One of the few things that we can call thoroughly Illyrian is the spiral-shaped fibula clasp. This consists of a pin and two round discs made out of wire (almost always bronze) coiled around and around in a spiral. Fibulae of this design first appeared in the 700s BC, but appear to have been rather common during the 600s and 500s BC.141 Another type of fibula clasp that was found throughout much of Illyria was a curved fibula. Sometimes, especially in the western areas like Slovenia, the arch of this clasp was decorated with small beads. The Japodes and Liburnians decorated their arched clasps with amber beads.142
Bronze and silver bangles were worn on the wrists and arms. A large number of these were uncovered at a tumulus at Sticna, dated to the sixth century BC. C-shaped metal bracelets were also worn, with the terminals shaped like animal heads. Snake heads were a particularly common design; interesting how the subject of snakeskeeps popping up in our discussion of the Illyrians, isn’t it? Mostly, these C-shaped bracelets are found in southern Illyria, in the lands bordering Greece and Macedonia, which might mean that they were either trade goods imported from that region specifically for the Illyrian tribes, or that they were of native manufacture made by smiths who learned metalworking using the Hellenic methods. The best examples of Illyrian bracelets come from Mramorac, near Belgrade, Serbia, made of gold and dated to either the fifth or fourth century BC. Metal diadems made of bronze or gold and decorated with geometric patterns are notable among the Japodes and Liburnians, and seem to have been worn only by women. Mostly, these objects are dated to the 500s BC.143
Figure 6: Illyrian noblewoman’s clothing, sixth to fourth century BC, based upon graves and artefacts found at Donja Dolina, RibiC, Zaton, Gorica, Sticna and Opacici. Items include a veil with a decorated metal band, large hoop earrings, circular fibulae, a cloak, a long-sleeved dress with a pleated skirt, a triangle-shaped amber necklace, a wide belt decorated with metal studs and bronze wrist bangles. (Illustration by the author)
Personal appearance didn’t apply just to clothing and jewellery. The historian Strabo states that the Illyrians decorated their bodies with tattoos. In several places, such as Glasinac and Donja Dolina, archaeologists have found sharp bronze needles affixed to wooden handles, which many have assumed to be used for pricking the skin with ink. As to what the tattoos looked like, it is anyone’s guess since no descriptions of Illyrian tattoos exist and no mummified remains of Illyrian skin with preserved tattoo patterns have been discovered. Even though we have no idea what the tattoos themselves looked like, we might yet be able to ascertain their significance. Writing five centuries earlier, Herodotus wrote of the Illyrians’ eastern neighbours the Thracians that tattooing was a sign of noble birth while commoners were not allowed to have tattoos; the Illyrians might have had a similar practice. One’s appearance also applied to facial hair. Along the coastline, where people were in contact with the obsessively clean Romans, Illyrian men were clean-shaven, while men who lived in the interior wore beards.144
The Illyrian diet had a balanced mixture of farmed crops, livestock and seafood. Of course, depending upon where a certain community existed, their diet would be biased towards one aspect or another. In the Illyrian lowlands, especially the famed Pannonian Plain, farming was essential, whereas livestock-raising was the primary source of food in the mountainous highlands. With some Illyrian tribes, as with other tribes in other parts of the world, livestock was regarded as a form of wealth: the more horses or cows that you had, the richer you were. In northern Illyria, pigs were the dominant form of livestock. Of lesser importance were sheep and goats, and to an even lesser extent were cattle. However, along the southern Illyrian coastline, sheep and goats were the dominant form of livestock – more than 50 per cent of the meat consumed, in fact – with pigs and cattle being seldom seen. Surprisingly, hunting appears to have formed a very tiny part of the Illyrian diet. Most of their meat came from farm-raised livestock, not wild animals. At one site, 6,500 animal bones were uncovered and, of these, only 100 belonged to wildlife, mostly deer; that’s a rate of just 1.5 per cent. Hunting may have been rare, but fishing was practised to a greater degree. Large numbers of fish bones have been uncovered at excavations of riverside settlements, as well as metal and bone hooks, harpoons and tridents. Pyramid-shaped clay weights might have been used as weights for fishing nets or bird-catching nets. At the site of Nesactium, located in the region of Istria, large numbers of seashells were found, including mussels and cockles.145
We know a lot about Illyrian agriculture because we found their farming tools and even the remains of their crops. Wheat was their primary crop, while those of secondary importance were other grains like barley and millet. Grains were used for bread, as well as to make alcohol. Apparently, the Illyrians were fond of beer, ale and mead. Pseudo- Aristotelus says that the Taulanti drank very high-quality mead. In fact, the word ‘mead’ comes from the Pannonian word medos, and the Illyrians called beer sabaia or sabaium. Archaeologists have also found the remains of grapes. Illyria was renowned for its wine, but this wasn’t always so. Our earliest accounts of the Illyrians state that they did not grow grapes or make wine, so vine culture must have been a feature that the Illyrians adopted after contact with the Greeks. However, once the Illyrians got going, they made some of the best wine that the ancient world had to offer. In particular, the north-western region of Illyria known as Istria produced a vintage of especially good quality.146 Other crops that were raised were vegetables, lentils, peas and beans. By looking at the crops that they grew, the Illyrians as a whole had a very protein-heavy and carb-heavy diet, which would be good for a life of hard work.147
The most common farming tool that archaeologists have discovered is the mattock, the earth-chopper. It seems that the Illyrians had originally used mattocks made of bone and deer antlers for doing simple ploughing. As stated before, even when metal tools became available, tools made of bone were still widely in use. When the Celts arrived in the Balkans, they introduced the horse-drawn iron plough, but it doesn’t seem to have been popular. After all, ploughing is something best suited to wide expanses of flat land, which are seldom found throughout much of the western Balkans. Archaeologists have discovered scythes and sickles, large pottery jars stuffed with carbonized grains, and tools for flour-grinding and bread-baking. Archaeologists have found hand grinders and larger grist mills used for grinding grain into flour. At first, the Illyrians used what is called a ‘saddle quern’ for grinding their grains, in which the grain was spread along the bottom of a flattened U-shaped stone and was then ground into flour by crushing it with another smaller hand-held stone. Following contact with the Romans, many Illyrians began to adopt the rotary quern. While some Roman settlements used large industrialscale grist mills powered by oxen or donkeys walking round and round in a circle, the Illyrians do not appear to have adopted this, preferring smaller hand-cranked mills.148
The region of Illyria may have been famous for alcohol production, but the people of Illyria were famous for alcohol consumption. It seems that the native Illyrians were constantly drunk, which is yet another common feature of the crude European barbarian archetype that Greeks and Romans like to poke fun at.149 Polybius states that the Illyrian leader Genthius, who we shall be hearing about in much more detail in the next chapter, was ‘constantly drunk night and day’, 150 in addition to other vices. When the Celts invaded Illyria, they easily defeated the Ardiaei tribe in battle because the Illyrians were so drunk that they couldn’t fight. The fourth-century BC Greek historian Theopompus, whose work The History of Philip is now unfortunately lost although a few snippits are quoted within Athanaeus’ book Deipnosophistae, where it states
Theopompus, in the second book of his History of Philip, says that ‘the Illyrians dine and drink seated, and even bring their wives to parties; and it is good form for the women to pledge any of the guests, no matter who they may be. They conduct their husbands home from drinking-bouts. The men all live a hard life, and when they drink they gird their bellies wi
th wide belts. This they do, at first, with tolerable looseness; but as the drinking becomes more intense, they pull their belts more and more tightly together. The people of Ardia (he continues) own 300,000 bondmen who are like helots. They get drunk every day and have parties, and are too uncontrolled in their predilection for eating and drinking. Hence the Celts, when they made war on them, knowing their lack of self-control, ordered all the troops to prepare a dinner in their tents with the utmost possible splendour, but to put into the food a certain poisonous herb which had the effect of upsetting the bowels and thoroughly purging them. When this had been done some of the Ardiaeans were overcome by the Celts and put to death, while others threw themselves into the rivers, being unable to bear the pain in their stomaches.’151
Illyrian ovens were mostly located outside houses to reduce the risk of fire, but a few Illyrian houses had indoor ovens. Often these were nothing more than hearths made of a circle of rocks laid on the bare ground, but there are a few examples of bowl-shaped hearths with vertical sides made of hardened clay, standing about six inches tall. The top of this ridge had a pair of grooves for placing a rotating spit. It also had two tube extensions, almost certainly for affixing a bellows or some other venting mechanism. In hearths constructed in elevated houses, the bottom of the hearth was perforated with holes, like a strainer. These holes probably aided air circulation, and the ashes would fall through the holes into the ground or water below.152 One cooking implement that archaeologists have found is identical to the Slavic pekva, also called a crepulja. This was a large round domed lid made from ceramic, and attached to the top would be a handle. To bake bread the Illyrian way, the pekva would first be placed over a fire to heat it up. Then all of the hot embers in the middle of the hearth would be pushed out of the way to make an open space in the middle. The soft bread dough would then be dropped down into the middle of the hot ground where the fireplace embers had been. Then the heavy terracotta pekva, still hot, would be placed on top of the bread dough. The hot coals and embers would then be piled on top. Sometimes, these pekvas would have one or more ridges running around the lid to hold the hot coals in place and prevent them from sliding off. Pekvas are still used in cooking today in the Balkans.153
A number of various tools and other objects have been found at Illyrian sites. Ceramic weights, mostly pyramid-shaped, some plain and others decorated, have been found in almost every excavated Illyrian settlement. In some places, hundreds of these weights have been uncovered. They possibly served as weights for fishing nets or for keeping string stretched taut when on a loom. Many of these have been found in graves, which some find curious. Usually, the term ‘grave goods’ is associated with prestige items such as weapons, jewellery and fine table goods. However, the term applies to any object that is placed in the grave, be it spectacular or mundane. They are things that would be needed in the next world, and weaving would be essential. Remains of spinning wheels, scissors, bone and metal sewing needles, loom shuttles and ceramic thread spindles have also been found in excavated settlements. All of this demonstrates that textile manufacturing was very prominent in Illyrian households. Other objects include metal sheep-shearers, double-bladed axes for woodchopping, billhooks for cutting tree branches, chisels for shaping wood, pickaxes, shovels, rakes, strainers and whetstones for sharpening metal blades. Most tools were made of iron and date to the Roman period.154
Several archaeological sites prove that the Illyrians engaged in active manufacturing. Near Bugojno, Bosnia is an Illyrian fortified settlement named ‘Pod’, situated atop a plateau sticking out of the side of Mount Koprivnica, overlooking the Porid’żʺnica River. Pod seems to have been a centre for pottery production since large amounts of pottery shards were uncovered. Other objects were for bronze-casting and iron-working, indicating weapons or tools manufacturing. At Ošanići, a massive collection of finds dating between the fourth and second centuries BC was uncovered including pottery, moulds for bronze-casting, an iron anvil, blacksmithing tools, carpentry tools, silver wire and glass. All of this indicates that Ošanići was a very active industrial centre.155
It would therefore appear that ancient Illyria was a beehive of activity. It was a land of great wealth and great potential. It is no wonder that it began to attract the attention of its eastern and western neighbours, Greece and Italy.
Chapter Two
Rome and the Balkans
Illyria and Greece
Before Rome discovered the inhabitants of the Balkans, the Illyrians had definitely made their presence known to the Greeks, which isn’t surprising considering that their respective territories adjoined one another. Such close proximity was bound to invite both contact and conflict. Strabo states that Chersicrates, the leader of the Greek state of Corinth, forced the Liburnian tribe to withdraw from the island of Corfu, known in ancient times as Corcyra. Although Strabo himself doesn’t give any specific date as to when this event took place, it is typically dated to 734 BC by modern scholars. It is also unclear if there was a battle to wrest control of the island of Corfu from the Liburnians, or if the Liburnians left without incident after Chersicrates’ sabre-rattling. After the island was completely depopulated, Chersicrates brought in his own people to colonize it.1 This appears to have been the earliest hostile episode between the Greeks and Illyrians.
When the Greeks began setting up their apoikia outposts along the Balkan Adriatic coastline, beginning with the Greek takeover of Corfu, it was an important event with vast repercussions, because it served to further accelerate the process of Hellenization among the Illyrian tribes. The Greeks started in the south and gradually worked their way northwards. In 627 BC, settlers from the island state of Corfu founded the colony of Epidamnus, later renamed by the Romans as Dyrrhachium (modern-day Durres, Albania). In 588 BC, people from the cities of Corcyra and Corinth founded the settlement of Apollonia, built atop a hill commanding a strategic view of both the Aous River and overland trade routes connecting Greece with the rest of Illyria. In the early 300s BC, Dionysius of Syracuse established the colonies of Issa (Vis Island) and Pharos (Starigrad, Hvar Island). The Greeks fought a significant naval battle against the Illyrians in order to establish their colony at Pharos, resulting in 5,000 Illyrians being killed and another 2,000 being taken prisoner; this shows that the Illyrians didn’t simply let the Greeks set up settlements without resistance. All of these settlements would play important roles in the histories of Illyria, Greece and Rome. It should also be stated that while the Illyrians were becoming more ‘civilized’ due to their contact with the Greeks, the Greek colonists were becoming more ‘barbarized’ due to their contact with the Illyrians, especially with regard to Greeks having Illyrian names or Illyrianized versions of Greek names. By the 200s BC, the Greek colonies had essentially ceased to be mono-culturally Greek. This is a prime example of typical Illyrian cultural exchange in action.2
The ancient Greeks had mixed views about their Illyrian neighbours to the west. In the book Periegesis, written in the second century BC by an unknown author (though modern scholars have given the author the name Pseudo-Skymnos), the Illyrians are portrayed as being utterly barbaric but at the same time being pure, free from the corrupting influences of civilization, virtuous, devoted to their gods, and being just and hospitable in the treatment of others.3 Such a kind view would have raised a lot of eyebrows and outcries among the ancient Greeks. If you read the ancient documents written by the Greeks and Romans, you will very quickly see that the tone is almost always hostile. The Illyrians are frequently described as nothing more than violent thugs, savages and especially pirates.
I’m sure that there were benefits for both sides when these two cultures met, but what the historical sources tell us about mostly concerning the Greeks and Illyrians is war. As the Greeks expanded, they came into conflict with the Illyrians, who were more than a match for them. The western state of Epirus, being located on the border of the territories of some of the strongest Illyrian tribes, endured many attacks from
their north-western neighbours. However, the Hellenic state that suffered the most bloodshed at the hands of the Illyrians was Macedon. The antipathy between the Macedonians and the Illyrians has a long history extending back to the early seventh century BC. After diplomatic relations between the Macedonian court and the Illyrians soured, the Illyrians invaded Macedon in 691 BC. For the better part of three hundred years, the Macedonians and Illyrians slogged it out in an on-off feud for power in the region. In 602 BC, King Philip I of Macedon was killed in battle by the Illyrians. In 424 BC, a combined army of Spartans and Macedonians, two of the strongest Greek states of that time, was defeated by the Illyrians at the Battle of Lyncestis and the survivors were forced to flee for their lives. The Greek historian Thucydides reports that the Spartan commander Brasidas tried to raise the morale of his men by giving an inspiring speech, stating that while the Illyrians’ shouting and swinging their weapons around in the air might have an intimidating appearance, when it comes to hand-to-hand fighting, they are no match for professional troops.4
The Great Illyrian Revolt Page 9