Dalmatae
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The Dalmatae (or Gr: Delmatoi) were an ancient bellicose people who inhabited the core of what would then become known as Dalmatia after the Roman conquest - now the eastern Adriatic coast in Croatia, between the rivers Krka and Neretva. The semi-nomadic Delmatae are mostly classed as an Illyrian tribe, although for most of their history they were independent of the true Illyrian kingdom which bordered to the southeast of them.
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[edit] Culture and Society
Archaeology and onomastic shows that the Delmatae were akin to eastern Illyrians and northern Pannonii. Delmatae were a younger nomadic tribe in ancient Illyria (West Balkans); they emerged there since 4th century BC, partly repulsing from their area the earlier peoples of Liburni westwards, Daorsi and Ardiei (Vardaei) eastwards. They were formed as a tribal alliance of culturally similar communities in 4th-3rd century BC.
The archeological remnants suggest their material culture was more primitive than this one of the surrounding ancient tribes, especially in comparison with the oldest Liburnians. Only their production of weapons was rather advanced. Their elite had the build stone houses only, but numerous Delmatic herdmen yet settled in natural caves, and a characteristic detail in their usual clothing was the fur cap.
Their nomadic society had a strong patriarchal structure, consisting chiefly of shepherds, warriors and their chieftains. Their main jobs had been the extensive cattle breeding, and the iterative plundering of other surrounding tribes and of coastal towns at Adriatic. The early independent Delmatae had been completely illiterate, and the first inscriptions there appeared since the Roman conquest.
[edit] Roman conquest
There were some iterative Roman conflicts with the Delmatae lasting for 160 years. The main reason was the perpetual aggressiveness of nomadic Delmatae against all their neighbours (Liburni, Daorsi, Ardiei, etc.), and also towards the Issaean federation, Greek-led Roman allies in central Adriatic islands, and so their pacification appeared inevitable. Delmatae land was mostly a rocky calcareous country with many pathless mountains, ideal for infinite guerilla wars; thus Delmatae erected there about 400 stony forteresses and 50 major citadels against Romans.
The first conflict in 156-155 BC finished with the destruction of Delmion capital by consul Scipio Nasica. Second Dalmatian war was fought in 119-118 BC, apparently with Roman victory as consul L. Caecilius Metellus celebrated triumph 117 BC and assumed his surname Delmaticus. Third Dalmatian war 78-76 BC finished with the capture of Salona (port Solin near modern city Split) by the proconsul C. Cosconius.
In Roman Civil war 49-44 BC, the Delmatae leaded by Versos and Testimos took side of Pompeians and continuously, more-less successfully fought with Caesarian generals Gabinius and Vatinius. The final fourth conflict occurred 34-33 BC during Octavian's expedition in Illyricum because of their iterative revolts, and finished by the capture of new Delmatian capital Soetovio (now Klis). The last revolts of Delmatae under their federal leader Baton, against Romans were in 12th BC and in 6-9 AD; both also failed and finished by a terminal pacification of bellicose Delmatae.
[edit] Religion
The major collective deity of Delmatic federation was their pastoral god 'Sylvanus'. His divine wife was 'Thana', a Delmatic goddess mostly comparable with Roman Diana and Greek Artemis. Their frequent reliefs often accompanied by nymphs, are partly conserved up today in some cliffs of Dalmatia; in Imotski valley also their temple used from 4th to 1st century BC, was unearthen. The third important one of Delmatae was a wargod 'Armatus' comparable with Roman Mars and Greek Ares. Their bad deity was the celestial Dragon devouring the sun or moon in the eclipses.
A strong weapons cult was very specific for the patriarchal Delmatae, and in their masculine tombs different weapons are widely present (that is rare in neighbouring peoples e.g. Liburni, Iapydes, etc.). Their usual tombs were under the stone tumuli of kurgan type. After the classic Roman reports (Muzic 1998), nomadic Delmatae were extremely superstitious, and they had a primitive panic dread from all celestial phenomena: any view on the night stars was them forbidden in the fear of a sure death, and in the case of solar or lunar eclipses they repeated tremendous collective howling because of the immediate world ending, made hysterical suicides etc.
[edit] Linguistic affinity
The name Delmatae most certainly derives from the leading city of the alliance Delmium/Dalmion later roman Delminium (near modern Tomislavgrad in Duvno valley - Duvanjsko polje), destroyed in 155 BC, which is perhaps related to recent Albanian word dele meaning sheep (Dalmatae were a pastoral peoples). Another parallel name is the classical tribe Delamites in northwestern Persia, whose recent descendants are named Dimili or Zazaki in eastern Turkey. The last genetical comparisons (Y-chromosomes) of Turkish Zazaki (I. Nasidze et al. 2005) with the inhabitants of Dalmatian mainland documented they are nearly identical and probably of a common biological ancestry; both populations also recently share a considerable rate of connecting words and grammar forms, too (A. Issa-Fatimi & Z. Yoshamya 2006, A. Lovric et al. 2007).
The original speaking of early Delmatae was scarcely known from their rare toponyms then noted by Romans. Since the Roman conquest from 1st century they were gradually romanicized in ancient Dalmatian towns, but old Dalmatian shepherds in countryside vere assimilated slowly and partially. After the Roman disaster from 5th century, in medieval time the Dalmatian citizens spoke partly the Old-Dalmatic Romance language (intermediary one between Italian and Rumanian).
The medieval descendants of pastoral Delmatae in Dalmatian inlands conserved at least partly a mixed semi-Romance tongue or Morlachian dialect (Murlaška besida), then persisting also in Austrian Empire, chiefly among 2100 local shepherds around recent town Livno up to World War 1. Then in Yugoslavia during 20th century these non-Slavic pastorals under oppression were quickly slavicized; now of them persisted only some curious non-Slavic toponyms of old Delmatic origin around the Livno valley, e.g. the rivulets Ayvatat, Suturba, and mountain peaks Bleynadorna, Brona, Ozirna, Gareta, Mitra, Zugva, Drul, Yenit, Yunch, Chamasir, etc.
[edit] Literature
- Issa-Fatimi, Aziz & Yoshamya, Zyelimer: Kurdish-Croat-English glossary of dialects Dimili and Kurmanji, and their biogenetic comparison. Scientific society for Ethnogenesis studies, Zagreb 2006 (in press).
- Lovric, A.Z. et al.: The Ikavic Schakavians in Dalmatia (glossary, culture, genom). Old-Croatian Archidioms, Monograph 3 (in press), Scientific society for Ethnogenesis studies, Zagreb 2007.
- Muzic, Ivan: Autoctonia e prereligione sul suolo della provincia Romana di Dalmazia. Accademia Archeologica Italiana, Roma 1994 (5th edition: Slaveni, Goti i Hrvati na teritoriju rimske provincije Dalmacije Zagreb 1998, 599 p.)
- Zaninovic, M.: Ilirsko pleme Delmati. Godišnjak (Annuaire) 4-5, 27 p., Centar za balkanološke studije, Sarajevo 1966-1967.
