Pirusts

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The Pirusts (Latin Pirustae , Greek Πειροῦσται or Πυρισσαῖοι ) were an Illyrian tribe. Their settlement area lay in the mountainous inland of Illyria and extended roughly from the Drin in the south to the Tara and Drina in the north, thus including areas in the north of today's Albania, in the interior of Montenegro and in the south-east of Bosnia. The Labeates, Dassaretes, Penesters, Taulantiers and Parthines lived next to them. An exact delimitation of the Piraeus territory is not possible due to the sparse written sources and archaeological findings. A municipium of unknown name excavated near Pljevlja is considered by some archaeologists to be the central location of the Piraeus during the Roman Empire.

The Piraeus are only mentioned briefly in their works by Strabo , Caesar and Livius . All of this news relates to the time when the Illyrian tribe was already under the influence of the Romans. Around 170 BC The Piraeus were allied with Rome against King Genthios , the ruler of the Labeates . In recognition of their support, Lucius Anicius Gallus included them in 167 among the free Illyrian nations who did not have to pay tribute to the Roman Empire and were allowed to administer themselves.

More than 100 years later, namely 54 BC. The Piraeus invaded the area of ​​the Dassaretes and other Illyrian tribes, which at that time belonged to the province of Illyricum administered by Julius Caesar. Caesar had troops raised and forced the Piraeus to make peace. They had to take hostages and pay damages. Another 50 years later the Piraeus took part in the general Illyrian uprising against Rome. They were the last tribe to submit to Tiberius in 9 AD . After the suppression of the uprising, Illyricum was divided into the provinces of Pannonia and Dalmatia , the latter including the Piraeus region since then.

After the conquest of Dacia (106 AD) Piraeus, among whom there were many experienced miners, were settled in the Carpathians, where they worked in gold mining. The mining settlement Alburnus Maior , located in the west of Dacia, had a Piraeus quarter ( vicus Pirustarum ). The place is known among archaeologists and ancient historians because rare wax tablets with legal texts pertaining to everyday life in Rome have been found in one of the mines.

Some artifacts from the Komini necropolis , which are attributed to the Piraeus , are kept in the Pljevlja Museum of Local History in Montenegro.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Krahe: The old Balkan Illyrian geographical names. Heidelberg 1925, p. 95.
  2. ↑ Strabo 7.5.3 The Greek geographer counts the Piraeus among the Pannonians.
  3. ↑ Livy , Ab urbe condita 45:26
  4. ↑ Ronald J. Weber: The Taulantii and Pirustae in Livy's Version of the Illyrian Settlement of 167 BC In: C. Deroux (Ed.): Collection Latomus. Vol. V: Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History. 1989, pp. 66-93.
  5. ^ De bello Gallico V, 1.5-8
  6. ^ Velleius Paterculus , Historia II, 115.4
  7. ↑ Ioan Piso: Gli Illiri ad Alburnus Maior. In: Gianpaolo Urso (ed.): Dall'Adriatico al Danubio L'Illirico in età greca e romana. Atti del convegno internazionale, Cividale del Friuli, September 25-27, 2003. Cividale de Friuli 2003. ISBN 88-467-1069-X , pp. 271-307.
  8. ↑ Anđe Kapičić, Velimir Vujačić: Museum Guide for Montenegro. Podgorica 2007, ISBN 978-86-907295-4-8 , pp. 173-177