The Delmatae, alternatively Dalmatæ, during the Roman period, were a group of
Illyrian tribes in
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
, contemporary southern Croatia and western
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
. The region of Dalmatia takes its name from the tribe.
The Delmatae appear in historical record for the first time in 181 BC, when upon the death of their ruler
Pleuratus III
Pleuratus III (Ancient Greek: Πλευρᾶτος; ruled ''c.'' 205 – 181 BC) was a ruler of the Illyrian kingdom under the Labeatan dynasty. He was the son of Scerdilaidas. Pleuratus continued his father's pro-Roman policy even more decid ...
of the Illyrian kingdom, they refused to accept the rule of his son,
Gentius
Gentius ( grc, Γένθιος, "Génthios"; 181168 BC) was an Illyrian king who belonged to the Labeatan dynasty. He ruled in 181–168 BC, being the last attested Illyrian king. He was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept positive relati ...
and seceded. They expanded and came to include coastal Illyrian tribes like the
Tariotes
The Tariotes or Tariotae were an Illyrian tribe that lived on the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia, in modern-day Croatia. They are considered part of the Dalmatae. The Tariotes are mentioned in the Classical literature by Roman author Pliny the Eld ...
, the Hylli and the Nesti and increased their territory to the north against the
Liburni
The Liburnians or Liburni ( grc, Λιβυρνοὶ) were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' (Raša (river), Raša) and ''Titius'' (Krka (Croatia), ...
. Conflict with Roman expansionism and its local allies in the eastern Adriatic began in 156-55 BC. The
Roman–Dalmatae Wars lasted until 33 BC when
Octavian
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
(the later Emperor Augustus) installed Roman hegemony in Dalmatia. Local instability and minor rebellions continued in the
province of Dalmatia and culminated in the
Great Illyrian Revolt
The (Latin for 'War of the Batos') was a military conflict fought in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples of the two regions of Illyricum, Dalmatia and Pannonia, revolted against the Roma ...
in Dalmatia and closely linked
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
in 6 AD. The revolt, which lasted for three years, involved more than half a million combatants, auxiliaries and civilians on both side. In the aftermath, some Delmataean communities were relocated in the northern
Sandzak region and others were resettled in parts of
Carinthia
Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...
to provide labor for the Roman mines. The defeat of the revolt began the integration of Dalmatia which in turn led to the
romanization
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
of the region by the early Middle Ages.
Name
The original form of the name of the tribe is ''Delmatae'', and shares the same root with the regional name
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
and the toponym
Delminium
Delminium was an Illyrian city and the capital of the Dalmatia which was located somewhere near today's Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which name it also was the seat of a Latin bishopric (also known as ''Delminium'').
Name
The to ...
. It is considered to be connected to the
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
''
dele
The ''Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera'' ( en, Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language), or DELE, are official diplomas issued by the Spanish Instituto Cervantes on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science to participa ...
'' and its variants which include the
Gheg
Gheg (also spelled Geg; Gheg Albanian: ''gegnishtja'', Standard sq, gegërishtja) is one of the two major varieties of Albanian, the other being Tosk. The geographic dividing line between the two varieties is the Shkumbin River, which winds it ...
form ''
delmë'', meaning "sheep", and to the Albanian term ''delmer'', "shepherd".
According to
Orel, the Gheg form ''delme'' hardly has anything in common with the name of ''Dalmatia'' because it represents a variant of ''
dele
The ''Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera'' ( en, Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language), or DELE, are official diplomas issued by the Spanish Instituto Cervantes on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science to participa ...
'' with ''*-mā'', which is ultimately from
proto-Albanian
The Proto-Albanian language is the unattested language from which Albanian later developed. Albanian evolved from an ancient Paleo-Balkan language, traditionally thought to be Illyrian, or otherwise a totally unattested Balkan Indo-European ...
''*dailā''. Toponyms linked to the name are found throughout the territories inhabited by Illyrians including the chief settlement of the Delmatae,
Delminium
Delminium was an Illyrian city and the capital of the Dalmatia which was located somewhere near today's Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which name it also was the seat of a Latin bishopric (also known as ''Delminium'').
Name
The to ...
and ''Dalmana'' in present-day N. Macedonia.
The medieval Slavic toponym
Ovče Pole
Ovče Pole ( mk, Овче Поле, literally 'sheep plain') is a plain near Sveti Nikole's River, which is a tributary of the Bregalnica River in east-central North Macedonia.
History
The Battle of Ovche Pole occurred during the First World Wa ...
("plain of sheep" in South Slavic) in the nearby region represents a related later development.
In Albania,
Delvinë
Delvinë ( or , ); is a town and a municipality in Vlorë County, southern Albania, northeast of Saranda. It was formed in the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Delvinë and Vergo, which became municipal unit ...
represents a toponym linked to the root ''*dele''.
The form ''Dalmatae'' and the respective regional name ''Dalmatia'' are later variants as is already noted by
Appian
Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...
(2nd century AD). His contemporary grammarian
Velius Longus
Velius Longus (fl. 2nd century AD), Latin grammarian during the reign of Trajan (or Hadrian), author of an extant treatise on orthography (Heinrich Keil, ''Grammatici Latini'', vii). He is mentioned by Macrobius''Saturnalia'', iii.6.6 and Servius' ...
highlights in his treatise about orthography that the correct form of ''Dalmatia'' is ''Delmatia'', and notes that
Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
who lived about 2 centuries prior of Appian and Velius Longius, used the form ''Delmatia'' as it corresponded to the chief settlement of the tribe,
Delminium
Delminium was an Illyrian city and the capital of the Dalmatia which was located somewhere near today's Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which name it also was the seat of a Latin bishopric (also known as ''Delminium'').
Name
The to ...
. The toponym
Duvno
Tomislavgrad (), also known by its former name Duvno (), is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It mainly covers an area of the historical and geographica ...
is a derivation from Delminium in Croatian via an intermediate form ''*Delminio'' in late antiquity.
History
The Delmatae appear in historical record in 181 BC. The death of
Pleuratus III
Pleuratus III (Ancient Greek: Πλευρᾶτος; ruled ''c.'' 205 – 181 BC) was a ruler of the Illyrian kingdom under the Labeatan dynasty. He was the son of Scerdilaidas. Pleuratus continued his father's pro-Roman policy even more decid ...
of the Illyrian kingdom and the succession by his son
Gentius
Gentius ( grc, Γένθιος, "Génthios"; 181168 BC) was an Illyrian king who belonged to the Labeatan dynasty. He ruled in 181–168 BC, being the last attested Illyrian king. He was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept positive relati ...
led the Delmatae to not recognize his rule and secede altogether. The
Daorsi
Daorson (Ancient Greek: Δαορσών) was the capital of the Illyrian tribe of the Daorsi (Ancient Greek Δαόριζοι, Δαούρσιοι; Latin ''Daorsei''). The Daorsi lived in the valley of the Neretva River between 300 BC and 50 BC. The ...
, who lived to the south of the Delmatae did the same. Over the centuries, the Delmatae and Ardiaei were among the Illyrian groups which expanded their territory northwards at the expense of the
Liburni
The Liburnians or Liburni ( grc, Λιβυρνοὶ) were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' (Raša (river), Raša) and ''Titius'' (Krka (Croatia), ...
. They Delmatae may have been originally pushed towards the coast because of Celtic migrations in
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
Strabo writes that the territory of the Delmatae was divided into an inland (present-day
Tropolje
Tropolje was a historical Croatian duchy, which was located on the borderland of Croatia, Bosnia and Zachlumia. Its exact borders are disputed among historians.
History
Vjekoslav Klaić thought that Tropolje encompassed the Cetinsko Polje, ...
) and a coastal region by the Dinaric Alps. Their capital settlement
Delminium
Delminium was an Illyrian city and the capital of the Dalmatia which was located somewhere near today's Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which name it also was the seat of a Latin bishopric (also known as ''Delminium'').
Name
The to ...
was located close to present-day
Tomislavgrad
Tomislavgrad (), also known by its former name Duvno (), is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It mainly covers an area of the historical and geographica ...
.
The
first Dalmatian war in 156 BC – 155 BC finished with the destruction of capital
Delminium
Delminium was an Illyrian city and the capital of the Dalmatia which was located somewhere near today's Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which name it also was the seat of a Latin bishopric (also known as ''Delminium'').
Name
The to ...
by consul
Scipio Nasica. The
second Dalmatian war
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of Time in physics, time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally t ...
was fought in 119–118 BC, apparently ending in Roman victory as consul
L. Caecilius Metellus celebrated triumph in 117 BC and assumed his surname
Delmaticus. The
third Dalmatian war
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* Hig ...
78–76 BC finished with the capture of
Salona
Salona ( grc, Σάλωνα) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Salona is located in the modern town of Solin, next to Split, in Croatia.
Salona was founded in the 3rd century BC and was mostly destroyed in t ...
(port Solin near modern city
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enterta ...
) by the proconsul
C. Cosconius.
During the Roman Civil War of 49–44 BC, the Delmatae supported
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
against the coastal Roman colonies which supported Caesar and continuously fought against the Caesarian generals
Gabinius and
Vatinius. After Pompey's defeat they continued to fight against Roman legions in Dalmatia.
The fourth and final conflict occurred 34–33 BC during Octavian's expedition to
Illyricum because of their iterative revolts, and finished with the capture of the new Delmatian capital-
Soetovio (now
Klis
Klis ( hr, Klis, it, Clissa, tr, Kilis) is a Croatian municipality located around a mountain fortress bearing the same name. It is located in the region of Dalmatia, located just northeast of Solin, Croatia, Solin and Split, Croatia, Split near ...
). The last revolts of Delmatae under their federal leader
Bato, against Romans were in 12 BC and the
Great Illyrian Revolt
The (Latin for 'War of the Batos') was a military conflict fought in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples of the two regions of Illyricum, Dalmatia and Pannonia, revolted against the Roma ...
in 6–9 AD; both also failed and finished by a terminal pacification of bellicose Delmatae.
Cohors Delmatarum
In
Roman Imperial times the Dalmatae formed numerous
Roman auxiliaries
The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of inf ...
:
*
Cohors I Delmatarum
Cohors prima Delmatarum ("1st Cohort of Dalmatae") was a Roman auxiliary infantry regiment. It is named after the Dalmatae, an Illyrian-speaking tribe that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous Dalmatia. The ancient geo ...
*
Cohors I Delmatarum milliaria equitata
*
Cohors II Delmatarum
*
Cohors III Delmatarum equitata c.R. pf
*
Cohors IV Delmatarum
*
Cohors V Delmatarum
Cohors quinta Delmatarum ("5th Cohort of Dalmatae") was a Roman auxiliary infantry unit. It is named after the Dalmatae, an Illyrian language, Illyrian-speaking tribe that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous Dalmatia. Th ...
*
Cohors V Delmatarum c.R.
*
Cohors VI Delmatarum equitata
*
Cohors VII Delmatarum equitata
* And later the
Equites Dalmatae
Culture
Archaeology and onomastic shows that the Delmatae were akin to eastern Illyrians and northern
Pannonii. The tribe was subject to
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
influences. One of the Dalmatian tribes was called
Baridustae
The Baridustae were an Illyrian tribe that lived in Dalmatia, around Bariduum, a settlement located between Salona and Servitium, more precisely 30 miles north of Salona, which has been identified with the site area of Livno, in present-day Bos ...
that later was settled in Roman Dacia.
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
also mentioned the
Tariotes
The Tariotes or Tariotae were an Illyrian tribe that lived on the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia, in modern-day Croatia. They are considered part of the Dalmatae. The Tariotes are mentioned in the Classical literature by Roman author Pliny the Eld ...
, and their territory Tariota, which was described as an ancient region. The Tariotes are considered part of the Delmatae.
The archeological remnants suggest their material culture was more primitive than those of the surrounding ancient tribes, especially in comparison with the oldest
Liburnians
The Liburnians or Liburni ( grc, Λιβυρνοὶ) were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' ( Raša) and ''Titius'' ( Krka) in what is now Croatia ...
. Only their production of weapons was rather advanced. Their elite had stone built houses only, but numerous Delmatic herdmen yet settled in natural caves, and a characteristic detail in their usual clothing was the fur cap.
Their nomadic society had a strong patriarchal structure, consisting chiefly of shepherds, warriors and their chieftains. Their main jobs had been the extensive cattle breeding, and the iterative plundering of other surrounding tribes and of coastal towns on the Adriatic.
Religion
The major collective deity of the Delmatic federation was their pastoral god 'Sylvanus' they called Vidasus. His divine wife was 'Thana',
[Wilkes. "North of the Japodes, the altars to Vidasus and Thana dedicated at the hot springs of Topusko reveal the local Roman Illyrians..."] a Delmatic goddess mostly comparable with Roman Diana and Greek Artemis. Their frequent reliefs often accompanied by nymphs, are partly conserved up today in some cliffs of Dalmatia; in Imotski valley also their temple used from 4th to 1st century BC, was unearthed. The third important one of Delmatae was a wargod '
Armatus
Flavius Armatus (died 477), also known as Harmatius, was an Eastern Roman military commander, ''magister militum'' under Emperors Leo I, Basiliscus and Zeno, and consul. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his s ...
' comparable with Roman Mars and Greek Ares. Their bad deity was the celestial Dragon devouring the sun or moon in the eclipses.
A strong weapons cult was very specific for the patriarchal Delmatae, and in their masculine tombs different weapons are widely present (that is rare in neighbouring peoples e.g. Liburni, Iapydes, etc.). Their usual tombs were under the stone tumuli of
kurgan
A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central Asi ...
type. After the classic Roman reports (Muzic 1998), nomadic Delmatae were extremely superstitious, and they had a primitive panic dread from all celestial phenomena: any view on the night stars was for them forbidden in the fear of a sure death, and in the case of solar or lunar eclipses they repeated tremendous collective howling because of the immediate world ending, made hysterical suicides etc.
See also
*
List of ancient Illyrian peoples and tribes
This is a list of ancient tribes in the ancient territory of Illyria ( grc-gre, Ἰλλυρία; la, Illyria). The name ''Illyrians'' seems to be the name of a single Illyrian tribe that was the first to come into contact with the ancient Greeks ...
References
Bibliography
*
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{{Illyrians
Illyrian tribes
Illyrian Bosnia and Herzegovina
Illyrian Croatia
Ancient tribes in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ancient tribes in Croatia
Tribes conquered by Rome
Tribes conquered by the Roman Republic
History of Dalmatia