Written by Petrit Latifi

Did you know that in the present-day territory of Krajë, the Illyrian people called SELEPITANET lived?

Most have thought and read that around the lake (including Krajë) the Labeates lived and that we are descended from this Illyrian tribe. But in reality, the Labeates were limited to the north of Lake Skadar (called after them lat. Lacus Labeatis), between Moraca (lat. Barbana) and Drin (lat. Oriund) and had founded two important cities, Meteon and Shkodër. The territory of the Labeates did not include Krajë, therefore we cannot be called descendants of the Labeates.

There are not many records about this people, the Selepinë. The Roman historian Titus Livius mentions them in his book 45 on page 26 along with several other peoples (….Scodrensibus et Dassarensibus et Selepitanis ceterisque Illyriis vectigal dimidium ejus quod regi pendissent.

The Scodranes, Dassarets and Selepitans and the other Illyrians, who had paid the king half of that tribute”) in the context of the Third Illyrian-Roman War of 168 BC. The Selepitans are not mentioned elsewhere, therefore we do not have more detailed records about this ancient Illyrian people and they have not been in the attention of authors and historians.

Livy also mentions the Desarentes (along with the Selepians, who should not be confused with the Dasaretes around Lake Ohrid)) who, according to some authors, are positioned between the Ardarians and the Dardanians. Appian of Alexandria (ancient Greek historian) wrote in the book “Illyrian Wars” that according to the ancient Greeks, Illyrian, the ancestor of the Illyrians, had a daughter, Dassare, from whom the Dassaretes emerged.

Other lesser-known peoples lived around Lake Skadar: the Pleraei, Endirudini, Sasaei, Grabaei, who merged into the Docleate tribe.
After this war, Illyria was finally governed by the Romans. Within the framework of this new reality, the geographical area of ​​today’s Montenegro and northern Albania up to the Adriatic Sea, later from 268 to around 600 with the arrival of the Slavs, became a Roman province with its center in Shkoder and was called “Praevalitana”.

This province after 600 until the 12th century was replaced by the principality of Diocles with its center in Kraja, but for which we also have scant and circumstantial data. In the photo, maps from the book “The Illyrians” by John Wilkes.