Illyrians

Mystery enshrouds the exact origins of today's Albanians.

Most historians of the Balkans believe that the Albanian people are in large part descendants of the ancient lllyrians, who, like other Balkan peoples, were subdivided into tribes and clans.

The name Albania is derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Arber, or Arbereshe, and later Albanoi, that live near Durres.

The Illyrians are Indo-European tribesmen who appeared in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula about 1000 BCE, a period coinciding with the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.

They will inhabit much of the area for at least the next millennium.

Archaeologists associate the Illyrians with the Hallstatt culture, an Iron Age people noted for production of iron and bronze swords with winged-shaped handles and for domestication of horses.

The Illyrians occupy lands extending from the Danube, Sava, and Morava rivers to the Adriatic Sea and the Sar Mountains.

At various times, groups of Illyrians migrate over land and sea into Italy.

The Illyrians carry on commerce and warfare with their neighbors.

The ancient Macedonians probably have some Illyrian roots, but their ruling class will adopt Greek cultural characteristics.

The Illyrians also mingle with the Thracians, another ancient people with adjoining lands on the east.

In the south and along the Adriatic Sea coast, the Illyrians are heavily influenced by the Greeks, who found  trading colonies here.

The present-day city of Durrës (Dyrrachium) evolves from a Greek colony known as Epidamnos, which is founded at the end of the seventh century BCE.

Another famous Greek colony, Apollonia, arises between Durrës and the port city of Vlorë.

Greeks set up trading posts along the eastern Adriatic coast after 600 BCE and found colonies there in the fourth century BCE.

Greek influence proves ephemeral, however, and the native tribes remain herdsmen and warriors.

Bardylis, a tribal chief of Illyria (present-day northwest Yugoslavia), assumes control of much of Macedonia in 360 BCE.

Philip II and his son, Alexander the Great, later unite Macedonia and campaign as far north as present-day Serbia.

Invading Celts force the Illyrians southward from the northern Adriatic coast in the fourth century BCE, and over several centuries a mixed Celtic-Illyrian culture arises in much of modern Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia, producing wheel-turned pottery, jewelry, and iron tools.

The Illyrian kingdom of Bardyllis becomes a formidable local power in the fourth century BCE.

In 358 BCE, however, Macedonia's Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, defeats the Illyrians and assumes control of their territory as far as Lake Ohrid.

Alexander himself routs the forces of the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus in 335 BCE, and Illyrian tribal leaders and soldiers accompany Alexander on his conquest of Persia.

The Illyrians produce and trade cattle, horses, agricultural goods, and wares fashioned from locally mined copper and iron.

Feuds and warfare are constant facts of life for the Illyrian tribes, and Illyrian pirates plague shipping on the Adriatic Sea.

Councils of elders choose the chieftains who head each of the numerous Illyrian tribes.

From time to time, local chieftains extend their rule over other tribes and form short-lived kingdoms.

During the fifth century BCE, a well-developed Illyrian population center exists as far north as the upper Sava River valley in what is now Slovenia.

Illyrian friezes discovered near the present-day Slovenian city of Ljubljana depict ritual sacrifices, feasts, battles, sporting events, and other activities.

The Illyrians, ethnically akin to the Thracians, had originally inhabited a large area from the Istrian Peninsula to northern Greece and as far inland as the Morava River, but Celtic invasions during the fourth century BCE push the Illyrians southward from the northern Adriatic coast, and hereafter their territory does not extend much farther north than the Drin River.

Illyrian society, like that of the Thracians, is organized around tribal groups who often fight wars with one another and with outsiders.

Independent Illyrian kingdoms again arise after Alexander's death in 323 BCE.

In 312 BCE, King Glaucius expels the Greeks from Durrës.

By the end of the third century, an Illyrian kingdom based near what is now the Albanian city of Shkoder controls parts of northern Albania, Montenegro, and Hercegovina.

Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attack Roman merchant vessels plying the Adriatic Sea and give Rome an excuse to invade the Balkans.

Rome overruns the Illyrian settlements in the Neretva River valley in the Illyrian Wars of 229 and 219 BCE.

The Illyrian king Glaucias, operating to the northwest of the Macedonian kingdom seizes Durrës in 312 and expels the Greeks.

The Romans make new gains in 168 BCE, and Roman forces captures Illyria's King Gentius at Shkoder, which they call Scodra, and bring him to Rome in 165 BCE.

A century later, Julius Caesar and his rival Pompey fight their decisive battle near Durrës.

Pula is inhabited in classical antiquity by the Histri, a Venetic or Illyrian tribe from whom the name Istria is derived, recorded by Strabo in the 1st century CE and who are credited as being the builders of the hillfort settlements (castellieri).

The Histri are classified in some sources as a "Venetic" Illyrian tribe, with certain linguistic differences from other Illyrians.The Romans described the Histri as a fierce tribe of pirates, protected by the difficult navigation of their rocky coasts.

It takes two military campaigns for the Romans in 177 BCE to finally subdue the Histri, starting a period of Romanization.

The region is called together with the Venetian part the X. Roman Region of "Venetia et Histria", the ancient definition of the northeastern border of Italy.

Dante Alighieri will efers to it as well; the eastern border of Italy per ancient definition is the river Arsia. The eastern side of this river is settled by people whose culture is different than Histrians.

Earlier influence of the Iapodes is attested there, while at some time between the fourth and first century BCE, the Liburnians extend their territory and it becomes a part of Liburnia. On the northern side, Histria goes much further north and includes Tergeste, today the Italian city of Trieste.

Rome had conquered the west Adriatic coast in the third century BCE and began exerting influence on the opposite shore.

Greek allegations that the Illyrians were disrupting commerce and plundering coastal towns had helped precipitate a Roman punitive strike in 229 BCE and in subsequent campaigns Rome had forced Illyrian rulers to pay tribute.

Roman armies often crossed Illyria during the Roman-Macedonian wars, and in 168 BCE Rome had conquered the Illyrians and destroyed the Macedonia of Philip and Alexander.

For many years, the Dinaric Alps has sheltered resistance forces, but Roman dominance increases.

In 35 BCE, the emperor Octavian conquers the coastal region and seizes inland Celtic and Illyrian strongholds; in CE 9, Tiberius consolidates Roman control of the western Balkan Peninsula; and by CE 14, Rome has subjugated the Celts in what is now Serbia.

The Romans bring order to the region, and their inventive genius produces lasting monuments, but Rome's most significant legacy to the region is the separation of the empire's Byzantine and Roman spheres (the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, respectively), which create a cultural chasm that will eventually divide East from West, Eastern Orthodox from Roman Catholic, and Serb from Croat and Slovene.