Dardani


The Dardani, or Dardanians were an Indo-European tribe which settled in the region that took its name from them of Dardania, at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone. Their identification as either an Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain; the ethnolinguistic relationship between the two groups being largely uncertain and debated itself as well. Strabo in his geographica mentions them as an Illyrian people. The Dardani were united under a single polity by King Bardylis, who made them during his reign one of the most powerful "Illyrian" states of that time. Under his leadership, the Dardanians defeated the Macedonians and Molossians several times, reigning over Upper Macedonia and Lynkestis. He also led raids against Epirus, but his soldiers were quickly expelled from this region. Along with the Ardiaei and Autariatae, the Dardani are mentioned in Roman times by ancient Greek and Roman sources as one of the three strongest "Illyrian" peoples. The Dardani were the most stable and conservative ethnic element among the peoples of the central Balkans, retaining for several centuries an enduring presence in the region.

Etymology

The ethnonym was spelled in Greek as Dardaneis, Dardanioi and Dardanoi, and in Latin as Dardani. The term used for their territory was Dardanike, while other tribal areas had more unspecified terms, such as Autariaton khora, for the "land of Autariatae."
In 1854, Johann Georg von Hahn was the first to propose that the names Dardanoi and Dardania were related to the Albanian word dardhë, stemming from proto-Albanian *dardā, itself a derivative of derdh, "to tip out, pour", ultimately from PAlb *derda. This is suggested by the fact that toponyms related to fruits or animals are not unknown in the region. Opinions differ whether the ultimate etymon of this word in Proto-Indo-European was *g'hord-, or *dheregh-. A common Albanian toponym with the same root is Dardha, found in various parts of Albania, including Dardha in Berat, Dardha in Korça, Dardha in Librazhd, Dardha in Puka, Dardhas in Pogradec, Dardhaj in Mirdita, and Dardhës in Përmet. Dardha in Puka is recorded as Darda in a 1671 ecclesiastical report and on a 1688 map by a Venetian cartographer. Dardha is also the name of an Albanian tribe in the northern part of the District of Dibra.

In ancient sources

The Dardani in the Balkans were linked by ancient Greek and Roman writers with a people of the same name who lived in northwest Anatolia, from which the name Dardanelles is derived. Other parallel ethnic names in the Balkans and Anatolia, respectively include: Eneti and Enetoi, Bryges and Phryges, Moesians and Mysians. These parallels are considered too great to be a mere coincidence. Accordin to a current explanation, the connection is likely related to the large-scale movement of peoples that occurred at the end of the Bronze Age, when the attacks of the 'Sea Peoples' afflicted some of the established powers around the eastern Mediterranean. The rulers of some of the great powers of antiquity, such as Epirus, Macedonia and Rome, claimed a Trojan ancestry linking themselves to Dardanus, who according to the tradition was the founder of the Trojan ruling house. But if Dardanus and the tribes over which he ruled were descended from the Balkan people, who were considered "barbarians" by the Romans, it would have been an embarrassment. Thus, by Roman times the connection was explained by a movement that occurred in the opposite direction proposing that Dardanus caused the settling of the Dardani west of the Thracians, accepting the version that the Dardani were a people related to the Trojans, but that they had degenerated to a state of "barbarism" in their new settlement.

In Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Dardanos, one of the sons of Illyrius was the eponymous ancestor of the Dardanoi.

History

4th century BC

The Dardani are first mentioned in the 4th century BC, when their king Bardylis succeeded in bringing various tribes into a single organization. Under his leadership the Dardani defeated the Macedonians and Molossians several times. At this time they were strong enough to rule Macedonia through a puppet king in 392-391 BC. In 385-384 they allied with Dionysius I of Syracuse and defeated the Molossians, killing up to 15,000 of their soldiers and ruling their territory for a short period. Their continuous invasions forced Amyntas III of Macedon to pay them a tribute in 372 BC. They returned raiding the Molossians in 360. In 359 BC Bardylis won a decisive battle against Macedonian king Perdiccas III, whom he killed himself, while 4,000 Macedonian soldiers fell, and the cities of upper Macedonia were occupied. Following this disastrous defeat, king Philip II took control of the Macedonian throne in 358 and reaffirmed the treaty with the Dardani, marrying princess Audata, probably the daughter or niece of Bardylis. The time of this marriage is somewhat disputed while some historians maintain that the marriage happened after the defeat of Bardylis. This gave Philip II valuable time to gather his forces against those Dardani who were still under Bardylis, defeating them at the Erigon Valley by killing about 7,000 of them, eliminating the Dardani menace for some time.
In 334 BC, under the leadership of Cleitus, the son of Bardylis, the Dardani, in alliance with other Illyrian tribes attacked Macedonia held by Alexander the Great. The Dardani managed to capture some cities but were eventually defeated by Alexander's forces.

3rd–1st century BC

in Dardania in 279 BC. The Dardanian king offered to help the Macedonians with 20,000 soldiers against the Celts, but this was refused by Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos.
Dardani were a constant threat to the Macedonian kingdom. In 230 under Longarus they captured Bylazora from the Paionians and in 229 they again attacked Macedonia, defeating Demetrius II in an important battle. In this period their influence on the region grew and some other Illyrian tribes deserted Teuta, joining the Dardani under Longarus and forcing Teuta to call off her expedition forces in Epirus. When Philip V rose to the Macedonian throne, skirmishing with Dardani began in 220-219 BC and he managed to capture Bylazora from them in 217 BC. Skirmishes continued in 211 and in 209 when a force of Dardani under Aeropus, probably a pretender to the Macedonian throne, captured Lychnidus and looted Macedonia taking 20.000 prisoners and retreating before Philip's forces could reach them.
In 201 Bato of Dardania along with Pleuratus the Illyrian and Amynander king of Athamania, cooperated with Roman consul Sulpicius in his expedition against Philip V. Being always under the menace of Dardanian attacks on Macedonia, around 183 BC Philip V made an alliance with the Bastarnae and invited them to settle in Polog, the region of Dardania closest to Macedonia. A joint campaign of the Bastarnae and Macedonians against the Dardanians was organized, but Philip V died and his son Perseus of Macedon withdrew his forces from the campaign. The Bastarnae crossed the Danube in huge numbers and although they didn't meet the Macedonians, they continued the campaign. Some 30,000 Bastarnae under the command of Clondicus seem to have defeated the Dardani. In 179 BC, the Bastarnae conquered the Dardani, who later in 174 pushed them out, in a war which proved catastrophic, with a few years later, in 170 BC, the Macedonians defeating the Dardani. Macedonia and Illyria became Roman protectorates in 168 BC. The Scordisci, a tribe of Celtic origin, most likely subdued the Dardani in the mid-2nd century BC, after which there was no mention of the Dardani for a long time.

Roman period

Macedonia and Illyria became Roman protectorates in 168 BC.
In 97 BC the Dardani are mentioned again, defeated by the Macedonian Roman army. In 88 BC, the Dardani invaded the Roman province of Macedonia together with the Scordisci and the Maedi.
According to Strabo's Geographica, they were divided into two sub-groups, the Galabri and the Thunatae.
It seems quite probable that the Dardani actually lost independence in 28 BC thus, the final occupation of Dardania by Rome has been connected with the beginnings of Augustus' rule in 6 AD, when they were finally conquered by Rome. Dardania was conquered by Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Latin language was soon adopted as the main language of the tribe as many other conquered and Romanized.

Aftermath and legacy

At first, Dardania was not a separate Roman province, but became a region in the province of Moesia Superior in 87 AD. Emperor Diocletian later made Dardania into a separate province with its capital at Naissus. During the Byzantine administration, there was a Byzantine province of Dardania that included cities of Ulpiana, Scupi, Stobi, Justiniana Prima, and others.
The Illyrian language disappeared, with almost nothing of it surviving, except for names. The Illyrian tribes in antiquity were subject to varying degrees of Celticization, Hellenization, Romanization Byzantinization, and finally Slavicisation.

Polity

It is assumed that the Dardanian kingdom was made up of many tribes and tribal groups, confirmed by Strabo. The first and most prominent king of the Dardani was Bardylis who ruled from 385 BC to 358 BC. Bardylis' descendance is unclear; Hammond believed that Bardylis II was the son of Bardylis, earlier having believed it to have been Cleitus, while Wilkes believed Cleitus to be the son. Tribal chiefs Longarus and his son Bato took part in the wars against Romans and Macedonians. The Dardanians, in all their history, always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians.
The term used for their territory was, while other tribal areas had more unspecified terms, such as Autariaton khora, for the "land of Autariatae." Other than that, little to no data exists on the territory of the Dardani prior to Roman conquest, especially on its southern extent.

Culture

According to Ancient Greek and Roman historiography, the tribe was viewed of as "extremely barbaric". Claudius Aelianus and other writers wrote that they bathed only three times in their lives. At birth, when they were wed and after they died. Strabo refers to them as wild and dwelling in dirty caves under dung-hills. This however may have had to do not with cleanliness, as bathing had to do with monetary status from the viewpoint of the Greeks. At the same time, Strabo writes that they had some interest in music as they owned and used flutes and corded instruments.
Dardanian slaves or freedmen at the time of the Roman conquest were clearly of Paleo-Balkan origin, according to their personal names. It has been noted that personal names were mostly of the "Central-Dalmatian type".

Language

An extensive study based on onomastics has been undertaken by Radoslav Katičić which puts the Dardani language area in the Central Illyrian area.

Notable people