The Illyrians — Who They Were and What Remains

A name given by others

The Illyrians did not call themselves Illyrians, at least not as a whole. The name comes from Greek and later Roman authors, who used it for a whole series of peoples living along the eastern Adriatic, from the borders of Epirus in the south to the Alps and the Danube in the north. Among them were the Ardiaei, the Taulantii, the Dalmatae, the Liburnians and, depending on the author, the Dardanians in the interior.

Originally the name probably belonged to a single, smaller people. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder still spoke of the Illyrians in the proper sense, the Illyrii proprie dicti, on the southern Adriatic coast. From there the name spread, much as the Romans later used Germani for many peoples that had little in common beyond their neighbours' view of them.

Kingdoms on the Adriatic: Teuta and Gentius

In the third century BC the kingdom of the Ardiaei on the coast of today's Montenegro and northern Albania became a power at sea. Its light, fast ships made the Adriatic dangerous for Greek and Italian traders. After the death of King Agron, his widow Teuta ruled from 231 BC as regent. When a Roman envoy was killed, Rome declared war in 229 BC, sending 200 warships, 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. Teuta had to accept peace in 228 BC and give up large parts of the coast.

Two more wars followed. The last Illyrian king was Gentius, who ruled from 181 BC from Scodra, today's Shkodër. In 168 BC he sided with Macedonia against Rome, was defeated within weeks and taken to Rome as a prisoner. With him ended the last independent Illyrian kingdom. Albania later put his portrait on the 2,000 lek banknote.

Rome's hardest war since Hannibal

Under Roman rule the region became the province of Illyricum. Peace did not last. In AD 6 native peoples in Dalmatia and Pannonia rose up, many of them men who had been recruited as auxiliary troops for the Roman army. Their leader was Bato of the Daesitiates. The revolt lasted three years and tied down a large part of the Roman army. The historian Suetonius called it the most difficult war Rome had fought since the Punic Wars.

After the revolt was crushed in AD 9, Rome divided Illyricum into the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia. The Illyrian peoples did not disappear, but over the following centuries many of them became Latin-speaking Roman citizens, soldiers and officials.

The Illyrian emperors

In the third century AD the Roman Empire was close to collapse: civil wars, invasions, a new emperor every few years. It was soldiers from the Balkans who stabilised it. Claudius II, Aurelian, Probus and Diocletian came from the Danube and Adriatic provinces and are therefore known as the Illyrian emperors. Diocletian reorganised the entire empire; Constantine the Great, born in Naissus, continued his work.

The term says more about their homeland than about their ancestry. Illyricum by then meant a large Roman administrative region. Whether these emperors were descended from Illyrians in the ethnic sense is not known in most cases. What the term shows is how important the Balkans had become for Rome: as a recruiting ground for the army and as a cradle of rulers.

A language of names

The Illyrian language is almost lost. There are no texts, no sentences, not even short phrases. What survives are three or four words that can be identified with certainty, plus personal names, tribal names and place names recorded by Greek and Roman writers. That is very little for a language once spoken across half the Balkans.

This is why one of the most debated questions in Balkan linguistics remains open: does Albanian descend from Illyrian? Many linguists consider it likely, for geographical and historical reasons. Others think Albanian comes from a closely related language, and a third group holds that the evidence is simply not sufficient for a firm answer. All three positions are represented among serious researchers.

What remains: names

In everyday life the Illyrians live on above all in names. Teuta is a popular girl's name in Albania and Kosovo, Gent and its forms Genti and Genc go back to King Gentius, and Agron, Bardhyl and Dardan also refer to the ancient world. For many families, giving a child such a name is a quiet way of saying where they feel they belong.

There is one of these names in ours, too. And our first collection carries the name of Dardania, the land of a people that ancient writers counted among the Illyrians. On the back of the Dardania leather jacket the double-headed eagle is pressed into the leather: a symbol that is much younger than the Illyrians, but stands for the same long memory.

Dardania Leather Jacket, back with the double-headed eagle

DROP 01 · DARDANIA LEATHER

The eagle, pressed into leather

The Dardania leather jacket carries the double-headed eagle across the back: 300 millimetres wide, pressed into scale-grain leather. No print, no patch. Numbered, in black and bone white.

SEE THE JACKET →

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Who were the Illyrians?+

Illyrians was the Greek and Roman name for a group of peoples on the eastern Adriatic coast and in the western Balkans in antiquity. They formed several kingdoms, the last of which was conquered by Rome in 168 BC.

Are Albanians descended from the Illyrians?+

Many historians and linguists consider it likely that Illyrian peoples are among the ancestors of Albanians, but it cannot be proven because the Illyrian language is barely attested. Researchers are divided on the question.

Who was Queen Teuta?+

Teuta ruled the kingdom of the Ardiaei as regent from 231 BC after the death of her husband Agron. Under her, the Illyrians fought the First Illyrian War against Rome in 229 to 228 BC.

Where does the name Gent come from?+

Gent is derived from Gentius, the last Illyrian king, who ruled from Scodra, today's Shkodër, from 181 to 168 BC.

SOURCES

The Illyrians: who they were