Illyria

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| subdivision_name = Southeast Europe

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| subdivision_name1 = Western Balkan

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In classical and late antiquity, Illyria ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|l|ɪər|i|ə}}; {{langx|grc|Ἰλλυρία}}, Illyría or {{lang|grc|Ἰλλυρίς}}, Illyrís;Illyría and Illyrís respectivelyPolybius. Histories, [https://archive.today/20120716034333/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0233:book=1:chapter=13 1.13.1]. {{langx|la|Illyria}},{{cite book |last1=Lewis|first1=Charlton T.|last2=Short|first2=Charles|title=A Latin Dictionary |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2321597|chapter=Illyria}} Illyricum){{cite book |last1=Dzino |first1=Danijel |title=Illyricum in Roman Politics, 229 BC–AD 68 |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139484237 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4kkhAwAAQBAJ&q=Illyricum |access-date=29 January 2019 |language=en}} was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians.

The Ancient Greeks initially used the term Illyris to define approximately the area of northern and central Albania down to the Aoös valley (modern Vjosa) and the Bay of Vlorë, including in most periods much of the lakeland area (Ohrid and Prespa). It corresponded to the region that neighboured Macedonia and Epirus.{{sfn|Boardman|1982|p=623|ps=: "Illyris, a term different from Illyria and Illyricum, was that part of Albania which lies north of the lower and middle Vijosë valley, and during most epochs it included much of the lakeland area."}}{{sfn|Hammond|1982|p=261|ps=: "'Illyris', a geographical term which the Greeks applied to a territory neighbouring of their own, covers more or less the area of northern and central Albania down to the mouth of the Aous."}} In Roman times the terms Illyria, Illyris, or Illyricum were extended from the territory that was roughly located in the area of the south-eastern Adriatic coast (modern Albania and Montenegro) and its hinterland, to a broader region stretching between the whole eastern Adriatic and the Danube.{{harvnb|Ivetic|2022|p=44|ps=: "In 228, the Romans imposed a protectorate on the islands of Issa (Vis) and Corfu, and on the cities of Epidamnos (Durrës), Apollonia (present-day Pojani) and Oricum (Orikum) in the bay of Vlorë. This protectorate coincided with the use of the Roman concept of Illyricum."}}{{harvnb|Hammond|Wilkes|2012|p=726|ps=: "Illyrii, a large group of related *Indo-European tribes, who occupied in classical times the western side of the Balkan range from the head of the *Adriatic Sea to the hinterland of the gulf of Valona and extended northwards as far as the eastern *Alps and the Danube (see DANUVIUS) and eastwards into some districts beyond the Balkan range. The name was properly that of a small people between Scodra and the Mati river, and it was applied by the Greeks and later by the Romans to the other tribes with which they had regular contact. Thus Illyris meant to the Greeks the southern part of the area, that neighbouring *Mace-donia, *Epirus, and the Greek cities on the Adriatic coast and islands, and *Illyricum meant to the Romans the whole area from the eastern Alps to the gulf of Valona."}}{{sfn|Dzino|2014|pp=45–46|ps=: "The majority of authorities assume that this term expanded roughly from the region of the south-eastern Adriatic (modern Albania and Montenegro) with the hinterland, to the whole Roman Illyricum, between the eastern Adriatic and the Danube."}}

From about mid-1st century BC the term Illyricum was used by the Romans for the province of the Empire that stretched along the eastern Adriatic coast north of the Drin river, south of which the Roman province of Macedonia began including the southern part of the traditional region of Illyria. The southeastern part, to the north of Macedonia, was organized within the province of Moesia Superior.{{sfn|Wilkes|1995|p=208|ps=: "By the middle of the first century the Romans were using the name Illyricum for their Adriatic territories north of the Drin, south of which the province Macedonia began."}} From about 69-79 AD the province of Illyricum was subsumed into the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia.Šašel-Kos, "Pannonia or Lower Illyricum?" Tyche, Band 25 (2010), pp. 123–130 In the Late Roman Empire the name was used for the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum.

Name

{{main|Illyrians#Etymology|Illyrians#Terminology and attestation}}

The region took its name from its inhabitants, the Illyrians, a group of Balkan Indo-European speaking peoples that inhabited the western part of the Peninsula in ancient times.

Illyrian kingdoms

{{Main|Illyrian kingdom|Dardanian Kingdom|List of rulers of Illyria}}

File:Illyrians in the 7th-4th centuries BC.png

The earliest recorded Illyrian kingdom was that of the Enchele in the 8th century BC.{{harvnb|Stipčević|2002|pages=46–47}}. The era in which we observe other Illyrian kingdoms begins approximately at 400 BC and ends at 167 BC.{{harvnb|Wilkes|1995|p=298}}. The Autariatae under Pleurias (337 BC) were considered to have been a kingdom.{{harvnb|Lewis|Boardman|1994|p=785}}. The Kingdom of the Ardiaei began at 230 BC and ended at 167 BC.{{harvnb|Wilkes|1969|p=13}}. The most notable Illyrian kingdoms and dynasties were those of Bardyllis of the Dardani and of Agron of the Ardiaei who created the last and best-known Illyrian kingdom.{{harvnb|Kipfer|2000|p=251}}. Agron ruled over the Ardiaei and had extended his rule to other tribes as well.{{harvnb|Hammond|1993|p=104}}. As for the Dardanians, they always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians.{{harvnb|Papazoglu|1978|p=216}}.

The Illyrian kingdoms were composed of small areas within the region of Illyria. Only the Romans ruled the entire region. The internal organization of the south Illyrian kingdoms points to imitation of their neighbouring Greek kingdoms and influence from the Greek and Hellenistic world in the growth of their urban centres.{{harvnb|Wilkes|1995|p=237}}. Polybius gives as an image of society within an Illyrian kingdom as peasant infantry fought under aristocrats which he calls in Greek Polydynastae (Greek: Πολυδυνάστες) where each one controlled a town within the kingdom.{{harvnb|Wilkes|1995|p=127}}. The monarchy was established on hereditary lines and Illyrian rulers used marriages as a means of alliance with other powers.{{harvnb|Wilkes|1995|p=167}}. Pliny (23–79 AD) writes that the people that formed the nucleus of the Illyrian kingdom were 'Illyrians proper' or Illyrii proprie dicti.{{harvnb|Wilkes|1995|p=216}}. They were the Taulantii, the Pleraei, the Endirudini, Sasaei, Grabaei and the Labeatae. These later joined to form the Docleatae.

Roman Protectorate of Illyricum

After the Roman victory in the First Illyrian War, Illyrian Queen Teuta was forced to retreat to the Bay of Kotor, and in 228 BC the Romans imposed a protectorate on the islands of Issa and Corcyra, as well as on the cities of Epidamnos, Apollonia and Oricum. The protectorate area corresponded to the usage of the Roman concept of Illyricum.

During the Macedonian Wars, the territory of southern Illyria, which Rome had aimed to protect and control periodically for thirty years since the First Illyrian War, was involved in the conflict between Rome and Macedon. Macedon aimed to conquer, without success, the southern Illyrian ports because they would have been good bases for an attack upon Italy.{{sfn|Morton|2017|p=15}}{{sfn|Burton|2017|pp=24–25}}{{sfn|Eckstein|2008|p=86}}

The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra (in present-day Albania) in 168 BC and captured him, bringing him to Rome in 165 BC. Four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was directly governed by Rome and organized as a province, with Scodra as its capital.

Roman rule

{{Main|Illyricum (Roman province)|Macedonia (Roman province)|Moesia Superior|Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum}}

File:Dardanija.jpg

Illyrian territories were organized during the Roman administration into the provinces of Illyricum, Macedonia, and Moesia Superior.

The Roman province of Illyricum roughly encompassed the territories of the last Illyrian kingdom. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern Albania to Istria (Croatia) in the west and to the Sava river (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in the north. Salona (near modern Split in Croatia) functioned as its capital.

After subduing a troublesome revolt of Pannonians and Daesitiates, Roman administrators dissolved the province of Illyricum and divided its lands between the new provinces of Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south. Although this division occurred in 10 AD, the term Illyria remained in use in Late Latin and throughout the medieval period. After the division of the Roman Empire, the bishops of Thessalonica appointed papal vicars for Illyricum. The first of these vicars is said to have been Bishop Acholius or Ascholius (died 383 or 384), the friend of St. Basil. In the 5th century, the bishops of Illyria withdrew from communion with Rome, without attaching themselves to Constantinople, and remained for a time independent, but in 515, forty Illyrian bishops renewed their loyalty to Rome by declaring allegiance to Pope Hormisdas. The patriarchs of Constantinople succeeded in bringing Illyria under their jurisdiction in the 8th century.{{harvnb|Lins|1910|loc="Illyria"}}.

Jewish presence in Illyricum is attested during and after its incorporation into the Roman Empire. As Roman military and trade networks expanded into the region following the defeat of King Gentius, Jewish merchants, artisans, and possibly freed slaves settled in Dalmatian and Pannonian cities such as Salona, Narona, and Sirmium. These communities, often Greek-speaking and aligned with Jerusalem-based traditions, operated within Roman legal frameworks and sometimes held status as collegia. Although no literary corpus survives from Illyrian Jews, archaeological evidence, including menorahs and inscriptions, supports their presence. Some scholars suggest that these Jews formed part of broader Hellenistic Judaism diaspora patterns reaching as far as Tanais in the Crimea and Stobi in Macedonia.Cohen, Shaye J. D. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties. University of California Press, 1999, pp. 108–112.

In culture

William Shakespeare chose a fictionalized Illyria as the setting for his play Twelfth Night. (The modernized film spoof She's the Man is set in "Illyria High School" in California.) Shakespeare also mentioned the region in Henry VI, Part 2.{{cite web|title=Henry VI, part 2: Entire Play|url=http://shakespeare.mit.edu/2henryvi/full.html|website=shakespeare.mit.edu|access-date=2016-05-07|archive-date=2020-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630041122/http://shakespeare.mit.edu/2henryvi/full.html|url-status=dead}}

An extensive history of Illyria by Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, was published by Joseph Keglevich in 1746.{{harvnb|du Fresne|1746|p=1}}.

Illyria is the setting for Jean-Paul Sartre's Les Mains Sales.

Lloyd Alexander's The Illyrian Adventure is set in Illyria in 1872.{{Cite web |date=1986-04-01 |title=The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780525442509 |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}

John Hawkes' 1970 novel The Blood Oranges is set in a fictionalized Illyria.{{Cite journal|last1=Hawkes|first1=John|last2=Scholes|first2=Robert|year=1972|title=A Conversation on "The Blood Oranges" between John Hawkes and Robert Scholes |jstor=1345277|journal=Novel: A Forum on Fiction|volume=5|issue= 3|pages=203–204, 197–207|doi=10.2307/1345277}}

There is a fictional Illyria with its inhabitants, winged fae, in the fantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.

The fighting game series 'Guilty Gear' created by Daisuke Ishiwatari, features a fictional Illyria in its world.

The television series Angel (1999 TV series) has a character named Illyria who is a main character for the back half of the final season, as well as a prominent figure in the comic spin-offs.

The character of Una "Number One" Chin-Riley in the television series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a member of a humanoid species called "Illyrians".

References

=Citations=

=Sources=

{{Cite book|last1=Berranger|first1=Danièle|last2=Cabanes|first2=Pierre|last3=Berranger-Auserve|first3=Danièle|title=Épire, Illyrie, Macédoine: Mélanges Offerts au Professeur Pierre Cabanes|location=Clermont-Ferrand, France|publisher=Presses Universitaires Blaise Pascal|year=2007|isbn=978-2-84516-351-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_kFU6h77ssC}}
{{Cite book|last=Boardman|first=John|title=The Prehistory of the Balkans and the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C.|location=Cambridge, United Kingdom|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1982|isbn=0-521-22496-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXljf8JqmkoC}}
{{cite book|last=Burton|first=Paul J.|year=2017|title=Rome and the Third Macedonian War|pages=39|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108684088|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QkY3DwAAQBAJ}}
{{Cite book|last=du Fresne|first=Charles|title=Illyricvm Vetvs & Novum: Sive Historia Regnorvm Dalmatiae, Croatiae, Slavoniae, Bosniae, Serviae, atqve Bvlgariae|location=Posonii|publisher=Typis Haeredvm Royerianorvm|year=1746|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_c4GAAAAQAAJ}}
{{cite journal|last=Dzino|first=Danijel|title='Illyrians' in ancient ethnographic discourse|journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne|volume=40|number=2|year=2014|pages=45–65|doi=10.3917/dha.402.0045|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_2014_num_40_2_3944}}
{{cite book|last=Eckstein|first=Arthur M.|author-link=Arthur Eckstein|title=Rome Enters the Greek East From Anarchy to Hierarchy in the Hellenistic Mediterranean, 230–170 BC|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4051-6072-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Czk_jxbHEDQC}}
{{Cite book|last1=Grimal|first1=Pierre|last2=Maxwell-Hyslop|first2=A. R.|title=The Dictionary of Classical Mythology|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Limited|year=1996|isbn=0-631-20102-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtYQPW95-FsC}}
{{cite dictionary|last1=Hammond|first1=N. G. L.|last2=Wilkes|first2=J. J.|editor-last1=Hornblower|editor-first1=Simon|editor-last2=Spawforth|editor-first2=Antony|editor-last3=Eidinow|editor-first3=Esther|dictionary=The Oxford Classical Dictionary|date=2012|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-954556-8|entry-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA726|entry=Illyrii|page=726}}
{{Cite book|last=Hammond|first=Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière|title=Studies concerning Epirus and Macedonia before Alexander|location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands|publisher=Adolf M. Hakkert|year=1993|isbn=9789025610500 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWwiAQAAIAAJ}}
{{Cite book|last=Hammond|first=Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière|title=Cambridge Ancient History, volume 3: The Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth centuries B.C.|location=Cambridge, United Kingdom|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1982|isbn=0-521-23447-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qAoqP4g1fEC}}
{{cite book|last=Ivetic|first=Egidio|title=History of the Adriatic: A Sea and Its Civilization|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2022|isbn=9781509552535|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q91xEAAAQBAJ}}
{{Cite book|last=Kipfer|first=Barbara Ann|title=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology|location=New York, New York|publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers|year=2000|isbn=0-306-46158-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XneTstDbcC0C}}
{{cite encyclopedia |last=Kos |first=M. Š. |year=2012 |title=Illyria and Illyrians |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah09128 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781405179355 }}
{{Cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=David Malcolm|last2=Boardman|first2=John|title=The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC|location=Cambridge, United Kingdom|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|isbn=0-521-23348-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vx251bK988gC}}
{{cite book|last=Lins|first=Joseph|chapter=Illyria|title=The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7|location=New York, New York|publisher=Robert Appleton Company|year=1910|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07663a.htm}}
{{cite journal|last=Morton|first=Jacob Nathan|title=Shifting Landscapes, Policies, And Morals: A Topographically Driven Analysis Of The Roman Wars In Greece From 200 BC To 168 BC|year=2017|journal=Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|volume=2484|url=https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2484}}
{{Cite book|last=Papazoglu|first=Fanula|title=The Central Balkan Tribes in Pre-Roman Times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians|location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands|publisher=Adolf M. Hakkert|year=1978|isbn=90-256-0793-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Up4JAQAAIAAJ}}
{{cite book|last=Stipčević|first=Aleksandar|title=Ilirët: Historia, Jeta, Kultura, Simbolet e Kultit|location=Tirana, Albania|publisher=Toena|year=2002|isbn=99927-1-609-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wANBcgAACAAJ}}
{{Cite book|last=Wilkes|first=John J.|title=History of the Provinces of the Roman Empire|location=London, United Kingdom|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|year=1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uh7_RQAACAAJ}}
{{Cite book|last=Wilkes|first=John J.|title=The Illyrians|year=1995|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|publisher=Blackwell Publishers Limited|isbn=0-631-19807-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Nv6SPRKqs8C}}