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Revision as of 19:12, 16 November 2005 by Alex earlier account (talk | contribs) (see talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Illyrians were an Indo-European people who inhabited the western Balkans (from northern Epirus to southern Pannonia) and parts of Southern Italy in ancient times into the Common era. They spoke languages grouped in the Illyrian languages, a separate branch of Indo-European.
The Illyrians may have appeared in the western part of the Balkan peninsula about 1000 BC, a period coinciding with the end of the Bronze age and the beginning of the Iron age. The Illyrians were not a unified body but a group of many different tribes. These tribes however had a common culture and spoke related languages.
Whether the Albanian language descends from an Illyrian language is disputed among scholars (see Origin of Albanians). The only attested Illyrian language may be Messapian, which is not closely related to Albanian.