Dardani

This article is about a tribe in the Balkans. For the Trojan allies, see Dardanoi.

Dardania (Ancient Greek: Δαρδανία; Latin: Dardania) was the region of the Dardani (Ancient Greek: Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι, Δαρδανίωνες;[1] Latin: Dardani[2]). Located at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone, their identification as either an Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain.[3][4] Their territory itself was not considered part of Illyria[5] by Strabo. The term used for their territory was (Ancient Greek: Δαρδανική),[6] while for other tribes had more unspecified terms, such as (Ancient Greek: Αὐταριατῶν χώρα) for the Autariatae. Other than that, little to no data[7] exists on the territory of the Dardanii prior to Roman conquest, especially on its southern extent.

The region was inhabited by Illyrians, Celts[8][9] and Thracians.[9][10] After Roman conquest of Illyria at 168 BC, Romans colonized and founded several cities in the region.[11]

Contents

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 (dardha in modern Albanian the definite form, dardhë indefinite form). Opinions differ whether the ultimate etymon of this word in Proto-Indo-European was *g'hord-, or *dheregh-.[12]

Robert Graves connected Greek δάρδανος "burned up" (from the verb δαρδάπτω dardapto "...to wear, to slay, to burn up").[13]

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).[14] Some Roman ethnographers proposed a connection between Dardani of the Balkans and the Dardans of Troy, having a group of Dardan colonists settle in the Balkans and subsequently degenerate into a state of barbarism,[15] but the Romans[16] considered them to be Greeks as a whole, which contradicts modern scholarship.

History

See also: Illyrians and Thracians

The Dardanians are first mentioned in 4th century BC. when their king Bardyllis succeeded into bringing various tribes in a single organization. Under his leadership Dardanians defeated several times Macedonians and Molossians. At this time they were strong enough to rule Macedonia through a puppet king in 392-391 BC and their continuous invasions forced a later Macedonian king to pay them a tribute in 372 BC In 385-384 they allied with Dionysius I of Syracuse and defeated the Molossians in a battle killing up to 15,000 Molossian soldiers and ruling their territory for a short period. They returned raiding the Molossians in 360. In 359 BC Dardanians under Bardyllis won a decisive battle against a Macedonian king Perdiccas III by killing the Macedonian king himself and 4,000 of his soldiers, and occupied the cities of upper Macedonia.[17][18]

Following the disastrous defeat of Macedonians by Dardanians, when king Philip II took control of the Macedonian throne in 358, he reaffirmed the treaty with Dardanians marrying the Illyrian princess Audata, probably the daughter or the niece of Bardyllis.[19] This gave Philip valuable time to gather its forces and to defeat Dardanians still under Bardyllis in the decisive Erigon Valley battle by killing about 7,000 of them eliminating the Dardanian menace for some time.[18][20]

In 334 BC under the lead of Cleitus the son of Bardyllis, Dardanians in alliance with other Illyrian tribes, of the Taulanti under Glaukias and Autariate, attacked Macedonia which was this time under Alexander the Great. The Dardanians managed to capture some cities but were eventually defeated later by Alexander's forces [21][22]

In winter 280-279 BC when Celts invaded Macedonia, the Dardanian king offered to help Macedonians with 20,000 soldiers, but they were refused by Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos, eventually contributing to his defeat and consequent death.[23][24] Unlike Macedonia, Dardanians suffered little under the Celtic invasion and Dardanian forces attacked them while they were returning north.

Dardanians were a constant threat to the Macedonian kingdom. In 230 under Longarus[25] they captured Bylazora from Paionians [26] and in 229 they attacked again Macedonia defeating in an important battle Macedonian forces under Demetrius II.[27] In this period their influence on the region grow and some other Illyrian tribes defected Teuta joining Dardanians under Longarus, forcing Teuta to call off her expedition forces in Epirus.[28] When Philip V rose to the Macedonian throne skirmishing with Dardanians began in 220-219 BC and he managed to capture Bylazora from them in 217 BC. Skirmishes continued in 211 and in 209 when a force of Dardanians under Aeropus, probably a pretender to the Macedonian throne, captured Lychnidus and looted Macedonia taking 20.000 prisoners and retreating before Philip's forces could reach them.[29] In 201 Bato of Dardania along with Pleuratus the Illyrian and Amynander king of Athamania, cooperated with Roman consul Sulpicius in his expedition against Philip V.[30] Being always under the menace of Dardanian attacks on Macedonia, around 183 BC Philip V made an alliance with Bastarnae and invited them to settle in Polog, the region of Dardania closest to Macedonia.[31] A joint campaign of Bastarnae and Macedonians against Dardanians was organized but Philip V died and Perseus of Macedon withdrew its forces from the campaign. Bastarnae crossed the Danube in huge numbers and although they didn't met the Macedonians, they continued the campaign. Some 30,000 Bastarnae under the command of Clondicus, seems to have defeated the Dardanians[32] but eventually they returned home and the plan of Philip V failed. In 177 BC, Dardanians sent a report to Roman Senate, accusing Perseus of Macedon for being again in alliance with Bastarnae against Dardanians, but the Roman investigating commission failed to find support for such accusations.[33]

In 88 BC, they invaded the Roman province of Macedonia together with the Scordisci and the Maedi.[34]

Polybius[35] 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.

According to Strabo, they were divided into two sub-groups, the Galabri and the Thunaki.[36]

It seems quite probable that the Dardani actually lost independence in 28 BC thus, the final occupation of Dardania by Rome has been connected with the beginnings of Augustus’ rule in 6 AD, when they were finally conquered by Rome. Dardania was conquered by Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Latin language was soon adopted as the main language of the tribe as many other conquered and Romanized.[37] At first, Dardania was not a separate Roman province, but became a region in the province of Moesia Superior in AD 87.[38][39] Emperor Diocletian later (284) made Dardania into a separate [40] province with its capital at Naissus (Niš). During the Byzantine administration (in the 6th century), there was a Byzantine province of Dardania that included cities of Ulpiana, Scupi, Stobi, Justiniana Prima, and others.

As with the rest of the Illyrians, today almost nothing survives except for names.[41] The Illyrians in the antiquity were subject to varying degrees of Celticization,[42][43] Hellenization,[44] Romanization[45][46] and later Slavicisation.

Rulers and nobles

Main article: List of Illyrians

Dardanian Kingdom

The domain of the Dardanian kings was made up of many[54] tribes. The first and most prominent king of the Dardani was Bardyllis[47] who ruled from 385 BC to 358 BC. He was perhaps succeeded by Grabos (358 BC - 356 BC)[55][56] that may have been[57] Bardyllis's son. Little is known about Bardyllis II[58] (4th century BC) Bardyllis's son. Cleitus the Illyrian[58] (4th century BC) was his son. Tribal chiefs Longarus and his son Bato of Dardania took part in the wars[53] against Romans and Macedonians. The Dardanians, in all their history, always[59] had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians.

Roman Dardania

Main article: Moesia

During the administrative reforms of Diocletian (244 - 311) and Constantine I (272 – 337), the Diocese of Moesia was created, encompassing most of the central Balkans and the Greek peninsula. After a few years, however, the diocese was split in two, forming the Diocese of Macedonia and the Diocese of Dacia, encompassing the provinces of Dacia Mediterranea, Moesia Inferior, Dardania, Praevalitana and Dacia Ripensis.

Since 238, Moesia was constantly invaded or raided by the Carpi, and the Goths, who had already invaded Moesia in 250. Hard pressed by the Huns, the Goths again crossed the Danube during the reign of Valens (376) and with his permission settled in Moesia.

Late Roman[60] Dardania did not include the eastern part of the Dardania of Aurelian.

Byzantine Dardania

Main article: Diocese of Moesia
Further information: Diocese of Dacia
Further information: Diocese of Macedonia

The area remained part of the Byzantine empire until the late early 7th century when the Slavic migration destroyed Byzantine authority in most of the Balkan peninsula. Since then Dardania ceased to exist as separate administrative entity.

Cities

Main article: List of ancient cities in Illyria#Roman Dardania

Dardania's largest towns by the time it was part of the Roman province of Moesia Superior were Ulpiana, Therranda, Vicianum, Skopi,[61] Vindenis, and Velanis. By this time Naissus[62] (a previously Celtic settlement) was the province's most important city.The Romans had organized a mining town municipium Dardanicum[63] (in modern Socanica near the Ibar valley) was connected with the workings (metalla Dardanica[63]). Dacians[64] lived in Dardania in their city Quemedava.

Language

Main article: Illyrian languages

An extenstive study based on 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).[65][66]

Greek and Roman Historiography

The tribe was for some reason seen as "extremely barbaric" by Greeks and Romans[67][68]. Claudius Aelianus and other writers wrote that they bathed only three[69] times in their lives. At birth, when they were wed and after they died. Strabo refers to them as wild[70] and dwelling in dirty caves under dung-hills[71]. This however may have had to do not with cleanliness, as bathing had to do with monetary[72] status from the viewpoint of the Greeks. At the same time, Strabo writes that they had some interest in music as they owned and used flutes and corded instruments.[71]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι, Δαρδανίωνες" Dardanioi, Georg Autenrieth, "A Homeric Dictionary", at Perseus]
  2. ^ Latin Dictionary
  3. ^ 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..."
  4. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians, Amsterdam 1978, by Fanula Papazoglu, ISBN 9025607934, page 131, "...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"
  5. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae...Fanula Papazoglu, 1978‎, page 217
  6. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae... Fanula Papazoglu, 1978‎, page 523
  7. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae... Fanula Papazoglu, 1978‎, page 187, "We have very little information about the territory of the Dardanians before its inclusion in the Roman state,..."
  8. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians by Fanula Papazoglu, ISBN 9025607934, page 265
  9. ^ a b Pannonia and Upper Moesia: a history of the middle Danube provinces of the Roman Empire The Provinces of the Roman Empire Tome 4, ISBN-0710077149, 9780710077141, 1974, page 9
  10. ^ 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..."
  11. ^ Hauptstädte in Südosteuropa: Geschichte, Funktion, nationale Symbolkraft by Harald Heppner, page 134
  12. ^ Elsie, Robert (1998): "Dendronymica Albanica: A survey of Albanian tree and shrub names". Zeitschrift für Balkanologie 34: 163-200 online paper
  13. ^ The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, ISBN 0140171991
  14. ^ Appian, The Foreign Wars, III, 1.2
  15. ^ 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."
  16. ^ Greeks and Barbarians (Edinburgh Readings on the Ancient World) by T. Harrison, 2001, ISBN 0415939593, page 140
  17. ^ The Cambridge ancient history: The fourth century B.C. Volume 6 of The Cambridge ancient history, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards, ISBN 0521850738, 9780521850735, Authors: D. M. Lewis, John Boardman, Editors: D. M. Lewis, John Boardman, Edition 2, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1994 ISBN 0521233488, 9780521233484, pp. 428-429
  18. ^ a b The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. Author: James R. Ashley, Publisher: McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786419180, 9780786419180, pp. 111-112
  19. ^ The time of this marriage is somewhat disputed while some historians maintain that the marriage happened after the defeat of Bardyllis Women and monarchy in Macedonia Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture, Author: Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, University of Oklahoma Press, 2000, ISBN 0806132124,9780806132129 p. 274
  20. ^ The Genius of Alexander the Great, Author: N. G. L. Hammond, Publisher: UNC Press, 1998, ISBN 0807847445, 9780807847442, p. 11
  21. ^ The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. Author James R. Ashley, Publisher: McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786419180, 9780786419180, p. 117
  22. ^ The Cambridge ancient history: The fourth century B.C. Volume 6 of The Cambridge ancient history, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards, ISBN 0521850738, 9780521850735, Authors: D. M. Lewis, John Boardman, Editors: D. M. Lewis, John Boardman, Edition 2, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1994, ISBN 0521233488, 9780521233484, pp. 428-429
  23. ^ A history of Macedonia Volume 5 of Hellenistic culture and society, Robert Malcolm Errington, University of California Press, 1990 ISBN 0520063198, 9780520063198, p. 160
  24. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C Volume 3 of A History of Macedonia, Authors: N. G. L. Hammond, F. W. Walbank, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1988 ISBN 0198148151, 9780198148159, p. 253
  25. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C By Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank page 338
  26. ^ A history of Macedonia Volume 5 of Hellenistic culture and society, Author: Robert Malcolm Errington, University of California Press, 1990 ISBN 0520063198, 9780520063198, p. 185
  27. ^ A history of Macedonia Volume 5 of Hellenistic culture and society, Robert Malcolm Errington, University of California Press, 1990, ISBN 0520063198, 9780520063198 p. 174
  28. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C By Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank, p. 335
  29. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C By Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank, page 404 p. 404]
  30. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C By Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank, p. 420
  31. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C By Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank p.470
  32. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C By Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank p.491
  33. ^ A history of Macedonia By Robert Malcolm Errington p. 212
  34. ^ 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. ..."
  35. ^ Polybius, Histories,25.6
  36. ^ Strabo: Books 1‑7, 15‑17 in English translation, ed. H. L. Jones (1924), at LacusCurtius
  37. ^ http://www.balkaninstitut.com/pdf/izdanja/B_XXXVII_2007.pdf
  38. ^ 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...)"
  39. ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 210, "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..."
  40. ^ 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...)"
  41. ^ Wilkes (1992): "Though almost nothing of it survives, except for names, the Illyrian language has figured prominently…" (p. 67)
  42. ^ A dictionary of the Roman Empire Oxford paperback reference, ISBN 0195102339, 1995, page 202, "...contact with the peoples of the Illyrian kingdom and at the Celticized tribes of the Delmatae"
  43. ^ Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. A Mocsy, S Frere
  44. ^ Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, and Sarah B. Pomeroy. A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture. Oxford University Press, p. 255.
  45. ^ Epirus Vetus: The Archaeology of a Late Antique Province (Duckworth Archaeology) by William Bowden, 2003, page 211: "... in the ninth century. Wilkes suggested that they represented a `Romanized population of Illyrian origin driven out by Slav settlements further north', ..."
  46. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (3-Volume Set) by Alexander P. Kazhdan, 1991, page 248, "...were well fortified. In the 6th and 7th C. the romanized Thraco-Illyrian population was forced to settle in the mountains; they reappear ..."
  47. ^ a b 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.
  48. ^ Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander's empire, Author: Waldemar Heckel, Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006 ISBN 1405112107, 9781405112109, page 64 [1]
  49. ^ Wilkes 1995 p. 120
  50. ^ a b Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander's empire. Author: Waldemar Heckel, Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006, ISBN 1405112107, 9781405112109, p. 86
  51. ^ A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C By Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Frank William Walbank page 47
  52. ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, p. 86, "... including the names of Dardanian rulers, Longarus, Bato, Monunius and Etuta, and those on later epitaphs, Epicadus, Scerviaedus, Tuta, Times and Cinna. Other Dardanian names are linked with..."
  53. ^ a b The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, p. 85, "The recorded names of Dardanian leader during the Macedonian and the Roman wars, Longarus, Bato..."
  54. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae ... by Fanula Papazoglu, 1978, ISBN-9025607934, page 445, "The assumption that the Dardanian kingdom was composed of a considerable number of tribes and tribal groups, finds confirmation in Strabo's statement about"
  55. ^ Harding, p. 93. Grabos became the most powerful Illyrian king after the death of Bardylis in 358.
  56. ^ The Greek world, 479-323 BC by Simon Hornblower, 2002, ISBN-0415163269, page 272
  57. ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, p. 121, "The Illyrians of Grabus are unlikely to have been the subjects of Bardyllis defeated only two years earlier though some have suggested Grabus was his son and successor."
  58. ^ a b "The Journal of Hellenic Studies by Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (London, England)", 1973, p. 79. Cleitus was evidently the son of Bardylis II the grandson of the very old Bardylis who had fallen in battle against Phillip II in 385 BC.
  59. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians by Fanula Papazoglu, ISBN 9025607934, page 216
  60. ^ Starinar,Books 45-46,by Srpsko arheološko društvo,Arheološki institut (Belgrade, Serbia), page 33
  61. ^ 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..."
  62. ^ Naissos
  63. ^ 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)."
  64. ^ Ethnic continuity in the Carpatho-Danubian area by Elemér Illyés, 1988, ISBN 0880331461, page 223
  65. ^ Katičić, Radoslav (1964b) "Die neuesten Forschungen über die einhemiche Sprachschist in den Illyrischen Provinzen" in Benac (1964a) 9-58 Katičić, Radoslav (1965b) "Zur frage der keltischen und panonischen Namengebieten im römischen Dalmatien" ANUBiH 3 GCBI 1, 53-76
  66. ^ Katičić, Radoslav. Ancient languages of the Balkans. The Hague - Paris (1976)
  67. ^ An English translation of Claudius Aelianus' Varia historia
  68. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae... by Fanula Papazoglu, 1978‎, page 517, "There must have been some reason why it was said of the Dardanians, and not of any other people, that they only bathed three times in their lives,..."
  69. ^ Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898) "...whence it is said of the Dardanians, an Illyrian people, that they bathe only thrice in their lives—at birth, marriage, and after death."
  70. ^ History of ancient geography
  71. ^ a b Strabo,7.5, "The Dardanians are so utterly wild that they dig caves beneath their dung-hills and live there, but still they care for music, always making use of musical instruments, both flutes and stringed instruments"
  72. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae... by Fanula Papazoglu, 1978‎, page 517, "...like the Dardanians', which was applied not to dirty folk, as might be expected, but to the miserly (ἐπὶ τῶν φειδωλῶν)! For the Greeks, obviously, to bathe or not was only a question of expense and financial means."

Other sources

External links