Illyrians

This article refers to the ancient inhabitants of the Balkans. For other uses of this word, see Illyria (disambiguation).

Illyrians has come to refer to a broad, ill-defined group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans (from northern Epirus to southern Pannonia) and even perhaps parts of Southern Italy in classical times into the Common era, and spoke Illyrian languages. It is, however, unclear whether in reality there was such a broad group that self-identified as Illyrians, and some argue that the ethnonym Illyrioi came to be applied to this large group of tribes by the ancient Greeks, Illyrioi having perhaps originally designated only a single tribe that came to be widely known to the Greeks due to proximity. Indeed, such a tribe known as the Illyroi are known to have occupied a small and well-defined part of the south Adriatic coast, around Skadar Lake astride the modern frontier between Albania and Montenegro.

Pliny in his Natural History tacitly implies a stricter usage of the term Illyri, when speaking of Illyri proprie dictii ("Illyrians properly so-called") among the native communities in Roman Dalmatia. A passage from Appian's Illyrike is representative of the broader usage of the term:

The Greeks call those people Illyrian who dwell beyond Macedonia and Thrace, from Chaonia and Thesprotia to the river Danube. —Appian, Illyrike 1

Origins

The ethnogenesis of the Illyrians remains a problem for prehistorians, however the consensus is that the ethnic ancestors of the Illyrians, the Proto-Illyrians, branched off from the main Proto-Indo-European trunk before the Iron Age. Current theories of Illyrian origin are based on ancient remnants of material culture found in the area, but archaeological remains alone have so far proven insufficient for a definite answer to the question of the Illyrian ethnogenesis.

When the Proto-Illyrians became a distinct group remains unclear, for example. The process may have begun as early as the Eneolithic (the latest phase of the Stone Age). It is hypothesized (v. Wilkes, pg. 33) that in the Eneolithic period invading Indo-European groups mingled with indigenous pre-Indo-European groups, resulting in the formation of the principal tribal groups of what are now called the Paleo-Balkan peoples: Illyrians, Thracians, and others.

A. Benac and B. Čović, archaeologists at Sarajevo, hypothesize that during the Bronze Age there took place a progressive 'Illyrianization' of peoples dwelling in the lands between the Adriatic and the Sava.

In contrast to an ethnogenesis in the Balkans, another school of scholars maintains the theory of an Illyrian invasion, which involves a great movement of Illyrian tribes from the lowlands of central Europe (modern Hungary), towards South Eastern Europe and the Balkan peninsula. The Illyrian invasion is estimated to have occurred around the 13th century BC. The numerous Thracian names in Illyria have led many scholars to believe that the region was originally inhabited by Thracians, who were either deplaced or submitted to the Illyrian invaders. The Illyrians were most likely in turn pushed eastwards by Celtic or Germanic tribes from the northwest. According to this theory, the Illyrian invasion most likely caused the Thracian expansion to the east, the movement of the Greeks to the south and the Phrygian migration from Thrace into central Asia Minor. The last event may have created the conditions for the Achaean Greeks to colonise the coast of Asia Minor and the Dorians to start their invasion.

Bronze Age remains

In the western Balkans, there are few remains to connect with bronze-using Proto-Illyrians, except in western Serbia and eastern Bosnia. Moreover, with the notable exception of Pod near Bugojno in the upper valley of the Vrbas River, nothing is known of their settlements. Some hill settlements have been identified in western Serbia but the main evidence comes from cemeteries, consisting usually of a small number of burial mounds (tumuli).

In eastern Bosnia in the cemeteries of Belotić and Bela Crkva, the rites of inhumation and cremation are attested, with skeletons in stone cists and cremations in urns. Metal implements appear here side-by-side with stone implements. Most of the remains belong to the fully developed Middle Bronze Age.

Iron Age remains

Illyrian peoples in the classical period

The Roman conquest

The fate of the Illyrians

The real fate of the Illyrians is not entirely clear and is still up to debate. Some scholars believe the Illyrians became extinct, while others uphold the theory that Albanian is related to the language of the Illyrians, thus making Albania the descendant nation of these ancient people.

Illyrians as Dorians

Some have speculated that the Illyrians were, technically, the descendants of early Doric tribes that settled in Illyria prior to 2000 BC. In ancient Greek mythology, the Illyrians were the descendants of Illyrius who was the son of Cadmus and Harmonia.

Hyllus, the first recorded ruler of Illyria, was deemed as the son of Hercules in Greek mythology. The Dorians deemed Hercules as an important heroic/historical ancestor and have called their invasions of Greece as the "return of Hercules." Roman sources from the 2nd century BC (during the time of the Illyrian-Roman wars) have called Queen Teuta's Illyria as a half-Hellenic country. This implies that the Illyrians were Hellenes that spoke a Hellenic dialect, but their culture was a lot less advanced in comparison to other Greek civilizations such as the Athenians.

The ancient Macedonians deemed the Illyrians, as well as the Thracians, as their closest kin even though they have engaged in wars with their neighbors. This sense of "kinship" between Macedonians and Illyrians may be attributed to the possibility that both groups were cognizant of being descendants of Doric tribes. Moreover, this "kinship" entailed similarities they possessed in that they both spoke "barbaric" (or unsophisticated) forms of Hellenic and possessed less developed forms of Greek culture (again, in comparison to the Athenians).

Polybius himself stated that the Macedonians and the Illyrians required translators in order to communicate with each other (Book XXVIII, paragraph 8). This has led modern scholars to interpret Polybius' statement as proving that both the Macedonians and the Illyrians were different populaces. However, if the Macedonians and the Illyrians descended from the Dorians and they spoke "barbaric" Greek dialects that were linguistically unintelligible to a certain extent, then it would make sense for both peoples to require translators during crucial political/diplomatic discussions. Within the ancient Greek socio-political context, dialects that came from the same language were not necessarily well understood (or at least totally understood) by those trying to communicate with each other. Hence, the translators that Polybius spoke of in his chronicles should not necessarily be interpreted as having been called to help facilitate lines of communication between two people(s) possessing two separately different languages.

References

Wilkes, John. The Illyrians. Blackwell Publishing, 1992.
Dragoslav Srejovic, Les Illyriens et Thraces, 1997.

External link

Illyria: Land of the Lyra