roman Illyria
Illyrian Wars with the Romans
Philip of Macedon fought the Illyrians, managed to defeat them, and took control of the Ohrid region; he invaded as far as Kosovo and Shkodra in northern Albania. Consequently, there was increasing contact between the populations, and this led to cultural changes in Illyria itself—more and larger villages, greater reliance on agriculture rather than cattle, and the beginning of urban settlement. At the same time, the tribal structure, headed by leaders, was preserved.
After the time of Alexander the Great, Epirus, south of Illyria, rose to prominence. The Albanians claim that the Epirotes spoke Illyrian and not a type of Greek, and therefore the Epirus region was initially Illyrian. Either way, the kingdom declined in importance after the death of King Pyrrhus in 270 BC, and the void was filled by the Illyrian kingdom of the Ardiaei, which was forming at the same time around Lake Shkodra. It took over the important coastal cities of Durrës and Apollonia. Their main military force was a fast warship called a lembus, which carried 50 soldiers and had a single row of oars.
King Agron defeated the Greeks in Epirus. He died of excessive drinking, and his wife Teuta continued his path. Queen Teuta is a legendary figure in Albania, who ruled between 231–227 BC. At the height of her power, she conquered Durrës, Saranda, and Corfu. The Illyrians attacked the Peloponnese and robbed ships in the Adriatic, disrupting maritime trade and effectively conquering Epirus. A Roman senatorial delegation was sent to Queen Teuta to restore order, but it was murdered on the way back. This enraged the Romans, since at that time the Adriatic Sea was the backyard of the Roman Empire and vital to its prosperity.
Thus, in 229 BC, the Romans appeared in Illyria, and the First Illyrian War began, during which they took control of the entire coastal region, conquered Durrës, and from there advanced inland. Teuta retreated to Risan in Montenegro and surrendered, becoming a vassal queen who ruled a small territory.
Teuta’s son was Demetrius of Pharos. He broke the agreement with the Romans and disobeyed the order not to sail south from Lissus (the city of Lezhë in Albania), near the source of the Drin River today. His capital was the island of Hvar, located north of Dubrovnik. He fortified the island but eventually succumbed to another Roman invasion.
In 168 BC, the Romans defeated the Macedonians in the Third Macedonian War and divided their territory into three parts. At the same time, they defeated the Illyrian king Gentius, who set out from Lake Ohrid with a large army but ultimately found himself besieged in Shkodra and, in 167, surrendered to the Romans. This marked the end of independent Illyria.
Roman Illyria
After three wars between the Romans and the Illyrians in the third and second centuries BC, Illyria was conquered by Rome and became the Roman province of Illyria, with the main cities being in the coastal areas: Apollonia and Durrës. Illyria was of paramount strategic importance to the Roman Empire, as the road connecting Rome with Constantinople passed through it. The distance from Durrës on the Albanian coast to the coast of Italy, the Straits of Orontes, is only seventy miles.
Although the Romans controlled the coastal cities, out of a desire to secure navigation in the Adriatic Sea, they made no effort and did not see fit to enter the interior of the country, into the impassable mountain areas. This move only happened during the reign of Augustus, as part of the stabilization of the empire and its borders on the Danube, the construction of roads, and the Roman peace.
During the time of Augustus, there were rebellions in Illyria, but they were suppressed cruelly, as in the case of the Jews. Many were taken into slavery, entire regions were devastated. Augustus built a large professional standing army, which was engaged, among other things, in quarrying and paving roads through the Dinaric Alps. This allowed for government on the one hand and trade on the other. The Romans established colonies of soldiers who were joined by locals, and cities were built.
With the end of the rebellions and wars, the Romans brought to the western Balkans, for the first time in its history, a period of peace, prosperity, and stability. The border line of the Roman Empire was the Danube, and everything south of it was part of a single empire with large cities, roads, thriving trade, and a money economy. The ancient peoples—the Thracians, Macedonians, and Illyrians—found their place within the empire and served as soldiers in the army, merchants in the empire, craftsmen, and later even emperors.
At the time of Hadrian, more people received Roman citizenship and the empire became more international. He established cities in Illyria, the locals received citizenship, and many of them were given binding public positions. Many enlisted in the army.
At the beginning of the 3rd century, with the rise of Septimius Severus to power in Rome, the Illyrians became an increasingly significant factor in the Roman army. The first important Illyrian emperor was Aurelian, who ruled from 270–276 AD. He withdrew from Romania-Dacia. Emperor Diocletian was one of his subordinates and successors. They commanded the Illyrian legions, which became the most important part of the Roman army. At the end of the 3rd century AD, Diocletian, from the city of Split in Croatia (then Illyria), an Illyrian farmer who rose to military prominence, became one of the most important Roman emperors in history. The city of Sirmium in western Serbia (then part of Illyria) became the center of Roman power.
Diocletian decided to divide the empire into two parts under a quartet of rulers and established four capitals, one of them in Sirmium, which was the capital of Roman Illyria and was also established as the capital of Pannonia. However, Diocletian retired after twenty years of rule to a palace he had prepared on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, and in his place came Constantine the Great, who made Christianity the official religion and established a new capital on the shores of the Bosphorus (Constantinople). In the civil war that preceded his takeover of the empire, he defeated the Illyrian army, and the country declined in importance.
A few decades later, in 378, the Goths defeated Emperor Valens and crossed the Danube. The Roman system of government collapsed. The country entered a period of chaos. There was no security, and more and more invasions followed one another; after the Germans came the Huns, the Avars, and the Slavs. Emperor Justinian tried to re-establish Roman Illyria in the 6th century AD, but in vain.
The Slavs began invading the Balkans starting from the 4th century, but significantly in the 5th and 6th centuries, when they were aided by the Avars (Turkic cavalry warriors whose first capital was Sirmium in Illyria). They came in large numbers, and thus, in the 7th century, the central government collapsed, and the attacks reached Constantinople.
Some argue for continuity and cultural connection between the Slavs and the Illyrians, which includes similarities in burial customs: graves marked with stones, the breaking of pottery, the periodic division of land among farmers, use of the same method of baking bread, clothing—such as a similar hat—fondness for tattoos, a connection between Mother Jana, the forest goddess of the Balkan Slavs, and the Illyrian goddess, and more.
The Illyrians probably contributed to Slavic culture the circle dances (kolo) and the pan flute.
Are the Albanians a continuation of the Illyrians?
Aבcording to the official Albanian version, with the fall of the Roman Empire to the Germanic tribes invading the Balkans in the 4th–5th centuries AD, the Illyrians retreated to the Albanian mountains and the surrounding area—the wildest and most inaccessible areas of the Dinaric Alps—where they maintained their culture and continued the traditions of their people to this day. In the Middle Ages, they reappeared on the stage of history as the Albanian people. Thus, the name Albania derives from an ancient Illyrian tribe called the Albino, whose location was in southern Albania. The Albanian language preserves the ancient Illyrian language.
The Kosovars also consider themselves to be the continuation of the Illyrian Dardanian tribes and call their country “Dardania.” They speak Albanian and consider themselves part of Greater Albania and the Albanian people, which is a continuation of the Illyrian people.
However, the researcher John Wilkes, in his important book on the Illyrians, presents a somewhat more complex picture:
Albania was less affected by the invasions of the Goths and the barbarians; the coastal cities survived and became centers of Christianity. In Komani-Kruja, there is a cemetery whose burial methods are somewhat reminiscent of the Illyrians, and Albanian scholars see this as an argument for cultural and national continuity. The cemetery was in use in the 6th–9th centuries AD, until the appearance of the Albanian people on the stage of history. According to the Albanian version, in the 10th–11th centuries, a mound culture called Arberi appears in southern Albania, as in ancient Illyria. The names of places are preserved, especially around Lake Shkodër.
Indeed, based on words in the Albanian language—and especially plant names—Wilkes concludes that the Albanians originated from nomadic Illyrian tribes (like the Vlachs of our time), who ascended the mountains in the summer and descended to the valleys in the winter. He shows how words taken from Latin refer to city life, words taken from Slavic languages refer to plants up to a thousand meters high, while the words for plants and animals above a thousand meters are Illyrian-Albanian.
His conclusion is that the Albanians formed as a people at a time when all these elements, including the Slavs, were already present in the Balkans, and the central element of the Albanian population were herders from the wild regions of the Dinaric Alps. In other words, the Albanians are Illyrians—but not the same Illyrians who defended the fortress of Rozafa against the Romans or raided with their lembi ships across the Adriatic, but Illyrian shepherd tribes from the mountain regions mixed with Slavic and other elements.
Dardani Kosovo Illyrians
Kosovo is a fertile hilly area enclosed by high mountains on all sides. Its history begins 6,000 years ago. Remains of settlements were discovered as early as the Chalcolithic period, and among the finds are many statues of goddesses, attesting to the cult of the Great Mother. About 3,000 years ago, the Illyrians arrived in the region. Illyrian tribes called Dardanians settled in Kosovo; they were always independent, and the Kosovars see themselves as the successors of these tribes.
The Dardanians were considered the best warriors among the Illyrians. They appear on the stage of history in the descriptions of the Greeks and Hellenes, fighting the Macedonians led by Philip and the successors of his kingdom. They were a powerful force in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, after being conquered by the Romans. The Romans established a province called Dardania, whose capital was Niš in southern Serbia, but it included the Kosovo region. In other words, the Kosovars were part of a different Roman province than the rest of the Illyrians, who belonged to the province of Illyria.
There is scholarly uncertainty as to whether the Dardani were Illyrians, Thracians, a combination of both, or perhaps related to the Celts who invaded the Balkans in the 3rd century BC. The Kosovo region is geographically and culturally linked to southern Serbia and the east, and is separated from the west by difficult-to-cross mountains. According to Greek mythology, Dardanus was one of the sons of Illyri – the son of Cadmus and Harmonia, who arrived in Budva on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.
