_History._--Greek colonization on the Illyrian seaboard probably began
late in the 7th century B.C. or early in the 6th century. The most
important settlements appear to have been at Epidamnus (Durazzo),
Tragurium (Traù), Rhizon (near Cattaro), Salona (near Spalato),
Epidaurum (Ragusavecchia), Zara and on the islands of Curzola, Lesina
and Lissa. There is a collection of Greek coins from Illyria in the
museum at Agram, and the researches of Professor F. Bulié and others at
Salona (see Spalato) have brought to light Greek inscriptions, Greek
pottery, &c. dating from 600 B.C. But Greek influence seems never to
have penetrated far into the interior, and even on the coast it was
rapidly superseded by Latin civilization after the 3rd century B.C.
Until then the Illyrian tribes appear to have lived in a state of
intermittent warfare with their neighbours and one another. They are
said by Herodotus (ix. 43) to have attacked the temple of Delphi.
Brasidas with his small army of Spartans was assaulted by them on his
march (424 B.C.) across Thessaly and Macedonia to attack the Athenian
colonies in Thrace. The earlier history of the Macedonian kings is one
constant struggle against the Illyrian tribes. The migrations of the
Celts at the beginning of the 4th century disturbed the country between
the Danube and the Adriatic. The Scordisci and other Celtic tribes
settled there, and forced the Illyrians towards the south. The
necessities of defence seem to have united the Illyrians under a chief
Bardylis (about 383 B.C.) and his son Clitus. Bardylis nearly succeeded
in destroying the rising kingdom of Macedonia; King Amyntas II was
defeated, and a few years later Perdiccas was defeated and slain (359).
But the great Philip crushed the Illyrians completely, and annexed part
of their country. During the next century we hear of them as pirates.
Issuing from the secluded harbours of the coast, they ravaged the shores
of Italy and Greece, and preyed on the commerce of the Adriatic. The
Greeks applied to Rome for help. Teuta, the Illyrian queen, rejected the
Roman demands for redress, and murdered the ambassadors; but the two
Illyrian Wars (229 and 219 B.C.) ended in the submission of the
Illyrians, a considerable part of their territory being annexed by the
conquerors. Illyria, however, remained a powerful kingdom with its
capital at Scodra (Scutari in Albania), until 180 B.C., when the
Dalmatians declared themselves independent of Gentius or Genthius, the
king of Illyria, and founded a republic with its capital at Delminium
(see DALMATIA: _History_, on the site of Delminium). In 168 Gentius came
into conflict with the Romans, who conquered and annexed his country.
Dalmatia was invaded by a Roman army under Gaius Marcius Figulus in 156,
but Figulus was driven back to the Roman frontier, and in Dalmatia the
Illyrians were not finally subdued until 165 years afterwards. Publius
Scipio Nasica, who succeeded Figulus, captured Delminium, and in 119 L.
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