Liburnians

Liburni's archaeological culture can be traced to the Late Bronze Age and "were settled since at least the tenth century BC in northern Dalmatia".^[7][8][9] Some Greek and Roman historians considered them to be of Asia Minor origin. According some scholars there existed some common characteristics between them and Etruscans,^[7] but others refute them and Asia Minor theory isn't generally accepted.^[10] Appian considered them as "one of the Illyrian peoples", an "Illyrian tribe", while Florus as the first enemies of Romans during Illyro-Roman Wars.^[11] However, although sometimes designated as Illyrian in historical sources and historiography they didn't belong to Illyrii proprie dicti,^[12][13] or to the Illyrian groups of Dalmatia and Pannonia, and for example Livy considered them "different people from the Illyrians". As foreign sources probably mixed various data on ethnic and non-ethnic Illyrians, it is considered today on the basis of material and linguistic evidence that the Liburni belonged to broader term of "so-called Illyrian peoples", but weren't ethnic Illyrians.^[14][15][16] However, modern historiography questions the same scholarship's methodological identification of ethnicity with material culture, linguistic traces, deities and else which ignores anthropological exchange, and notes that prior 4th century BCE the name of Liburni and Illyrians could have been synonyms and the former was only later distinctively used in narrow sense for people of North Adriatic territory.^[17]

The Liburnian people, especially when were stationed in foreign land, identified themselves as "Liburnus" or "natione Liburnus",^[18] but the identity was also related to same-named administrative unit in Roman province of Illyricum, making the shared sense of ethnic and political identity prior to 1st century BCE a matter of debate among modern scholars.^[19] The surnames Liburnus, Liburna and personal names Liburnius and Liburnia aren't necessarily related to ethnic identity but rather Liburna, a type of ship, and name for carriers of chair, and server on royal court.^[20]

Discover more about Origins and relation to Illyrians related topics

Appian

Appian

Appian of Alexandria was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.

Illyro-Roman Wars

Illyro-Roman Wars

The Illyro-Roman Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom. In the First Illyrian War, which lasted from 229 BC to 228 BC, Rome's concern was that the trade across the Adriatic Sea increased after the First Punic War at a time when Ardiaei power increased under queen Teuta. Attacks on trading vessels of Rome's Italic allies by Illyrian pirates and the death of a Roman envoy named Coruncanius on Teuta's orders, prompted the Roman senate to dispatch a Roman army under the command of the consuls Lucius Postumius Albinus and Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus. Rome expelled Illyrian garrisons from a number of Greek cities including Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra, Pharos and established a protectorate over these Greek towns. The Romans also set up Demetrius of Pharos as a power in Illyria to counterbalance the power of Teuta.

Illyrii proprie dicti

Illyrii proprie dicti

Illyrii proprie dicti or Illyrians proper were presumably a group of ancient Illyrian tribes. They were attested only by ancient Roman writers Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela, designating a people that was located on the southern Adriatic coast.

Livy

Livy

Titus Livius, known in English as Livy, was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled Ab Urbe Condita, ''From the Founding of the City'', covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on familiar terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a friend of Augustus, whose young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, he exhorted to take up the writing of history.

Illyricum (Roman province)

Illyricum (Roman province)

Illyricum was a Roman province that existed from 27 BC to sometime during the reign of Vespasian. The province comprised Illyria/Dalmatia in the south and Pannonia in the north. Illyria included the area along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland mountains, eventually being named Dalmatia. Pannonia included the northern plains that now are a part of Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. The area roughly corresponded to part or all of the territories of today's Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Classic age

Liburnian territory during the 5th century BC

The first account of the Liburni comes from Hecataeus of Miletus (6th century BCE) and Strabo ("referring to the eighth century BCE").^[7][21] They reportedly were expelled from Korkyra by the Greeks, where Liburni previously expelled another Illyrian people Taulantii, during the period of foundation of Syracuse, Sicily.^[22][7][23] Appian also wrote that they possessed Epidamnus in Albania, but both accounts, although possibly anachronistic,^[24][25] don't seem impossible.^[24] They are probably a reflection of Illyrian southward migration during the Early Iron Age (c. 1000 BCE).^[26]

The fall of Liburnian domination in the Adriatic Sea and their final retreat to their ethnic region (Liburnia) were caused by the military and political activities of Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse (406 – 367 BC). The imperial power base of this Syracusan tyrant stemmed from a huge naval fleet of 300 tetreras and penteras. After he ended Carthaginian authority in Sicily, he turned against the Etruscans. He made use of the Celtic invasion of Italy, and the Celts became his allies in the Italian peninsula (386 - 385 BC). This alliance was crucial for his politics, then focusing on the Adriatic Sea, where the Liburnians still dominated. In light of this strategy, he established a few Syracusan colonies on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea: Adria at the mouth of Po river and Ancona at the western Adriatic coast, Issa on the outermost island of the central Adriatic archipelago (island of Vis) and others. Meanwhile, in 385-384 BC he helped colonists from the Greek island of Paros to establish Pharos (Starigrad) colony on the Liburnian island of Hvar, thus taking control of the important points and navigable routes in the southern, central and northern Adriatic.

The name of the Vindelician town of Cambodunum (today Kempten) is apparently derived from the Celtic cambo dunon: "fortified place at the river bend" .^[27] One classical source, Servius' commentary on Virgil's Aeneid,^[28] says on the contrary that the Vindelicians were originally Liburnians – a non-Celtic Indo-European people from the northeastern shores of the Adriatic (modern Croatia).

This caused a simultaneous Liburnian resistance on both coasts, whether in their ethnic domain or on the western coast, where their possessions or interests were in danger. A great naval battle was recorded a year after the establishment of Pharos colony, by a Greek inscription in Pharos (384 – 383 BC) and by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (80 – 29 BC), initiated by conflicts between the Greek colonists and the indigenous Hvar islanders, who asked their compatriots for support. 10,000 Liburnians sailed out from their capital Idassa (Zadar), led by the Iadasinoi (people of Zadar), and laid siege to Pharos. The Syracusan fleet positioned in Issa was informed in time, and Greek triremes attacked the siege fleet, taking victory in the end. According to Diodorus, the Greeks killed more than 5,000 and captured 2,000 prisoners, ran down or captured their ships, and burned their weapons in dedication to their god.

This battle meant the loss of the most important strategic Liburnian positions in the centre of the Adriatic, resulting in their final retreat to their main ethnic region, Liburnia, and their complete departure from the Italic coast, apart from Truentum (nowadays on the border between Marche and Abruzzo). Greek colonization, however, did not extend into Liburnia, which remained strongly held, and Syracusan dominance suddenly diminished upon the death of Dionysius the Elder. The Liburnians recovered and developed piracy to secure navigable routes in the Adriatic, as recorded by Livius for 302 BC.^[29]

The middle of the 3rd century BC was marked by the rise of an Illyrian kingdom in the south of the Adriatic, led by king Agron of the Ardiaei. Its piratical activities imperiled Greek and Roman interests in the Adriatic, and caused the first Roman intervention on the eastern coast in 229 BC; Florus in Epitome of Roman History noted the Liburnians as the Romans' enemies in this expedition,^[2] while Appian (Bell. Civ., II, 39) noted liburnae as swift galleys the Romans first fought with when they entered the Adriatic. The Liburni were allies of their southern Illyrian compatriots, Ardiaei and the others, but from the lack of more records related to them in the 3rd century BC, it is assumed that they mostly stood aside in the subsequent Roman wars and conflicts with Pyrrhus, Carthage, Macedonia and the southern Illyrian state.^[30] Even though Liburnian territory was not involved in these confrontations, it seems that the Liburna warship was adopted by the Romans during the Punic Wars^[31] and in the Second Macedonian War.^[32]

Hellenistic and Roman periods

In 181 BC, the Romans established their colony at Aquileia and took control of all Venetia in the north, thus expanding towards the Illyrian area from the northwest. In 177 BC they conquered Istria to the north of the eastern Adriatic coast, settled by tribe of Histri, while the Iapodes, the northern neighbors of Liburnia, attacked Aquileia in 171 BC. These incidents did not involve Liburnian territory. The Liburnians probably avoided direct conflict with the Romans in order to safeguard their remaining naval activities. After their arrival to the west of Liburnia, Roman legions also appeared on its southern borders, defeating the southern Illyrians and finally king Gentius in 167 BC, and during wars against the tribe of Dalmatae in 156–155 BC. The first Roman appearance in Liburnian waters occurred in 129 BC, during the military expedition of the Roman consul Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus against the Iapodes, which ended with hard-won victories over the Iapodes, Carni, Taurisci and Liburnians.

In 84 BC, the Roman consuls enemies of Sulla mobilized an army in Italy and tried to use Liburnian territory, probably some outer island, to organize a military campaign back into Italy, against Sulla. This failed owing to bad weather and the low morale of the soldiers, who massively escaped to their homes in Italy, or refused to cross the sea to Liburnia. The Roman legions once again passed through Liburnian territory, probably by sea along the coast, in their next expedition against the Dalmatae (78–76 BC), started from the north, from Aquileia and Istria, to stabilize Roman control of the Dalmatian city Salona.^[33]

In 59 BC, Illyricum was assigned as a provincia (or zone of responsibility) to Julius Caesar, and the main Liburnian city of Iadera was nominally proclaimed a Roman municipium, but the real establishment of the Roman province occurred no earlier than 33 BC.

The Dalmatae soon recovered and entered into conflict with the Liburnians in 51 BC (probably over possession of the pasture grounds around the Krka river), taking their city Promona. The Liburnians were not strong enough to reconquer it alone, so they appealed to Caesar, then the Roman proconsul of Illyricum. However, the Liburnian army, strategically supported by the Romans, was heavily defeated by the Dalmatae.^[34]

The civil war between Caesar and Pompey in 49 BC affected all of the Roman Empire, as well as Liburnia. In that year, near the island of Krk, there was an important naval battle between the forces of Caesar and Pompey, involving local Liburnian support to both sides. Caesar was supported by the urban Liburnian centres, like Iader, Aenona and Curicum, while the rest of Liburnia supported Pompey, including the city of Issa where residents objected to Caesar's support for the Dalmatae in Salona. The "Navy of Iader" (Zadar) which may have included both Liburnian and Roman ships, confronted the "Liburnian navy" in service to Pompey, equipped with only Liburnians in their liburnae galleys.

Caesar rewarded his supporters in Liburnian Iader and Dalmatian Salona with the status of Roman colonies, but the battle was won by the Liburnian navy, prolonging the civil war, and ensuring control of the Adriatic to the side aligned with Pompey over the next 2 years until his final defeat in 48 BC. In the same year, Caesar sent his legions to take control of the rebellious Illyricum province, and took the fortress of Promona from Dalmatian hands, making them submit.^[35]

Throughout this time, Roman rule in Illyricum province, largely nominal, was concentrated in only a few cities on the eastern Adriatic coast, such as Iader, Salona and Narona. Renewed Illyrian and Liburnian piracy motivated Octavian to organize a great military operation in Illyricum province in 35 BC, to finally stabilize Roman control of it. This action was first concentrated on the coastal Illyrian tribes to the east of Narona, then was expanded along the depth of Illyrian territory, where continental tribes gave much stronger resistance. After returning from the inland areas of Illyricum, Octavian destroyed the Illyrian pirate communities on the islands of Melita (Mljet) and Korkyra Nigra (Korčula), and continued to Liburnia, where he wiped out the last remnants of the Liburnian naval forces, thus resolving the problems of their renewed piratical activities in the bay of Kvarner (sinus Flanaticus) and their attempt to secede from Rome. Octavian commandeered all the Liburnian ships. Very soon these galleys would play a decisive role in the battle near Actium.

Octavian made another expedition inland against the Iapodes from the Liburnian port of Senia (Senj), and conquered their most important positions in 34 BC. Over the next 2 years the Roman army, led by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, fought hard battles with the Dalmatae. The Liburnians were not recorded as participants in this war, but their southernmost territories were surely involved.^[36]

The Province of Dalmatia, (4th century AD)

It is uncertain whether the Liburnians joined in the last Great Illyrian Revolt; this remains debatable, as the only evidence is a damaged inscription found in Verona, mentioning the Iapodes and Liburnians under an unknown leader.^[37]

Over the centuries, naval power was the most important aspect of warfare for the Liburni. After the empowered Roman forces defeated the Liburni, the region became part of the Roman province of Dalmatia, but it was considered marginal in a military sense. Burnum on the Krka river became a Roman military camp, while the plains of Liburnia proper inland from Iader, already urbanized, now became easily accessible to control by Roman rulers. However, Liburnian seafaring tradition was not extinguished; it rather acquired a more commercial character under the new circumstances as Liburnia's ports and cities thrived economically and culturally. Despite Romanization, especially in the larger cities, Liburnians retained their traditions, cults, burial customs (Liburnian cipus), names, etc., as attested by the archaeological evidence from that era.^[38]

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Hecataeus of Miletus

Hecataeus of Miletus

Hecataeus of Miletus, son of Hegesander, was an early Greek historian and geographer.

Korkyra (polis)

Korkyra (polis)

Korkyra was an ancient Greek city on the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea that is adjacent to Epirus. It was a colony of Corinth that was founded in the Archaic period. Korkyra was acting as a port of call on the sailing routes, especially to reach the Italian coast or ventured farther north. According to Thucydides, the earliest recorded naval battle took place between Korkyra and Corinth, roughly 260 years before he was writing, and thus in the mid-7th century BC. He also writes that Korkyra was one of the three great naval powers in 5th-century BC Greece, along with Athens and Corinth.

Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest and the Po Valley. The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovenia.

Dionysius I of Syracuse

Dionysius I of Syracuse

Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies. He was regarded by the ancients as an example of the worst kind of despot—cruel, suspicious and vindictive.

Carthage

Carthage

Carthage was the capital city of ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical world.

Adria

Adria

Adria is a town and comune in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po. The remains of the Etruscan city of Atria or Hatria are to be found below the modern city, three to four metres below the current level. Adria and Spina were the Etruscan ports and depots for Felsina. Adria may have given its name during an early period to the Adriatic Sea, to which it was connected by channels.

Po (river)

Po (river)

The Po is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either 652 km (405 mi) or 682 km (424 mi), if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. The headwaters of the Po are a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso. The Po then extends along the 45th parallel north before ending at a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice.

Ancona

Ancona

Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 as of 2015. Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located 280 km (170 mi) northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic Sea, between the slopes of the two extremities of the promontory of Monte Conero, Monte Astagno and Monte Guasco.

Paros

Paros

Paros is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about 8 kilometres wide. It lies approximately 150 km south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets totaling 196.308 square kilometres (75.795 sq mi) of land. Its nearest neighbor is the municipality of Antiparos, which lies to its southwest. In ancient Greece, the city-state of Paros was located on the island.

Stari Grad, Croatia

Stari Grad, Croatia

Stari Grad is a town on the northern side of the island of Hvar in Dalmatia, Croatia. One of the oldest towns in Europe, its position at the end of a long, protected bay and next to prime agricultural land has long made it attractive for human settlement. Stari Grad is also a municipality within the Split-Dalmatia County.

Hvar

Hvar

Hvar is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately 68 km (42.25 mi) long, with a high east–west ridge of Mesozoic limestone and dolomite, the island of Hvar is unusual in the area for having a large fertile coastal plain, and fresh water springs. Its hillsides are covered in pine forests, with vineyards, olive groves, fruit orchards and lavender fields in the agricultural areas. The climate is characterized by mild winters, and warm summers with many hours of sunshine. The island has 10,739 residents according to the 2021 census, making it the 4th most populated of the Croatian islands.

Kempten

Kempten

Kempten is the largest town of Allgäu, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by the Romans, who called the town Cambodunum. Kempten is the oldest urban settlement (town) in Germany.

The development of Liburnian culture can be divided into 3 main time periods:

• 11th and 10th centuries BC. Between two waves of Balkan-Pannonian migrations, this was a transitive period between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, with features more related to the Late Bronze Age. It was characterized by the influence of the Urnfield Culture that spread in the Pannonian areas, in addition to the general changes caused by the Balkan-Pannonian migrations.
• 9th to the 5th centuries BC. Liburnian domination in the Adriatic Sea; its first phase (9th century BC), because of the aforementioned migrations, did not continue the developments of the Late Bronze Age, except in certain forms. This was the beginning of the Liburnian Iron Age, marked by their expansion and colonization of Picenum, Daunia and Apulia on the Italic shores. The establishment of colonies resulted in a highly developed and rich culture based on naval trade, in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. This was followed by isolation from the Balkan area, except from Iapodia. The lucrative exchange of materials with the opposite coast was continued in the 6th century BC, and its connection to Picenum remained strong, and links to Iapodes and Dalmatae have also been attested. In the 5th century BC, the Greeks undertook the leadership of trade in the Adriatic and considerable changes resulted, such as the importing of a wider range of Greek products.
• 5th to the 1st centuries BC. Decline of Liburnia's power; Liburnian culture was thoroughly under Hellenic influence, although specifically local cultural aspects were retained. Apart from the extended importation of Hellenistic and Italic pottery, and other lesser influences, Liburnian cultural relations with other peoples were rather poor.

Settlements

The principal forms of settlements were forts (Latin: castellum, Croatian: gradina) built for defense, usually on elevations and fortified with dry walls. In Liburnian territory, about 400 have been identified so far, but they were considerably more numerous. About a hundred names of these hill-forts have kept their roots from prehistory, especially places that had been inhabited permanently, such as Zadar (Iader), Nin (Aenona), Nadin (Nedinium), Rab (Arba), Krk (Curicum), etc. The dwellings were square, dry-wall, ground-floor buildings of one room. Similar stone houses are preserved in Croatian tradition all over Dalmatia and Kvarner, mostly of the rounded form called bunja.

Burial tradition

The Liburnians buried their dead in graves near or beneath settlements. It is known that they laid their dead on one side in a contracted position, mostly in chests of stone slabs. Tumuli are numerous all over Liburnian territory, especially in the heartland of Liburnia proper (Nin, Zaton, etc.). Although most grave sites were from the beginning of the Iron Age, many were continually used in the Copper Age or from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age. Inhumation under tumuli as practiced in Liburnian territory was undoubtedly inherited from earlier times.

Material culture

The transitory remains of culture are represented by various artifacts, mostly jewellery, pottery, and pieces of costume. Other forms are less common, such as weapons, tools etc. Especially numerous are fibulae, some twenty forms and many more variants, as well as ornamental pins. Small sculptures representing animals and people are fairly common. Various coins from 23 mints beginning from the 6th and especially the 3rd century have been found in former Liburnian territory, from Greek cities, colonies, Italian cities, Illyrian rulers, North African, Celtic and Roman. Bronze and glass vessels occur very rarely. Pottery is found mostly in settlements and tumuli, but it rarely occurs in tombs, except in rare tombs of Hellenistic type. Pottery was made without throwing, with a mixture of calcite, and burnt on an open fire. Imported pottery is also common, especially from southern Italy, from the 8th to 1st centuries BC; mostly Apulian vessels, but also some Greek pottery was imported.

Religion

The mythology of the people of Illyria is only known through the mention of Illyrian deities on Roman Empire period monuments, some with interpretatio Romana.^[39] There appears to be no single most prominent Illyrian god, and there would have been much variation between individual Illyrian tribes. The Illyrians did not develop a uniform cosmology on which to center their religious practices.^[40]

Iutossica and Anzotica, the latter identified with Venus (Venus Ansotica), Iicus (Iuppiter Sabasius Iicus), Taranucus (Iuppiter Taranucus) and so on were worshipped in Liburnia.^[41][42][43] Bindus, identified with Neptune, was worshiped among the Japodes as the guardian deity of springs and seas.^[44]

Economy

Liburnia's economy relied on its strength in the sectors of agriculture, stock breeding, crafts, trade, barter, seamanship, fishing, hunting, and food collecting. The Liburnians traded over the whole of the Adriatic, and into the Middle and Eastern Mediterranean and the northwestern Balkan peninsula. They exported mostly to the territories of the Iapodes and Dalmatae, and across the Adriatic to Picenum and southern Italy, especially the commodities of jewellery, cheese, clothing, etc., and they imported mostly from Italy, primarily pottery, and various adopted coins. Importation of amber from the Baltic cannot be proven, but acquisitions likely occurred in Liburnian territory.

Social relations

Insights into social relations are possible by means of cultural relics, Roman-era inscriptions, and the works of several authors. Mention of the special role of women in Liburnian society can be noted in their writings, but the idea about their matriarchy is scientifically rejected.^[43][45] They describe the original division into several tribes and territorial communities, later fused into a union of tribes and a single ethnic community of Liburnians. Social relations were based on the structure of family and clan. Collections of tumuli correspond to this; there were up to 18 graves in a tumulus through several generations, or individual interments, with up to 8 bodies in each grave. Certain data suggest social division, stratification, and inequality, where the Liburnian aristocracy maintained many privileges, special status, and features of their culture under Roman rule.

Relations to other cultures

Liburnian culture mainly developed on the basis of inheritance and independent development, partly through foreign influence, particularly Italic and Hellenic, as well as through the imports of foreign goods. Links with the Pannonian basin were fewer than in Late Bronze Age. Much more important were links with the Iapodes, and especially with the Dalmatae. Histrian culture developed differently, and their links with the Liburnians were less general. The exchange with Italy was varied and important. The Liburnians had the most versatile relationships with Picenum and southern Italy because of Liburnian immigration. Trade with the Greeks was more meagre, except in the Hellenistic age. Just as in other parts of the Mediterranean, large quantities of North African coins are prominent. Celtic influence is important, especially in jewellery and tools, but mostly it is not direct.^[46]

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Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans, also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Musala, 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), in the Rila mountain range, Bulgaria.

Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now western Hungary, western Slovakia, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia, and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age system proposed in 1836 by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying and studying ancient societies and history.

Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. The concept has been mostly applied to Iron Age Europe and the Ancient Near East, but also, by analogy, to other parts of the Old World.

Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest and the Po Valley. The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovenia.

Apulia

Apulia

Apulia, also known by its Italian name Puglia, is a region of Italy, located in the southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto to the south. The region comprises 19,345 square kilometers (7,469 sq mi), and its population is about four million people.

Italy

Italy

Italy, officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it consists of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands; its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region. Italy shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. It has a territorial exclave in Switzerland, Campione, and some islands in the African Plate. Italy covers an area of 301,230 km2 (116,310 sq mi), with a population of about 60 million. It is the third-most populous member state of the European Union, the sixth-most populous country in Europe, and the tenth-largest country in the continent by land area. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome.

Iapydes

Iapydes

The Iapydes were an ancient people who dwelt north of and inland from the Liburnians, off the Adriatic coast and eastwards of the Istrian peninsula. They occupied the interior of the country between the Colapis (Kupa) and Oeneus (Una) rivers, and the Velebit mountain range which separated them from the coastal Liburnians. Their territory covered the central inlands of modern Croatia and Una River Valley in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina. Archaeological documentation confirms their presence in these countries at least from 9th century BC, and they persisted in their area longer than a millennium. The ancient written documentation on inland Iapydes is scarcer than on the adjacent coastal peoples that had more frequent maritime contacts with ancient Greeks and Romans.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity, that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically related city-states and other territories. Most of these regions were officially unified only once, for 13 years, under Alexander the Great's empire from 336 to 323 BC. In Western history, the era of classical antiquity was immediately followed by the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine period.

Croatian language

Croatian language

Croatian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language used by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina, and other neighboring countries. It is the official and literary standard of Croatia and one of the official languages of the European Union. Croatian is also one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a recognized minority language in Serbia and neighboring countries.

Nin, Croatia

Nin, Croatia

Nin is a town in the Zadar County of Croatia, population 1,132, total municipality population 2,744 (2011).

Nadin

Nadin

Nadin is a Croatian village in the Zadar County, located between Benkovac and Škabrnja. The population is 406.

The Liburnians were renowned seafarers, notorious for their raids in the Adriatic Sea, which they conducted in their swift galleys. The Romans knew them principally as a people addicted to piracy.

The Liburnians constructed different ship types; their galaia was an early prototype of transport galleys, lembus was a fishing ship^[47][48][49] continued by the present-day Croatian levut, and a drakoforos was apparently mounted with a dragonhead at the prow.

Remains of a 10 meter long ship from the 1st century BC were found in Zaton near Nin (Aenona in Liburnia proper), the ship keel with the bottom planking made of 6 rows of wooden boards on each side, joined together and sewn with resin cords and wooden wedges, testifying to the Liburnian shipbuilding tradition style known as "Serilia Liburnica". Deciduous trees (oak and beech) were used, while some climber was used for the cords.^[50]

A 10th-century AD ship of identical form and size, made with wooden fittings instead of sewn planking joints, was found in the same place, "Condura Croatica" used by the Medieval Croats. Condura could be the closest known vessel to the original "liburna" galley in form, only much smaller, with the features of a quick and agile galley, having a shallow bottom, very straightened but long, with one large Latin sail and a row of oars on each side.

Liburna

Battle between Liburnian and Picenian ships from the Novilara tablets (6th/5th century BC)

The best known Liburnian ship was their oar-propelled warship, known as a libyrnis (λιβύρνις, λιβυρνίς) to the Greeks and a liburna to the Romans.

Liburnae may have been shown in a naval battle scene carved on a stone tablet (Stele di Novilara) found near Antique Pisaurum (Pesaro) and dated to the 5th or 6th century BC. It depicts a legendary battle between the Liburnian and Picenian fleets. The liburna was presented as a light ship with one row of oars, one mast, one sail and a prow twisted outwards. Under the prow was a rostrum made for striking enemy ships under the sea.

In its original form, the liburna was similar to the Greek penteconter. It had one bench with 25 oars on each side. Later, in the time of the Roman Republic, it became a smaller version of a trireme, but with two banks of oars (a bireme), faster, lighter, and more agile than biremes and triremes. The liburnian design was adopted by the Romans and became a key part of the Roman Navy, possibly by way of the Macedonian navy, in the 2nd half of the 1st century BC. Liburnae ships played a crucial role in the naval battle of Actium in Greece, which lasted from August 31 to September 2 of 31 BC. Because of the liburna's maneuverability and the bravery of its Liburnian crews, these ships completely defeated much bigger and heavier eastern ships, quadriremes and penterames. The liburna was different from the battle triremes, quadriremes and quinqueremes — not in terms of rowing, but rather in its specific construction.^[51][52]

It was 109 ft (33 m) long and 16 ft (5 m) wide with a 3 ft (0.91 m) draft. Two rows of oarsmen pulled 18 oars per side. The ship could make up to 14 knots under sail and more than 7 under oars.^[53] Such a vessel, used as a merchantman, might take on a passenger, as Lycinus relates in the 2nd-century dialogue, traditionally attributed to Lucian of Samosata: "I had a speedy vessel readied, the kind of bireme used above all by the Liburnians of the Ionian Gulf."

Bireme Roman warships, probably liburnians, of the Danube fleet during Trajan's Dacian Wars.

Once the Romans had adopted the liburna, they improved it. The benefits gained from the addition of rams and protection from missiles more than made up for the slight loss of speed.^{[54]: 170, 317} The ships also required that the regular Roman military unit be simplified in order to function more smoothly. Each ship operated as an individual entity, so the more complicated organization normally used was not necessary.^[55]: 59 Within the navy, there were probably liburnae of several varying sizes, all put to specific tasks such as scouting and patrolling Roman waters against piracy.^[54]: 317 The Romans made use of liburnae particularly in some provinces where they formed the bulk of the fleets,^{[56][55]: 54 [54]: 171} while they were included in smaller numbers in the fleets at Ravenna and Micenum where a large number of Illyrians were serving, especially Dalmatae, Liburnians and Pannonians.

Gradually liburna became a generic name for different types of Roman ships, attached also to cargo ships in later Antiquity. Tacitus and Suetonius were using it as a synonym for battle ship. In inscriptions it was mentioned as the last class of battle ships: hexeres, penteres, quadrieres, trieres, liburna.^[57]

In Medieval sources, "liburna" ships were often recorded in use by Croatian and Dalmatian pirates and sailors, probably not always referring to ships of the same form.

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Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest and the Po Valley. The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovenia.

Galley

Galley

A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard. Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used in favorable winds, but human effort was always the primary method of propulsion. This allowed galleys to navigate independently of winds and currents. The galley originated among the seafaring civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea in the late second millennium BC and remained in use in various forms until the early 19th century in warfare, trade, and piracy.

Piracy

Piracy

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, vessels used for piracy are pirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilisations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding. Historic examples include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, and the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. The term piracy generally refers to maritime piracy, although the term has been generalized to refer to acts committed on land, in the air, on computer networks, and, outer space. Piracy usually excludes crimes committed by the perpetrator on their own vessel, as well as privateering, which implies authorization by a state government.

Croats

Croats

The Croats Croatian: Hrvati [xr̩ʋǎːti]) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Liburna

Liburna

A liburna was a type of small galley used for raiding and patrols. It was originally used by the Liburnians, a pirate tribe from Dalmatia, and later used by the Roman navy.

Pesaro

Pesaro

Pesaro is a city and comune in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, after Ancona. Pesaro was dubbed the "Cycling City" by the Italian environmentalist association Legambiente in recognition of its extensive network of bicycle paths and promotion of cycling. It is also known as "City of Music", for it is the birthplace of the composer Gioacchino Rossini. In 2015 the Italian Government applied for Pesaro to be declared a "Creative City" in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. In 2017 Pesaro received the European City of Sport award together with Aosta, Cagliari and Vicenza.

Picenum

Picenum

Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name is an exonym assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum was Regio V in the Augustan territorial organization of Roman Italy. Picenum was also the birthplace of such Roman notables as Pompey the Great and his father, Pompeius Strabo. It was in what is now Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo. The Piceni or Picentes were the native population of Picenum, but they were not of uniform ethnicity. They maintained a religious centre in Cupra Marittima, in honor of the goddess Cupra.

Bireme

Bireme

A bireme is an ancient oared warship (galley) with two superimposed rows of oars on each side. Biremes were long vessels built for military purposes and could achieve relatively high speed. They were invented well before the 6th century BC and were used by the Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Greeks.

Ancient Macedonians

Ancient Macedonians

The Macedonians were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancient Greek people, they gradually expanded from their homeland along the Haliacmon valley on the northern edge of the Greek world, absorbing or driving out neighbouring non-Greek tribes, primarily Thracian and Illyrian. They spoke Ancient Macedonian, which was perhaps a sibling language to Ancient Greek, but more commonly thought to have been a dialect of Northwest Doric Greek; though, some have also suggested an Aeolic Greek classification. However, the prestige language of the region during the Classical era was Attic Greek, replaced by Koine Greek during the Hellenistic era. Their religious beliefs mirrored those of other Greeks, following the main deities of the Greek pantheon, although the Macedonians continued Archaic burial practices that had ceased in other parts of Greece after the 6th century BC. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility. Similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle.

Battle of Actium

Battle of Actium

The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between a maritime fleet of Octavian led by Marcus Agrippa and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII Philopator. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, near the former Roman colony of Actium, Greece, and was the climax of over a decade of rivalry between Octavian and Antony.

Trajan's Dacian Wars

Trajan's Dacian Wars

The Dacian Wars were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian province of Moesia and also by the increasing need for resources of the economy of the Empire.

Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom until it was re-conquered in 540 by the Byzantine Empire. Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the last exarch was executed by the Lombards in 751. Although it is an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, with eight buildings comprising the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna".

The Liburnian language is an extinct language which was spoken by the ancient Liburnians, who occupied Liburnia in classical times. Classification of the Liburnian language is not clearly established; it is reckoned as an Indo-European language with a significant proportion of the Pre-Indo-European elements from the wider area of the ancient Mediterranean. Some considered close connection to Venetic language of Adriatic Veneti,^[58] particularly on the basis of personal names and formation of nomenclature.^[59]

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Liburnian language

Liburnian language

The "Liburnian language" refers to a proposed extinct language which would have been spoken by the ancient Liburnians, who occupied Liburnia, a variously defined region in modern southwestern Croatia, in classical times. Classification of the Liburnian language is not clearly established; it is reckoned as an Indo-European language with a significant proportion of the Pre-Indo-European elements from the wider area of the ancient Mediterranean. Due to the paucity of evidence, the very existence of a distinct 'Liburnian language' must be considered hypothetical at this point.

Liburnia

Liburnia

Liburnia in ancient geography was the land of the Liburnians, a region along the northeastern Adriatic coast in Europe, in modern Croatia, whose borders shifted according to the extent of the Liburnian dominance at a given time between 11th and 1st century BC. Domination of the Liburnian thalassocracy in the Adriatic Sea was confirmed by several Antique writers, but the archeologists have defined a region of their material culture more precisely in northern Dalmatia, eastern Istria, and Kvarner.

Pre-Indo-European languages

Pre-Indo-European languages

The Pre-Indo-European languages are any of several ancient languages, not necessarily related to one another, that existed in Prehistoric Europe, Asia Minor, Ancient Iran and Southern Asia before the arrival of speakers of Indo-European languages. The oldest Indo-European language texts are Hittite and date from the 19th century BC in Kültepe, and while estimates vary widely, the spoken Indo-European languages are believed to have developed at the latest by the 3rd millennium BC. Thus, the Pre-Indo-European languages must have developed earlier than or, in some cases, alongside the Indo-European languages that ultimately displaced almost all of them.

Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant in Western Asia. The Mediterranean has played a central role in the history of Western civilization. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during the Messinian salinity crisis before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago.

Venetic language

Venetic language

Venetic is an extinct Indo-European language, usually classified into the Italic subgroup, that was spoken by the Veneti people in ancient times in northeast Italy and part of modern Slovenia, between the Po Delta and the southern fringe of the Alps, associated with the Este culture.

Adriatic Veneti

Adriatic Veneti

The Veneti were an Indo-European people who inhabited northeastern Italy, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of Veneto, from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC and developing their own original civilization along the 1st millennium BC.

Two archaeogenetic studies published in Nature and Science (2022) examined 5 samples from four MBA-IA Liburnian tumuli at Velim-Kosa near Zadar. Three out of four men belonged to the Y-DNA haplogroup patrilineal line J2b2a1-L283 (> J-PH1602) with the exception of one R1b-L2. The mtDNA haplogroups fell under 2x H7, H13a2a, HV0e and T2b23.^[60][61]

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Nature (journal)

Nature (journal)

Nature is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, Nature features peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. It has core editorial offices across the United States, continental Europe, and Asia under the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature. Nature was one of the world's most cited scientific journals by the Science Edition of the 2019 Journal Citation Reports, making it one of the world's most-read and most prestigious academic journals. As of 2012, it claimed an online readership of about three million unique readers per month.

Science (journal)

Science (journal)

Science, also widely referred to as Science Magazine, is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and one of the world's top academic journals. It was first published in 1880, is currently circulated weekly and has a subscriber base of around 130,000. Because institutional subscriptions and online access serve a larger audience, its estimated readership is over 400,000 people.

Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup

Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup

In human genetics, a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup is a haplogroup defined by mutations in the non-recombining portions of DNA from the male-specific Y chromosome. Many people within a haplogroup share similar numbers of short tandem repeats (STRs) and types of mutations called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Haplogroup R1b-L2

Haplogroup R1b-L2

R-L2 is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, characteristic of a part of the inhabitants of Italy and Western Europe in general. R-L2 is thought to have originated around the Alps or southern Rhine, additionally, due to R-L2 having split off of R1b-U152 relatively early and it being a major branch, R-L2 carriers were largely contemporary with R-U152 carriers leading to R-L2 also having multiple large and diverse branches, of which some are respectively linked to Etruscans, Italics and the Alpine Celts.

Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup

Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup

In human genetics, a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup is a haplogroup defined by differences in human mitochondrial DNA. Haplogroups are used to represent the major branch points on the mitochondrial phylogenetic tree. Understanding the evolutionary path of the female lineage has helped population geneticists trace the matrilineal inheritance of modern humans back to human origins in Africa and the subsequent spread around the globe.