The city Segestica, belonging to the Pannonians, is at the confluence of several rivers, all of them navigable, and is naturally fitted to be a base of operations for making war against the Dacians; for it lies beneath that part of the Alps which extends as far as the country of the Iapodes, a tribe which is at the same time both Celtic and Illyrian. And thence, too, flow rivers which bring down into Segestica much merchandise both from other countries and from Italy.91
The historian Paterculus states that even though they were barbarians by birth, the Pannonians had become very heavily Romanized by the beginning of the first century AD and actually showed a degree of intelligence! He says: ‘Now all the Pannonians possessed not only a knowledge of Roman [military] discipline but also of the Roman tongue, many also had some measure of literary culture, and the exercise of the intellect was not uncommon among them.’92
Such statements are in line with other statements made by Roman authors, who in the same breath compliment and insult the tribes of which they speak. I’m especially reminded of Tacitus’ description of the Germanic rebel leader Arminius, in which he states that he was unusually smart for a barbarian. If Arminius actually heard people say that about himself, I’m not sure as to whether he would take such a statement as a compliment or not. However, not all authors were willing to grant haughty concessions to their ethnocentric arrogance. Herodianus of Antioch flatly accused the Pannonians of having all brawn and no brains: ‘Although the men of those regions [Pannonia] have huge and powerful bodies and are skillful and murderous in battle, they are dull of wit and slow to realize that they are being deceived.’93
Central and southern Illyria were inhabited by Illyrian tribes that were collectively referred to as the Dalmatians, the second of the two main Illyrian culture groups. This group’s name is based upon one particular tribe known as the Dalmatians, Dalmatae or Delmatae, depending upon which source you read. The Dalmatian Illyrians were more heavily influenced by Greek culture than their northern Pannonian brothers, who were more Celtic-influenced. The Dalmatian tribe specifically was one of the more powerful and well-known of the Illyrian tribes. They were originally small and weak, and were named in reference to their founding city called Dalmium (modern-day Tomislavgrad, Bosnia); the name was later changed to Delminium by the Romans. Dalmium was a fortified walled town built atop a mountain, like almost every Illyrian settlement. Strabo describes it as a large city. As the people of this city gained power, they spread out, conquering adjacent territories. This is similar to the rise of Rome during its very early stages. As the Dalmatian tribe expanded, it added more territory and settlements to its domains until the region that they ruled over was called Dalmatia, and the ancient city of Dalmium served as the epicentre of their realm.94
The Greek geographer Strabo gives us the most information about this particular tribe:
Then comes the seaboard of the Dalmatians, and also their seaport, Salo [Salona]. This tribe is one of those which carried on war against the Romans for a long time; it had as many as fifty noteworthy settlements; and some of these were cities – Salo, Priamo, Ninia, and Sinotium (both the Old and the New), all of which were set on fire by Augustus. And there is Andretium, a fortified place; and also Dalmium (whence the name of the tribe), which was once a large city, but because of the greed of the people Nasica95 reduced it to a small city and made the plain a mere sheep-pasture. The Dalmatians have the peculiar custom of making a redistribution of land every seven years; and that they make no use of coined money is peculiar to them as compared with the other peoples in that part of the world, although as compared with many other barbarian peoples it is common.96
The Daesidiates (also called Daesitiatae, Desiadates and Desidiatians) and Breucians deserve special attention, since these were the two main tribes that were involved in the Great Illyrian Revolt. The Daesidiates were Pannonians who lived in central Bosnia near modern-day Sarajevo. We know this due to an ancient inscription that was found near the Bosnian capital at Breza:VALENS VIRRON F PRINCEPS DESITIATI ( Valens Virronis, filius princeps Desitiati; ‘Valens Virronis, the son of the chief of Daesidiates’). The reason why Cassius Dio called the Daesidiates ‘Dalmatians’ is because they dwelt within Dalmatian territory. Strabo calls them Pannonians.97 Not a lot of info is known about the Breucians. They might have been named after a mythical founder, since Breucas was an Illyrian name (also sometimes spelled Breukoi, Breigos or Brykos, indicating that the ‘c’ in Breucus and Breuci was a hard c, not a soft c). Pliny the Elder states that the Sava River flowed through their territory.98
Illyrian Warfare
During the Iron Age, Illyria became very prosperous. Trade brought in wealth from foreign lands and farms were growing more food than ever. A testament as to how well the people were doing was their sheer number. Between the eighth and sixth centuries BC, it is estimated that the overall population of this land increased by 700 per cent. Because of this staggering rise in population, Illyria became very crowded. No wonder that the tribes began to develop very sharp elbows. Tribes that had previously lived in relative peace with their neighbours now began to ferociously compete for land and resources.99
Another visible way to assess the growing power of Illyria was the status of their rulers. Fuelled by wealth in the form of trade and prestige goods, the tribal chiefs began to amass more and more power to themselves and their followers. Now they began to be elevated to the status of petty kings. Eager to gain even more power, the Illyrian chiefs and kings began expanding their realms through military conquest and political sovereignty.100
This combination of an overcrowded landscape, intense competition over farmland and other resources, growing industrialization and the desire of the tribal chiefs to expand their power created the ideal circumstances for a sudden upsurge in warfare within this region. Equipped with armour and weapons traded to them by foreign states and fueled by large trade-based treasuries, armies of hundreds or perhaps thousands of warriors began marching into adjacent tribal lands. Some were annexed, some were subdued, others were outright destroyed. It is of little doubt that the growing militarization of the Illyrians caught the attention of their neighbours across the border, like Macedon and Greece. Border defences began to be strengthened in anticipation of attack.
Archaeologists have discovered large numbers of weapons in Illyrian graves dated to both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The unusually high number of military artefacts may demonstrate that Illyrian culture placed a very strong focus on warriors and that fighting men had a dominant role within their society.101 Many of these weapons were of foreign manufacture and were either traded or sold to the Illyrians in exchange for unknown commodities.
One wonders why any nation would willingly sell weapons to a group of people who might become future enemies. I think that there are a few reasons. First, natural resources in some areas might have been so scarce that one nation might have been willing to do anything to get their hands on them, even if it amounted to the equivalent of trading millions of dollars worth of military hardware in exchange for it. The United States is a prime modern example of this sort of operation.
Another reason is using a foreign culture to one’s own advantage. If Illyrians placed a high value on martial prowess, as almost all tribal societies do, then owning weapons would have been very important to them. Knowing this, sly foreign merchants would have sold weapons to the Illyrians at absolutely extortionate rates, demanding an excessive amount of lumber, grain or precious stones in exchange for only one sword. The naïve Illyrians, believing that this was a fair exchange, submitted to it willingly. To me, this sounds very similar to stories that I have heard of dishonest American and Canadian fur traders operating in North America who would sell a single rifle to an Indian or Eskimo in exchange for a waggon-load of fur pelts. Sometimes, the number of furs stacked one atop the other was equivalent to the length of the rifle standing upwards. Often, guns with ridiculously long barrels were traded to the Indians knowing that they would have
to give up a correspondingly large number of pelts.
So far, I’ve talked about economic reasons for trading weapons to the Illyrians, but what about political reasons? Foreign states could have traded weapons to the Illyrians with the understanding that they would use them on the state’s enemies. According to the old adage ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, the Greeks or Macedonians might have been willing to trade weapons to the Illyrians in exchange for these tribesmen fighting a sort of proxy war against that state’s foes. Even today, countries that want to beat their rivals but don’t necessarily want to get their own hands dirty doing it will often employ some weaker power to do their fighting for them.
Then again, the Greeks and Macedonians could also have traded the weapons to the Illyrians, fully knowing that they were current or future enemies, with the understanding that they would eventually turn these weapons on each other. The rising power of Illyria was a definite threat to those on the other side of the border, and so one would think that giving large numbers of weapons and armour to them would be the stupidest decision that you could possibly make. However, the Greeks, Macedonians and others must have been watching the situation in Illyria very closely. Tribes were attacking each other over controlling farmland and other resources. These foreign powers might have seen an opportunity to reduce both the population and power of the Illyrians by aggressively fuelling the inter-tribal warfare that was going on. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they traded weapons to both sides. Why send in the hoplites to kill the Illyrians when they seemed to be doing just fine killing each other? Once the Illyrians had exhausted themselves from constant fighting, they could be deemed safe and the borders would not suffer the threat of an invasion anytime soon. Furthermore, if their populations were reduced to a significant extent, then land would become available, and with the warriors too weak to stop them, the armies of the foreign states could then sweep in and claim the land for themselves.
Well, this might have been the original idea of the foreign states and for a while it seemed to work. Illyrian tribal chiefs now envisioned themselves as kings and wanted to preside over large domains, but in order to gain their kingdoms, there had to be war. For a time, armies of Illyrian warriors fought and slaughtered other armies of Illyrian warriors, but then something changed. Illyria didn’t implode: it exploded. Seemingly overnight, hordes of Illyrian warriors were seen on the horizon, preparing to invade and conquer the foreign lands. Fleets of Illyrian warships rampaged over the seas, sinking foreign ships and pillaging shoreline settlements. Something had obviously gone horribly wrong for those on the outside who wanted to benefit from Illyria’s troubles. Maybe the chiefs and war-leaders finally realized that others were trying to benefit at the expense of their lives.
The Illyrians didn’t just import weapons, they also made their own once they acquired the skills to do so. Near the town of Sanski Most, Bosnia, located near the lower length of the Sana River, there were and still are rich iron-ore deposits. Here were found the remains of an Iron Age village with an accompanying cemetery, dated to the fifth and fourth centuries BC. That in itself is impressive, but what makes this site really stand out is that it is one of the earliest-known sites in this area for native ironworking. Forges were discovered near the houses, along with tools used for both smelting iron ore and forging iron objects made from the processed ore. Weapons found in the graves nearby include not only imported ones, like a Greek double-edged xyphos sword, but also natively-manufactured weapons, such as spears and single-edged curved short swords, the latter seeming to be a rather common telltale feature of Illyrian warrior graves dated to Classical times.102
What did Illyrian warriors look like? How did they arm themselves? How did they fight? Thankfully, we have numerous portrayals of Illyrian fighting men from the Greeks and Romans, so we have a lot of information regarding their appearance, although most of it comes from centuries before the Great Illyrian Revolt took place. The Illyrians experienced a lot of cultural interchange, and so they tended to adopt aspects of other cultures that were located nearby; ditto with regard to military matters. The tribes that were in contact with the Celts of northern and western Europe were somewhat Celtic in terms of their armour and weaponry. By the same token, the Illyrian tribes that were proximate to Macedon and the various Greek states were heavily Hellenized. As such, their warriors and their battle strategy differed very little from the Greeks. They wore similar armour and carried similar weapons, and likely fought using similar tactics. If someone took an Illyrian warrior and a Greek hoplite, both of them wearing full armour and carrying their shield and weapons, put them side by side and then asked you to identify which one was Illyrian and which one was Greek, you would be very hard pressed to tell the difference between them.
With regard to how the Illyrians equipped themselves for battle, it came down to what they could afford, just like every early ancient society. Obviously the rich would be the most kitted out, since they could afford to purchase weapons, a shield and a full set of armour. Those who had less money would have to be content with just a weapon, shield and perhaps a helmet. The poorest of the poor would wear no body armour at all, and possibly act as light skirmishers armed with slingshots or javelins. Since horses were and still are expensive, only the aristocrats would act as cavalrymen, taking their horses into battle with them. As an example of what rich Illyrians could afford, one burial in Glasinac dated to the seventh century BC holds the grave of a prominent chief or warrior. In addition to jewellery and pottery, the grave contains a bronze-handled sword and two spearheads which have a central rib running down the middle to give them increased strength and rigidity. The skeleton also has a pair of highly-decorated bronze greaves (lower leg armour) and what appears to be the remains of a shirt affixed with rows of round metal studs. The garment itself has long rotted away, but it might have been made of leather or some other tough material.103
The most ready form of protection for a warrior was neither a helmet nor body armour but a shield; every warrior, regardless of status, carried a shield into battle. Shields, even small ones, were essential in pregunpowder warfare. Illyrian shields came in various sizes and shapes, depending largely on cultural contact rather than on specific shields used by specific types of soldiers. Some Illyrians in the south and along the Adriatic coastline carried large round shields that were very similar to the Greek aspis, the large round shield carried by hoplites. Round Illyrian shields are commonly shown with designs of rings, dots and sometimes a ‘sun wheel’ in the centre. Depictions of shields used by the Macedonians under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great show similar designs. However, it is not clear if the Illyrians copied Macedonian artistic styles or vice versa. As for central and northern Illyrians who were in contact with the Celts, their shields were oval or rectangular in shape, and were held using just a single central hand grip as opposed to the double grip commonly seen on other shields in which the arm passes through one loop and the hand holds onto the other loop. Many of these Celtic-style shields had a large central rib running up the middle which either took up half the length of the shield or sometimes even ran up its entire length. A large metal boss made of bronze or iron was fitted in the middle to protect the hand and act as a ‘puncher’ when the shield was used offensively. This type of shield was also commonly used by Roman soldiers before the adoption of the famous half-cylindrical scutum shield that is identified with post-Marius Roman legionnaires.
The head was always a vulnerable target, so those who had a bit more money would be able to afford a helmet for added protection. The Illyrians wore different types of helmets. Conical helmets made of bronze or iron were common, and these were sometimes decorated with plumes of feathers or horsehair. The Japodes, who lived in what is now the eastern Alps and Slovenia, wore a conical helmet made of wicker reeds and chain mail, and occasionally having large round metal plates fixed onto the surface; this is called the Šmarjeta Helmet, named after the locality where the first example was found
. Some Illyrians who were in contact with both the Celts of the Hallstat Culture of central Europe as well as the peoples of northern Italy wore the ‘pot helmet’, common in the sixth century BC and almost always made of bronze, consisting of a dome with a fairly wide brim around the edge and often fitted with a front-to-back horsehair crest. Another helmet was the so-called Negau or Negova Helmet, named after the first specimen found in Negau, Slovenia and dating from the fifth to fourth centuries BC. It was more conical than the previous pot helmet and the decorative crest had been done away with, opting instead for a sharp ridge running across the top, all of which were designed to deflect blows more easily. One example found at Novo Mesto even has large dents which, in all likelihood, were made by a battle-axe.104 However, the helmet most associated with the Illyrians is called, not surprisingly, the Illyrian Helmet. It looks similar to the Corinthian helmet worn by Greek hoplites except that the Illyrian Helmet has an open squared face as opposed to the nose guard, leafshaped eye-holes and large cheek plates of the Greek helmets. These helmets first appeared during the seventh century BC and were used until the second century BC. They were always made of bronze, and a pair of small ridges running down the middle of the helmet indicated where a detachable crest could have been affixed. This helmet design was used throughout the ancient region of Dalmatia. It is unclear if the Illyrians imported these helmets or if they were natively manufactured, but I’m leaning towards the idea that they did both.105
The Great Illyrian Revolt Page 6