Pirustae

Pirustae

The Pirustae or Pyrissaei (Ancient Greek: Πειροῦσται or Πυρισσαῖοι) were a Pannonian Illyrian tribe that lived in modern Montenegro. According to some sources, they had also lived in territories outside of modern-day Montenegro, but the majority of archaeologists, including the famous British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, say that the Pirustae had lived in northern Montenegro, around present-day Pljevlja and that they were prominent miners. Their prominence in mining has been seen in epigraphic monuments from Dacia's mining regions. Pirustae along with other Pannonians and Illyrians like the Sardeates were later settled in Dacia (modern-day Romania).