By Doris Marszk
The ancient Illyrian people have previously been mistakenly considered a pirate people – but the Illyrians were apparently also capable of quite a civilized trade, as unique archaeological finds attest.
The Illyrians were among the peoples who fought fiercely against the Romans. Since they themselves left virtually no written records, much of what we know about this people of the western Balkan Peninsula was passed down through the Romans. Now, excavations by a team of Norwegian archaeologists show that the Illyrians apparently also engaged in peaceful trade with the Romans.
On the Croatian coast, in the Neretva River marshland, researchers have discovered the ruins of a settlement, the remains of a port that was apparently used as a shipping point, and sunken ships loaded with wine amphorae. The finds date back to around the first century AD.
“The discovery is unique from a European perspective,” explains Marina Prusac of the University of Oslo.
“We have concluded that Desilo, as the site is called, was an important trading center where the Romans and the Illyrians interacted.” In the spring of 2007, a team of Croatian archaeologists had already discovered 16 Illyrian ships loaded with wine amphorae. Their interpretation was that the ships were Illyrian pirate ships sunk by the Romans.
However, Marina Prusac’s team assumes that the ships and amphorae did not all sink at once, but over a century. One of the researchers on Prusac’s team, Adam Lindhagen, specializes in Roman wine amphorae and has examined the amphorae for their distinctive features. He found that the amphorae were all made on the Dalmatian coast, the same region from which wine was transported to Rome.
The reason why the amphorae sank remains unclear. It may have been a ritual act, perhaps an offering of wine to appease the sea god.
According to Herodotus, in the 5th century BC, the Illyrian kingdom stretched along the Adriatic coast from the Morava River in the east to the Adige River in the west. From the 3rd century onwards, Illyria fell increasingly under Roman rule, although it resisted for a long time.
After the turn of the millennium, between 6 and 9 AD, an Illyrian uprising occurred, which the Romans managed to suppress only with great difficulty. It is therefore not surprising that the Illyrians had a reputation as a warlike people. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, some Illyrian territories became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, and from around 580 AD, Slavs settled there.
In 19th-century South Slavic nationalism, the term “Illyrian Movement” was often used. Many scholars believe that Albanians are descendants of the Illyrians.
Source
University of Oslo. University of Mostar, Croatia. Original research. https://www.wissenschaft-aktuell.de/artikel/Die_kriegerischen_Illyrer___doch_auch_friedliche_Haendler_1771015585590.html
