- This article is about the Illyrian tribe. For the Trojan allies, see Dardan.
Dardania (Ancient Greek: Δαρδανία) was the region of the the Dardani (Ancient Greek: Δαρδάνιοι).[1] Located at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone, their identification as either Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain, sometimes a separate "Dardanian ethnic identity" being postulated.[2][3]
In 88 BC, they invaded the Roman province of Macedonia together with the Scordisci and the Maedi.[4][5]
In AD 6, they were conquered by Rome and became part of the province of Moesia Superior (corresponding to present-day Serbia, northern fringes of Macedonia and northern Bulgaria). According to Strabo, they were divided into two sub-groups, the Galabri and the Thunaki[6].
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Name and mythic origins
Beginning with Johann Georg von Hahn in 1854, 19th century historical linguistics concluded that Dardanoi and Dardania may be related to a proto-Albanian word meaning pear tree (dardhë in modern Albanian). Opinions differ whether the ultimate etymon of this word in Proto-Indo-European was *g'hord- (which would make it related also to Greek achrás 'wild pear'), or *dheregh-.[7]
Robert Graves connected Greek δάρδανος "burned up" (from the verb δαρδάπτω dardapto "to wear, to slay, to burn up").[8]
In Greek mythology, Dardanus (Δάρδανος), one of the sons of Illyrius (the others being Enchelus, Autarieus, Maedus, Taulas, and Perrhaebus) was the eponymous ancestor of the Dardanoi (Δάρδανοι).[9] Some Roman ethnographers proposed a connection between Dardani of the Balkans and the Trojans Dardans of the Troad, having a group of Dardan colonists settle in the Balkans and subsequently degenerate into a state of barbarism.[10]
History
The Dardanians are first mentioned in passing in Roman historiography in the context of the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in the 3rd century BC. They make an appearance as a political entity in their own right in 86 BC, when they allied themselves with Mithridates VI of Pontus and are consequently defeated by Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
Polybius[11] writes of an event in which the Dardani ask for Roman aid against their enemies. "When the Rhodian envoys arrived in Rome the Senate, after listening to their address, deferred its answer. Meanwhile the Dardanian envoys came with reports as to the number of the Bastarnae, the size of their men, and their courage in the field.They gave information also of the treacherous practices of Perseus and the Gauls, and said that they were more afraid of him than of the Bastarnae, and therefore begged the help of the Romans. The report of the Dardani being supported by that of the Thessalian envoys who arrived at that time, and who also begged for help, the Senators determined to send some commissioners to see with their own eyes the truth of these reports; and they accordingly at once appointed and despatched Aulus Postumius, accompanied by some young men."
Dardania was conquered in AD 6 by Gaius Scribonius Curio and included into the Roman Empire. At first, Dardania was not a separate Roman province, but was made a part of the province of Moesia Superior in 87 AD.[12][13] Emperor Diocletian later 284 AD made Dardania into a separate [14] province with its capital at Naissus (Niš). During the Byzantine administration (in the 6th century AD), there was a Byzantine province of Dardania that included cities of Ulpiana, Scupi, Stobi, Justiniana Prima, and others.
Cities
Dardania's largest towns by the time it was part of the Roman province of Moesia Superior were Ulpiana, Therranda, Vicianum, Skopi[15], and Damastion. By this time Naissus[16] (a previously Celtic settlement) was the province's most important city.The Romans had organized a mining town municipium Dardanicum[17] (in modern Socanica near the Ibar valley) was connected with the workings (metalla Dardanica[17]).Dacians[18] lived in Dardania in their city Quemedava.
Rulers & Nobles
- Bardyllis[19] of the Dardani from 385 BC -358 BC
- Grabos Bardyllis's son 358 BC -
- Bircenna[20] - daughter of Bardylis 4th century BC
- Bardyllis II Bardyllis's son
- Monunius[21] of the Dardani first Illyrian to mint coins 3rd century BC
- Mytilus ,succesor to Monunius 3rd century BC
- Etuta[22] daughter of Monunius 3rd century BC
- Longarus of the Dardani father of Bato
- Bato of Dardania of the Dardani son of Longarus
Language
An extenstive study over onomastics has been undertaken by Radoslav Katičić which puts the Dardani language area in the Central Illyrian area ("Central Illyrian" consisting of most of ex-Yugoslavia, north of southern Montenegro to the west of Morava, excepting ancient Liburnia in the North-West, but perhaps extending into Pannonia in the north).[23][24]
See also
References
- ^ Dardanioi, Georg Autenrieth, "A Homeric Dictionary", at Perseus
- ^ Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, Page 85, "... Whether the Dardanians were an Illyrian or a Thracian people has been much debated and one view suggests that the area was originally populated with Thracians who where then exposed to direct contact with illyrians over a long period..."
- ^ "the Dardanians [...] living in the frontiers of the Illyrian and the Thracian worlds retained their individuality and, alone among the peoples of that region succeeded in maintaining themselves as an ethnic unity even when they were militarily and politically subjected by the Roman arms [...] and when at the end of the ancient world, the Balkans were involved in far-reaching ethnic perturbations, the Dardanians, of all the Central Balkan tribes, played the greatest part in the genesis of the new peoples who took the place of the old" The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians, Amsterdam 1978, by Fanula Papazoglu, ISBN 9025607934, page 131.
- ^ Lucius: Webster's Timeline History, 617 BC - 2007 by Icon Group International, 2009, page 10, "88 BC...."[unreliable source?]
- ^ Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, Page 140, "... Autariatae at the expense of the Triballi until, as Strabo remarks, they in their turn were overcome by the Celtic Scordisci in the early third century Sc. ..."
- ^ Strabo: Books 1‑7, 15‑17 in English translation, ed. H. L. Jones (1924), at LacusCurtius
- ^ Elsie, Robert (1998): "Dendronymica Albanica: A survey of Albanian tree and shrub names". Zeitschrift für Balkanologie 34: 163-200 online paper
- ^ The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, ISBN 0140171991
- ^ Appian, The Foreign Wars, III, 1.2
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 220, "... Leaving aside Strabo's comment on the dirty habits of the Dardanians, there is little on which to judge the general health of the Illyrian population. ..."
- ^ Polybius, Histories,25.6
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 210,"... Here the old name of Dardania appears as a new province formed out of Moesia, along with Moesia Prima, Dacia (not Trajan's old province but a ...)"
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992,ISBN 0631198075, page 210, "... 210 Roman Illyrians Skopje. Though its line is far from certain there seems little doubt that most of the Dardanians were excluded from Illyricum and were to become a part of the province of Moesia organized in the reign of ...
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 210,"...Here the old name of Dardania appears as a new province formed out of Moesia, along with Moesia Prima, Dacia (not Trajan's old province but a ...)"
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,Page 49,"...historic Lychnitis around Ohrid and in Dardania around Skopje in the upper Vardar basin. Among the many tumuli surviving in Pelagonia only Visoi has so far been ..."
- ^ Naissos
- ^ a b The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, Page 258,"In the south the new city named municipium Dardanicum, was another 'mining town' connected with the local workings (Metalla Dardanica)."
- ^ Ethnic continuity in the Carpatho-Danubian area by Elemér Illyés,1988,ISBN-0880331461,page 223
- ^ Harding, Philip. From the End of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Ipsus, 1985, p. 93, ISBN 0521299497. Grabos became the most powerful Illyrian king after the death of Bardylis in 358.
- ^ Plutarch's Lives Volume 1 by Plutarch, Arthur Hugh Clough, John Dryden, and James Atlas,2001,"Bircenna, Bardyllis the Illyrian's daughter"
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes,1992,ISBN 0-631-19807-5, page 129,"No Illyrian production of coins is known before King Monunius struck his coins at Dyrrhachium (see figure 11), followed by Mytilus around ten years later"
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 85"... Longarus, Bato and Monunius, whose daughter Etuta was married to the Illyrian king Gentius, are all Illyrian.
- ^ Katičić, Radoslav (1964b) "Die neuesten Forschungen uber die einhemiche Sprachschist in den Illyrischen Provinzen" in Benac (1964a) 9-58 Katičić, Radoslav (1965b) "Zur frage der keltischen und panonischen Namengebieten im romischen Dalmatien" ANUBiH 3 GCBI 1, 53-76
- ^ Katičić, Radoslav. Ancient languages of the Balkans. The Hague - Paris (1976)
Other Sources
- András Mócsy, Sheppard Frere, Pannonia and Upper Moesia: A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire, Routledge (1974), ISBN 0710077149.
External links
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