etymologies based on roots that originally included *g̑h because in the earliest form of Albanian PIE *g̑h turned into *dʑ and correspondingly later into *dz , which should have been spelled in Greek/Latin documents with /z/, /s/, or
12450-487: The Proto-Albanian form reconstructed as * dʰorĝʰ-eh₂- , is not clear. More recently for the Albanian dardhë the Proto-Albanian * dardā has been reconstructed, itself a derivative of derdh "to tip out, pour, spill, secrete, cast (metals)" < PAlb * derda . In Old Albanian texts the root is recorded not umlautized : dardh . It continues Proto-Albanian * darda , which
12600-467: The Roman period in Dardania. A monument representing a round labyrinth that was dedicated to the "Dardanian Goddess" was found in Smira. This monument provides evidence for cosmogonic and cosmologic knowledges among the Dardani. The labyrinth was realized based on the concept of the trinity . There is used a numerological and geometric approach through a multidimensional holographic field, which illustrates
12750-457: The Roman province of Moesia . After the Roman emperor Domitian divided the province of Moesia into Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior in 86 AD, the Dardani were located in southern Moesia Superior. A Roman colony was established at Scupi in Dardanian territory under the Flavian dynasty . In the 2nd century AD Dardanians were still notorious as brigands ( latrones dardaniae) . During
12900-503: The Thraco-Illyrian contact zone. As shown by archaeological research Illyrian names are predominant in western Dardania (present-day Kosovo), and occasionally appear in eastern Dardania (present-day south-eastern Serbia), while Thracian names are found in the eastern parts, but are absent from the western parts. The correspondence of Illyrian onomastics in Dardania – including those of the Dardanian ruling dynasty – with those of
13050-486: The affairs in the internal conflicts between aristocrats and democrats. The Taulantian kingdom seems to have reached its climax during Glaukias ' rule, in the years between 335 BC and 302 BC. The Illyrian kingdoms frequently came into conflicts with the neighbouring Ancient Macedonians , and the Illyrian pirates were also seen as significant threat to the neighbouring peoples. At the Neretva Delta , there
13200-583: The area of the Dardani as a region of overlapping between the two. A third area, to the north of them – which in ancient literature was usually identified as part of Illyria – has been connected more to the Venetic language than to Illyrian. Illyric settlement in Italy was and still is attributed to a few ancient tribes which are thought to have migrated along the Adriatic shorelines to the Italian peninsula from
13350-736: The area of the ancient Dardani have been proposed as South Slavic translations of Darda- toponyms. Other roots have been connected to the name Dardan- by some scholars. It has been proposed a possible link to darda "bee", maybe originally with the meaning of "noise", "chatter", compared with Sanskrit dardurá- "frog", "pipe", Lithuanian dardėt́i "to rattle", "chatter" (which however is regarded by Orel as an onomatopoeic form connected to Albanian derdh , hence to dardhë , see above), Gkreek δάρδα · μέλισσα "bee", sometimes interpreted as μόλυσμα "stain", δαρδαίνει · μολύνει "to stain", both late antique attestations from Hesychius (5th century CE) and with aberrant semantics. Another link has been made with
13500-403: The area was originally populated with Thracians who then exposed to direct contact with Illyrians over a long period. [..] The meaning of this state of affairs has been variously interpreted, ranging from notions of Thracianization' (in part) of an existing Illyrian population to the precise opposite. In favour of the latter may be the close correspondence of Illyrian names in Dardania with those of
13650-520: The central-western Balkans including the historical regions of Dardania, Illyria proper, Paeonia, Upper Moesia, western Dacia and western Thrace. The name of the Dardani is mentioned for the first time in the Iliad in the name of Dardanus who founded Dardanus on the Aegean coast of Anatolia and his people the Dardanoi , from which the toponym Dardanelles is derived. Other parallel ethnic names in
13800-526: The centres of the ancient Mediterranean to its periphery. The Messapic language is often considered either a dialect or sister language of Illyrian. However, the testimonies of Illyrian are too fragmentary to allow any conclusions. An extinct Indo-European language, Messapic was once spoken in Apulia in the southeastern Italian Peninsula by the three Iapygian tribes of the region: the Messapians ,
13950-481: The context of a distinct language is considered in recent decades as potentially significant for the history of the Albanian language . Graves from the 6th and 5th centuries BCE in Romajë contain long iron bars which were placed in the tombs are a means of payment to the afterlife. They indicate that the tribe of the Dardani had developed a concept about the afterlife as shown later in other archaeological material like
14100-516: The course of their settlement towards the Adriatic coast merged with such populations of a pre-Illyrian substratum – like Enchelei might have been – leading to the formation of the historical Illyrians who were attested in later times. It has been suggested that the myth of Cadmus and Harmonia may be a reflection in mythology of the end of the pre-Illyrian era in the southern Adriatic region as well as in those regions located north of Macedonia and Epirus. Older Pan-Illyrian theories which emerged in
14250-402: The death of Augustus, their name in connection to the Balkans became a political problem. After the death of Augustus, the new emperor was Tiberius , his stepson and the most senior Roman general in the Balkans. As Tiberius had played a key role in the Roman conquest of the Balkans, as emperor he couldn't be portrayed as the conqueror of Dardanians , whose name had been constructed as the name of
14400-518: The earliest known peoples of Illyria in the group of the first generation, consisting mostly of southern Illyrian peoples firstly encountered by the Greeks, some of which were the Enchelei , the Taulantii , the Dassaretii and the Parthini . Some peoples that came to the Balkans at a later date such as the Scordisci are listed in the group that belongs to the third generation. The Scordisci were
14550-511: The early Roman Imperial period . Depending on the complexity of the diverse physical geography of the Balkans , arable farming and livestock (mixed farming) rearing had constituted the economic basis of the Illyrians during the Iron Age . In southern Illyria organized realms were formed earlier than in other areas of this region. One of the oldest known Illyrian kingdoms is that of
14700-408: The eastern strip of Dardania, and several Thracian and Dacian placenames also appear there, such as Dardapara and Quemedava , but Illyrian names dominated the rest. Nevertheless, ancient authors have not identified Dardanians with Thracians, and Strabo explicitly makes a clear distinction between them. The Kingdom of Dardania was attested since the 4th century BC in ancient sources reporting
14850-675: The end of the 2nd century and beginning of the 3rd century CE, Illyrian populations had been highly integrated in the Roman Empire and formed a core population of its Balkan provinces. During the crisis of the Third Century and the establishment of the Dominate , a new elite faction of Illyrians who were part of the Roman army along the Pannonian and Danubian Limes rose in Roman politics. This faction produced many emperors from
15000-460: The established powers around the eastern Mediterranean . In ancient historiography, the Dardani of the Balkans are mentioned as a people in the second century BCE by Polybius who describes their wars against Macedon in the third century BC. Historians of Hellenistic and Roman antiquity who mention the Dardanians are Diodorus Siculus , Marcus Terentius Varro , Strabo , Sallust , Appian , Dionysius of Halicarnassus and others. According to
15150-749: The first era of post-Yamnaya movements (EBA) and carries R-M269. Autosomally, Croatian Bronze Age samples from various sites, from Cetina valley and Bezdanjača Cave were "extremely similar in their ancestral makeup", while from Montenegro's Velika Gruda mainly had an admixture of "Anatolian Neolithic (~50%), Eastern European hunter-gatherer (~12%), and Balkan hunter-gatherer ancestry (~18%)". The oldest Balkan J-L283 samples have been found in final Early Bronze Age (ca. 1950 BCE) site of Mokrin in Serbia and about 100–150 years later in Shkrel, northern Albania. Aneli et al. 2022 based on samples from EIA Dalmatia argue that
15300-614: The geographic "Illyria": the Dauni , the Peuceti and Messapi (collectively known as Iapyges , and speaking the Messapic language ). The term "Illyrians" last appears in the historical record in the 7th century, referring to a Byzantine garrison operating within the former Roman province of Illyricum . What happened to the Illyrians after the settlement of the Slavs in the region
15450-522: The historical territory where Illyrians lived (including tested Iapodian and Liburnian sites), almost all belonged to the patrilineal line J2b2a1-L283 (>J-PH1602 > J-Y86930 and >J-Z1297 subclades) with the exception of one R1b-L2 . The mtDNA haplogroups fell under various subclades of H, H1, H3b, H5, J1c2, J1c3, T2a1a, T2b, T2b23, U5a1g, U8b1b1, HV0e. In a three-way admixture model, they approximately had 49-59% EEF, 35-46% Steppe and 2-10% WHG-related ancestry. In Lazaridis et al. (2022) key parts of
15600-536: The hoplites. But the Illyrians, being on higher ground, and charging down on from it upon the Aetolian trrops formed up on the plain, routed them without difficulty. The Medionians joined the action by sallying out of the town and charging the Aetolians, thus, after killing a great number, and taking a still greater number prisoners, and becoming masters also of their arms and baggage, the Illyrians, having carried out
15750-512: The impact of the one language to the other developed because of the scarcity of available archaeological material. However, this did not occur at the same level on both sides, with the Illyrians being more willing to adopt the more prestigious Greek language. Ongoing research may provide further knowledge about these contacts beyond present limited sources. Illyrians were exposed not only to Doric and Epirote Greek but also to Attic-Ionic. The Illyrian languages were once thought to be connected to
15900-618: The increasing shift of the center of imperial politics from the city of Rome itself to the eastern provinces of the empire. The term Illyrians last appears in the historical record in the 7th century AD, in the Miracula Sancti Demetrii , referring to a Byzantine garrison operating within the former Roman province of Illyricum . However, in the acts of the Second Council of Nicaea from 787, Nikephoros of Durrës signed himself as "Episcopus of Durrës, province of
16050-455: The late Imperial period their territory was the homeland of many Roman emperors , notably Constantine the Great and Justinian I . The ethnonym of the Dardani has been attested in ancient Greek literature as Dardaneis , Dardanioi and Dardanoi , and in Latin as Dardani . The term used for their territory was Dardanike ( Δαρδανική ). The root Dard- is attested outside
16200-532: The late 1st century BCE, in Rome a new ideological discourse was formed. Propagated by poets like Horace and Ovid , it constructed a glorious Trojan past for the Romans, who were claimed to be descendants of Trojan Dardanians. In the years before the Trojan origin story became the official Roman narrative about their origins, the Romans came into conflict in the Balkans with the Dardani. In public discourse this created
16350-607: The late 3rd to the 6th century CE who are collectively known as the Illyrian Emperors and include the Constantinian , Valentinianic and Justinianic dynasties. Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius , a native of Sirmium , is usually recognized as the first Illyrian emperor in historiography. The rise of the Illyrian Emperors represents the rise of the role of the army in imperial politics and
16500-467: The late 6th and the early 5th century BC in fragments of Hecataeus of Miletus , the author of Genealogies ( Γενεαλογίαι ) and of Description of the Earth or Periegesis ( Περίοδος Γῆς or Περιήγησις ), where the Illyrians are described as a barbarian people. In the Macedonian history during the 6th and 5th century BC, the term Illyrian had a political meaning that was quite definite, denoting
16650-478: The legend of Cadmus and Harmonia —was recorded by Euripides and Strabo in accounts that would be presented in detail in Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st to 2nd century AD). The second version—which reports the legend of Polyphemus and Galatea —was recorded by Appian (1st–2nd century AD) in his Illyrike . According to the first version Illyrius was the son of Cadmus and Harmonia , whom
16800-405: The level ground, and with a portion of their cavalry and their light infantry they hastened to occupy some rising ground in front of their camp, which nature had made easily defensible. A single charge, however, of the Illyrians, whose numbers and close order gave them irresistible weight, served to dislodge the light-armed troops, and forced the cavalry who were on the ground with them to retire to
16950-670: The more anciently known groups of Illyrian tribes—lived on the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria (modern Albania ), dominating at various times much of the plain between the Drin and the Aous , comprising the area around Epidamnus/Dyrrhachium . In the 7th century BC the Taulantii invoked the aid of Corcyra and Corinth in a war against the Liburni . After the defeat and expulsion from
17100-523: The more confined Albanian territory. The structure of Illyrian society during classical antiquity was characterised by a conglomeration of numerous tribes and small realms ruled by warrior elites, a situation similar to that in most other societies at that time. Thucidides in the History of the Peloponnesian War (5th century BC) addresses the social organisation of the Illyrian tribes via
17250-501: The most correct one. Appian's genealogy of tribes is not complete as he writes that other Illyrian tribes exist, which he has not included. According to Appian 's tradition, Polyphemus and Galatea gave birth to Celtus , Galas , and Illyrius , three brothers, progenitors respectively of Celts, Galatians and Illyrians. Illyrius had multiple sons: Encheleus , Autarieus , Dardanus, Maedus, Taulas and Perrhaebus , and daughters: Partho, Daortho, Dassaro and others. From these, sprang
17400-409: The mythical progenitors of the Romans. Thus, the decision to create a new name for Dardania and the Dardani was made. Despite this decision and the administrative use of the names Moesia and Moesi for the Dardani and Dardania , the original use of the name persisted by authors like Appian. The name Dardania was not used for several hundred years after this period in an administrative context. It
17550-449: The opponents of Macedon in the 4th century BC, clashing with Philip II who managed to subdue them and their neighbors, probably during the early period of his reign. The Dardani have remained quiet until Philip II's death, after which they were planning defection . However an open war have not been caused by their riots, since Alexander the Great managed to have the full control of the kingdom and its army after succeeding his father to
17700-518: The oracle of Delphi the Celts eventually arrested and were defeated. Afterwards they withdrew in the north passing through Dardania, however they were completely destroyed by the Dardani. Further references to the Dardani are provided in the ancient sources describing Dardanian constant wars against Macedonians from the second half of the 3rd century BC. After the Celtic invasion of the Balkans weakened
17850-502: The order that was usual in their own country, and advanced in their several companies against the Aetolian lines. The latter were overwhelmed with astonishment at the unexpected nature and boldness of the move; but they had long been inspired with overweening self-confidence, and having full reliance on their own forces were far from being dismayed. They drew up the greater part of their hoplites and cavalry in front of their own lines on
18000-460: The orders of Agron, conveyed their baggage and the rest of their booty to their boats and immediately set sail for their own country. He was succeeded by his wife Teuta , who assumed the regency for her stepson Pinnes following Agron's death in 231 BC. In his work The Histories , Polybius (2nd century BC) reported first diplomatic contacts between the Romans and Illyrians. In the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC, 219 BC and 168 BC, Rome overran
18150-601: The other two being the Ardiaei and Autariatae . As Dardanians had followed their own peculiar geographical, social and political development in Dardania , some ancient sources also distinguish them from those Illyrians dwelling in the central and southern coast of the eastern Adriatic Sea and its hinterland, who had constituted their own socio-political formation, referred to as ' Illyrian kingdom ' by ancient authors. The Dardani were also related to their Thracian neighbors. In Roman times, there appear Thracian names in
18300-614: The period after the death of Emperor Augustus in 14 CE. The name itself was taken from the name of the Mysians in Asia Minor. The choice seems to be related to the fact that the Trojan-era Mysians lived close to the Trojan-era Dardanians. As the name of the Dardani in Roman discourse became linked to the ancestors of the Romans, the actual Dardani began to be covered in Roman literature by other names. After
18450-477: The problem that the Roman army could be seen as fighting against a people who could be related to the ancestors of the Romans. The image of the historical Dardani in the 1st century BC was that of Illyrian barbarians who raided their Macedonian frontier and had to be dealt with. In this context, the name of a people known as the Moesi appeared in Roman sources. The Moesi are mentioned only in three ancient sources in
18600-464: The province of Moesia into Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior in 86 AD, the Dardani were located in southern Moesia Superior. At first, Dardania was not a separate Roman province, but became a region in the province of Moesia Superior in 87 AD. Emperor Diocletian later (284) made Dardania into a separate province with its capital at Naissus ( Niš ). During the Byzantine administration (in
18750-597: The region of the Liburni, the Corcyreans founded in 627 BC on the Illyrian mainland a colony called Epidamnus , thought to have been the name of a barbarian king of the region. A flourishing commercial centre emerged and the city grew rapidly. The Taulantii continued to play an important role in Illyrian history between the 5th and 4th–3rd centuries BC, and in particular, in the history of Epidamnus, both as its neighbors and as part of its population. Notably they influenced
18900-629: The second part of the 3rd century BC, a number of Illyrian tribes seem to have united to form a confederation stretching from the central part of present-day Albania up to Neretva river in Herzegovina . The political entity was financed on piracy and ruled from 250 BC by the king Agron . The Illyrian attack under Agron, against Aerolians mounted in either 232 or 231 BC, is described by Polybius: One hundred lembi with 5000 men on board sailed up to land at Medion. Dropping anchor at daybreak, they disembarked speedily and in secret. They then formed up in
19050-545: The social organisation of Illyrian tribes in earlier times than the era he lived in makes a distinction between three modes of social organisation. A part of the Illyrians were organized under hereditary kingdoms, a second part was organized under chieftains who were elected but held no hereditary power and some Illyrians were organised in autonomous communities governed by their own internal tribal laws. In these communities social stratification had not yet emerged. The history of Illyrian warfare and weaponry spanned from around
19200-435: The southern 'real' lllyrians to their west, including the names of Dardanian rulers, Longarus, Bato, Monunius and Etuta, and those on later epitaphs, Epicadus, Scerviaedus, Tuta, Times and Cinna. ... including the names of Dardanian rulers, Longarus, Bato, Monunius and Etuta, and those on later epitaphs, Epicadus, Scerviaedus, Tuta, Times and Cinna. Other Dardanian names are linked with... There must have been some reason why it
19350-423: The southern Illyrians suggests "thracianization" of parts of Dardania at a later date. The linguistic relationship between ' Illyrian ' and ' Thracian ' is uncertain due to the paucity of the available written material of those languages, consisting only of onomastic and toponymic evidence in the case of Illyrian, and the same for Thracian except for a few short inscriptions of difficult interpretation. Dardanian in
19500-440: The state of the Macedonians and Paeonians , the political and military role of the Dardanians began to grow in the region. They expanded their state to the area of Paeonia which definitively disappeared from history, and to some territories of the southern Illyrians. The Dardanians strongly pressured the Macedonians, using every opportunity to attack them. However the Macedonians quickly recovered and consolidated their state, and
19650-504: The state of the Macedonians and Paeonians , the political and military role of the Dardanians began to grow in the region. They expanded their state to the area of Paeonia which definitively disappeared from history. In 230 the Dardani under Longarus captured Bylazora from the Paeonians. Taking advantage of Macedonian weakness, in 229 the Dardani attacked Macedonia and defeated Demetrius II in an important battle. After obtaining
19800-426: The term 'Illyrians' began to be used to describe the indigenous population of western Balkans cannot be said with certainty. Scholarly debates have been waged to find an answer to the question whether the term 'Illyrians' ( Ἰλλυριοί ) derived from some eponymous tribe, or whether it has been applied to designate the indigenous population as a general term for some other specific reason. Ancient Roman writers Pliny
19950-532: The territory of historical territory of Illyria were tested. In 18 samples from the Cetina culture, all males except for one (R-L51 > Z2118) carried Y-DNA haplogroup J-L283. Many of them could be further identified as J-L283 > Z597 (> J-Y15058 > J-Z38240 > J-PH1602). The majority of individuals carried mtDNA haplogroups J1c1 and H6a1a. The related Posušje culture yielded the same Y-DNA haplogroup (J-L283 > J-Z38240). The same J-L283 population appears in
20100-458: The territory originally designated as 'Illyrian' was roughly located in the region of the south-eastern Adriatic (modern Albania and Montenegro ) and its hinterland, then was later extended to the whole Roman Illyricum province, which stretched from the eastern Adriatic to the Danube . After the Illyrians had come to be widely known to the Greeks due to their proximity, this ethnic designation
20250-438: The times of the great Celtic invasion , Dardania was raided by several Celtic tribes on their campaigns that were undertaken to plunder the treasuries of Greek temples. During these events an unnamed Dardanian king offered to help the Macedonians with 20,000 soldiers to counteract the invading Celts, but it was refused by the Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos who, underestimating the Celtic strength, died fighting them. Only at
20400-594: The two main Dardanian tribes – Galabri/Galabrioi and Thunatae/Thunatai – have been respectively connected to the Messapic Kalabroi/Calabri and Daunioi/Daunii in Apulia (south-eastern Italy ), of Palaeo-Balkan provenance. The name Dardan- (ethnonym: Δάρδανοι / Dardani ; toponym: Δαρδανική / Dardania ) is traditionally connected to the same root as dardhë , the Albanian word for 'pear', as well as Alb. dardhán , dardán , 'farmer'. The ethnonym Pirustae , which
20550-492: The uncertainty of the Ancient Greek and Roman authors in transcribing the Proto-Albanian affricates, which were unfamiliar to them. Indeed, many similar examples of Palaeo-Balkan names with alternating spellings in ancient literature using both dentals and sibilants can be connected to an earlier stage of Albanian and furthermore provide strong support for Eric Hamp 's thesis about the Proto- Albanoid dialects, spoken in
20700-459: The viewpoint of the Greeks . Dardanian slaves or freedmen at the time of the Roman conquest were clearly of Paleo-Balkan origin, according to their personal names. It has been noted that personal names were mostly of the "Central-Dalmatian type". The Dardanians had their own language. An extensive study based on onomastics of the Roman era has been undertaken by Radoslav Katičić which puts
20850-444: The votive monument of Smirë . The weapons included double-edged axes ( Labrys ), which might have been used in a ritualistic manner related to sun worship which was prevalent in the northern Illyrian tribes Among the characteristic Dardanian deities were Andinus , considered to have been the indigenous god of vegetation and soil fertility , and Dea Dardanica ("Dardanian Goddess"). They are attested in votive inscriptions of
21000-462: The wars the Dardanians waged against their south-eastern neighbor – Macedon – until the 2nd century BC. The historian Justin , a main source about the history of the Macedonian kings, refers to an 'lllyrian war' between 346 and the end of 343 BC, fought by 'Dardani and other neighbouring peoples' against Philip II of Macedon , who won the conflict. After the Celtic invasion of the Balkans weakened
21150-401: 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 integration of Illyrians in the Roman world accelerated even further. Some Illyrian communities were organized in their pre-Roman locations under their own civitates . Others migrated or were forcefully resettled in different regions. Some groups like
21300-501: Was a strong Hellenistic influence on the Illyrian tribe of Daors . Their capital was Daorson located in Ošanići near Stolac in Herzegovina , which became the main center of classical Illyrian culture. Daorson, during the 4th century BC, was surrounded by megalithic , 5 meter high stonewalls, composed out of large trapeze stones blocks. Daors also made unique bronze coins and sculptures. The Illyrians even conquered Greek colonies on
21450-495: Was broadened to include other peoples who, for some reason, were considered by ancient writers to be related with those peoples originally designated as Illyrians ( Ἰλλυριοί , Illyrioi ). The original designation may have occurred either during the Middle/Late Bronze Age or at the beginning of the 8th century BC. According to the former hypothesis, the name was taken by traders from southern Greece from
21600-608: Was centered in the Bay of Kotor and Lake Skadar . According to other modern scholars, the term Illyrii may have originally referred only to a small ethnos in the area between Epidaurum and Lissus , and Pliny and Mela may have followed a literary tradition that dates back as early as Hecataeus of Miletus . Placed in central Albania, the Illyrii proprie dicti also might have been Rome's first contact with Illyrian peoples. In that case, it did not indicate an original area from which
21750-420: Was first used by outsiders, in particular 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 started to have some knowledge and perceptions of the indigenous peoples of western Balkans. It has been suggested that the Illyrian tribes evidently never collectively identified themselves as Illyrians and that it
21900-634: Was made up of many tribes and tribal groups, confirmed by Strabo , who mentions the Galabri and Thunatae as Dardanian tribes, and describes the Dardani as one of the three strongest Illyrian peoples, the other two being the Ardiaei and Autariatae . The Dardanians, in all their history, always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians . The term used for their territory was ( Δαρδανική ), while other tribal areas had more unspecified terms, such as Autariaton khora ( Αὐταριατῶν χώρα ), for
22050-624: Was only recreated by Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century CE. The territory of present-day Kosovo which formed the core area of the Dardani has been inhabited since the Neolithic era . Runik and Vlashnjë are two of the most significant sites in the Neolithic period. During the late 3rd millennium BCE, Proto-Indo-European tribes migrated and settled in the region alongside the existing Neolithic population. New practices in agriculture and cattle breeding appear in this period and new settlements formed in Kosovo. Co-existence and intermingling of
22200-514: Was organized, but Philip V died and his son Perseus of Macedon withdrew his forces from the campaign. The Bastarnae crossed the Danube in huge numbers and although they didn't meet the Macedonians, they continued the campaign. Some 30,000 Bastarnae under the command of Clondicus seem to have defeated the Dardani. In 179 BC, the Bastarnae conquered the Dardani, who later in 174 pushed them out, in
22350-456: Was said of the Dardanians, and not of any other people, that they only bathed three times in their lives ...like the Dardanians', which was applied not to dirty folk, as might be expected, but to the miserly (ἐπὶ τῶν φειδωλῶν)! For the Greeks, obviously, to bathe or not was only a question of expense and financial means. Joseph, Brian D.; Dedvukaj, Lindon (2024). "Turning night into day: Milieu and semantic change in Albanian" . Proceedings of
22500-429: Was very complex. The Dardani were the most stable and conservative ethnic element among the peoples of the central Balkans, retaining an enduring presence in the region for several centuries. Ancient tradition considered the Dardani as an Illyrian people . Strabo , in particular – also mentioning Galabri and Thunatae as Dardanian tribes – describes the Dardani as one of the three strongest Illyrian peoples,
#11988