Dardani
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Dardani (Ancient Greek: Δαρδάνιοι)[1] were an ancient Balkan tribe, of Illyrian origin.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In the 1st century BC, they invaded the Roman province of Macedonia together with the Scordisci and the Maedi. In AD 6, they were conquered by Rome and became part of the province of Moesia Superior (present day Kosovo, Serbia, northern fringes of Macedonia and northern Bulgaria). According to Strabo, they were divided into two sub-groups, the Galabri and the Thunaki. [10]
Contents |
[edit] Name and etymology
Beginning with Johann Georg von Hahn in 1854, 19th century historical linguistics concluded that Dardanoi and Dardania may be related to a proto-Albanian word meaning pear tree (dardhë in modern Albanian). Opinions differ whether the ultimate etymon of this word in Proto-Indo-European was *g'hord- (which would make it related also to Greek achrás 'wild pear'), or *dheregh-.[11]
Robert Graves connected Greek δάρδανος "burned up" (from the verb δαρδάπτω dardapto "to wear, to slay, to burn up").[12]
[edit] History
The Dardani were an Illyrian tribe. They seem to have often been a threat to the Macedonians. In Greek mythology, Dardanus (Δάρδανος), one of the sons of Illyrius (the others being Enchelus, Autarieus, Maedus, Taulas, and Perrhaebus) was the eponymous ancestor of the Dardanoi ( Δάρδανοι ). [13] Some Roman writers proposed a connection between Dardani of the Balkans and the Dardans (Trojans) of the Troad, the popular version of the story being that a group of Dardan colonists had settled in the Balkans and had degenerated in their new Balkan home to a state of barbarism [14], becoming the Dardani. [15]
In the 6th century BC, the Dardani developed a class society. In the 4th century BC, many Dardani settlements were burned and destroyed by Macedonians, but already in the 3d century BC the Dardani rebuilt their society and from the 3rd to the 1st century BC[16] were ruled by their own kings. [17]
Dardania was conquered in AD 6 by Gaius Scribonius Curio and included into the Roman Empire. At first, Dardania was not a separate Roman province, but was made a part of the province of Moesia Superior in 87 AD. [18][19] Emperor Diocletian later (c. 284) made Dardania into a separate [20] province with its capital at Naissus (Niš). During the Byzantine administration (in the 6th century), there was a Byzantine province of Dardania that included cities of Ulpiana, Scupi, Stobi, Justiniana Prima, etc.
What is characteristic for the Dardani is their stability over the ages. According to Papazoglu, "Not one of the peoples with whom we have to deal in this book has such a claim to the epithet "Balkan" as the Dardanians...because they appear as the most stable and the most conservative ethnic element in the area where everything was exposed to constant change, and also because they, with their roots in the distant prehomeric age, and living in the frontiers of the Illyrian and the Thracian worlds retained their individuality and, alone among the peoples of that region succeeded in maintaining themselves as an ethnic unity even when they were militarily and politically subjected by the Roman arms...and when at the end of the ancient world, the Balkans were involved in far-reaching ethnic perturbations, the Dardanians, of all the Central Balkan tribes, played the greatest part in the genesis of the new peoples who took the place of the old". [21]
 Roman province of Dardania in the 4th century |
[edit] Cities
Dardania's largest towns were those of Ulpiana (Pristina), Naissus (Niš), Therranda (Prizren), Vicianum (Vučitrn), Skopi [22] (Stoc, Skopje), and possibly Damastion (a town of uncertain location - the one suggested location of this town within ancient Dardania is Krsevica near Bujanovac). According to some sources, the Dardanian capital was Damastion, [23] and according to other sources it was Ulpiana.[citation needed]
[edit] Rulers
The known rulers of Dardania were: [24]
- unnamed Dardanian king (279 BC)
- Longarus, Dardanian king (3rd century BC)
- Bato, Dardanian king (3rd-2nd century BC)
- Monunius, Dardanian king (3rd century BC)
Dardanians who were rulers of Illyria:
- Bardyllis, king of Illyria (393-359)
- Etuta or Teuta, queen of Illyria (231-228), a daughter of Dardanian king Monunius
[edit] Language
An extenstive study over onomastics has been undertaken by Radoslav Katičić which puts the Dardani language area in the Central Illyrian area ("Central Illyrian" consisting of most of ex-Yugoslavia, north of southern Montenegro to the west of Morava, excepting ancient Liburnia in the North-West, but perhaps extending into Pannonia in the north).[25][26]
[edit] References
- ^ Dardanioi, Georg Autenrieth, "A Homeric Dictionary", at Perseus
- ^ Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture By J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 1997 ISBN 1884964982, 9781884964985 link [1]
- ^ Encyclopedia of ancient Greece By Nigel Guy Wilson Edition: illustrated Published by Routledge, 2006 ISBN 0415973341, 9780415973342 link [2]
- ^ Conquest and empire: the reign of Alexander the Great By A. B. Bosworth Edition: reissue, illustrated, reprint Published by Cambridge University Press, 1993ISBN 052140679X, 9780521406796 link [3]
- ^ Greek Historical Inscriptions, 404-323 BC By P. J. Rhodes, Robin Osborne Translated by P. J. Rhodes, Robin Osborne Edition: illustrated Published by Oxford University Press, 2007 ISBN 0199216495, 9780199216499 link [4]
- ^ Alexander the Great: man and god By Ian Worthington Edition: revised, illustrated Published by Pearson Education, 2004 ISBN 140580162X, 9781405801621 link [5]
- ^ The provinces of the Roman Empire: from Caesar to Diocletian By Theodor Mommsen, William Purdie Dickson, Francis Haverfield Published by Gorgias Press LLC, 2004 ISBN 1593330251, 9781593330255 link [6]
- ^ The civil wars By Appianus, John Mackenzie Carter Translated by John Mackenzie Carter Contributor John Mackenzie Carter Edition: illustrated Published by Penguin Classics, 1996 ISBN 0140445099, 9780140445091 link [7]
- ^ The Augustan aristocracy By Ronald Syme Edition: illustrated Published by Oxford University Press, 1989 ISBN 0198147317, 9780198147312 link [8]
- ^ Strabo: Books 1‑7, 15‑17 in English translation, ed. H. L. Jones (1924), at LacusCurtius
- ^ Elsie, Robert (1998): "Dendronymica Albanica: A survey of Albanian tree and shrub names". Zeitschrift für Balkanologie 34: 163-200 online paper
- ^ The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, ISBN 0140171991
- ^ Appian, The Foreign Wars, III, 1.2
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,page 220,"... Leaving aside Strabo's comment on the dirty habits of the Dardanians, there is little on which to judge the general health of the Illyrian population. ..."
- ^ Macurdy, Grace Harriet, The Wanderings of Dardanus and the Dardani, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 46 (1915), pp. 119-128
- ^ Dragoslav Srejović, Iliri i Tračani, Beograd, 2002, pages 250-251.
- ^ Petrit Imami, Srbi i Albanci kroz vekove, Beograd, 2000, page 519.
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 210,"... Here the old name of Dardania appears as a new province formed out of Moesia, along with Moesia Prima, Dacia (not Trajan's old province but a ...)"
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992,ISBN 0631198075, page 210, "... 210 Roman Illyrians Skopje. Though its line is far from certain there seems little doubt that most of the Dardanians were excluded from Illyricum and were to become a part of the province of Moesia organized in the reign of ...
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,,page 210,"...Here the old name of Dardania appears as a new province formed out of Moesia, along with Moesia Prima, Dacia (not Trajan's old province but a ...)"
- ^ Papazoglu, Central Balkan Tribes, p.131
- ^ The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,Page 49,"...historic Lychnitis around Ohrid and in Dardania around Skopje in the upper Vardar basin. Among the many tumuli surviving in Pelagonia only Visoi has so far been ..."
- ^ Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992, ISBN 0631198075, page 128
- ^ Petrit Imami, Srbi i Albanci kroz vekove, Beograd, 2000, page 519.
- ^ Katičić, Radoslav (1964b) "Die neuesten Forschungen uber die einhemiche Sprachschist in den Illyrischen Provinzen" in Benac (1964a) 9-58 Katičić, Radoslav (1965b) "Zur frage der keltischen und panonischen Namengebieten im romischen Dalmatien" ANUBiH 3 GCBI 1, 53-76
- ^ Katičić, Radoslav. Ancient languages of the Balkans. The Hague - Paris (1976)
- Grace Harriet Macurdy. The Wanderings of Dardanus and the Dardani, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 46 (1915), pp. 119–128
- András Mócsy, Sheppard Frere, Pannonia and Upper Moesia: A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire, Routledge (1974), ISBN 0710077149.
