Strabo 7, 5 and imaginary Illyricum

A. Rufin-Solas (ed.) Armées grecques et romaines dans le nord des Balkans: Conflits et Integration des Communautes Guerrieres. Akanthina 7 (Fondation Traditio Europae: Gdánsk & Toruń, 2013), 145-169., 2013

P. Kovács (ed.), Tiberius in Illyricum. Contributions to the history of the Danubian provinces under Tiberius (14–37 AD) (Hungarian Polis Studies 24), Budapest, Debrecen , 2017

The fact that Strabo revised or possibly even composed large parts of his Geography in the first years of Tiberius’ reign did not alter the general “Augustan atmosphere” of the work. This does not mean that he could not have added much data also during the first years of Tiberius’ reign, adapting several passages of his narrative to the new situation, created by current events. One of the dating clues in the text, indicating when he was actually writing it, is in his Book 4, dedicated to Transalpine Gaul and the central Alps, where he mentioned that the Vindolici, Raeti, and Noricans (including the Carni and Taurisci) had been defeated by Tiberius and Drusus, and since then had been living in peace for thirty-three years, regularly paying tributes (4.6.9 C. 206). This passage was written by Strabo in AD 18 or 19. The structure of the work, including internal summaries and cross-references, indicates that the Geography was written systematically and not over an overly long span of time, perhaps between the years 17 and 24 AD. The fifth chapter of Book 7 is dedicated entirely to Illyricum, and there is no direct mention of Tiberius. However, when in the third paragraph Strabo mentioned six Pannonian peoples (Breuci, Andizetii, Ditiones, Peirustae, Mazaei, and Daesitiates), these were all closely connected with Tiberius, who had conquered the Breuci in his Pannonian War (12–9 BC), and others in the great Pannonian-Dalmatian Rebellion in AD 6–9. Strabo specifically mentioned Bato as the leader of the Daesitiates, which can be regarded as an undeniable hint to Tiberius, since it was Tiberius who had conquered Bato’s army and captured him in Andetrium. Other instances, concerning direct and indirect evidence linking Tiberius with Illyricum are discussed in the article.

Živa Antika 56 (2006), 113-128., 2006

This paper deals with certain authors from the Greek- and Latin-speaking circle, whose common interest was the Pannonian territory. The purpose of this paper is not to critically discuss the quality and accuracy of the given information, but to bring the facts as related in the sources.

Istraživanja 27 (2016), 69-83., 2016

Appian's Illyrian book (Illyrike) was originally intended to be just an appendix to his Macedonian book and today remains the only extant ancient work dealing with the early history of Illyricum which is preserved in its entirety. In this short work Appian puts together different local and regional histories in order to create a unified historical narrative and determines the historical and mythological coordinates of Illyricum inside the ancient world. This paper will discuss Illyrike in the context of the Roman construction of Illyricum as a provincial space, similar to some other regions in continental Europe such as, for example, Gaul or Britain. They were all firstly created through the needs of Roman political geography and later written into literary knowledge through the works of ancient history and ethnography. This paper will argue that Appian's Illyrike represented the final stage of the Roman construction of Illyricum from an imaginary to a provincial space, which was the point of its full coming of age as an integral part of the ancient world and the Roman Empire.

Dialogues d’Histoire Ancienne 40(2) (2014), 45-65., 2014

The label ‘Illyrians’ was used in different contexts, probably developing as an ethnographic generalisation of foreigners related to similar indigenous language(s). In all certainty it developed in the sixth century BC but the evidence we have appears only in the fifth century. Later perceptions of ‘Illyrians’ are related to political and territorial contexts, first to the political alliance of the Hellenistic-era Illyrian kingdom, and after that to the Roman use of this term in the context of early imperial expansion.

Arheološki Vestnik 59 (2008), 371-380, 2008

Opuscula Archaeologica 31 (2007), 49-68, 2008

Godišnjak Centra za Balkanološka ispitivanja XXXV/33 (2006), 145-159., 2006