Pontic Steppe
45-519: Dimal or Dimal ( Illyrian : Διμάλη /Dimálē; Ancient Greek : Διμάλη or Διμάλλον; Latin : Dimallum ) was a town in southern Illyria in classical antiquity which was situated in the vicinity or within the territory of the Parthini , an Illyrian tribe. It was built on a hill of 450 m above sea level, in the hinterland of Apollonia , about 30 km from the eastern coast of the Adriatic . It
90-638: A temple , and a theater were built, showing a significant influence of the Ancient Greek culture on the local Illyrian inhabitants. It has been indicated that the city was a centre of the Illyrian tribe of Parthini , and was belatedly Hellenized under the influence of Apollonia and the Epirote League . Dimale appears in ancient sources of the Roman period that describes the wars involving
135-455: A centum language, but if the name Zanatis is similarly generated (or from ǵneh₃- "know") then Illyrian is a satem language. Another problem related to the name Gentius is that it cannot be stated whether the initial g of the sources was a palatovelar or a labiovelar . Kretschmer identified both Illyrian and Messapic as satem languages due to the change from IE o to a . On the other hand, he classified Venetic as centum due to
180-473: A friendly relationship ( amicitia ) with Rome. During the First Macedonian war , in 213 or 212 BC, Philip V of Macedon managed to take control of the city but, after an unsuccessful Roman assault led by P. Sempronius Tuditanus in 205 BC, the city reverted to its previous status in the negotiations between Philip V and Rome Phoenice ( Treaty of Phoenice ) the same year. The identification of
225-472: A handful of Illyrian words cited in classical sources and numerous examples of Illyrian anthroponyms , ethnonyms , toponyms and hydronyms . The scarcity of the data makes it difficult to identify the sound changes that have taken place in Illyrian; the most widely accepted one is that the Indo-European voiced aspirates /bʰ/ , /dʰ/ , /ɡʰ/ became voiced consonants /b/ , /d/ , /ɡ/ . Messapic
270-474: A large area of southeastern Europe, including Albanoi , Ardiaei , Autariatae , Dardani , Delmatae , Dassareti , Enchelei , Labeatae , Pannonii , Parthini , Taulantii and others (see list of ancient tribes in Illyria ). It is not known to what extent all of these tribes formed a homogeneous linguistic group, but the study of the attested eponyms has led to the identification of a linguistic core area in
315-414: A millennium, including numismatic evidence, as well as posited original forms of placenames. There are no Illyrian inscriptions (Messapian inscriptions are treated separately, and there is no consensus that they are to be reckoned as Illyrian). The spearhead found at Kovel and thought by some to be Illyrian is considered by the majority of runologists to be Eastern Germanic, and most likely Gothic, while
360-599: A mixture of Venetic, Celtic and Illyrian; and (5) the Pannonian people north in Bosnia, Northern Montenegro, and western Serbia. These identifications were later challenged by Radoslav Katičić who on the basis of personal names which occur commonly in Illyricum distinguished three onomastic areas: (1) South-Eastern Illyrian , extending southwards from the southern part of Montenegro and including most of Albania west of
405-516: A number of monuments, typical of the ancient Greek architectural style, such as a stoa . The indication of the office of phylarchos , also attested at Epidamnos , would imply that the Illyrian city of Dimale adopted in Hellenistic times a system of phylai on the model of the nearby Corinthian poleis. Archaeological investigation suggests the economic and cultural influence of nearby Apollonia , however, in terms of institutional organization,
450-417: A phase marked by intense urban planning, including the construction of a new city wall and the building of several stoas , a temple , and a theater , showing a significant influence of the Ancient Greek culture on the local Illyrian inhabitants. Manufacturing and materials seem to witness an intense exchange with nearby Apollonia. The fortified town of Dimale was regarded as impenetrable by Illyrians. It
495-488: A small inhabited area on the hill, which was fortified in the 4th century BC, representing one of the proto-urban centres that were established in the hinterland of southern Illyria (today Albania ), especially during the developed Iron Age . These proto-urban centres were fortified sites different to the small unwalled villages known as komai . The processes of the development of these proto-urban settlements are unclear to scholars, who also have not yet completely understood
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#1732781083978540-405: A votive inscription on a ring found near Shkodër which was initially interpreted as Illyrian was shown to actually be Byzantine Greek . Illyrian proper went extinct between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD, with the possible exception of a branch that may have survived and developed into Albanian. It has also been claimed that Illyrian was preserved and spoken in the countryside, as attested in
585-555: Is further grouped with Albanian under "Adriatic Indo-European". Other schemes group the three languages under "General Illyrian" and "Western Paleo-Balkan". In older research under the influence of pan-Illyrian theories , the Histrian , Venetic and Liburnian languages were considered to be Illyrian dialects. As archaeological research developed and the onomastic data about those languages increased, it became clear that they are not related to Illyrian either as dialects or as part of
630-493: Is located in today Krotinë , Berat County , Albania . The first walls of Dimale were built around mid-4th century BC when the Illyrians went through a dynamic development founding their own cities. The urban settlement was built on an already existent Illyrian hilltop proto-urban area dating back to the previous century. In the Hellenistic period (between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC) the town experienced its climax, during
675-476: Is often conjectured to be a surviving descendant of Illyrian, although this too remains unproven. In the early modern era and up to the 19th century, the term "Illyrian" was also applied to the modern South Slavic language of Dalmatia , today identified as Serbo-Croatian . This language is only distantly related to ancient Illyrian, as they share the common ancestor Proto-Indo-European ; the two languages were never in contact as Illyrian had become extinct before
720-461: Is viewed as neither centum nor satem ), the palatovelars have been generally depalatized (PIE * ḱ > * k or PIE * ǵ > * g followed by l or r in Albanian) in this phonetical position. The name Gentius or Genthius does not help either as there are two Illyrian forms for it, Genthius and Zanatis . If Gentius or Genthius derives from ǵenh₁- ("to be born"), this is proof of
765-538: Is written in the form Διμάλλας, Dimallas , while the name of the ethnicon is written in the genitive plural Διμαλλίταν, Dimallitan . Epigraphy in Dimale mentions a number of Greek offices such as prytanis, grammateus and phylarchos as well as a single dedication to Phoebus . The inscriptions bear both non-Greek onomastics and Greek onomastics with names typical of Epirus and the Corinthian colonies. The city hosted
810-589: The Proto-Albanian form of the second component reconstructed as mol-no . The Illyrian reconstruction of the first component has been rendered as *d(ṷ)i- , 'two'. Therefore Dimale must have meant '(settlement between) two mountains' in Illyrian. At Dimale an Illyrian pre-urban and proto-urban settlement of the 5th-4th centuries BC is confirmed by pottery found in the site. However physical architectural remains of this period have not been preserved. The Illyrian settlement seems to have included initially only
855-692: The Roman Republic . During the Second Illyrian War in 219 BC, Demetrius of Pharos , after expelling all his opponents from Dimale, fortified the city against an imminent Roman attack and left to defend Pharos . In spite of the fortress of Dimale being considered impregnable, the Romans, under the command of L. Aemilius Paullus , captured the city in a seven-day siege with local Illyrian help. After Demetrius' complete defeat at Roman hands and ultimate flight to Macedonia, Dimale entered into
900-451: The Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe with the possible exception of the ancestor of Albanian. Illyrian was part of the Indo-European language family. Its relation to other Indo-European languages, ancient and modern, is poorly understood because of the paucity of data and because it is still being examined. Today, the main source of authoritative information about Illyrian consists of
945-486: The South-Eastern and Central areas are not sufficient to show that two clearly differentiated dialects of Illyrian were in use in these areas. However, as Katičić has argued, the core onomastic area of Illyrian proper is to be located in the southeast of that Balkan region, traditionally associated with the Illyrians (centered in modern Albania). Traditionally Illyrian has referred to any non-Celtic language in
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#1732781083978990-629: The 4th-5th century testimonies of St. Jerome . Epirote League The Epirote League ( Epirote : Κοινὸν Ἀπειρωτᾶν , Koinòn Āpeirōtân ; Attic : Κοινὸν Ἠπειρωτῶν , Koinòn Ēpeirōtôn ) was an ancient Greek coalition, or koinon , of Epirote tribes. The coalition was established between 370 and 320 BC (firstly as the Molossian League in 370 BC), which helped unify the three main Greek tribes of Epirus (i.e., Molossians , Thesprotians , and Chaonians ). The oracle of Dodona
1035-911: The Epirotes hostile to the Achaeans and Aetolians, but it presumably ended following the Illyrian defeat in the First Illyrian War . Although the Epirote League remained neutral in the first two Macedonian Wars , it was ultimately dismantled in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), with the Molossians siding with the Macedonians and the Chaonians and Thesprotians supporting the Roman Republic . Copies of
1080-524: The Roman conquest in the late 1st century BC, the concept of Illyricum expanded towards the west and north. Finally it encompassed all native peoples from the Adriatic to the Danube, inhabiting the Roman provinces of Dalmatia , Pannonia and Moesia , regardless of their ethnic and cultural differences. An extensive study of Illyrian names and territory was undertaken by Hans Krahe in the first decades of
1125-471: The Romans would later call "Illyricum". The Greek term encompassed only the peoples who lived on the borders of Macedonia and Epirus . Pliny the Elder , in his work Natural History , still applies a stricter usage of the term Illyrii when speaking of Illyrii proprie dicti ("Illyrians properly so-called") among the native communities in the south of Roman Dalmatia. For a couple of centuries before and after
1170-487: The above-mentioned Venetic toponyms and personal names are accepted as Illyrian in origin, it is not clear that they originated in a centum language. Vescleves , Acrabanus , Gentius and Clausal are explained by proponents of the hypothesis that Illyrian had a centum character, through comparison with IE languages such as Sanskrit or Ancient Greek, or reconstructed PIE. For example, Vescleves has been explained as PIE *h₁wesu - ḱléw- (of good fame). Also,
1215-520: The decrees ( proxeny and citizenship decrees, manumission records) of the Molossian and Epirote League were set up in Dodona . All members had common citizenship. Regarding the dialect of the Epirote League, it was not Corinthian Doric and even the alphabet was not Corinthian; it was probably Northwest Doric, as some recorded inquiries at Dodona appear to indicate. The first epigraphical evidence of
1260-583: The name Acrabanus as a compound name has been compared with Ancient Greek ἄκρος with no signs of palatalization , or Clausal has been related to ḱlewH- (wash, rinse). In all these cases the supporters of the centum character of the Illyrian language consider PIE * ḱ > * k or PIE * ǵ > * g followed by l or r to be evidence of a centum character of the Illyrian language. However, it has been shown that even in Albanian and Balto-Slavic , which are satem -like languages (unclear as Albanian
1305-569: The office of phylarchos at Dimale is hardly attributable to the Apollonian influence. It is difficult to determine whether Dimale was the capital of a koinon or organized as a city-state. The inscriptions of the ethnicon depicted on coins do not provide a definitive answer. The proximity of the theater and the agora seems to be closer to the Illyrian-Epirote model rather than to the Greek city model. It can therefore be assumed that
1350-449: The preservation of the IE o . Taking into account the absence of sufficient data and sometimes the dual nature of their interpretation, the centum/satem character of the Illyrian language is still uncertain and requires more evidence. The Greeks were the first literate people to come into frequent contact with Illyrian speakers. Their conception of "Illyrioi", however, differed from what
1395-860: The region. Recent scholarship from the 1960s and on tends to agree that the region inhabited by Illyrian tribes can be divided into three distinct linguistic and cultural areas, of which only one can be properly termed "Illyrian". No written texts regarding self-identification exist from the Illyrians and no inscriptions in Illyrian exist, with the only linguistic remains being place names (toponyms) and some glosses. Since there are no Illyrian texts, sources for identifying Illyrian words have been identified by Hans Krahe as being of four kinds: inscriptions, glosses of Illyrian words in classical texts, names—including proper names (mostly inscribed on tombstones), toponyms and river names—and Illyrian loanwords in other languages. The last category has proven particularly contentious. The names occur in sources that range over more than
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1440-743: The river Neretva and extending south of the provincial boundary with Macedonia at the river Drin to include the Illyris of north and central Albania; (2) the Delmatae who occupied the middle Adriatic coast between the "real Illyrians" and the Liburni; (3) the Venetic Liburni of the northeast Adriatic; (4) the Japodes who dwelt north of the Delmatae and beyond the Liburni, where names reveal
1485-455: The river Drin, though its demarcation to the south remains uncertain; (2) Central Illyrian consisting of most of ex-Yugoslavia, north of southern Montenegro to the west of Morava, excepting ancient Liburnia in the northwest, but perhaps extending into Pannonia in the north; (3) Liburnian , whose names resemble those of the Venetic territory to the northeast. The onomastic differences between
1530-447: The role of these sites, whether they were hilltop shelters, towns or meeting centres of regional trading. The development and prosperity of the town occurred in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. During this period a new wall was built replacing the first fortification. The new wall comprised the whole hill of Dimale. The town made available sufficient financial resources to undertake a social and religious construction program. Several stoas ,
1575-529: The same branch. Armenian Greek Phrygian (extinct) Messapic (extinct) Albanian In the absence of sufficient lexical data and texts written in Illyrian, the theories supporting the centum character of the Illyrian language have been based mainly on the centum character of the Venetic language, which was thought to be related to Illyrian, in particular regarding Illyrian toponyms and names such as Vescleves , Acrabanus , Gentius , Clausal etc. The relation between Venetic and Illyrian
1620-508: The settlement of Cassope was founded to serve as a base for the king of Epirus' expeditions. The island remained in the Epirote League until 255 BC when it became independent after the death of Alexander II of Epirus . The league was defeated by the Illyrians during the Battle of Phoenice , which forced it to enter into an alliance with Teuta to prevent further attacks. This alliance made
1665-404: The site of Krotinë with the ancient Illyrian city became possible thanks to the discovery of ancient tiles stamped with the word DIMALLITAN (Greek: ΔΙΜΑΛΛΙΤΑΝ). The epigraphic material found at Dimale is mainly constituted by stamps on tiles datable between the 3rd and 2nd century BC, and by some stone inscriptions. The inscriptions are written in northwest Doric Greek . The name of the polis
1710-491: The south of this zone, roughly around what is now Albania and Montenegro , where Illyrian proper is believed to have been spoken. Little is known about the relationships between Illyrian and its neighboring languages. For lack of more information, Illyrian is typically described as occupying its own branch in the Indo-European family tree. A close relationship with Messapic , once spoken in southern Italy, has been suggested but remains unproven. Among modern languages, Albanian
1755-532: The theater was used as a place for political assemblies. Illyrian language Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European The Illyrian language ( / ɪ ˈ l ɪr i ə n / )
1800-492: The twentieth century. He and other scholars argued for a broad distribution of Illyrian peoples considerably beyond the Balkans , though in his later work, Krahe curbed his view of the extent of Illyrian settlement. The further refinements of Illyrian onomastic provinces for that Illyrian area included in the later Roman province were proposed by Géza Alföldy . He identified five principal groups: (1) "real Illyrians" south of
1845-549: Was an Indo-European language or group of languages spoken by the Illyrians in Southeast Europe during antiquity. The language is unattested with the exception of personal names and placenames. Just enough information can be drawn from these to allow the conclusion that it belonged to the Indo-European language family. In ancient sources, the term " Illyrian " is applied to a wide range of tribes settling in
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1890-628: Was an Iron Age language spoken in Apulia by the Iapygians ( Messapians , Peucetians , Daunians ), which settled in Italy as part of an Illyrian migration from Illyria in the transitional period between the Bronze and Iron ages. As such, Messapic, as a distinct language, is considered to be part of the same Paleo-Balkan grouping as Illyrian. Eric Hamp has grouped them under "Messapo-Illyrian" which
1935-873: Was involved in the Second Roman-Illyrian War and the First Roman-Macedonian War . The Illyrian toponym is attested in literary sources and epigraphic material, written as Διμάλη in Greek script and Dimallum in Latin script . The toponym belongs to the southeast Dalmatian onomastic area of Illyrian . It is a compound of di + mal . The root mal – is reflected in many ancient Balkan (Illyrian or Thracian ) toponyms such as Malontum , Maloventum , Malontina , Dacia Maluensis etc. The Illyrian toponym Dimallum has been connected to Albanian di-male , meaning "two mountains", with
1980-504: Was later discredited and they are no longer considered closely related. Scholars supporting the satem character of Illyrian highlight particular toponyms and personal names such as Asamum , Birzinimum , Zanatis etc. in which these scholars see satem-type reflexes of Indo-European roots. They also point to other toponyms including Osseriates derived from h₁éǵʰeros "lake" or Birziminium from PIE bʰergʰ- "project" or Asamum from PIE h₂eḱ- mo-s "sharp". Even if
2025-528: Was the religious, political and cultural centre of the Molossian League and later of the Epirote League. In 297 BC, Pyrrhus of Epirus became leader of the League. When King Agathocles of Syracuse conquered Corcyra, he offered the island as dowry to his daughter Lanassa on her marriage to Pyrrhus of Epirus in 295 BC. The island then became a member of the Epirote League. It was then perhaps that
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