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This article is about the ancient peoples. For the Trojan allies, see Dardan.

Dardania (Template:Lang-grc; Template:Lang-la) was the region of the the Dardani (Template:Lang-grc; Template:Lang-la). Located at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone, their identification as either Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain.

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

In AD 6, they were conquered by Rome and became part of the province of Moesia Superior (corresponding to present-day Serbia, northern fringes of Macedonia and northern Bulgaria). According to Strabo, they were divided into two sub-groups, the Galabri and the Thunaki.

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

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- (which would make it related also to Greek achrás 'wild pear'), or *dheregh-.

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

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). 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, but the Romans considered them to be Greeks as a whole, which contradicts modern scholarship.

History

The Dardanians are first mentioned in 88 BC when they invaded Macedonia. They settled in the West land of the Triballians (present-day Kosovo). The settlements were Thracian (Triballi) in pre-Roman times, attested in the etymology of place names surviving in the 3rd century AD when Dardania was given higher status. They make an appearance as a political entity in their own right in 86 BC, when they allied themselves with Mithridates VI of Pontus and are consequently defeated by Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

Polybius 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.

Dardania was conquered in AD 6 by Gaius Scribonius Curio and included into the Roman Empire, the Latin language was soon adopted as the main language of the tribe as many other conquered and Romanized. At first, Dardania was not a separate Roman province, but was a region in the province of Moesia Superior in AD 87. Emperor Diocletian later (284) made Dardania into a separate province with its capital at Naissus (Niš). During the Byzantine administration (in the 6th century AD), there was a Byzantine province of Dardania that included cities of Ulpiana, Scupi, Stobi, Justiniana Prima, and others.

Rulers & Nobles

• Bardyllis of the Dardani from 385 BC -358 BC
• Grabos perhaps Bardyllis's son 358 BC - 356 BC

• Bircenna - daughter of Bardylis 4th century BC

• Bardyllis II Bardyllis's son, 4th century BC
• Cleitus the Illyrian son of Bardyllis II, 4th century BC
• Monunius of the Dardani first Illyrian to mint coins, around 280 BC

• Etuta daughter of Monunius 3rd century BC

• Mytilus succesor to Monunius, around 270 BC
• Longarus of the Dardani father of Bato
• Bato of Dardania of the Dardani son of Longarus

Dardanian Kingdom

The domain of the Dardanian kings was made up of many tribes. The first and most prominent king of the Dardani was Bardyllis who ruled from 385 BC to 358 BC. He was perhaps succeeded by Grabos (358 BC - 356 BC) that may have been Bardyllis's son. Little is known about Bardyllis II (4th century BC) Bardyllis's son. Cleitus the Illyrian (4th century BC) was his son. Monunius and Mytilus followed. Tribal chiefs Longarus and his son Bato of Dardania took part in the wars against Romans and Macedonians.

Roman Dardania

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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.

Byzantine Dardania

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The area remained part of the Byzantine empire until the late 9th century, when it was conquered by the First Bulgarian Empire. After this it passed on the Byzantine empire again under Basil II and the Komnenos dynasty, and later in the Serbian Raška (state), and in the 14th century it became part of the Serbian Empire.

Cities

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

Language

An extenstive study over 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).

See also

• Paleo-Balkanic religion
• Prehistoric Balkans
• Illyria
• List of Illyrian tribes
• Dardan

References

1. 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 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" The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians, Amsterdam 1978, by Fanula Papazoglu, ISBN 9025607934, page 131.
5. 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. ..."
6. Strabo: Books 1‑7, 15‑17 in English translation, ed. H. L. Jones (1924), at LacusCurtius
7. The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians by Fanula Papazoglu,ISBN 9025607934,page 265
8. ^ 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
9. 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..."
10. Hauptstädte in Südosteuropa: Geschichte, Funktion, nationale Symbolkraft by Harald Heppner,page 134
11. Elsie, Robert (1998): "Dendronymica Albanica: A survey of Albanian tree and shrub names". Zeitschrift für Balkanologie 34: 163-200 online paper
12. The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, ISBN 0140171991
13. Appian, The Foreign Wars, III, 1.2
14. 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. ..."
15. Greeks and Barbarians (Edinburgh Readings on the Ancient World) by T. Harrison,2001,ISBN 0415939593,page 140
16. ^ http://www.balkaninstitut.com/pdf/izdanja/B_XXXVII_2007.pdf
17. Polybius, Histories,25.6
18. 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 ...)"
19. 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..."
20. 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 ...)"
21. ^ 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.
22. ^ Harding, p. 93. Grabos became the most powerful Illyrian king after the death of Bardylis in 358.
23. ^ 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 succesor"
24. ^ The Greek world, 479-323 BC by Simon Hornblower,2002,ISBN-0415163269,page 272
25. Plutarch's Lives Volume 1 by Plutarch, Arthur Hugh Clough, John Dryden, and James Atlas,2001,"Bircenna, Bardyllis the Illyrian's daughter"
26. ^ "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.
27. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0-631-19807-5, p. 129, "No Illyrian production of coins is known before King Monunius struck his coins at Dyrrhachium (see figure 11), followed by Mytilus around ten years later"
28. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 85"... Longarus, Bato and Monunius, whose daughter Etuta was married to the Illyrian king Gentius, are all Illyrian.
29. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0-631-19807-5, p. 129, "No Illyrian production of coins is known before King Monunius struck his coins at Dyrrhachium (see figure 11), followed by Mytilus around ten years later
30. 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 ..."
31. ^ 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..."
32. 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"
33. 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 ..."
34. Naissos
35. ^ 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)."
36. Ethnic continuity in the Carpatho-Danubian area by Elemér Illyés,1988,ISBN-0880331461,page 223
37. Katičić, Radoslav (1964b) "Die neuesten Forschungen uber die einhemiche Sprachschist in den Illyrischen Provinzen" in Benac (1964a) 9-58 Katičić, Radoslav (1965b) "Zur frage der keltischen und panonischen Namengebieten im romischen Dalmatien" ANUBiH 3 GCBI 1, 53-76
38. Katičić, Radoslav. Ancient languages of the Balkans. The Hague - Paris (1976)

Other sources

• András Mócsy, Sheppard Frere, Pannonia and Upper Moesia: A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire, Routledge (1974), ISBN 0710077149.

External links

• Illyria and Illyrians

• Dardania (Balkans)
• Illyrian tribes
• Thraco-Illyrian
• Ancient tribes in Macedonia
• Ancient tribes in the Republic of Macedonia
• Ancient tribes in Kosovo
• Ancient tribes in Serbia
• Moesia