Illyria (Province)

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Illyria Province

Illyria was a Roman province named after the defeated people of the Illyrians , which was established as an independent province at the latest under Gaius Iulius Caesar and existed until around 10 AD. It stretched from the Drina River to Istria ( Croatia ) in the west and to the Save River ( Bosnia and Herzegovina ) in the north. Salona (near present-day Split ) served as its capital. The province was later divided into northern Pannonia and southern Dalmatia .

Roman conquest

The first crossing of the Adriatic Sea by the Roman fleet took place in the First Illyrian War . After the victory over the Ardian Queen Teuta , the first parts of her former territory were placed under Roman control.

The complete conquest of Illyria did not take place until 167 BC. Through the victory over the army of the Illyrian king Genthios . This made southern Illyria a Roman protectorate, which was administratively subordinate to the province of Macedonia . This was divided into independent parts ( merides ), with Illyria forming the fourth merís . The Roman general Lucius Anicius Gallus announced to the local upper class gathered in Scodra the freedom of all Illyrians as well as the exemption from taxes of those territories that had already defected to them before the victory of the Romans. The remaining areas, however, were obliged to pay taxes.

Administrative history

Map of the Danube provinces at a later date, during the Roman Empire. The province of Illyria comprised the later provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia (here marked in pink and green).

When Illyria became independent from Macedonia and became a province with an independent administrative apparatus is a matter of dispute. The earliest possible evidence comes from the year 59 BC. At that time, in the Lex Vatinia de imperio Caesaris, Illyria was assigned to the politician Gaius Iulius Caesar as a provincia together with the province of Gallia cisalpina . However, it is not certain whether this Latin term already means a clearly delimited province in the modern sense, or rather a sphere of power or responsibility. Gustav Zippel dated the creation of the province as early as 118, Theodor Mommsen in Sulla's time . At the latest during Octavian's wars in the 30s BC. But then there was definitely a provincial administration in Illyria. This is first documented in the sources in connection with the Augustan regulation of the year 27 BC. BC, in which it was placed under the control of the ruler as an imperial province intended for a praetor .

12-9 BC A series of campaigns against the Pannonian ethnic group, known as the Pannonian War ( Latin: Bellum Pannonicum ), was carried out. Due to the success of Rome, the province of Illyria was enlarged and the rule consolidated. In 6 AD the so-called Pannonian revolt against Roman rule took place, which - albeit with great difficulty - was suppressed. As a result, the province was divided into Illyricum superius and Illyricum inferius according to popular research opinion . From this the two new provinces Pannonia and Dalmatia developed. Jenő Fitz , on the other hand, proposed that the division of Illyria should only be moved to the middle to late reign of Tiberius , i.e. the years between 20 and 35. In addition to administrative improvements, the reason for the division was probably the desire to dismantle the local identity of the Illyrian population and instead create a new regional awareness that was firmly linked to Roman rule.

Under Emperor Vespasian , the two provinces of Pannonia and Dalmatia were finally established , neither of which retained the name Illyria. Its boundaries remained largely constant over the centuries that followed, even if small changes were made such as moving some areas to the newly created province of Epirus nova around 300.

Society and economy

The region was of considerable strategic and economic importance for the Romans. It had a number of important trading ports along its coasts and had gold mines in Dalmatia with an imperial office in Salona. Illyria also became the starting point of the Via Egnatia , an important Roman road that ran from Dyrrachium (today's Durrës in Albania) on the Adriatic to Byzantion in the east.

On the coast of Dalmatia , Roman traders settled in some cities such as Iader , Salona, Narona and Epidaurus . The capital Salona was protected by two military camps at Burnum (now Ivoševci ) and Delminium . The Apostle Paul of Tarsus mentioned in his letter to the Romans that he was in this area to preach "the gospel of Christ".

Use of the term in late antiquity

The term "Illyria" was used in late antiquity to describe the western Balkan peninsula . In late antiquity, the troops stationed in the provinces there were one of the five armies of the Roman army, so they were subordinate to a joint commander in chief, the Magister militum per Illyricum stationed in Naissus . According to the historian Zosimos , under Emperor Constantine the Great , the Praetorian Prefecture of Illyria was set up as one of four that divided the Roman Empire among themselves. The area of ​​office of the Praefectus praetorio Illyrici included Pannonia , Noricum , Crete and the entire Balkan Peninsula except Thrace. After Constantine's death in 337, the prefecture was merged with that for Italy and Africa , but separated from it again in the course of the division of the empire in 395 and survived until the early 7th century.

A high percentage of the Roman military personnel was also recruited from the Illyrian provinces and from Thrace , especially from the 3rd to the 6th centuries. Various Roman emperors came from the region in later times, including Aurelian , Claudius Gothicus , Constantine the Great and Diocletian as well as the Byzantine emperors Anastasius I and Justinian I. They are all grouped together under the term Illyrian emperors .

literature

  • Šašel Kos: Illyricum. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 5, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01475-4 , Sp. 940-943.
  • Włodzimierz Paja̜kowski: The Illyrians. Illyrii proprie dicti. History and settlement areas, attempt at a reconstruction. Wydawn. Naukowe, Poznań 2000, ISBN 83-232-1031-4 .
  • Marjeta Šašel Kos: Appian and Illyricum (= Situla. Razprave Narodnega Muzeja Slovenije / Dissertationes Musei Nationalis Sloveniae. Volume 43). Narodni muzej Slovenije, Ljubljana 2005, ISBN 961-6169-36-X .
  • Gabriele Wesch-Klein : Provincia. Occupation and administration of the provinces of the Imperium Romanum from the occupation of Sicily to Diocletian. An outline (= ancient culture and history. Volume 10). Lit, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-0866-2 , pp. 253-255.
  • Danijel Dzino: Illyricum in Roman Politics 229 BC – AD 68. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19419-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John J. Wilkes : The Illyrians. Blackwell, Cambridge (Mass.) 1992, ISBN 0-631-19807-5 , p. 160.
  2. ↑ a b Šašel Kos: Illyricum. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 5, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01475-4 , Sp. 940-943.
  3. ↑ Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita 45:26.
  4. ↑ Philipp-Stephan G. Freber: The Hellenistic East and Illyricum under Caesar (= Palingenesia monographs and texts on classical antiquity.. Volume 42). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06255-6 , pp. 124-127.
  5. ^ Gustav Zippel: The Roman rule in Illyria up to Augustus. DG Teubner, Leipzig 1877, pp. 180-189.
  6. ^ Theodor Mommsen: Inscriptiones Asiae, provinciarum Europae Graecarum, Illyrici Latinae (= Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum . Volume III). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1873, p. 279 ( online ).
  7. ↑ Danijel Dzino: Illyricum in Roman Politics 229 BC – AD 68. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19419-8 , pp. 159-162.
  8. ^ Jenő Fitz: Problems of the dichotomy of the Illyricum. In: Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis , Volume XXIX, 2000, pp. 65-73 ( online ).
  9. ↑ Danijel Dzino: The Division of Illyria in Tiberian Era: Long Term Significance. In: Péter Kovács (ed.): Tiberius in Illyricum. Contributions to the History of the Danubian Provinces under Tiberius' reign (14–37 AD) (= Hungarian Polis Studies. Number 24). Kódex Könyvgyártó Kft., Budapest 2017, ISBN 978-963-284-920-1 , pp. 41–54.
  10. ^ John J. Wilkes: The Illyrians. Blackwell, Cambridge (Mass.) 1992, ISBN 0-631-19807-5 , p. 224.
  11. ↑ Rom 15:19  ELB