The history of the Illyrians spans from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC up to the 1st century AD in the region of Illyria and in southern Italy, where the Iapygian civilization flourished.
It concerns the armed conflicts of the Illyrian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkans, in Italy as well as pirate activity in the Mediterranean. Apart from conflicts between Illyrians and neighbouring nations and tribes, numerous wars were recorded among Illyrian tribes themselves.
According to ancient sources, the Illyrians were renowned warriors. They were known as skilled craftsmen and shipbuilders in ancient times and controlled much of the Adriatic and Ionian Sea using their numerous warships. Illyrians had effective weapons such as the sica, a curved-tip sword that originated in Illyria and was eventually adopted all over the Balkans and used later by the Romans.
Mythological Instances of Illyrians engaged in armed conflict occurred in Greek mythology and specifically in the legend of Cadmus and Harmonia, where Cadmus led the Illyrian EncheliiApollodorus, Library, 3.5.4. "As the Encheleans were being attacked by the Illyrians, the god declared by an oracle that they would get the better of the Illyrians if they had Cadmus and Harmonia as their leaders. They believed him, and made them their leaders against the Illyrians, and got the better of them. And Cadmus reigned over the Illyrians, and a son Illyrius was born to him." in a victorious campaign againstThe Dictionary of Classical Mythology by Pierre Grimal and A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop, , 1996, page 230, "Illyrius (Ἰλλυριός). The youngest son of Cadmus and Harmonia. He was born during their expedition against the Illyrians" the Illyrians after divine advice from the Oracle.The Dictionary of Classical Mythology by Pierre Grimal and A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop, , 1996, page 83, "They went to Illyria to live amongst the Encheleans who had been attacked by the Illyrians. The Encheleans had been promised victory by an Oracle if Cadmus and Harmonia would lead them and as this condition was fulfilled they were indeed victorious." If the legend is true, this war would have occurred around 2000 BC, the time when Cadmus has been claimed to have lived.
Tribal conflicts
Illyrian tribes were reluctant to help each other in times of war and even fought amongst each other and they sometimes allied with the neighbouring RomansThe Illyrians (The Peoples of Europe) by John Wilkes, 1996, page 98, ...North of Dassaretis in the middle and upper valley of the Genusus was the territory of the Illyrian Parthini, likely to have been part of the Taulantii until they first appear as Roman allies late in the third century ... and Greeks:Arthur Edward Romilly Boak and William Gurnee Sinnigen. A History of Rome to A.D. 565, page 111, The island of Pharos and some adjacent territory in Illyria were given to a Greek adventurer, Demetrius of Pharos These conflicts happened because of land, pastures and areas of natural substances such as iron and salt. The Romans, before they conquered Illyria, were involved in tribal conflicts and used them to their advantage. The most known incident is the involvement of the Romans in a war between the Dalmatians and the Liburnians over Promona, which in the end were encouraged to take peace. Commonly the Romans were ordered to act as referees in their bloody fights. The Autariatae tribe fought against the Ardiaei for control of valuable salt mines.The Illyrians (The Peoples of Europe) by John Wilkes, 1996, page 223, "The salt source that was a cause of conflict between the Illyrian Ardiaei and Autariatae may be that at Orahovica in the upper Neretva valley near Konjic." The Ardiaei were notorious before being defeated by the Romans.The Illyrians (The Peoples of Europe) by John Wilkes, 1996, page 216, The Ardiaei, or Vardaei as they were known to the Romans, once the ravagers of Italy and now reduced to a mere... The Daorsi had suffered attacks from the Delmatae to the extent that they requested Roman aid.
States
The earliest recorded Illyrian Kingdom was that of the Enchele in the 8th century BC. The Enchele held dominance for two centuries until their state crumbled from the start of the 6th century BC.Aleksandar Stipčević – Illyrians, The Illyrian Art, The Illyrian Cult Symbols page 46-47. After the Enchelii, the Taulanti formed their own state in the 7th century BC. The Autariatae under Pleurias (337 BC) were a kingdom.. The Kingdom of the Ardiaei began in 230 BC and ended in 167 BC.. The most notable Illyrian kingdoms and dynasties were those of Bardyllis, Dardani and of Agron of the Ardiaei, who created the last and best-known Illyrian kingdom.. Agron ruled over the Ardiaei and had extended his rule to other tribes as well.. As for the Dardanians, they always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians..
The Illyrian kingdoms were composed of small areas within the region of Illyria. The exact extent of even the most prominent ones remains unknown.. Only the Romans ruled the entire region. The internal organization of the south Illyrian kingdoms points to imitation of their neighboring Greek kingdoms and influence from the Greek and Hellenistic world in the growth of their urban centres.. Polybius gives us 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.. The monarchy was established on hereditary lines and Illyrian rulers used marriages as a means of alliance with other powers.. Pliny (23–79 AD) writes that the people that formed the nucleus of the Illyrian kingdom were 'Illyrians proper' or Illyrii Proprie Dicti.. They were the Taulantii, the Pleraei, the Endirudini, Sasaei, Grabaei and the Labeatae. These later joined to form the Docleatae.
Liburnian thalassocracy
The Liburnians navigational skills and the mobility of their swift ships, the Liburna, allowed them to be present, very early, not only along the Eastern Adriatic coast, they reached also the opposite, western, Italic coast. This process started during great Pannonian-Adriatic movements and migrations at the end of the Bronze Age, from the 12th to 10th century BC. In the Iron Age, they were already on the Italic coast, establishing colonies in Apulia and especially in Picenum, where specific Iron Age cultures developed.Š. Batović, Le relazioni culturali etc., 30, 42; La “koine” adriatica e il suo processo di formazione, Jadranska obala u protohistoriji.
From the 9th to the 6th century BC, there was certain koine – cultural unity in the Adriatic, with the general Liburninan seal, whose naval supremacy meant both political and economical authority through several centuries. Some similar toponyms attested not only Liburnian but also other Illyrian migrations to the central and south Italy, respectively Apulia and Picenum.M. Zaninović, Liburnia Militaris, Opusc. Archeol. 13, 43–67 (1988), UDK 904.930.2(497.13)>>65<<, pages 47-48
In the 9th century BC, they ruledThe Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C. by J. Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, page 266, "In the ninth century the Liburnians, then the leading seapower in the inner adriatic, expanded southwards so that by the first half of the eighth century..." the inner Adriatic Sea and in the first half of the 8th century BC they expanded southwards. According to Strabo,Strabo, Geography, 6.2, "While Archias was on his voyage to Sicily, he left Chersicrates, a chief of the race of the Heracleidæ with a part of the expedition to settle the island now called Corcyra,62 but anciently called Scheria, and he, having expelled the Liburni who possessed it, established his colony in the island." the Liburnians became masters of island of Corcyra, making it their most southern outpost, by which they controlled the passage into the Adriatic Sea. In 735 BC, they abandoned it, under pressure of Corinthian ruler Hersikrates, during the period of Corinthian expansion to South Italy, Sicily and the Ionian Sea. However, their position in the Adriatic Sea was still strong in the next few centuries. Corinth was the first that went up against the Liburnians. The BacchiadeThe Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C. by J. Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, page 267, "...the first successful challenge to Liburnian seapower came from Corinth. The Bacchiade sent an unusually large expedition, which drove the Liburnians and the Eretrians from Corcyra." expelled the Liburni and the Eretrians from Corcyra. About 625 BC, the Taulantii askedThe Expansion of the Greek World, Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C. by J. Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, page 267, "Then about 626 B.C. the Taulantians invoked the aid of Corcyra and Corinth against the Liburnians. Again the Greeks were victorious. They planted a colony at Epidamnus and drove the Illyrian fleets back to the region of Scodra." for the aid of Corinth and Corcyra against the Liburni. The Greeks were victorious.
Liburnian control of the Adriatic Sea coasts started to decrease in the 6th century BC. According to Pliny the Elder, the Liburnians lost supremacy in the Western Adriatic coast due to invasions by the Umbri and the Gauls, obviously caused by the strengthening and expansion of the Etruscan union in the 6th century BC, whose rich material presence in the basin of Po river undoubtedly meant the weakening of the Liburnian thalassocracy influence in the north-west of Adriatic. Celtic migrations into the Italian peninsula after 400 BC, significantly changed the ethnic and political picture there; it directly imperilled remaining Liburnian possessions on the western coast.
Unlike at the western Adriatic coast, Celtic raids to the narrow Liburnian region at the eastern Adriatic coast were peripheral in geographical meaning. Despite the recorded material exchange, Celtic archaeological forms are marginal and secondary in regions settled by the Histri, Iapodes, Dalmatae and are especially rare in Liburnian Iron Age heritage.
Iapygian–Tarentine Wars
The Iapygian-Tarentine Wars were a set of conflicts and wars between the Greek colony of Taras (Taranto) and the three Iapygian peoples, Messapians, Peucetii and Daunians.
Conflicts started immediately after the foundation of Tars in 706 BC over domination of the fertile adjacent plains in southern Italy. The expansion of Taranto was limited to the coast because of the resistance of the populations of inner Apulia. In 473 BC, Taranto signed an alliance with Rhegion, to counter the Messapii, Peuceti, and Lucanians, but the joint armies of the Tarentines and Rhegines were defeated near Kailìa (modern Ceglie), in what HerodotusHerodotus, vii 170. claims to be the greatest slaughter of Greeks in his knowledge, with 3,000 Reggians and uncountable Tarentines killed. In 466 BC, Taranto was again defeated by the Iapyges; according to Aristotle,Politica, v 1303a. who praises its government, there were so many aristocrats killed that the democratic party was able to get the power, to remove the monarchy, inaugurate a democracy, and expel the Pythagoreans.
In c.440 BC, the Messapian city-state of Brindisi entered into an alliance with Thurii. The Brindisi-Thurri army had a leadership advantage in the form of Cleandridas, an exiled Spartan general who had been banished from the Peloponnese for accepting an Athenian bribe as an advisor of the Spartan king Pleistoanax. Taranto supported the Peloponnesian side against Athens in the Peloponnesian War, refused anchorage and water to Athens in 415 BC, and even sent ships to help the Peloponnesians, after the Athenian disaster in Sicily. On the other side, Athens supported the Messapians, in order to counter Tarantine power.