Jason R Abdale - The Great Illyrian revolt: Romes forgotten war in the Balkans, AD 6-9

Romes Forgotten War in the Balkans, AD 69

Jason R. Abdale

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

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Copyright Jason R Abdale 2019

ISBN 978 1 52671 817 4

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Approx. 6,000 BC : The earliest recognizable culture within the western Balkans appears.

Approx. 4,500 BC : People living in the western Balkans begin mining, smelting and making objects from copper.

Approx. 1,000 BC : Iron use spreads to the western Balkans. At the same time, the first culture that can be described as proto-Illyrian appears within the region, possibly due to an immigration of Indo-European speakers from Anatolia.

1,000500 BC? : A group of three Illyrian tribes collectively known as the Iapygians crosses the Adriatic Sea and settles within south-eastern Italy in what is now the region of Apulia.

734 BC : The Greeks expel the Liburnian tribe from the island of Corfu (known then as Corcyra). This is the first recorded conflict between the Illyrians and the ancient Greeks.

691 BC : The first war between the Illyrians and the kingdom of Macedon. These two peoples would continue to fight each other for the next 300 years.

400300 BC? : The Iapygians of south-eastern Italy are either conquered or driven out by the expanding Roman Republic.

393 BC : The Dardanian tribe conquers Macedon, and holds it for only one year before being expelled.

229228 BC : The First Roman-Illyrian War. The first time in the historic record when we know that Romans and Illyrians fought each other.

220219 BC : The Second Roman-Illyrian War.

169 BC : The Third Roman-Illyrian War.

167 BC : Southern Illyria becomes a Roman protectorate. Although nominally independent, it is under the domination of the Roman Republic.

156 BC : The Fourth Roman-Illyrian War.

13535 BC : A hundred years of sporadic hostilities between the Illyrians and the Romans.

59 BC : The region of southern Illyria called Dalmatia is changed from being a protectorate to being a Roman province, re-named Illyricum. Northern Illyria, known as Pannonia, is still independent, but under increasing Roman influence.

3512 BC : Gaius Octavianus, later to become Caesar Augustus, launches a series of military campaigns against the Illyrians to bring them under complete subjection, with only partial success.

129 BC : The region of northern Illyria called Pannonia is conquered by Caesar Augustus stepson Tiberius Claudius Nero, and is incorporated into the Roman province of Illyricum. Peace in the region is maintained until 6 AD.

69 AD : The Great Illyrian Revolt, a massive uprising against Roman rule throughout the province of Illyricum. Romans suffer heavy losses, and are forced to commit tens of thousands of troops to the region to suppress the rebellion. Tiberius Claudius Nero and Aulus Caecina Severus lead Roman forces in this war.

Late September, 9 AD : The Battle of Teutoburg. An estimated 10,000 Romans from the 17th, 18th and 19th Legions are killed by the Germanic barbarians, led by Arminius, during a four-day battle in what is now north-western Germany. Soon afterwards, the Germans drive all surviving Romans out of Germania.

10 AD : Rome launches its revenge campaign against Arminius and his rebel forces in Germania. The war lasts for six years; Tiberius leads the legions in the first two years of the war, and then Tiberius nephew Germanicus commands the legions during the remaining four years.

14 AD : Caesar Augustus, Romes first emperor, dies. Tiberius Claudius Nero becomes Romes second emperor and is crowned Emperor Tiberius Julius Caesar. The Roman legions in both Germania and Pannonia mutiny upon Augustus death, and both uprisings are bloodily suppressed.

15 AD : Rebellion breaks out in northern Africa, led by the Numidian warlord Tacfarinas, threatening Romes grain supply.

Late 16 AD : Emperor Tiberius is forced to divert more and more troops to suppress Tacfarinas rebel army in Africa, and so he halts military operations against Arminius and his Germanic rebels.

17 AD : Tiberius and Germanicus hold their triumphal celebrations for their wars against the Illyrian and Germanic rebels. Tiberius son Drusus Castor is appointed governor of Illyricum, and he holds this post for three years.

19 AD : Germanicus suddenly dies, possibly assassinated.

19 or 20 AD : Sometime during Emperor Tiberius reign, the province of Illyricum is split in half into the provinces of Pannonia and Dalmatia.

21 AD : Tacfarinas rebellion in northern Africa is crushed.

37 AD : Emperor Tiberius dies. Gaius Caligula becomes Romes third emperor.

W hen people hear the words ancient history, they usually think of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece or Rome. This is what I like to call Ancient Historys Big Four, because practically everything that is spoken about in the broad field of ancient history is usually done in relation to one of these four major sub-fields. An incalculable number of books, journals, magazine articles and television documentaries have been produced in relation to these four civilizations. The sheer volume of all of that information will probably destroy your brain.

Once you get beyond the Big Four, then you come across cultures that appear to be of secondary importance. These mostly consist of the civilizations with which one or more members of the Big Four were in contact. Examples would probably be the Nubians, Persians or Celts. There are scholars who devote their entire lives to studying these people and you can find plenty of books about them published in a variety of languages, but its important to know that each one of these civilizations is inextricably linked with one of the major civilizations that form the Big Four. You cant talk about Nubia without talking about Egypt. You cant talk about the Persians without talking about Greece. You cant talk about the Celts without talking about Rome. You see?

Finally, you get to the absolute bottom of the ancient historical hierarchy: the civilizations, cultures and people of ancient history that hardly anyone knows about, even the so-called experts. These are people that are only mentioned in passing within a few sentences or in the occasional footnote. I guarantee you, most or possibly all of these peripheral ancient cultures are never spoken of in school textbooks and not even the most advanced and specified university courses concerning ancient history are likely to cover these people. Part of the reason why is that available information about these long-forgotten cultures is extremely limited: you might know their name and when and where they existed, but aside from that, their society, their history and how they interacted with the world around them is either a total enigma or is never seriously researched. Another reason why these people are never discussed in detail is because they are simply considered not important enough to be worth studying. Really, what high school freshman studying general world history or even a graduate student writing a thesis for his or her PhD has heard of the Adyrmachidae? Or the Rhaetians? Yet even so, each one of these people is important in their own way. The Adyrmachidae might have been small in number, but they were one of the most powerful of the ancient Libyan tribes and were likely Egypts major enemy on their western border, and its possible that they were the ones that prevented the Egyptian civilization from expanding westwards into northern Africa. The Rhaetians were a small minor-ranking collection of tribes dwelling in northern Italy and Austria, but the Romans had to conquer them because their lands blocked off eastern overland access to the Italian Peninsula, and apparently they made the best wine that Caesar Augustus ever had. That might have been the real reason why the Romans wanted to conquer them!