Iliria

Southern Illyria in the third and second centuries B. C

Franklin W. Walbank

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Walbank Franklin W. Southern Illyria in the third and second centuries B. C. In: Iliria, vol. 4, 1976. Premier colloque des Etudes
Illyriennes (Tirana 15-20 septembre 1972) – 1. pp. 265-272;

doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/iliri.1976.1185

https://www.persee.fr/doc/iliri_1727-2548_1976_num_4_1_1185

Fichier pdf généré le 19/03/2019

N° 4 ILI RI A 1976

Franklin W. WALBANK (Liverpool)

SOUTHERN ILLYRIA
IN THE THIRD AND SECOND CENTURIES B.C.

In this paper I propose to consider primarily what our literary sources tell us about the
Ulyrians during the hundred years or so from c.250 B.C. to c.160 B.C., which saw the incorporation
of the southern part of the Balkan peninsula within the sphere of Rome. The most remarkable
additions to our knowledge of Hellenistic Illyria during the last fifteen years have come from
Albanian archaeologists working on, and in some cases for the first time identifying, urban
sites. There is every reason to expect this work to continue to make contributions of fundamental
importance to Illyrian history. Nevertheless, for a connected history of political events and to
a lesser extent for problems of social organisation and development, the written sources will
remain essential1. Unfortunately they present difficulties. The Illyrians lived on the fringe of
the Greco-Roman world, and there is no evidence that they had any literature of their own.
So far no inscriptions in Illyrian have found, and this suggests that (like the Britons under Roman
administration) they conducted their public business in the Weltsprache; and they figure in our
classical sources only where their activities impinged on these of Greece and Rome. No Greek
author, to our knowledge, wrote 'L\Xupix-a2;for the 'volume' de Illyrico tractu attributed by
Valerius Maximus to Alexander Polyhistor, a writer of the first century B.C.3, which mentions a
certain Dando, who lived to be 500 without becoming senile, looks as if it was merely part of
a collection of fabulous tales.
Our main literary information on Illyria at this time comes from accounts of First and
Second Roman-Illyrian Wars. For these Polybius, usually a reliable and sober historian, is our
primary source, supported by Appian, Dio and Zonaras. But these wars occur at the very
beginning of Polybius' Histories, where he depends almost entirely on his own written sources;
and Fabius Pictor, the earliest Roman historian, who is probably among Polybius' sources here,
not only wrote in Greek, but wrote very much with a Greek public in mind4. Consequently he
(and following him Polybius) represents the First Illyrian War largerly as an undertaking in
defence of Greek cities and to fulfil Roman obligations. The reasons why the Romans originally
crossed into Illyria, and the nature and significance of the settlement they made after the defea

1) The ancient sources on Illyria have been assembled in an Albanian translation: Selim Islami, cd. Ilirët dhe
Iliria te autorët antike (Burime të zgjedhura per historinë e Shqipërisë), vëllimi I, (Tirana, 1 965). For a
convenient account of recent work on city sites in Albania see Iliria, 2, 1972= UIllyrie: la ville illyrienne, passim, two
sites recently identified are Dimale (Krotine), 149-65, and Antigonea (Jerme), 269-378.
2) See F. Jacoby, commentary on Frag.griech. Hist. 237 F 17.
3) Val. Max., 13, ext.7 - Frag, griech. Hist. 273 F 17.
4) On Fabius see M.Gelzer, Kleine Schriften III, (Wiesbaden 1964), 51-92, Romische Politik bei Fabius Pictor;
93-103; «Der Anfang romischer Geschichtsschreibung» 104-110, «Nochmals über den Anfang römischer
Geschichtesschreibung» ; E. Badian, Latin Historians (ed.Dorey London 1966), 2-6, «The early historians»;
A.Momigliano, Terzo contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico I (Roma 1 966), 55-68, «Linee per una
valutazione di Fabio Pittore».
266 Franklin W. Walbank

of Teuta are still vigorously debated5. In our sources Teuta is presented as an irrational and
emotional woman who followed a suicidal course of opposition and murderous provocation in
reply to the fair and moderate demands of the Roman envoys. This picture closely reproduces
a motif typical of the more sensational Hellenistic historians6; and Petzold has recently
suggested7 that it derives ultimately (and presumably via Fabius) from Phylarchus, whom Polybius
elsewhere criticises for precisely this kind of emotional and sensational writing8. Now one's
view of Te uta' s behaviour - wether with Polybius and many modern historians one regards it
as provocative and irrational, or whether, with Badian, one believes the Roman case to have
weak and the queen conciliatory - is bound to affect not only one's interpretation of Roman policy
in the war but also one's interpretation of what Illyrians themselves were doing. I mention this,
not because I propose to discuss Roman policy - that would take us too far from the immediate
subject-but because we depend on these sources for a detailed account of Illyrian history, and
it is well to be aware at the outset that they be treated critically.

2.
«Illyrian» is a name given by the Greeks to a group of peoples who, in the third century,
occupied a large area in the northern and western part of the Balkan peninsula beyond
the Acroceraunian Mountains (which, according to Plutarch and Mela9, constituted the
boundary of Greece). The names of over seventy such peoples are known10, but the list covers a long
period and no doubt there is some duplication. Around the mid-third century we can distinguish
three important groups - the Autariatae, the Dardanians and the Ardiaeans11. Despite the
arguments of Fanoula Papazoglu12, the available evidence does not seem to suppoit the view that
the Illyrian peoples were organised in a single «Illyrian state». Hammond has argued
convincingly1? that the term «Illyrian» originally belonged to one group living between Dyrrhachium
and Scodra, but was extended by the Greeks to describe all cognate peoples, just as the Romans
called all Hellenes Graeci. By the classical authors (and no doubt by Greeks generally) the Illyt
rians were regarded as will and, at the time of the earliest contacts, semi-barbarous; such at leas-

5) For recent work on the Illyrian wars of Rome see Badian, Studies in Greek and Roman history, Oxford 1 964«
1-33, «Notes on roman policy in Illyiia», Foreign clientelae (Oxford 1 958), 43-7; H. Dell, Historia 16, (1967>
344-58; «The origin and nature of Illyrian Piracy», 19 (1970), 30-38 «Demetrius of Pharos and the Istrian war»;
class.Phil.62 (1967), 94-103, «Antigonus III and Rome», Ancient Macedonia, (Thesalionica 1970), 115-126,
«The western frontier of the Macedonian Monarchy»; N.G.L. Hammond, «Journ.Rom.Stud.» 58, (1968) 1-21,
«Illyris, Rome and Macedon, in 229-205 B.C.».; K.-E.Petzold Historia 20, 1971, 199-223, «Rom und Ulyrien»;
E. Will, Histoire politique du monde hellénistique, (Nancy 1966-1967), I, 321-325; II, 66-70; Skënder Anamali,
Revista politiko-ushtarake II, 1967, 71-80, Mbi luftrat e ilirëve kundër romakëve dhe karakteri mbrojtës i tyre
(Des guerres illyriennes contre les Romains et leur caractère défensif).
6) On Hellenistic sensational history see N.Zegers, Wesen und Ursprung der tragischen Geschichtsschreibung,
(Diss.Cologne, 1959) and other works quoted by F.W. Walbank, Polybius, (Berkeley, 1972), 34-5.
7) Historia, 20, 1971, 204 n.18; I am not convinced by this arguments for there is no indication that Phylarchus
dealt with the First Illyrian War.
8) Polyb., II, 56-63.
9) Plut.Phocion, 29.3; Mela, II, 3, 541. I leave aside the disputed question whether the tribes of Epirus were of
«Illyrian» origin; for a recent discussion see D.Budina, «L'appartenance ethnique illyiienne des tribus épirotes»
in Les Illyriens et la genèse des Albanais , (Tirana, 1971), 1 1 1-29. The matter turns on the definition of «Illyrian».
In the period with which I am concerned the Epirotes figure in Polybius as a Greek people.
10) See the list in Fluss, RE, Suppl. - b.v «Illyrioi», cols. 325-6.
11) Cf.Strabo, VII, 7, 6, c.315; N.G.L. Hammond, Ann. Brit. School at Athens, 61, (1966), 239-53,«The kingdoms
of Illyria c.400-167 B.C.»
12) Fanoula Papazoglou, Historia 14, (1965), 143-79, «Les origines et la destinée de l'Etat illyrien: Illyrii proprie
dicti». Her views on this are also rejected by Petzold, op. cit. (n.5),'2O8 n.41. It goes without saying that the
Dardanians were always independent of the Illyrian state or states centred on areas within what is now Albania.
13) N.G.L.Hammond op.cit. (n.ll). 239-42.
 Southern Illy ria 267

is suggested by the imaginary genealogy14, Greek of course in origin, which made Illyrius, the
progenitor of the Illyrian peoples, the son of the nymph Galatea and the monstrous, one-eyed
Cyclops, Polyphemus.
However, by the third century and even earlier, some of the Illyrians, and especially their
chieftains and the dominant class, had acquired a considerable degree of Hellonisation ; and
from the fifth century onwards, as the results of archaeological work now show, a substantial
advance towards urbanisation had already taken place throughout southern Illyria, and more
especially in the parts bordering on Epirus15. For several centuries there had been Greek cities
along the Illyrian coast - they included Epidamnus (Dyrrhachium), Apollonia, Oricum and
perhaps Lissus (though the Greekness of Lissus has now been queried)16 - and on the islands of
Black Corcyra, Issa and Pharos. These had brought trade and a knowledge of Greek to those
Illyrian peoples with which they came into contact, and according to Strabo17 there was also
an intermixture between the Epirote peoples and the more southerly Illyrians - the Bylliones,
the Taulantii, the Parthini and the Brygi. There was a great similarity, he continues, in clothing,
hair-style and language between the peoples of these areas and the Macedonians, and some were
bilingual, presumably speaking both Greek and Illyrian, Strabo does not name his source for
this information, but Hammond18 has shown that he was probably drawing mainly on Heca-
taeus and so most likely describing sixth century conditions; but the similarities may well have
persisted later.
These cultural links are also confirmed by the evidence of coinage. Greek legends are to be
found on the coins of Amantia and Byllis and on those of the Illyrian kings Monunius and My-
tilus,19, both of whom apper to have controlled Dyrrhachium. In fact, excavations have revealed
the existence of a large Illyrian element in that city in Hellenistic times20. This evidence shows
that during the period with which I am concerned southern Illyria was within the general
cultural area of Greece and the Hellenistic world and that its institutions, though they had no doubt
developed in response to the internal social evolution of the Illyrian peoples, had been
influenced by those of the outside world. This can be illustrated from some features of the Illyrian
monarchy which, like the monarchies of Epirus, Athamania and Thrace, had been subjected to
influence from the forms and institutions of the Hellenistic states. Unfortunately, it is not always
possible to say whether particular features, which can be detected in the third and second
centuries and can be paralleled by similar features in the more elaborately organised monarchies
of Antigonid Macedonia, Pergamum, Egypt, Seleucid Syria, the many semi-Greek dynasties
of Asia Minor, and the Greek monarchies of Bactria and Italia, had not already developed
independently at an earlier date in the Illyrian states. But with this caution I will mention one or two
parallels.21.

14) Cf.Appian, Illyr, I, 2; Illyrius was one of three brothers, the other two being Celtus and Gala, progeni tors
of the Celts and Galatians. The Celts and Galatians were also wild peoples, much feared in the Greco-Roman
world.
15) See S.Islami, «Naissance et développement de la vie urbaine en Illyrie», in Iliria, 2, (1972) - Vlllyrie, la ville
illy rienne, 7-23.
16) On Lissus see F.Prendi and K.Zheku, «La ville illyrienne de Lissus, son origine et son système de
fortifications» in Iliria 2 (1972) — V Illyrie, la \ilte illyrienne, 239-68.
17) Strabo, VII, 7.8, c.326-7.
18) Epirus, (Oxford, 1967), 465 ff.
19) On the coins of Byllis and Amantia see H.Ceka, Questions de numismatique illyrienne, (Tirana, 1972), 121-39.
Monunius issued tridrachms inscribed BAHaE^ I MONOYNIOY and either AYP or AYPPA; and H.
Ceka, op. cit. 23-7 has made a good case for believing him to be the father of Glaucias and so for dating him
to 350-335 B.C. Mytilus will be the contemporary of Pyrrhus' son, Alexander II (Jtog.Brol. 25); see C ka,
op.cit, 66-72.
20) On this see most recently V.Toçi, «Données sur l'élément illyrien à Dyrrhachium à la lumière des nouveaux
témoignages archéologiques» in Studia Albanica 9, (1972), 77-84.
21) For a short study of the development of the state ouf of tribal conditions in Illyria see H.Ceka and N.Ceka,
«Le développement de l'Etat chez les Illyriens» in Les Illyriens et la genèse des Albanais, (Tirana, 1 971), 1 39-46 ;
this article, which was brought to my notice after I had drafted this paper, mentions (with a rather differen
emphasis) some of the points I am making here.
268 Franklin W. Walbank

The Illyrian monarchy was of course hereditary, though we are ill-informed concerning
the conditions of succession and any role that the people or chieftains may have played.
Hammond has traced the dynasties in several Illyrian states between the fifth and second centuries,
including the Ardiaean monarchy22. When Agron died c.230, he was succeeded by his infant
son Pinnes; whereupon, as one would expect, the role of guardian became highly important.
Guardianship was effectively exercised first by the king's widow Teuta (though she was not the
boy's mother) and later by Demetrius of Pharos, who married Pinnes' mother, Triteuta23.
Demetrius, incidentally., may have been a Greek or a half-Greek; at any rate another Demetrius
of Pharos, known from a papyrus as a settler in Egypt about the same time, is there reckoned as a
Greek24.One is reminded of events in Macedonia whenDemetrius II died leaving a chil das heir,and
his cousin, Antigonus Doson, married the boy's mother Phthia and, first as guardian to Philip and
later as king, saved the realm25, and likewise of the situation at the time of Philip IPs accession26.
In the case of the Ardiaean monarchy it is noteworthy that Teuta became guardian despite the
fact that Scerdilaidas, who was probably Agron's brother, and was later to be Pinnes' guardian
and eventually king, was at that time already an active war-leader27. In their article on the state
in Illyria28, H. and N.Ceka compare the power exercised by Olympias and Deidamia in Epirus,
and regard this as a reflection of the higher social status of woman in Illyria, as compared with
the Greek woman, who had lost her place in the economy to slaves and so her position in social
and political life. But it is perhaps equally relevant to compare the influence exercised by several
Hellenistic queens (the most notorious being Cleopatra VII in Egypt), despite the
long-established role of slavery in those kingdoms. Later Scerdilaidas himself followed a practice also known
to us from the Hellenistic world - he made his son Pleuratus co-ruler to ensure his easy
succession29. Both appear together in the treaty sworn between Rome and Aetolia in 21 130, but the
exact date of Pleuratus' elevation is uncertain.
That Pinnes' mother was alive and married Demetrius after Teuta's death raises the
question whether the Ardiaean kings were polygamous. Polygamy generally indicates an inferior
position for women, and may therefore seem unlikely in view of the independent power
exercised by a queen such as Teuta. But one cannot be certain. On the whole it seems probable that,
like the Macedonian kings - for instance, Philip II, Demetrius Poliorcetes and Philip V - Ardiaean
king tended to have several wives, at once or successively, and that either to indulge their
inclinations or as an instrument of policy - like Philip V of Macedonia, who married his son Perseus
to a Bastami an princess, who was later to be discarded in favour of a more important match

22) N.G. L.Hammond op. cit. (n.ll), 243-7; in the table of Ardiaean kings (243), Genthius' sons are incorrectly
listed as Pleuratus and Plator. They were in fact Scerdilaidas and Pleuratus (Livy, XLIV, 32,3); Plator was
Genthius' brother, murdered by him (Livy, XLIV, 30,2), and Genthius had also a half-brother called Caravantius
(Livy, XLIV. 30.2; 32.3), born of the same mother but from a different (and lower-born) father.
23) Dio, fg. 53.
24) See P.Tebt. 815 fr.3 verso II, line 21; he is Atqjjititpioc uouxvou (or Ilapâvou) <Mpio<;, a settler in the Arsi-
noite nome, c. 228/1 . See M.Launey, Recherches sur les armées hellénistiques, (Paris, 1 949-1 950), I, 412, II, 1 204.
25) On these events see the works quoted by Will, op.cit. (n.5), I, 326.
26) For Philip II's guardianship of Amyntas IV, soon converted into full rule, see Just. VII, 5,10.
27) Cf.Polyb,II,5,6, for his share in the expedition in which Phoenice fell and the Epirotes were defeated.
28) Op.cit. (n. 21), 144.
29) H. and N.Ceka, op.cit. (n.21), 144, regard this as an old Illyrian feature; the existence of two kings would
reduce the power of each of them in a monarchy which still retained some of the characteristics of an earlier stage
of social organisation, in which the people exercised some check upon their leaders. I am not convinced that there
is enough evidence to support the assumption that Plator, the brother of Genthius, who murdered him, was a
co-ruler; his proposed marriage to the Dardanian princess Etuta is not proof that he was older than Genthius.
Indeed it seems to me that the co-regency of Scerdilaidas and Pleuratus is simply a device to ensure unchallenged
succession; it is a common feature of Hellenistic monarchies and later it was used effectively by Roman emperors.
30) Livy, XXVI, 24, 9; cf.XXVII, 30 13.See Polyb.X, 41, 4 with the notes in my Commentary on Polybius, II,
(Oxford 1 967), 256.
 Southern Illy r ia 269

withLaodice of Syria after Perseus' accession31. Wether the two known wives of Genthius, the
last Ardiaean king, Etuta and Etleva, were married to him successively or together, is not
recorded in our sources32.
Finally, one may note the existence at the Ardiaean court of the Hellenistic institution of
the king's Friends. Polybius tells us33 that after Agron's death Teuta left the details of
administration in the Ardiaean kingdom to this council of senior courtiers and administrators.
Unfortunately we are not informed whether any of the bureaucratic elements of the Hellenistic
chancelleries were reproduced at Scodra. It is at least possible that the organisation of the Illyrian court
remained more primitive34 ; and indeed the Friends there may have resembled a group of clan
leaders rather than the often cosmopolitan groups wh*;ch made up the Friends at Pella, An-
tioch or Alexandria35.
These resemblances between the Ardiaean and the other monarchies are of unequal weight;
but they perhaps help to confirm the view that in its later stages the kingdom controlled by the
Ardiaean kings possessed many of the characteristics of a Hellenistic state.

3.
The regions covered by the Ardiaean monarchy varied at different times36. The original
home of the Ardiaei was probably in the Dinaric Alps, if this is what Strabo means by Mt Adrion
(emended by Xylander to Ardion), in a passage37 in which he locates the Ardiaei near the Naro
(mod.Neretva). But from the fourth century onward they were expanding southwards and by
the time of Agron (Dio calls him king of the Ardiaei) the kingdom reached Scodra and the Valley
of the White Drin, where the Macedonians were later to create a devastated area to keep off the
Dardanians from Macedonia and Illyria38. South of the Ardiaei, in the area between Durrës,

31) Livy, XI, 5, 11 ; for the view that it was Perseus to whom the Bastarnian princess was married, see Walbank,
Philip V of Macedon, (Cambridge 1940), 246 n. 4; P. Meloni, Perseo e la fine della monarchia macedone (Roma
1953), 38-41. For Perseus' marriage to Laodice cf.Polyb., XXV, 4, 8; Livy, XLII, 12, 3; Appian, Maced. 11,2;
Syll. 639; and for the allegation that he murdered his former wife cf.Livy, XLII, 5,4.
32) On the Dardanian princess Etuta cf. Livy, XLIV, 30, 4; on Etleva cf. Livy, XLIV, 32,3.
33) Polyb, II, 4, 7.
34) We are sadly in need of more evidence for all aspects of the organisation of the Ardiaean realm. What for
example are the ■n:o)a5vvacrTGu,J who caused trouble to Scerdilaidas in 218 (Polyb. V,4,3., adopting Bekker's
correction of the manuscript readings, tcóXiv Sûvacrraç (AR)and totcouç Sûvacnrocç (C). They sound more
independent than the epistatai who controlled cities under the Antigonid kings of Macedonia. Hammond, Journ.
Rom.Stud.5S, (1968), 15, suggests that they may have been set up by the Romans, but adds that many other
explanations are also possible. If the Illyrian kingdom was loosely organised on something like feudal lines,
such city-dynasts' may have been the semi-independent leaders of piratical bands based on the various urban
centres (cf.Dell) Historia, 19, (1970), 36 and n.24).
35) In the paper which he read to this Colloquium on The Illyrian state, its place and role in the Mediterranean
world, Selim Islami rightly drew attention to this feature as indicating that Genthius' rule bore the aspect
of a Hellenistic monarchy.
36) See the convenient discussion by N.G.L.Hammond, op.cit. (n.ll), 252.
37) Strabo, VII, 5,5, c.315.
38) For'desert Illyria', r\ "Eç>r\iioc, xaXoupivw 'iXkvpic, see Polyb. XXVIII, 8, 3, which describes the journey of
Perseus' envoys through this area on their way from Stuberra (cf.Livy, XI.IIL19, 13) over Mt Scordus to
Scodra. Mt. Scordus is usually identified with Sar Planina, the range east of the Black and White Drins and south
of Prizren (cf.Fluss, RE «SxapSov opoc,», cols. 459-60). But Zippel, Die römische Herrschaft in Illyrien (Leipzig
1877), 79, think that a western outlier of the range may be referred to here. Hammond, op.cit. (n. H), 250-1
(with a sketch-map), accepts the identification of Mt Scourdus with Sar Planina, and locates the ravaged
area around the head waters of the Ibar. Lepenez and the eastern tributaries of the White Drin on the high-
plateau (4000-4600 ft) lying between Urosevac and Gjakove in Kosovë. Stuberra cannot be placed with
certa; inty, but it probably lay near Tsepikovo, a little to the north of Topolöani (cf. Walbank, Philip V, 243 (n. 1)
Meloni, op.cit. (n. 29), 37-8 (n. 3), and Kromayer, Antike Schlachtfelder, II, (Leipzig, 1907), 260 (n.4), has
argued that the envoys must have travelled via the upper valley of the Black Drin, which they would reach
270 FraaklinW. W al bank

Elbasan and the upper valley of the Black Drin and Lake Ochrid, lay the Atintani and the
Parthini, though the important coastal plain of Myzeqe was controlled by the Greek cities of
Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, which were thus able to monopolise the production of cereals and
the movements of flocks that were essential to the economy of the hinterland as Hammond
remarks, «the lord of the plains has a stranglehold on the economy of central Albania» 39. These
basic geographical factors must have applied in ancient as well as in more recent times.
The expansion of the Ardiaei was probably accompanied by the subjection of the tribes
they conquered40. According to Theopompus41, writing in the fourth century, they already
controlled some 30,000 serfs, which he compares to the Spartan helots. He records this fact as
the background to a frankly improbable story of how it led to excessive luxury and drunkenness,
so that the Gauls were able to drug the Ardiaeans' drink and so bring about their destruction.
Since the Ardiaeans were manifestly not destroyed the story must be treated with some reserve.
But that they reduced conquered peoples to serfdom is not in itself improbable, for according
to Agatharchides42, writing in the late second century, the Dardanians too had large numbers of
slaves, «some a thousand, some more», who were employed to till the ground in peace-time
but in war followed their individual masters in compa.2T.ies. Now whether these were in fact slaves
(Agatharchides calls them SoöXoi) or, as might seem more probable (and as Prof.Islami assumes
in his paper delivered at this Colloquium), serfs like those of the Ardiaei (whom incidentally
Athenaeus has mentioned just before he quotes the passage from Agatharchides), is not entirely
clear. According to Strabo43, the Dardanians lived in caves beneath dung-heaps - a way of life
hardly reconcilable with that of the wealthy owners of slaves or serfs. If his statement merits
belief, one can only conclude that he is drawing on a source which refers to an earlier stage of
social development or alternatively that these unsavoury lodgings were those of the subjetcted
class. At the tint«* with which we are concerned - the third and second centuries - the Ardiaeans
(and their southern neighbours) had developed several urban centres; but no doubt a majority
of them (and even more of the Dardanians) continued to live in the countryside and to depend
for a livelihood on agriculture, pasturage and some mining44.
What precipitated Ardiaean expansion is unknown. It may have been the result of pressure
from the Celts45 (there is the story in Theopompus), or their population may have outstripped
their resources of food ; they were undoubtedly helped by their maritime skimm46 Food-shortage
has been stressed as a reason for the piratical depredations which preceded the first war with

at Dibra (probably the site of Hyscana; cf.Livy, XLIII.19.I ; H.Sadiku, «Essai d'identification de forteresse s
des cités illyriennes des Penestes», in Les lllyriers et la genèse des Albanais, (Tirana 1971), 251, identifies it
with an ancient site 2-3 km west of Dibra. In that case they would proceed from there to Lura, cross Mai
Shent to Oroshi and go on north-west to' Scodra ; and Mt Scordus will here be Mali Shen. It is certainly hard
tosee why Perseus' envoys should have made the difficult détour through the area indicated by Hammond (for
the Romans were no danger along the route suggested by Kromayer). Moreover, a devastated area (its
purpose was to keep the Dardanians out of Macedonia and Illyria: Livy, XLlII, 20, 1 ; cf.Polyb., XXXIII, 8,3
is perhaps more likely to have been in a valley than on a high plateau. Hen ce Kromayer's identification
(adopted by Meloni, op.cit. (n.29), 276(n.l) seems the more likely.
39) Journ.Rom.Stud 58, (1968), 1.
40) Cf.H.and N.Ceka, op.cit. (n. 21), 142.
41) Athen., VI, 271 = X, 443 = Frag.griech. Hist., 1 15, F 40. The manuscripts of Athenaeus read, in the one place
àpuxloi, andsin the other àpxa5fauç, àpxâSccç; 'ApSioüoi is Casaubon's plausible emendation. The word
Theopompu uses is IIpocrrcEXàrnç, and he specifically compares these serfs to Spartan helots. In some ways
serfdom of this kind is different from chattel slavery; on this see M.I. Finley, «Was Greek civilization based
on slave labour?», Historia, 8, (1959), 158-9 (reprinted in M.I. Finley, Slavery in classical antiquity, (Cambridge
1 960), 66-7).
42) Athen., VI, 272 == Frag, griech. Hist., 86, F 17.
43) Strabo, VII, 7, 7, c.316; but they are also said to be devoted to music.
44) Dardanian cheese is mentioned in a late Roman source; cf. Expos, tot.mund. = Geog.lat.min. p. 119 Riese.
45) So Badian, Studies (n.5), 1, following Zippel, op.cit. (n.38), 34 ff.
46 JOn the skill of the Ardiaei at sea cf,Appian, Jllyr.,1,3, toc eaXaamoc ovteç àpur-rot.
 *• Southern Illy ria 271

Rome47; but the lembos, the characteristic craft of the Illyrian raiders, was not well designed
to carry bulk cargoes of foodstuffs, though it could very well take on board slaves and valutables48
Be that as it may, the southward expansion of the Ardiaeans brought an increase in raiding by.
land and sea, and this activity is regarded as typical of the Illyrian pirates in the period with
which we are concerned.
Though varying in volume, piracy was always endemic in Greek and Adriatic waters, and
in earlier times was regarded as a more or less reputable, and certainly a fairly natural method of
making of adding to one's livelihood. It was often suplementary to, rather than an alternative
to, trading. However, Dell has shown49 that at the time of the First Roman War with Illyria
searaids had only recently become a serious threat in the sourthern Adriatic; and the activities
of Teuta's pirates must be regarded as a new phenomenon consequent on Adriaean expansion
southwards. Piracy was a nuisance and a strong power would naturally try to suppress it, as
Rhodes did during the third and second centuries - unless indeed the profits which its victims
brought in on the slave-market proved too tempting. But even reputable kings of Macedon
were not above using piratical help. Antigonus Gonatas employed the Phocian pirate Ameinias
to help him take Cassandreia, and Philip V was not only patron of the piratical Cretans, but he
also used the Aetolian corsair Dicaearchus to raise funds in the Aegean50. A narrow line
separated piracy from hiring oneself out as a condottiere. This practice, common to Epirote and
Spartan kings, was also employed by the Ardiaeans. Scerdilaidas made a short-lived agreement
to fight for Philip V for twenty talents a year51 ; and a few earlier Demetrius of Pharos had fought
for Antigonus Doson at Sellasia (222), probably as an ally, though no doubt for pay: the
distinction between such an agreement and straight hire was a fine one. At the time of the Third
Macedonian War Genthius was approached by Perseus of Macedonia for similar aid and in fact
committed himself against the Romans, to his ruin. Full cooperation broke down because of
Genthius' demand for 300 talents, essential, he claimed, because of his shortage of money; but
how true this claim was we have no means of knowing52.
Against this background one might have expected the Illyrians to be prominent in
mercenary service, a traditional outlet for peoples with a growing population and a shortage of good
land - Arcadians, for instance, or Aetolians. But this was not so. We hear of Illyrian mercenaries
fighting for Perdiccas of Macedonia in 423 53, and Alexander had Illyrians in his armies (though
perhaps as subjects rather than as mercenaiies). Cassander settled 20,000 Autariatae on Mt
Orbelus in Thrace, either as coloni or perhaps also as a reservoir of troops54; and Autariatae also
fought for Lysimachus55. But before 230 there is no evidence for their fighting further afield,
and later they are extremely rare in the armies of Hellenistic kings. Antigonus Doson's garrison
on the Acrorinth contained Illyrians56; and those who fought on the Achaean side at Man-
tinea were probably auxiliaries furnished by Philip V57. But they appear not to have been widley
used, andLauney has suggested58 that they were perhaps too wilful and independent to settle
down under mercenary discipline. They seem mainly to have found employment under their
own leaders in fulfilment of treaty obligations rather than as hired bands on the mercenary
markets.

47) See H. Dell, Historia 16, (1967), 344-58.

48) Cf.Hammond, Journ.Rom.Stud., 58 (1968), 4 (n.14).
49) H.Dell op.cit. (n.47); in his rapport to this Colloquium. A. Buda attributed the raiding to the need of the
Illyrians to acquire new slaves.
50) Polyaen., IV, 6, 18 (Ameinias); Polyb., VIII, 54,8-12; Diod. XXVIII, 1 (Dicaearchus).
51) Polyb, IV, 29,3.
52) Polyb, XXVIII, 8, 6.
53) Thucyd, IV, 124-8.
54) Diod, XIX, 19,1 ; cf.Launey, op.cit. (n.24), I, 411.
55) Cf. Diod. XX, 113.3; they abandoned him for Antigonus I.
56) Plut, Art, 38.6.
57) Polyb, XI, 11.4; see Walbank, Commentary on Polybius (Oxford, 1967) II, 285 ad loc.
58) Op.cit. (n.24), I, 417, 'indociles, indépendants, ils préèrent les aventures et les aubaines de la course au service
dans une armée'
272 Franklin W. Walbank

It is time to conclude. Summing up we can say that despite the social and economic
development which was reflected in the growth of cities of a Greek type, especialy in the south and
of course along the coast, but also in the interior and in what is now northern Albania, and
despite the growing organisation and consolidation of the Ardiaean state under its kings from
Agron to Genthius, southern Illyria remained a minor power on the edge of the Greek world.
It was perhaps a stroke of misfortune that the beginning of its expansion southward around 230
brought it into collision with the power of Rome; and the significance of Teuta's actions in the
wider field of Mediterranean history was to cause the legions to cross the Adriatic for the first
time. Like many other states on the fringes of the classical world, the Ardiaean monarchy soon
adopted the role of a client-kingdom inside the Roman sphere of interest, and under Pleurât us
it exploited this position successfully. It has been said that a nation is happy that has no history:
if that were so, it could be argued that the Ardiaeans were happy under Pleuratus, for (as is
clear from the silence concerning this period in Appian's Illyrike)59 we know virtually nothing
of their detailed history from the Second Macedonian War down to the accession of Genthius.
At any rate appear, under Pleuratus, to have enjoyed peace and a prosperous internal
development. Genthius, however, was won over, though half-heartedly, to the coalition which Perseus
was trying to build up in reply to the Roman attack; his defeat put an end to the independent
Ardiaean state and Genthius himself, after the people of Spoletium had refused to accept the
responsibility of looking after him, ended his life in captivity at Iguvium60.
It has been pointed out61 that the role of the Illyrians was limited by the wider historical
context. This meant that their moments of importance came when they were able to exploit
Macedonian and Epirote weakness. Thus Bardylis had built up an empire in the early fourth
century, and Glaucias a strong power among the Taulantii towards its end; similarly the fall
of the Epirote monarchy was followed by the strengthening of both the Dardanians and the
expanding Ardiaeans. The arrival of the Romans put an end to all that; henceforth southern
Illyria was to take its place inside the framework of the Imperium Romanum, first mainly within
the province of Macedonia and later, after Diocletian, in Epirus Nova62. The history of the Illyrians
then and later would take us beyond the purview of the present study.

59) Cf. Appian, lllyr, 9, passing directly from the Second Illyrian War to Genthius.
60) Livy, XLV, 43.9.
61) Cf. Hammond, op.cit. (n. 11), 252-3.
62) This expanded version of the paper which I read to the Colloquium owes something to public and private
discussion of it afterwards. I should particularly like to express my thanks for a frank and helpful exchange
of views with Frano Prendi, Selim Islami and Neritan Ceka.