Illyro-Roman

Illyro-Romans were the Romanized Illyrians within the ancient Roman provinces of Illyricum, Moesia, Pannonia and Dardania. The remnants of the Illyro-Romans were absorbed into successive waves of settlers to the Balkans.

Before Rome

The Illyrian tribes were considered barbarians by both the Romans in Italy and the Hellenic peoples in the Southern Balkans. They considered them among the vast group f barbarian peoples such as the Gauls, Germans and Dacians. The conquest of Illyria in 168BCE, along with that of Epirus, consolidated the Roman domain over the Adriatic Sea. The mountainous geography of the region meant that the region was hard to subdue, but by 9 CE the Great Illyrian Revolt had been defeated and from then on the region would supply large numbers of non-citizen soldiers to the Roman Auxilia

During the Empire

The Romanization of these barbarian peoples eventually transformed them into the most valuable soldiers of the Late Roman Army, with a substantial portion of the officials and generals coming from a northern balkanic background, such as Illyria, Dalmatia, Pannonia and Moesia. One emperor, Decius, several usurpers and during the reign of Gallienus, who started the professionalization of the high command of the army, large numbers of soldiers achieved high rank within the army. They took the place which the Senatorial order had had the privilege of holding since the time of Augustus, 250 years earlier, the command of the legions and armed provinces.

The Illyrian emperors

It was from this group that the most successful emperors of the time came from and it was they who brought the Crisis Of The Third century to an end. Examples include Claudius II Gothicus, Aurelian, and Probus. The creator of the Tetrarchy Diocletian and his fellow Tetrarchs Maximian, Constantius Chlorus and Severus II, some of the other Tetrarchs were also of provincial origins with Dacian and Thracian background.

The first Christian emperor Constantines father was the former Tetrarch Constantius Chlorus.

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