The Breucs were an Illyrian tribe that inhabited the region between the Sava and Drina rivers, in what is now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina . They are mentioned in ancient sources as one of the Illyrian tribes that played an important role in the political and military developments of the region. In Roman and Greek sources, the Breucs are described as skilled warriors and often allies or opponents of the Roman Empire, depending on historical circumstances.
One of the most well-known events associated with the Breucians is their participation in the Great Illyrian Revolt against the Romans in 6–9 AD. They were initially led by Bato Breuc, who was one of the main leaders of this movement. The revolt was suppressed by the Romans, and the Breucians, like many other Illyrian tribes, lost their independence and were incorporated into the administrative structure of the Roman Empire.
The Breuci were also known for their cultural and religious traditions, which were typical of the Illyrian tribes. Their language was Illyrian , and their beliefs were pagan and related to nature and its deities. After the Romanization of the region, they gradually assimilated into Roman culture, losing their ethnic identity. Traces of the Breuks remain mainly in some place names and in historical sources that describe their role in the early history of the Balkans.
Today it is assumed that, along with other microtoponyms, the name of the city of Bërçka is also related to the name of the ancient Illyrian tribe of the Breuks.
After Roman occupation they moved to the south until they settled in Dardania (modern Kosovo). The Breuci were renowned for their physical strength. Settlements of Breuci soldiers have been found even in Britain.
The territory of the Breucs.
All ancient documents speak of the Breucians as being from Pannonia (Pannonia Inferior), around the lower reaches of the Sava River. According to Croatian sources: Strabo in his Geography writes: “The peoples of Pannonia (not tribes, as we are accustomed to say) were the Breucians, Andesates, Diciones, Pirustes, Mesei and Desideates, whose leader (king) was Batonis ….”
So the Breuket are counted among the Illyrian peoples of Pannonia, great and well- known.
Of course, you are familiar with the Dalmatian-Pannonian Uprising of 6-9 AD against Rome, led by the Illyrian King Desideat – Batoni. Let us see that here the Illyrian peoples, the Pannonites and the Pirustes (especially the Pirustes) who inhabited the territories of Mbidrina, Sandzak and the northern parts of Montenegro, are also mentioned, and who, together with the Desideats, were the greatest warriors in the mentioned years against Rome.
According to Croatian sources; Pliny the Elder gives us even more valuable notes regarding the rivers of Pannonia, (and with this we know other forgotten Illyrian peoples or those who are mentioned very rarely or not at all), the Drava River also passes through the lands of the Seretians, Serapians, Jasians and Andizetes, while the Sava River flows through the lands of the Colapians and Breucians ((“…Draus per Serretes, Serapillos, Iasos, Andizetes, Saus per Colapianos Breucosque”, NH, III, 25,147)
Look, during the writing I will also mention other Illyrian peoples about which Croatian sources inform us. Pliny the Elder also writes about this in “(“Populorum haec capita”, NH, III, 25, 148) mentioning besides them a multitude of other Illyrian peoples.
Ptolemy in his later notes, while describing Upper Pannonia, says that the neighbors of the Breucians were: the Colapiani, the Iasi, and the Oseriati. The exact border between them is not known, but somewhere close to the East of the Breucians were the Amantei.
Knowing something more about the ethnogenesis of the Bruks presents an extended problem; the reasons are different, as stated in the literature that I have listed below. ((But according to me (a little ironically) it is expected that the Albanians will make a cadre, but once in a while we don’t have time because we are still in transition))
A document found in Slavonski Brod awarded by Rome to Likaju, son of Birs, for merit in accepting Rome. (Roman military diploma from Slavonski Brod awarded to Likaju, son of Birs, Breuk of Marsunnia, centurion of the Mizen fleet; Museum of the Brod Posavlje, Slavonski Brod)
The Desideatian War of 6-9 BC was a devastating war for the Desideatian people. The Breucians, who were not yet aware of the danger of national extermination by Rome, were also heroic. But the equally heroic war of the Breucians (12-11 AD) was like that of the Desideatians: with devastating consequences for Rome.
Fahri Xharra writes:
“There are few records about the Amantei, but it is known that they were an Illyrian tribe, and according to the later administrative division of Rome, they were an Illyrian tribe of Pannonia. The Amantei were near Sirmium (today’s Mitrovica e Srem) but being called the city of Amantia, they must have lived in the southern Illyrian regions at that time. JJ Wikeys in his book “The Illyrians (1992) ” writes that the war with Rome was a savage one.
The Amantei and the Breucs (another Illyrian tribe) had fought Rome so hard that after their failure the Amantei were sold as slaves in Italy, and as such they disappeared. The Breucs, on the other hand, suffered a different fate, being forcibly displaced through Dacia (present-day Romania; Ion Grumeza, Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient Eastern Europe)
The Breuks, as Illyrians, lived in their lands in present-day Slavonia (Croatia); in the lands of the Sava sub-river from Novsko to Slavonsko Gorje in the north, in the east to Bosuta, and also extended between the Vrbas and Drina rivers (the “Ba(thinus)” River – present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).
They bordered their brothers the Illyrian tribes of the Andizets, Kolapians, Amants and Scordisci; all known for their great resistance to Roman invasions. The first records of the Breuks, according to Croatian and Bosnian scholars, are found very late in the 19th century, where they were only mentioned in fragmentary form. (The well-known archaeologist C.Patsch in his Encyclopedia of 1897). 30 years later, historians paid full attention to the Breuks (philologist Milan Branimir). Herodotus also spoke about the Breukes, saying that they were of Phrygian origin.
Preserved ancient sources say that the Breucians lived in the territory of Pannonia (Pannonia Inferior), along the course of the Sava River. While Strabo in his Geography notes that the Pannonian peoples were Illyrians such as the Breucians, Andizets, Diciones, Pirusti and Mezei and Desidates.
While, as for the eastern borders, they extended to Fruška Gora on the border with the Amantes and which extended to Sirmium. According to all the records, it can be concluded that the Breucians lived on both sides of the Sava course, that is, in today’s Croatia and Bosnia. This is not surprising when it is known that prehistoric and protohistoric peoples lived in river valleys, because they allowed free lines of communication from which ethnic and Finnic territories were formed, while the mountain heights were the borders between them.
Archaeological settlements from the Bronze and Iron Ages have been found around the Sava River. The remains of Sirmium have been found in the present-day locality called Mitrovica e Srem, 55 km west of Belgrade (Singidunum) and only 145 km from the city of Kosolac (Viminacium). And, the old findings over 5000 years BC show that there was organized human life there.”
References
Ložnjak Dizdar 2005:D. Ložnjak Dizdar, Naseljenost Podravine u starijoj fazi culture polja sa žarama, Pr. Inst. Ar., 22/2005, 25-58.
Čović 1976: B. Čović, Od Butmira do Ilira. Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1976.
Dorn 1984: A. Dorn, Rimska vojnička diploma iz Negoslavaca. Izdanja HAD-a, IX, 1984.
FANOULA PAPAZOGLOU LES TRIBUS INDIGENES DE L’INTERIEUR BALKANIQUE A L’EPOQUE PREROMAINE, SARAJEVO, 19 6 9
“Who were the Breuks?”. 2016-06-12. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
Anamali, Skënder (1987). “The Illyrian Uprising of the 6th-9th Centuries AD /L’insurrection illyrienne des années 6-9 de n. ère”. Iliria (in French and Albanian). 17 (1): 5–23. doi:10.3406/iliri.1987.1426.
“Autariatët , Amantët dhe Breukët – Dielli | The Sun”. 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
Anreiter, Peter (2001). The ancient name Pannoniens. Budapest.
Colombo, Maurizio (2010). “Pannonica” Proceedings of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. 50(2–3): 171–202.
Domić Kunić, Alka (2006). “Bellum Pannonicum (12th–11th BC): the second phase of the Pannonic June” Vjesnik Arheološkog museum in Zagreb. 39: 59–164.
Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
Kovacs, Peter (2014). A History of Pannonia during the Principate. Antiques, King 1, Band 65. Bonn: Habelt.
Mocsy, Andrew (1974). Pannonia and Upper Moesia: A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Radman-Livager, Evan; Ivezić, Hannah (2012). “A Review of South-Pannonian Indigenous Anthroponymy”. In Migotti, Branka (ed.). The Archeology of Roman Southern Pannonia. BAR International Series 2393. Oxford: Archaeopress. pp. 100-1 137–157. ISBN 978-1-4073-0985-9.
