Illyrian Wars
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The Illyrian Wars were two military conflicts between the Roman Republic and various Illyrian tribes and their kings. They occurred in the last third of the 3rd century BC. And mark the beginning of the Roman expansion east of Italy.
The First Illyrian War
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The Romans waged the first Illyrian war in 229/228 BC. Against Teuta , the queen of the Labeates . The military operation against the Illyrian queen was not planned, rather the Romans intervened on the eastern Adriatic coast because the Illyrian piracy damaged Roman trade interests and the Greek colony of Issa, allied with Rome, had already asked the Senate for help against Illyrian attacks in 230. In addition to Issa, the Greek colonies of Apollonia and Epidamnos (both in today's Albania) were allied with the Romans.
During raids in the sea area between Butrint and Corfu , Teuta's pirates had damaged Roman merchants and thus provoked the intervention of the Senate. The Senate sent two envoys to Teuta in Shkodra in 229 to demand redress for those injured and the cessation of pirate activities. The queen refused, and one of the envoys threatened her with military intervention by the Romans, whereupon Teuta had him killed.
The war could no longer be avoided. A Roman army was immediately sent to Illyria. It was under the command of the two consuls Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus and Lucius Postumius Albinus . The Roman fleet, consisting of 200 ships, first went to Corfu, which was surrendered without a fight by Demetrius , a Teuta fleet commander. He switched to the Roman side and was now allowed to administer the island in the name of the new masters.
The Romans then landed at Apollonia and pushed north. Before Shkodra, the queen was finally defeated. You had to 228 BC Let dictate harsh peace conditions. All that remained was the rule of Shkodra, and she had to pay tribute to the Romans. After all, from then on no more than two Illyrian ships were allowed to sail into the sea area south of Lissos . The kingdom of the Labeaten was eliminated, the freedom of the Greek colonies restored, the Illyrian sea power broken and the territory of the Labeaten in today's Albania was now under indirect control of Rome.
Demetrios of Pharos came into play as a new player in the regional power play because the Romans had left him dominion over Corfu. Demetrius, who was already master of the island of Pharos on the Dalmatian coast, was also able to appropriate other places from the hereditary mass of the Labeaten Empire. Demetrios, a military adventurer and political gambler, had enough resources to carry out further campaigns.
The Second Illyrian War
The intervention of the Romans could only calm the situation on the eastern Adriatic coast for a few years. After 228 BC The Romans hadn't thought of establishing themselves permanently in Illyria. The peace order implemented by them after the first Illyrian war proved unstable. By strengthening Demetrius von Pharos, the Senate itself had created an element of uncertainty. The new strong man on the Illyrian coast soon turned away from Rome and allied himself with the Macedonian king Antigonus III. Doson versus the Spartans . By Demetrius in 219 BC BC entered into an alliance with the Illyrian prince Scerdilaidas and led an Illyrian fleet to raids on the coast of the Peloponnese and the Aegean Sea, he violated the peace treaty from the year 228 BC. BC, provoking a reaction from Rome.
Immediately before the outbreak of the Second Illyrian War, the political and military situation for the Romans was much more complicated than it had been ten years earlier. On the one hand, the Second Punic War began at the same time , on the other hand, through the alliance with Demetrius, Macedonia had clearly shown that it regarded Illyria and Epirus as part of its sphere of interest.
Nevertheless, the Senate decided to punish the breach of the peace treaty and in the spring of 219 BC sent An army under consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus against Demetrius and his Illyrian clientele. The Romans were able to assert themselves on the mainland in a very short time, and Demetrius withdrew to Pharos. But even there he couldn't hold out. He fled to the Macedonian court, where, after the death of Antigonus (221 BC), the young Philip V ruled, whose closest confidante was Demetrius.
The Romans were now the masters of the entire eastern Adriatic coast from Histria to Aulona . As a protectorate, these areas became part of the empire, with the Greek cities enjoying autonomy - especially those that had long been allied with Rome. However, Roman power did not extend inland.
With luck, Rome was able to end the Second Illyrian War in the shortest possible time, mainly because the Macedonians were unable to intervene due to the change of throne that had taken place shortly before. However, the Romans had not achieved a lasting peace. On the contrary, in Macedonia they had grown into a far stronger enemy. Demetrius, who now worked as an advisor at the royal court, was able to persuade Philip V to form an alliance with Carthage. 215 BC Chr. Broke first Macedonian-Roman war from.
swell
- Polybios , Histories 2,9-12; 3.16; 3.18-19 ( English translation )
- Cassius Dio Frag 49 (Boissebvain, I pp. 180ff.)
- Eutropius , Breviarium ab urbe condita 3,4.
- Appian , Illyrica 6-8.
literature
- Maria Adele Cavallaro: Da Teuta a Epulo. Interpretazione delle guerre illyriche e histriche tra 229 e 177 aC Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-7749-3150-X .
- John J. Wilkes : The Illyrians . Oxford [u. a.] 1995, ISBN 0-631-19807-5 .
- Ernst Badian : Notes on Roman Policy in Illyria (230-201 BC). In: Studies in Greek and Roman History. Volume 20, 1952, pp. 72-93.
- Robert Malcolm Errington : Rome and Greece to 205 . In: The Cambridge Ancient History . Volume 8: Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 BC. Cambridge 2004, ISBN 0-521-23448-4 , pp. 81-93.
