On the romanization process of the south Illyrians
3rd century bc - 3rd century ad
Abstract
This article will adress some of the political, economical, cultural and religious aspects of the south illyrian territory during the Roman period. The main aim is to show the degree of romanization of the Illyrians involved in the Roman affairs since the end of the 3rd century BC. The territory under study is geographically extended. It was inhabited by 2 main populations, Illyrians and Epirotes. Although there is no clear ethnic boundary between them, during the Hellenistic period these 2 populations evolved in different ways, especially as it concerns the political and urbanistic aspects. In the Roman period, this area was situated between the Balkan- Danubian provinces and the Greek ones. It didn’t constitute a unique province but it was divided between the provinces of Macedonia, Dalmatia, Achaia and later on Epirus. As it concerns the political aspect, Roman invasion, although it was gradual, was associated with the loss of the political sovereignty of the Illyrians. Rome administered the local populations through the creation of provinces, the appointment of governors, the creation of municips and colonies by transforming the legal status of these communities. This new political and legal framework lead to the disapearence of the traditional organizations of the Illyrians. Thus the Republican period laid the foundations of the Illyrian provincial culture that would be shape during the imperial period.
Integration into the Roman Empire presupposes important transformations related to the exploitation of economic resources. Their greatest influence appears to be the radical transformation of the agricultural landscape by dividing land into cadastre, drainage or dam construction aimed at controlling water and using it in agriculture. But despite this, some forms of pre-Roman economy have continued to exist even during the Roman period, as a result of climatic, geographic and historical conditions. The cultural transformations brought by the Romans seem to be the more tangible. The use of the Latin language was, in fact, the key to the local people to integrate into Roman society. This played a key role in the population’s romanization. But it should be noted that Roman civilization is more visible where the presence of the Romans was stronger. Their presence was the main element of the spread of Roman civilization. An important information comes from the bilingual inscriptions found mostly in Dyrrachium. These inscriptions were written by Italians and this fact shows on one hand their willingness to integrate into the local context and on the other the cultural symbiosis and the process of acculturation that was happening in this region. What played also a leading role in the process of the romanization of the Illyrians was the imperial cult, as it allows to understand not only the religious but
also the political aspects. This cult influenced all the layers of Roman society. In Illyria and Epirus are the Roman colonies of Butrint, Dyrrachium, Byllis, as well as Apollonia that give us the presence of the imperial cult. These testimonies are numerous for the Augustus period, but suffer a decline during the reign of Nero without any further explanation for this phenomenon. Then the imperial cult revives in the period of Trajan and Hadrian. Finally, the Illyrians appear as a society in transformation throughout the
Roman period. The Illyrians were adapted to the rules of the Roman Empire, but on the other hand, they express some special features in compared to other provinces of the Roman Empire. In other regions, in order to emphasize the originality of a certain
territory within the Roman Empire, were employed terms such as “galo-roman” in France, “Roman-British” in England, “Roman-Thracian” and “dako-roman” in Bulgaria and Romania. These notions are intended to express the symbiosis that occurs between local and Roman civilization. Perhaps the time has come to put in place the term “Illyrian-Roman culture” to be even clearer of the influence Rome had in Illyria but also of those pre-Roman elements that continued to exist within the Roman Empire. The “Illyrian-Roman” notion would serve to show a continuous interaction between the Illyrians and the Romans, but not a total adaptation of
Roman style and customs.
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References
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Shpuza 2009:
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S. Shpuza, Cités et territoires. L’Illyrie méridionale à l’époque romaine, MEFRA
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Shpuza 2010:
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S. Shpuza, L’espace rurale illyro-épirote. Contribution à l’étude de l’occupation du
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territoire et de l’économie à l’époque romaine, ne J.L. Lamboley, M.P. Castiglioni
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(éds.), L’Illyrie Méridionale et l’Epire dans l’Antiquité V, (actes du Ve colloque
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Shpuza 2010:
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S. Shpuza, Aspekte të ekonomisë antike ilire dhe epirote, Iliria, 34, 2009-2010,
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f. 91-110
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Shpuza 2010:
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S. Shpuza, La religion en Illyrie méridionale pendant l’époque romaine, Studia
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Albanica, 1, 2010, f. 27-41.
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Shpuza 2011:
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S. Shpuza, Zhvillimi i qytetit në Ilirinë e jugut gjatë periudhës romake, Candavia 3,
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, f. 135-163.
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References
Albanien 1988:
Albanien : Schätze aus dem Land der Skipetaren, Mainz, 1988.
Anamali 1987 :
S. Anamali, Procese shndërrimi në trevën jugore ilire në shekujt I-IV te e.s., Iliria,
, 1, f. 63-72.
Cila 2009:
S. Anamali, H. Ceka, E. Deniaux, Corpus des inscriptions latines d’Albanie, Collection
de l’Ecole française de Rome 410, Rome, 2009.
Blagg Millet 1990:
Th. Blagg, M. Millet (ed.), The Early Roman Empire in the West, Oxford, 1990.
Bucci 1998:
O. Bucci, Le provincie orientali dell’Impero Romano. Una introduzione storico-giuridica,
Rome 1998.
Cabanes 1976:
P. Cabanes, L’Epire de la mort de Pyrrhos à la conquête romaine, 272-167 av. J.-C., Annales
littéraires de l’Université de Besançon, 186, Centre de Recherche d’Histoire Ancienne,
vol. 19, Paris, 1976.
Cabanes 1983:
P. Cabanes, Notes sur l’intervention romaine sur la rive orientale de la mer Adriatique 229-
avant J.C., dans L’Adriatico tra Mediterraneo e penisola balcanica nell’antichità.
Taranto, 1983, p. 187-204.
Cabanes 1998:
P. Cabanes, Le monde grec européen et la Cyrénaïque, ne C. Lepelley (éd.), Rome
et l’intégration de l’empire, 44 av. J.-C. – 260 ap. J.-C. Tome 2, Approches régionales du Haut
Empire romain, Paris 1998, f. 299-331.
Cumont 1913:
F. Cumont, Les mystères de Mithra, Bruxelles, 1913.
David 1994:
J.-M. David, La Romanisation d’Italie, Paris, 1994.
van Dommelen, Terrenato 2007:
P. van Dommelen, N. Terrenato, Introduction. Local cultures and the expanding
Roman Republic, ne P. van Dommelen, N. Terrenato, Articulating Local Cultures :
Power and Identity under the expanding Roman Republic, JRA, 63, 2007, f. 3-11.
Garnsey 1980:
P. Garnsey, Non-slave labour in the Roman World, Cambridge Philological Society,
Supplementary volume 6, 1980.
Gjongecaj, Picard 1998:
Sh. Gjongecaj, O. Picard, Le trèsor de Dimalle 1973 et le passage du monnayage
hellénistique au monnayage impérial à Apollonia d’Illyrie, BCH, 122, 1998,
f. 511-527.
Gjongecaj, Picard 2005:
Sh. Gjongecaj, O. Picard, Drachmes d’Apollonia et de Dyrrachion dans les Balkans,
Studia Albanica, 1, 2005, f. 139-154 ;
Hingley 2005:
R. Hingley, Globalizing Roman Culture. Unity, Diversity and Empire, London-New
York, 2005.
Islami 1985:
S. Islami (ed.), Les Illyriens, Tirana, 1985
Keay, Terrenato 2001:
S. Keay, N. Terrenato, (ed.), Italy and the West. Comparative Issues on Romanization,
Oxford, 2001.
Mattingly 1997:
D. J. Mattingly (ed.), Dialogues in Roman Imperialism. Power, Discourse and Discrepant
Experience in the Roman Empire, JRA, Supplementary Series 23, Portsmouth, Rhode
Island, 1997.
Mertens, Lambrechts 1991:
J. Mertens, R. Lambrechts (ed.), Communità indigene e problemi della romanizzazione
nell’Italia centro-meridionale IV-III s. av.C., Études de philologie, d’archéologie et d’histoire
anciennes, 29, Bruxelles, Rome, 1991.
Meta 2012:
A. Meta, Guerre et circulation monetaire : le cas des drachmes de Dyrrachion,
Akanthina, 7, 2012, f. 117-133.
Mirdita 1982:
Z. Mirdita, Studime Dardane, Tirana, 1982.
Papazoglu 1979:
F. Papazoglu, Quelques aspects de l’histoire de la province de Macédoine, ANRW,
1, 1979, f. 303-369.
Plassart 1921:
A. Plassart, Liste delphique des théorodoques, BCH, 45, 1921, f. 1-89.
Pollo, Puto 1974:
S. Pollo, A. Puto (ed.), Histoire de l’Albanie, Tirana, 1974.
Quantin 2011:
F. Quantin, Archéologie cultuelle et histoire des religions antiques en Albanie, ne
Archéologie et religion grecque antique : nouvelles découvertes, nouvelles perspectives
et diffusion de l’information, Actes du XIIe colloque du CIERGA à Dion (24-26 septembre
, Kernos 24, 2011, f. 183-204.
Rougé 1987:
J. Rougé, La place de l’Illyrie Méridionale et de l’Epire dans le système des
communications de l’Empire Romain, ne P. Cabanes (éd.), L’Illyrie méridionale et
l’Epire dans l’antiquité, actes du colloque international (Clermont-Ferrand, 22-25
octobre 1984), Clermont-Ferrand, 1987, f. 255-261.
Šašel Kos 2002:
M. Šašel Kos, From Agron to Genthius : Large Scale Piracy in the Adriatic, ne I Greci
in Adriatico, Hesperia, 15, 2002, f. 137-155.
Shehi, Shpuza 2011:
E. Shehi, S. Shpuza, Mbishkrime të reja latine nga Durresi dhe rrethinat e tij, Iliria 35,
, f. 207-226.
Shpuza 2006:
S. Shpuza, The Roman Colonies of South Illyria: a review, ne L Bejko, R. Hodges (
ed.), New directions in Albanian archaeology, International Centre for Albanian
Archaeology, Monograph Series No. 1, Tirana, 2006, f. 126-130.
Shpuza 2009:
S. Shpuza, Cités et territoires. L’Illyrie méridionale à l’époque romaine, MEFRA
/2, 2009, f. 481-502.
Shpuza 2010:
S. Shpuza, L’espace rurale illyro-épirote. Contribution à l’étude de l’occupation du
territoire et de l’économie à l’époque romaine, ne J.L. Lamboley, M.P. Castiglioni
(éds.), L’Illyrie Méridionale et l’Epire dans l’Antiquité V, (actes du Ve colloque
international de Grenoble (10-12 octobre 2008), Vol. 1, Paris, 2010, f. 607-616.
Shpuza 2010:
S. Shpuza, Aspekte të ekonomisë antike ilire dhe epirote, Iliria, 34, 2009-2010,
f. 91-110
Shpuza 2010:
S. Shpuza, La religion en Illyrie méridionale pendant l’époque romaine, Studia
Albanica, 1, 2010, f. 27-41.
Shpuza 2011:
S. Shpuza, Zhvillimi i qytetit në Ilirinë e jugut gjatë periudhës romake, Candavia 3,
, f. 135-163.
Syme 1988:
R. Syme, Roman Papers, Oxford, 1988.
Webster 2001:
J. Webster, Creolizing the Roman Provinces, AJA, 105, 2001, f. 209-225.