1.
Roman Republic
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It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
2.
Adriatic Sea
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The Adriatic Sea /ˌeɪdriˈætᵻk/ is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula and the Apennine Mountains from the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest, the countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Adriatic contains over 1,300 islands, mostly located along its eastern, Croatian and it is divided into three basins, the northern being the shallowest and the southern being the deepest, with a maximum depth of 1,233 metres. The Otranto Sill, a ridge, is located at the border between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The prevailing currents flow counterclockwise from the Strait of Otranto, along the eastern coast, tidal movements in the Adriatic are slight, although larger amplitudes are known to occur occasionally. The Adriatics salinity is lower than the Mediterraneans because the Adriatic collects a third of the water flowing into the Mediterranean. The surface water temperatures range from 30 °C in summer to 12 °C in winter. The Adriatic Sea sits on the Apulian or Adriatic Microplate, which separated from the African Plate in the Mesozoic era, the plates movement contributed to the formation of the surrounding mountain chains and Apennine tectonic uplift after its collision with the Eurasian plate. In the Late Oligocene, the Apennine Peninsula first formed, separating the Adriatic Basin from the rest of the Mediterranean, all types of sediment are found in the Adriatic, with the bulk of the material transported by the Po and other rivers on the western coast. The western coast is alluvial or terraced, while the eastern coast is indented with pronounced karstification. There are dozens of protected areas in the Adriatic, designed to protect the seas karst habitats. The sea is abundant in flora and fauna—more than 7,000 species are identified as native to the Adriatic, many of them endemic, rare and threatened ones. The Adriatics shores are populated by more than 3.5 million people, the earliest settlements on the Adriatic shores were Etruscan, Illyrian, and Greek. By the 2nd century BC, the shores were under Romes control, following Italian unification, the Kingdom of Italy started an eastward expansion that lasted until the 20th century. Following World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, the former disintegrated during the 1990s, resulting in four new states on the Adriatic coast. Italy and Albania agreed on their maritime boundary in 1992, Fisheries and tourism are significant sources of income all along the Adriatic coast. Adriatic Croatias tourism industry has grown faster economically than the rest of the Adriatic Basins, maritime transport is also a significant branch of the areas economy—there are 19 seaports in the Adriatic that each handle more than a million tonnes of cargo per year. The largest Adriatic seaport by annual cargo turnover is the Port of Trieste, in the southeast, the Adriatic Sea connects to the Ionian Sea at the 72-kilometre wide Strait of Otranto
3.
First Punic War
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The First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For more than 20 years, the two struggled for supremacy, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters. The war signaled the beginning of a transformation in the western Mediterranean. Carthage began the war as the great sea-power of the western Mediterranean, while Rome had, the series of wars between Rome and Carthage took the name Punic from the Latin name for the Carthaginians, Punici. This is derived from Phoenicis, and it refers to the Carthaginian heritage as Phoenician colonists, a Carthaginian name for the conflicts does not survive in any records. Rome had recently emerged as the leading city-state in the Italian Peninsula, over the past one hundred years, Rome had come into conflict, and defeated rivals on the Italian peninsula, then incorporated them into the Roman political world. By the beginning of the First Punic War, the Romans had secured the whole of the Italian peninsula and it originated as a Phoenician colony in Africa, near modern Tunis. At the height of power, just before the First Punic War, North African peoples such as the Berbers in the area around Carthage were loosely associated with Carthage. In the midst of the First Punic War some tribes would rebel against Carthage, the rich, strategically influential, and well-fortified Greek colony of Syracuse was politically independent of Rome and Carthage. Hostilities of the First Punic War began with developments involving the Romans, Carthaginians, at the same time, a group of Roman troops made up of Campanian citizens without the vote also seized control of Rhegium, lying across the Straits of Messina on the mainland of Italy. In 270 BC, the Romans regained control of Rhegium and severely punished the survivors of the revolt, in Sicily, the Mamertines ravaged the countryside and collided with the expanding regional empire of the independent city of Syracuse. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River, following their defeat, the Mamertines appealed to both Rome and Carthage for assistance. The Carthaginians acted first, approached Hiero to take no further action, however, the rivalry between Rome and Carthage had grown since the war with Pyrrhus and that alliance was simply no longer feasible. According to the historian Polybius, considerable debate took place in Rome on the question as to whether to accept the Mamertines appeal for help, however, many were also unwilling to see Carthaginian power in Sicily expand even further. Leaving them at Messana would give the Carthaginians a free hand to deal with Syracuse, after the Syracusans had been defeated, the Carthaginian takeover of Sicily would essentially be complete. Sicily is a volcanic island, with geographical obstacles and rough terrain making lines of communication difficult to maintain. For this reason, land warfare played a role in the First Punic War. Land operations were confined to small raids and skirmishes, with few pitched battles
4.
Teuta
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Teuta was the queen regent of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 227 BC. According to Polybius, she ruled by womens reasoning, Teuta started to address the neighbouring states malevolently, supporting the piratical raids of her subjects. Illyrians soon captured and later fortified Dyrrachium and Phoenice, while her ships were off the coast of Onchesmos, they intercepted and plundered some Roman merchant vessels. Queen Teuta told the ambassadors that according to the law of the Illyrians, piracy was a lawful trade and she also implied that it was never the custom of royalty to prevent the advantage of its subjects they could get from the sea. One of the envoys reportedly replied that Rome would make it her business to introduce better law among the Illyrians as we have an excellent custom of punishing private wrongs by public revenge. At any rate, one of the two present ambassadors expressed himself to the queen so disrespectfully that her attendants were ordered to seize the ship as it embarked back for Rome. One of the ambassadors was killed and the other was put in captivity, in 229 BC, Rome declared war on Illyria and for the first time armies crossed the Adriatic to Illyria. An army consisting of approximately 20,000 troops,200 cavalry units, Teutas governor, Demetrius had little alternative but to surrender, and the Romans awarded him a considerable part of Teutas holdings. The Roman army then landed further north at Apollonia, the combined army and navy proceeded northward together, subduing one town after another and eventually besieging the capital Scodra. Teuta finally surrendered in 227 BC, having to accept an ignominious peace, the Romans allowed her to continue her reign but restricted her to a narrow region around Scodra, deprived her of all her other holdings, and forbade her to sail an armed ship south of Lissus. They also required her to pay a tribute and to acknowledge the final authority of Rome. Her rule was ended by the politician Aulus Postumius, after she opted against Roman suppression. Very little is known of the rest of her life, illyrian warfare List of rulers of Illyria
5.
Consul
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Consul was the title of one of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently a somewhat significant title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other city states and also revived in modern states. The relating adjective is consular, from the consularis, in modern terminology, a consul is a type of diplomat. The American Heritage Dictionary defines consul as an appointed by a government to reside in a foreign country. Throughout most of southern France, a consul was an equivalent to the échevins of the north. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux and Toulouse, which came to be known as jurats and capitouls, the capitouls of Toulouse were granted transmittable nobility. In many other towns the first consul, was the equivalent of a mayor today, assisted by a variable number of secondary consuls. His main task was to levy and collect tax, the Dukes of Gaeta often used also the title of consul in its Greek form Hypatos. The city-state of Genoa, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of consul on various state officials, among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. This institution, with its name, was emulated by other powers and is reflected in the modern usage of the word. In reality, the first consul, Bonaparte, dominated his two colleagues and held power, soon making himself consul for life and eventually, in 1804. Chief magistrate, an office held for four months by one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had consuls at some parts of its Medieval history, while many cities had a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but consul was used in some. It was not uncommon for an organization under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state, the founding statute, or contract, of such an organisation was called lex, law. The people elected each year were patricians, members of the upper class. org, see each present country
6.
Illyrians
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The Illyrians were a group of Indo-European tribes in antiquity, who inhabited part of the western Balkans and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula. The first account of Illyrian peoples comes from the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, the Illyrian tribes never collectively regarded themselves as Illyrians, and it is unlikely that they used any collective nomenclature for themselves. The term Illyrians last appears in the record in the 7th century. In later Greek mythology, Illyrius was the son of Cadmus and Harmonia who eventually ruled Illyria, Illyrius had multiple sons and daughters. From these, sprang the Taulantii, Parthini, Dardani, Encheleae, Autariates, Dassaretae, autareius had a son Pannonius or Paeon and these had sons Scordiscus and Triballus. Even before the advent of post-modernism, scholars recognized a difficulty in producing a single theory on the ethnogenesis of the Illyrians given their heterogeneous nature, nevertheless, scholars traditionally looked for the origins of the Illyrian peoples centuries, even millennia, before their first historical attestation. Following the theories of Gustaf Kossinna, scholars sought to equate tribes mentioned by later Greco-Roman historians with preceding Bronze, in particular, scholars such as Julian Pokorny and Richard Pittioni placed the Illyrian homeland within the Luzatian culture, itself an offshoot of the trans-Central European Urnfield culture. From c.1200 BC, the bearers of the Lausitz culture are said to have engaged in widespread migrations throughout Europe. With regard to the Balkans, their movement south in turn initiated the Dorian migrations into southern Greece and these Pan-Illyrian theories have since been dismissed by scholars, based as they were on racialistic notions of Nordicism and Aryanism. The above theories have found little archaeological corroboration, as no convincing evidence for significant migratory movements from the Luzatian culture into the west Balkans have ever been found. Rather, archaeologists from the former Yugoslavia highlighted the continuity between the Bronze and succeeding Iron Age, ultimately developing the so-called autochthonous theory of Illyrian genesis, the autochthonous model was most elaborated upon by Alojz Benac and B. They argued that the proto-Illyrians had arrived earlier, during the Bronze Age as nomadic Indo-Europeans from the steppe. From that point, there was a gradual Illyrianization of the western Balkans leading to historic Illyrians and he did not deny a minor cultural impact from the northern Urnfield cultures, however these movements had neither a profound influence on the stability. Of the Balkans, nor did they affect the ethnogenesis of the Illyrian ethnos, aleksandar Stipčević raised concerns regarding Benacs all-encompassing scenario of autochthonous ethnogenesis. They rather see the emergence of historic Illyrians tribes as a recent phenomenon - just prior to their first attestation. The exception to this are the communities in Glasinac and Mati, the impetus behind the emergence of larger regional groups, such as Iapodes, Liburnians, Pannonians etc. is traced to increased contacts with the Mediterranean and La Tène global worlds. This catalyzed the development of complex political institutions and the increase in differences between individual communities. Emerging local elites selectively adopted either La Tène or Hellenistic and, later, Roman cultural templates in order to legitimise and they were competing fiercely through either alliance or conflict and resistance to Roman expansion
7.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
8.
Epidamnos
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The ancient Greek city of Epidamnos or Epidamnus, later the Roman Dyrrachium was founded in 627 BC in Illyria by a group of colonists from Corinth and Corcyra. Individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden at Epidamnos, all traffic was through the authorized city agent or poletes, in the fourth century BC the city-state was part of the kingdoms of Cassander and Pyrrhus. The general vicinity of Epidamnus was called Epidamnia, in 229 BC, when the Romans seized the city the -damnos part of the name was inauspicious to Latin ears, and its name, as it was refounded, became Dyrrhachium. Pausanias says the modern Roman city is not the ancient one, the modern city is called Dyrrhachium from its founder. The name Dyrrachion is found on coins of the fifth century BC, however, the city maintained a semi-autonomy and was turned into a Roman colony. Dyrrachium was the place for Roman passengers crossing the Ionian Sea from Brundisium. Here commenced the Via Egnatia, the Roman military road to Thessalonica that connected Roman Illyria with Macedonia, the city itself was part of Macedonia, more specifically Epirus Nova. In 48 BC Pompey was based at Dyrrachium and beat off an attack by Julius Caesar, in AD345 the city was levelled by an earthquake and rebuilt on its old foundations. In the 4th century AD, Dyrrachium was made the capital of the Roman province of Epirus nova, thus its Archbishopric became the Metropolitan of all dioceses in the province. The name Epidamnos was still used by the Byzantines, as for example in the 13th-century Synopsis Chronike, referring to contemporary events. The modern city of Durrës is built directly over the ancient site, so it is primarily on the basis of inscriptions, the last inscription mentions that for the dedication of the library 24 gladiators fought in pairs. The conjecture that there was an amphitheater in the city is confirmed by a passage from the fifteenth-century Vita di Skanderbeg by Marin Barleti, amphitheatrum mira arte ingenioque constructum. Columns with Corinthian capitals and sections of finished marble revetment, discovered on the hillside at Stani. In the necropolis east of the hills that stand above the city have found a stele of Lepidia Salvia, a sarcophagus with a scene of the Calydonian Boar hunt. Classical sources not mentioned in the text, Strabo 5.283,6.316,323,327, Ptolemy 3.12, Dio Cassius. 41.49, Pomponius Mela 2.56, Pliny Natural History 3.145,4.36,6.217,14.30,19.144,32.18, CIL refers to the series of published inscriptions Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Greek colonies in Illyria Perseus site, several sources, including William Smith, dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
9.
Apollonia (Illyria)
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Apollonia was an ancient Greek city and former bishopric in Illyria. Located on the bank of the Aous river. Its ruins are situated in the Fier region, near the village of Pojani, in modern-day Albania. Apollonia flourished in the Roman period and was home to a school of philosophy. It was abandoned by the end of Late Antiquity, the name of the city is mentioned among the modern bishoprics of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. Apollonia is also a see of the Latin Church. The site of Apollonia lay on the territory of the Taulantii, the city was said to have originally been named Gylakeia after its founder, Gylax, but the name was later changed to honor the god Apollo. It is mentioned by Strabo in his Geographica as an exceedingly well-governed city, the city grew rich on the slave trade and local agriculture, as well as its large harbour, said to have been able to hold a hundred ships at a time. The city also benefited from the supply of asphalt which was a valuable commodity in ancient times. The remains of a late sixth-century temple, located just outside the city, were reported in 2006, it is only the fifth known stone temple found in present-day Albania. It had its own mint, stamping coins showing a cow suckling her calf on the obverse and a double stellate pattern on the reverse, the city was for a time included among the dominions of Pyrrhus of Epirus. In 229 BC, it came under the control of the Roman Republic, to which it was loyal, it was rewarded in 168 BC with booty seized from Gentius. In 148 BC, Apollonia became part of the Roman province of Macedonia, in the Roman Civil War between Pompey and Julius Caesar, it supported the latter, but fell to Marcus Iunius Brutus in 48 BC. The later Roman emperor Augustus studied in Apollonia in 44 BC under the tutelage of Athenodorus of Tarsus, Apollonia flourished under Roman rule and was noted by Cicero in his Philippics as magna urbs et gravis, a great and important city. Christianity was established in the city at a stage, and bishops from Apollonia were present during the First Council of Ephesus. Its decline, however, began in the 3rd century AD, when an earthquake changed the path of the Aoos, causing the harbour to silt up, the city became increasingly uninhabitable as the inland swamp expanded, and the nearby settlement of Avlona became dominant. By the end of antiquity, the city was largely depopulated and this community built on a nearby hill the church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, part of the Ardenica Monastery. The city seems to have sunk with the rise of Vlora and it was rediscovered by European classicists in the 18th century, though it was not until the Austrian occupation of 1916–1918 that the site was investigated by archaeologists
10.
Korkyra (polis)
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Korkyra was an ancient illyrian city on the island of Corfu in the Ionian sea, adjacent to Epirus. It was a colony of Corinth, founded in the archaic period, according to Thucydides, the earliest recorded naval battle took place between Korkyra and Corinth, roughly 260 years before he was writing - and thus in the middle of the seventh century BC. The antagonism between Korkyra and its mother city Corinth appears to have been an old one, quite apart from the naval battle Thucydides talks of, Herodotus records a myth involving the tyrant of Corinth, Periander. Periander was estranged from his son, Lycophron, who believed that his father had killed his mother Milissa. After failing to reconcile with Lycophron, he sent him to Korkyra, in his old age, Periander sent for his son to come and rule over Corinth, suggesting that they would trade places and he would rule Korkyra while his son came to rule Corinth. To prevent this, the Korkyraeans killed Lycophron, in punishment, Periander captured 300 young men of Korkyra with the intention of castrating them. This is more likely to be a myth explaining the animosity between Corinth and Korkyra than an historical event. In the Persian War of 480 BC, Greek envoys were sent to Korkyra requesting aid, Korkyra enthusiastically promised ships, and fitted out sixty of them, but they failed to arrive in time for the battle of Salamis. Herodotus credits this as a desire among the Korkyraeans to remain neutral, writing between 431 and 411 BC, Thucydides credited Korkyras conflict with Corinth over their joint daughter-city Epidamnus as a significant cause of the Peloponnesian War. The democrats won with help from Athenian ships, and subsequently slaughtered anyone they suspected of being an enemy, around 375 BC, a Peloponnesian fleet, under the command of Mnesippus, attacked Korkyra. Following the siege, the resident Korkyraeans, suffering from hunger, deserted, were sold as slaves or, later, in the Hellenistic Period Corcyra changed hands several times. In 303 BC, after a siege by Cassander of Macedon. Three years on Cassander besieged it again, but his fleet was destroyed by an intervention of Agathocles of Syracuse. The tyrant of Syracuse added the island to his own domains and in 295 BC he offered it as dowry to his daughter Lanassa on her marriage to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. When Lanassa left Pyrrhus in 291 BC she tried to pass her place on her husband, king Demetrius Poliorcetes of Macedon. Corcyra remained a member of the Epirote League until 255 BC when it regained independence after the death of Alexander II, last King of Epirus. In 229 BC, following a Greek defeat in the battle of Paxos. However, the Illyrians obtained a reinforcement of seven decked ships from the Acarnanians engaging off the island of Paxi, besting the Achaeans, capturing four and sinking one, the remaining five ran back home
11.
Hvar
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Hvar is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately 68 km long, with a high east-west ridge of Mesozoic limestone and dolomite, the island of Hvar is unusual in the area for having a fertile coastal plain. Its hillsides are covered in forests, with vineyards, olive groves, fruit orchards. The climate is characterized by mild winters, and warm summers with many hours of sunshine, the island has 11,103 residents, making it the 4th most populated of the Croatian islands. It has been inhabited since pre-historic times, originally by a Neolithic people whose distinctive pottery gave rise to the term Hvar culture, and later by the Illyrians. The ancient Greeks founded the colony of Pharos in 384 BC on the site of today’s Stari Grad and they were also responsible for setting out the agricultural field divisions of the Stari Grad Plain, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In medieval times, Hvar rose to importance within the Venetian Empire as a naval base. Prosperity brought culture and the arts, with one of the first public theatres in Europe, nobles’ palaces, after a brief time under Napoleonic rule, the island became part of the Austrian Empire, a more peaceful and prosperous time. On the coast, harbours were expanded, quays built, fishing, at the same time, the island’s wine exports increased, along with lavender and rosemary production for the French perfume industry. Unfortunately, this prosperity did not continue into the 20th century as wooden sailing boats went out of fashion, many islanders left to make a new life elsewhere. One industry, however, has continued to grow and is now a significant contributor to the island’s economy, today, the island of Hvar is a popular destination for tourists, consistently listed in the top 10 islands by Conde Nast Traveler magazine. The island of Hvar is located in the Adriatic Sea, off the Dalmatian coast, the eastern end of Hvar is just 6 kilometres from the mainland. Along the southern coast of the island there are smaller islands, notably the Paklinski islands at the western end and Šćedro island. Hvar is a high east-west ridge of Mesozoic limestone and dolomite, around that time, sea levels rose, filling the valleys that are now the channels between the islands. Hvar has a typical karst landscape, which limited or no surface water, despite adequate rainfall. Farming in such areas requires careful conservation of water, and protection of the soil against erosion, the water cisterns in the fields, and the dry-stone walls, especially terracing on the slopes are necessary for the continued success of agriculture on the island. The island has a typical Mediterranean vegetation, mostly bare with woody scrub at higher, steeper elevations, turning to forests on the lower slopes with Holm oak, Aleppo pines. The islet of Šćedro is especially rich in various Mediterranean trees, Hvar island is 68 kilometres long, and only 10.5 kilometres at its widest point
12.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
13.
Demetrius of Pharos
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Demetrius of Pharos was a ruler of Pharos involved in the First Illyrian War, after which he ruled a portion of the Illyrian Adriatic coast on behalf of the Romans, as a client king. Demetrius was a regent ruler to Pinnes, the son of Agron who was too young to rule as king. When the Romans were occupied with their own problems, he had grown stronger as an ally of Macedonia and also by conquering Dimallum of Dalmatia, on the shore facing Issa. He was expelled from Illyria by Rome after the Second Illyrian War and he became a strong political influence to Philip V and encouraged him to clash with Rome. Demetrius remained there until his death at Messene in 214 BC while attempting to take the city, Demetrius, described as Illyrian or Greek, was from the Greek colony on the island of Pharos, in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Dalmatia. Under the Illyrian king Agron, he ruled Pharos, from his stronghold, after Agrons death in 230 BC, Demetrius continued as ruler of Pharos under the regency of Queen Teuta, Agrons second wife and stepmother of Agrons son Pinnes, who was too young to rule. In 229 BC, continuing the expansion of Illyrian power that Agron had begun, Teuta systematically attacked Issa, Lissus, Apollonia and Corcyra Nigra were all threatened. In a naval battle off the island of Paxos the Illyrian fleet, arguably commanded by Demetrius, as a result, the Korkyreans were forced to accept an Illyrian garrison in their city which was put under the command of Demetrius. When the Romans were on their way to relieve Corcyra during the First Illyrian War, fearing her wrath, he betrayed her and gave up Corcyra to the Romans. Going over to the Roman side, he now acted as their guide for their campaign in Illyria. Rome was quickly victorious, while Teuta fled to Rhizon in Dalmatia, Demetrius was rewarded with the rule of his birthplace, the island of Pharos, and a part of the land next to it, but this was only temporary. The Romans annexed the southern conquests of Teuta and following the war, due to one of the conditions imposed by Rome, the decade after 229 BC witnessed a revival of Illyrian power under Demetrius who succeeded Teuta. Following the war, Demetrius married Triteuta in or around 222 BC, Agrons first wife and his marriage to Triteuta mean that Demetrius formally took over the regency of the Ardiaean Kingdom. Demetrius own influence was greatly extended, and the fundamental weakness of the Ardiaean Kingdom after 229 BC. The king began to renew traditional Illyrian ties with Macedonia, in 222 BC an Illyrian corps of 1600 fought with distinction under the command of Demetrius at Sellasia, where the Macedonians won a conclusive victory over the Spartans. After Sellasia, Demetrius began attempting to extend his control over Illyria at the expense of Rome. Before then, when Rome was preoccupied with a war against the Celtic peoples of the Po valley in northern Italy from 225-222 BC, in addition, he sailed south of Lissus, Lezhë in present-day Albania, and engaged in piracy in contravention of the settlement in 228 BC. In 221 BC Demetrius also created an alliance with the Illyrian Histri at the head of the Adriatic, a Roman fleet soon attacked the Histri
14.
Celts
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The history of pre-Celtic Europe remains very uncertain. According to one theory, the root of the Celtic languages, the Proto-Celtic language, arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe. Thus this area is called the Celtic homeland. The earliest undisputed examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions beginning in the 6th century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names, Insular Celtic languages are attested beginning around the 4th century in Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century, coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, survive in 12th century recensions. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a cohesive cultural entity. They had a linguistic, religious and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities. By the 6th century, however, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use, Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels and the Celtic Britons of the medieval and modern periods. A modern Celtic identity was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, today, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival. The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to a group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC. In the fifth century BC Herodotus referred to Keltoi living around the head of the Danube, the etymology of the term Keltoi is unclear. Possible roots include Indo-European *kʲel ‘to hide’, IE *kʲel ‘to heat’ or *kel ‘to impel’, several authors have supposed it to be Celtic in origin, while others view it as a name coined by Greeks. Linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel falls in the group. Yet he reports Celtic peoples in Iberia, and also uses the ethnic names Celtiberi and Celtici for peoples there, as distinct from Lusitani, pliny the Elder cited the use of Celtici in Lusitania as a tribal surname, which epigraphic findings have confirmed. Latin Gallus might stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally and its root may be the Proto-Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται most probably have the same origin, the suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection. Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae and this means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia, though it does refer to the same ancient region
15.
Cisalpine Gaul
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Cisalpine Gaul, also called Gallia Citerior or Gallia Togata, was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Conquered by the Roman Republic in the 220s BC, it was a Roman province from c.81 BC until 42 BC, when it was merged into Roman Italy. Until that time, it was considered part of Gaul, precisely that part of Gaul on the side of the Alps. Gallia Cisalpina was further subdivided into Gallia Cispadana and Gallia Transpadana, i. e. its portions south and north of the Po River and they brought a new funerary practice—cremation—which supplanted inhumation. Livy has the Insubres, led by Bellovesus, arrive in northern Italy during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, Milan itself is presumably a Gaulish foundation of the early 6th century BC, its name having a Celtic etymology of in the middle of the plain. Polybius in the 2nd century BC wrote about co-existence of the Celts in northern Italy with Etruscan nations in the period before the Sack of Rome in 390 BC. Ligures lived in Northern Mediterranean Coast straddling South-east French and North-west Italian coasts, including parts of Tuscany, Elba island, Ligurian tribes were also present in Latium and in Samnium. According to Plutarch they called themselves Ambrones, which could indicate a relationship with the Ambrones of northern Europe, little is known of the Ligurian language. Only place-names and personal names remain and it appears to be an Indo-European branch with both Italic and particularly strong Celtic affinities. Because of the strong Celtic influences on their language and culture, modern linguists, like Xavier Delamarre argues that Ligurian was a Celtic language, similar to, but not the same as Gaulish. The Ligurian-Celtic question is discussed by Barruol. Ancient Ligurian is either listed as Celtic, or Para-Celtic, the Veneti were an Indo-European people who inhabited north-eastern Italy, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of the Veneto. By the 4th century BC the Veneti had been so Celticized that Polybius wrote that the Veneti of the 2nd century BC were identical to the Gauls except for language. He further suggested that the identification of the Adriatic Veneti with the Paphlagonian Enetoi led by Antenor — which he attributes to Sophocles — was a due to the similarity of the names. The Roman army was routed in the battle of Allia, the defeat of the combined Samnite, Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in the Third Samnite War ending in 290 BC sounded the beginning of the end of the Celtic domination in mainland Europe. At the Battle of Telamon in 225 BC, a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces and crushed, in the Second Punic War, the Boii and Insubres allied themselves with the Carthaginians, laying siege to Mutina. In response, Rome sent an expedition led by L. Manlius Vulso, vulsos army was ambushed twice, and the Senate sent Scipio with an additional force to provide support. These were the Roman forces encountered by Hannibal after his crossing of the Alps, the Romans were defeated in the Battle of the Ticinus, leading to all the Gauls except for the Cenomani to join the insurgency
16.
Second Punic War
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The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and the War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic and its allied Italic socii, with the crucial participation of Numidian-Berber armies and tribes on both sides. The two states three major wars with each other over the course of their existence. They are called the Punic Wars because Romes name for Carthaginians was Poeni, derived from Poenici, in the following year, Hannibals army defeated the Romans again, this time in southern Italy at Cannae. In consequence of these defeats, many Roman allies went over to Carthage, against Hannibals skill on the battlefield, the Romans deployed the Fabian strategy. A sideshow of this war was the indecisive First Macedonian War in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Second Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome and was ignited by the dispute over the hegemony of Saguntum, a Hellenized Iberian coastal city with diplomatic contacts with Rome. After great tension within the city government, culminating in the assassination of the supporters of Carthage, the city called for Roman aid, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Following a prolonged siege and a struggle, in which Hannibal himself was wounded and the army practically destroyed. Many of the Saguntians chose to commit suicide rather than face subjugation by the Carthaginians, before the war, Rome and Hasdrubal the Fair had made a treaty. Livy reports that it was agreed that the Iber should be the boundary between the two empires and that the liberty of the Saguntines should be preserved, Hannibal departed with this army from New Carthage northwards along the coast in late spring of 218 BC. At the Ebro, he split the army into three columns and subdued the tribes there to the Pyrenees within weeks, but with severe losses. At the Pyrenees, he left a detachment of 11,000 Iberian troops, Hannibal reportedly entered Gaul with 50,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry. He took his army by a route, avoiding the Roman allies along the coast. In the meantime, a Roman fleet with a force was underway to northern Iberia. A scouting party of 300 cavalry was sent to discover the whereabouts of the enemy and these eventually defeated a Carthaginian scouting troop of 500 mounted Numidians and chased them back to their main camp. Thus, with knowledge of the location of the enemy, the Romans marched upstream, Hannibal evaded this force and by an unknown route reached the Isère or the Durance at the foot of the Alps in autumn. He also received messengers from his Gallic allies in Italy that urged him to come to their aid, before setting out to cross the Alps, he was re-supplied by a native tribe, some of whose hereditary disputes he had helped solve. Their other commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio, returned to Rome, realizing the danger of an invasion of Italy where the tribes of the Boii, after 217 BC, he moved to Iberia
17.
Carthage
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Carthage was the Phoenician city-state of Carthage and during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC, included its sphere of influence, the Carthaginian Empire. The empire extended over much of the coast of North Africa as well as encompassing substantial parts of coastal Iberia, Carthage was founded in 814 BC. At the height of the prominence it served as a major hub of trade. The city also had to deal with potentially hostile Berbers, the inhabitants of the area where Carthage was built. In 146 BC, after the third and final Punic War, Roman forces destroyed, redesigned, nearly all of the other Phoenician city-states and former Carthaginian dependencies subsequently fell into Roman hands. According to Roman sources, Phoenician colonists from modern-day Lebanon, led by Dido, Queen Elissa was an exiled princess of the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. At its peak, the metropolis she founded, Carthage, came to be called the city, ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean Sea. Elissas brother, Pygmalion of Tyre, had murdered Elissas husband, Elissa escaped the tyranny of her own country, founding the new city of Carthage and subsequently its later dominions. Details of her life are sketchy and confusing, but the following can be deduced from various sources, according to Justin, Princess Elissa was the daughter of King Belus II of Tyre. When he died, the throne was jointly bequeathed to her brother, Pygmalion and she married her uncle Acerbas, also known as Sychaeus, the High Priest of Melqart, a man with both authority and wealth comparable to the king. This led to increased rivalry between the elite and the monarchy. Pygmalion was a tyrant, lover of both gold and intrigue, who desired the authority and fortune enjoyed by Acerbas, Pygmalion assassinated Acerbas in the temple and kept the misdeed concealed from his sister for a long time, deceiving her with lies about her husbands death. At the same time, the people of Tyre called for a single sovereign, in the Roman epic of Virgil, the Aeneid, Queen Dido, the Greek name for Elissa, is first introduced as a highly esteemed character. In just seven years, since their exodus from Tyre, the Carthaginians have rebuilt a successful kingdom under her rule and her subjects adore her and present her with a festival of praise. Her character is perceived by Virgil as even more noble when she offers asylum to Aeneas and his men, who have recently escaped from Troy. A spirit in the form of the god, Mercury, sent by Jupiter, reminds Aeneas that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido. Virgil ends his legend of Dido with the story that, when Aeneas tells Dido, her heart broken, as she lay dying, she predicted eternal strife between Aeneas people and her own, rise up from my bones, avenging spirit she says, an invocation of Hannibal. The settlements at Crete and Sicily were in conflict with the Greeks
18.
Pylos
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Pylos, historically also known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and it was the capital of the former Pylia Province. It is the harbour on the Bay of Navarino. Nearby villages include Gialova, Pyla, Elaiofyto, Schinolakka, the town of Pylos has 2,767 inhabitants, the municipal unit of Pylos 5,287. The municipal unit has an area of 143.911 km2, Pylos has a long history, having been inhabited since Neolithic times. It was a significant kingdom in Mycenaean Greece, with remains of the so-called Palace of Nestor excavated nearby, named after Nestor, in Classical times, the site was uninhabited, but became the site of the Battle of Pylos in 425 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. Pylos is scarcely mentioned thereafter until the 13th century, when it became part of the Frankish Principality of Achaea, increasingly known by its French name of Port-de-Jonc or its Italian name Navarino, in the 1280s the Franks built the Old Navarino castle on the site. Pylos came under the control of the Republic of Venice from 1417 until 1500, the Ottomans used Pylos and its bay as a naval base, and built the New Navarino fortress there. It takes that name from the surrounding the place. A Greek one, Avarinos, later shortened to Varinos or lengthened to Anavarinos by epenthesis, in the late 14th/early 15th centuries, when it was held by the Navarrese Company, it was also known as Château Navarres, and called Spanochori by the local Greeks. Under Ottoman rule, the Turkish name was Anavarin, after the construction of the new Ottoman fortress in 1571/2, it became known as Neokastro among the local Greeks, while the old Frankish castle became known as Palaiokastro. The soil about Navarino is of a red colour, and is remarkable for the production of an abundance of squills, which are used in medicine. The remains of Navarino, consist of a fort, covering the summit of a hill sloping quickly to the south, the Gialova wetland is a regional blessing of nature. It is one of 10 major lagoons in Greece, and has been classified as one of the important bird areas in Europe. It has also listed as a 1500-acre archaeological site, lying between Gialova and the bay of Voidokilia. Its alternative name of Vivari is Latin, meaning fishponds and it is Gialova, too, which plays host to a vary rare species, nearing extinction throughout Europe, the African chameleon. Pylos has evidence of human presence dating back to the Neolithic Age. Bronze Age Pylos was excavated by Carl Blegen between 1939 and 1952 and it is located at modern Ano Englianos, about 9 km north-east of the bay 37. 028°N21. 695°E /37.028,21.695
19.
Cyclades
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The Cyclades are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the island of Delos. The Cyclades is where the native Greek breed of cat originated, the largest island of the Cyclades is Naxos. Interest lagged, then picked up in the century, as collectors competed for the modern-looking figures that seemed so similar to sculpture by Jean Arp or Constantin Brâncuși. Sites were looted and a trade in forgeries arose. The context for many of these Cycladic figurines has been mostly destroyed, another intriguing and mysterious object is that of the Cycladic frying pans. More accurate archaeology has revealed the outlines of a farming and seafaring culture that had immigrated from Anatolia c.5000 BCE. Early Cycladic culture evolved in three phases, between c.3300 –2000 BCE, when it was swamped in the rising influence of Minoan Crete. The culture of mainland Greece contemporary with Cycladic culture is known as the Helladic period, in recent decades the Cyclades have become popular with European and other tourists, and as a result there have been problems with erosion, pollution, and water shortages. There are also many islands including Donousa, Eschati, Gyaros, Irakleia, Koufonisia, Makronisos. The name Cyclades refers to the forming a circle around the sacred island of Delos. Most of the islands are uninhabited. Ermoupoli on Syros is the town and administrative center of the former prefecture. The islands are peaks of a mountainous terrain, with the exception of two volcanic islands, Milos and Santorini. The climate is dry and mild, but with the exception of Naxos the soil is not very fertile, agricultural produce includes wine, fruit, wheat, olive oil. Cooler temperatures are in higher elevations and mainly do not receive wintry weather, the Cyclades are bounded to the south by the Sea of Crete. The Cyclades Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece and these have been reorganised at the 2011 Kallikratis reform as well
20.
Dimale
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Dimale was an ancient town in Illyria, possibly situated in the territory of the Illyrian Parthini, northeast of the ancient Greek colony of Apollonia near modern Krotinë, Berat County, Albania. The city was of uncertain foundation, Greek or Illyrian, hammond, Dimale was possible founded by King Pyrrhus of Epirus or by settlers from the nearby Greek colony of Apollonia. Although, the city is linked with the Parthini in various sources. During the Second Illyrian War in 219 BC, Demetrius of Pharos, after expelling all his Illyrian opponents from Dimale, fortified the city against an imminent Roman attack and left to defend Pharos. In spite of the fortress of Dimale being considered impregnable, the Romans, under the command of L. Aemilius Paullus, after Demetrius complete defeat at Roman hands and ultimate flight to Macedonia, Dimale entered into a friendly relationship with Rome. The identification of the site with the ancient city became possible thanks to the discovery of ancient tiles stamped with the word DIMALLITAN in Northwestern or Doric Greek. Epigraphy in Dimale mentions a number of Greek offices such as prytanis, grammateus, the city hosted a number of monuments, typical of the ancient Greek architectural style, such as a stoa
21.
Stari Grad, Croatia
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Stari Grad is a town on the northern side of the island of Hvar in Dalmatia, Croatia. One of the oldest towns in Europe, its position at the end of a long, protected bay, Stari Grad is also a municipality within the Split-Dalmatia County. The most ancient part of Stari Grad falls within the UNESCO Protected World Heritage Site of the Stari Grad Plain, Stari Grad was originally named Faros by the Greek settlers from the island of Paros, who arrived in 384 BC. It is thought that the name may come from the inhabitants of the area. 10,000 Liburnians sailed out from their capital Idassa, led by the Iadasinoi, the Syracusan fleet positioned in Issa was informed in time, and Greek triremes attacked the siege fleet, taking victory in the end. According to Diodorus, the Greeks killed more than 5,000 and captured 2,000 prisoners, ran down or captured their ships, in Roman times, the town became known as Faria, which was turned into Hvar by the incoming Slav population. When the administrative capital of the island was moved to todays Hvar town on the south coast, the district of Stari Grad has a population of 2,817, of which 1,906 live in the town itself. Four other settlements fall within the Stari Grad district, namely Dol, Rudina, Selca, the islands best agricultural land opens up to the east of Stari Grad town. This fertile plain has been farmed since pre-historic times, and the Greek field layout is largely intact. In 2008, the Stari Grad Plain became a UNESCO protected world heritage site, remains of their pottery and other artifacts have been found, along with that of the Illyrian tribe that succeeded them. The settlement lay at the end of Stari Grad Bay. In 384 BC, the town was founded by ancient Greeks from the island of Paros in the Aegean Sea. They gave the name Faros to their new settlement, an independent state permitted to mint its own money, the nearby plain was marked out with roads at right angles, and divided into fields of standard size. The Stari Grad Plain today represents one of the examples of ancient Greek agriculture throughout the Mediterranean. In 218 BC, the Romans defeated the Illyrian army at Pharos during the Second Illyrian War, and the town was destroyed by the Roman army, the town came under permanent Roman control by force in 168 BC, following the defeat of Gentius during the Third Illyrian War. An inscription from the 2nd century BC, refers to the Farians and their delegation to the Greek island of Paros and it makes mention of the Roman senate and the people well disposed and benevolent towards the city of Faros from the times of their ancestors. Further inscriptions, mosaics, tombstones, stone reliefs, fine pottery, jewellery, coins, villae rusticae in the Plain tell the story of life in and around the ancient Roman town. The first church was built in the 5th century, in the southeast corner of the town, close to the city walls, on the foundations of a prior Greek house
22.
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
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Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and at first ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, the reign of Philip II saw the rise of Macedonia, during which the kingdom rose to control the entire Greek world. With a reformed army containing phalanxes wielding the sarissa pike, Philip II defeated the old powers of Athens and Thebes in the decisive Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Sparta was kept isolated and was occupied a century later by Antigonus III Doson. Alexander then led a roughly decade-long campaign of conquest against the Achaemenid Empire, in the ensuing wars of Alexander the Great, he overthrew the Achaemenid Empire and conquered a territory that stretched as far as the Indus River. For a brief period, his Macedonian empire was the most powerful in the world – the definitive Hellenistic state, Greek arts and literature flourished in the new conquered lands and advances in philosophy, engineering, and science were spread throughout much of the ancient world. Of particular importance were the contributions of Aristotle, who had been imported as tutor to Alexander, important cities such as Pella, Pydna, and Amphipolis were involved in power struggles for control of the territory. New cities were founded, such as Thessalonica by the usurper Cassander, Macedonias decline began with the Macedonian Wars and the rise of Rome as the leading Mediterranean power. At the end of the Second Macedonian War in 168 BC, a short-lived revival of the monarchy during the Third Macedonian War in 150–148 BC ended with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia. The name Macedonia comes from the ethnonym Μακεδόνες, which itself is derived from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός, meaning tall and it also shares the same root as the noun μάκρος, meaning length in both ancient and modern Greek. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders, the tall ones. Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. Contradictory legends state that either Perdiccas I of Macedon or Caranus of Macedon were the founders of the Argead dynasty, the kingdom of Macedonia was situated along the Haliacmon and Axius rivers in Lower Macedonia, north of Mount Olympus. Historian Malcolm Errington posits the theory one of the earliest Argead kings must have established Aigai as their capital in the mid-7th century BC. Prior to the 4th century BC, the kingdom covered a region corresponding to the western. Achaemenid Persian hegemony over Macedonia was briefly interrupted by the Ionian Revolt, although Macedonia enjoyed a large degree of autonomy and was never made a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, it was expected to provide troops for the Achaemenid army. Following the Greek victory at Salamis in 480 BC, Alexander I was employed as an Achaemenid diplomat to strike a treaty and alliance with Athens. Soon afterwards the Achaemenid forces were forced to withdraw from mainland Europe, although initially a Persian vassal, Alexander I of Macedon fostered friendly diplomatic relations with his former Greek enemies, the Athenian and Spartan-led coalition of Greek city-states. Two separate wars were fought against Athens between 433 and 431 BC, spurred by an Athenian alliance with a brother and cousin of Perdiccas II who had rebelled against him
23.
Philip V of Macedon
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Philip V was King of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philips reign was marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. Philip was attractive and charismatic as a young man, the son of Demetrius II and Chryseis, Philip was nine years old at his fathers death in 229 BC. He had a paternal half sister called Apame. His cousin, Antigonus Doson, administered the kingdom as regent until his death in 221 BC when Philip was seventeen years old, on his ascent to the throne, Philip quickly showed that while he was young, this did not mean that Macedon was weak. In the first year of his rule, he pushed back the Dardani, in the Social War, the Hellenic League of Greek states was assembled at Philip V’s instigation in Corinth. He then led the Hellenic League in battles against Aetolia, Sparta, in this way he was able to increase his own authority amongst his own ministers. His leadership during the Social War made him well-known and respected both within his own kingdom and abroad and he first tried to invade Illyria from the sea, but with limited success. His first expedition in 216 BC had to be aborted, while he suffered the loss of his fleet in a second expedition in 214 BC. A later expedition by land met with success when he captured Lissus in 212 BC. In 215 BC, he entered into a treaty with Hannibal and their treaty defined spheres of operation and interest, but achieved little of substance or value for either side. Philip became heavily involved in assisting and protecting his allies from attacks from the Spartans, romes alliance with the Aetolian League in 211 BC effectively neutralised Philips advantage on land. The intervention of Attalus I of Pergamum on the Roman side further exposed Philips position in Macedonia, Philip and his troops sacked Thermum, the religious and political centre of Aetolia. His troops destroyed 2,000 statues and hauled away vast sums of treasure which included some fifteen thousand shields and suits of arms the Aetolians had decorated their stoas with. These shields were the armor taken from the enemies of the Aetolians during their previous military victories, Philip V took immense sums of gold and treasures and then burned down temples and public buildings of the Aetolians. Philip was able to force the Aetolians to accept his terms in 206 BC, the following year he was able to conclude the Peace of Phoenice with Rome and its allies. This expansion of Macedonian influence created alarm in a number of neighbouring states, including Pergamum and their navies clashed with Philip’s off Chios and Lade in 201 BC. At around the time, the Romans were finally the victors over Carthage
24.
Messene
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This new Messene, todays Ancient Messene, was constructed over the ruins of Ithome, an ancient city originally of Achaean Greeks, destroyed previously by the Spartans and abandoned for some time. Currently the substantial ruins are a historical attraction. Much of it has been excavated and partly restored or preserved for study and public viewing. The site was never totally abandoned, the small village of Mavromati occupies what was the upper city around the fountain called klepsydra. Administrative structure and population figures refer primarily to it, archaia Messene is located 25 kilometres north of Kalamata and 60 kilometres east of Pylos. The main ancient source on Messene is the Guide to Greece of Pausanias, excavation of the site began in 1828 in connection with the French Morea Expedition during the Greek War of Independence. The French left in 1833, meanwhile, only exploratory excavation had been performed, since then a number of noted archaeologists have made contributions, not the least the current excavator. A museum of their extensive finds has been constructed within the old city walls and this site was awarded a European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award in 2011. During the Bronze Age the palace at Pylos controlled Messenia politically and economically and these groups were members of the coast-watchers, a military or quasi-military unit that presumably were stationed to guard various locations on the coast. Their failure is attested by the burning of Pylos a few months later by assailants unknown from the sea, the watchers include some Olumpiaioi from Orumanthos. John Bennet expressed the opinion that by Mezana is meant Messana and he supposed that the region around Ithome would already have had that name, to be reutilized by Epaminondas a thousand years later. After the defeat of the Spartan army at the Battle of Leuctra in Boeotia,371 BC and this time the victorious general, Epaminondas, entered the Peloponnesus with an international army of Boeotians, Argives and Messenians living abroad. Epaminondas resolved to support an independent Peloponnesus by building three fortified cities, Megalopolis and Mantinea in Arcadia and Messene in Messenia, in 85 days the combined armies and exiles guided by the engineers and artisans had complete the walled city of Messene over the site of the previous Ithome. The city included within its walls Mt. Ithome and enough agricultural land, the policy was justified almost immediately. After the departure of the Theban army the Spartans attempted to retake Messenia and this time the long struggle with Sparta was brought to a final end by the Macedonian conquest of Greece. After the departure of the allies the new city and the fate of Messenian independence were left in the hands of the Messenian exiles, apparently they had maintained a transitory community in exile, or diaspora, for some 300 years. Pausanias reports, even to this day they preserve it in its purity better than anywhere else in the Peloponnese, Messene was surrounded by a circuit wall 9 km long,7 metres —9 metres high. It was fortified by 30 square or horseshoe-shaped guard towers with doors admitting passage to a walkway on top of the wall
25.
Gentius
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Gentius was the last Illyrian king of the Ardiaean State. The name appears to derive from PIE *gen- to beget, cognate to Latin gens, gentis kin, clan and he was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept relations with Rome very strong. Gentiuss principal city was Shkodra, the capital of Ardiaean State at the time and he married Etuta, the daughter of the Dardanian King Monunius II. In 171 BC, Gentius was allied with the Romans against the Macedonians, the southernmost city of the Ardiaean State of Gentius was Lissus, a situation established since the First Illyrian War. He arrested two Roman legati, accusing them of not coming as emissaries but as spies, Gentius destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, which were allied with Rome. The date of his death is unknown, after his defeat, the Romans split the region into three administrative divisions, called meris. The extent of the first meris is not known, while the second was Labeates, by 181 BC the loyal Pleuratus had been succeeded by his son Gentius. During his reign relations with the Ardiaean State and Rome started to dwindle, the coast and hinterland south of the Drin remained under Roman control since the First Illyrian Wars against Teuta. Gentius moved to increase Illyrian power over kindred peoples living to the north, among the islands the Greek city of Issa had retained some form of independence under Roman protection but Pharos remained an Illyrian possession. On the mainland the Delmatae and the Daorsi were at one time subjects, Illyrian strength lay in the navy and ships and it was their interference with Adriatic shipping which once more aroused Roman interest in the area. In 180 BC a Roman praetor responsible for coastal protection arrived in Brudisium with some ships of Gentius said to have caught in the act of piracy. An embassy to Illyria failed to locate the king, but the discovered that Romans were held for ransom at Korčula. No outcome of the affair is reported and it may well be that the Senate accepted a claim by Gentius envoys that the charges were false, instead the Romans seized 54 Illyrian lembi at anchor in the harbor of Epidamnus. On the eve of war a Roman senator was sent to Illyria to remind Gentius of his friendship with the Roman Republic. In 169 BC Gentius arranged the murder of his brother Plator killed because his plan to marry Etuta, daughter of the Dardanian king Monunius II, Gentius then married Plators fiancée for himself, securing the alliance of the powerful Dardani. Perseus of Macedon having recaptured several Roman outposts in Roman occupied Illyria controlled the route leading west to the Ardiaean State. At this point Perseus sent his first embassy to Gentius, consisting of the Illyrian exile Pleuratus for his command on the Illyrian language, no promises were made on this point either by this embassy or another sent from Stuberra shortly afterwards. Perseus continued his efforts to involve Gentius in the war, preferably it was said, the Illyrian exile Plearatus raised 1,000 infantry and 200 cavalry from the Penestae
26.
Ancient Macedonians
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The Macedonians were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. They spoke a dialect of Greek, although the lingua franca of the region was at first Attic. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility, similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle. Although composed of clans, the kingdom of Macedonia, established around the 8th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argead dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Perdiccas I, descendant of the legendary Temenus of Argos, while the region of Macedon perhaps derived its name from Makedon. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of Alexander I, under Philip II, the Macedonians are credited with numerous military innovations, which enlarged their territory and increased their control over other areas extending into Thrace. There is also debate over the classification of the native Macedonian language as a dialect of the Greek language or as its own subdivision of the Hellenic languages. With the scant amount of evidence, the extent to which the native Macedonian tongue may have been influenced by the Phrygian, Thracian. The ancient Macedonians participated in the production and fostering of Classical, in terms of visual arts, they produced frescoes, mosaics, sculptures, and decorative metalwork. The performing arts of music and Greek theatrical dramas were highly appreciated, the kingdom also attracted the presence of renowned philosophers, such as Aristotle, while native Macedonians contributed to the field of ancient Greek literature, especially Greek historiography. Their sport and leisure activities included hunting, foot races, and chariot races, the expansion of the Macedonian kingdom has been described as a three-stage process. Macedonia then led a military force against their primary objective—the conquest of Persia—which they achieved with remarkable ease. With Alexanders conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, Macedonians colonized territories as far east as Central Asia, the Macedonians continued to rule much of Hellenistic Greece, forming alliances with Greek leagues such as the Cretan League and Epirote League. In the aftermath of the Third Macedonian War, the Romans abolished the Macedonian monarchy under Perseus of Macedon, a brief revival of the monarchy by the pretender Andriscus led to the Fourth Macedonian War, after which Rome established the Roman province of Macedonia and subjugated the Macedonians. In Greek mythology, Makedon is the hero of Macedonia and is mentioned in Hesiods Catalogue of Women. The first historical attestation of the Macedonians occurs in the works of Herodotus during the mid-5th century BC, the Macedonians are absent in Homers Catalogue of Ships and the term Macedonia itself appears late. The Iliad states that upon leaving Mount Olympus, Hera journeyed via Pieria and Emathia before reaching Athos and this is re-iterated by Strabo in his Geography. Nevertheless, archaeological evidence indicates that Mycenaean contact with or penetration into the Macedonian interior possibly started from the early 14th century BC, in their new Pierian home north of Olympus, the Macedonian tribes mingled with the proto-Dorians
27.
Perseus of Macedon
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Perseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great. He also has the distinction of being the last of the line, after losing the Battle of Pydna on 22 June 168 BC, Perseus was the son of king Philip V of Macedon and a concubine, probably Polycratia of Argos. He therefore feared that the throne pass on his legitimate younger brother Demetrius, not least due to interference from the Romans. Perseus thus staged a plot to make their father believe that his brother was a traitor, in 179 BC Philip V of Macedon died and Perseus took the throne. Although his role in killing Demetrius had not endeared him to the Romans, yet, Perseus other actions troubled the Senate. Soon Rome and Perseus went to war in the Third Macedonian War, blaise Pascal mentions in his Pensées that Perseus was blamed for not committing suicide, supposedly after his defeat at Pydna. The Antigonid kingdom was dissolved, and replaced with four republics, Andriscus of Macedon broke off the Roman rule for about a year, but was defeated in 148 BC by the Romans. In 146 BC, following the quashing of a rebellion led by the last Macedonian king Andriscus, the four republics were dissolved, in 178 BC, he had married Laodice V, the daughter of Seleucus IV from Syria. He became a metalworker, learned the Latin language. History of Macedonia Macedonian Wars Media related to Perseus of Macedon at Wikimedia Commons
28.
Roman triumph
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He rode in a four-horse chariot through the streets of Rome in unarmed procession with his army, captives, and the spoils of his war. At Jupiters temple on the Capitoline Hill, he offered sacrifice, inevitably, the triumph offered extraordinary opportunities for self-publicity, besides its religious and military dimensions. From the Principate onwards, the reflected the Imperial order. The triumph was consciously imitated by medieval and later states in the royal entry, in Republican Rome, truly exceptional military achievement merited the highest possible honours, which connected the vir triumphalis to Romes mythical and semi-mythical past. In effect, the general was close to being king for a day and he was drawn in procession through the city in a four-horse chariot, under the gaze of his peers and an applauding crowd, to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter. The spoils and captives of his victory led the way, his armies followed behind, once at the Capitoline temple, he sacrificed two white oxen to Jupiter and laid tokens of his victory at Jupiters feet, dedicating his victory to the Roman Senate, people, and gods. Triumphs were tied to no particular day, season, or religious festival of the Roman calendar, most seem to have been celebrated at the earliest practicable opportunity, probably on days that were deemed auspicious for the occasion. Tradition required that, for the duration of a triumph, every temple was open, the ceremony was thus, in some sense, shared by the whole community of Roman gods, but overlaps were inevitable with specific festivals and anniversaries. Some may have been coincidental, others were designed, Pompey postponed his third and most magnificent triumph for several months to make it coincide with his own dies natalis. Religious dimensions aside, the focus of the triumph was the general himself, the ceremony promoted him – however temporarily – above every mortal Roman. This was an opportunity granted to very few, from the time of Scipio Africanus, the triumphal general was linked to Alexander and the demi-god Hercules, who had laboured selflessly for the benefit of all mankind. His sumptuous triumphal chariot was bedecked with charms against the possible envy, in some accounts, a companion or public slave would remind him from time to time of his own mortality. This is probably so for the earliest legendary and later semi-legendary triumphs of Romes regal era, as Romes population, power, influence, and territory increased, so did the scale, length, variety, and extravagance of its triumphal processions. The procession mustered in the space of the Campus Martius probably well before first light. Triumphal processions were notoriously long and slow, the longest could last for two or three days, and possibly more, and some may have been of greater length than the route itself, some ancient and modern sources suggest a fairly standard processional order. First came the captive leaders, allies, and soldiers walking in chains. Next in line, all on foot, came Romes senators and magistrates, followed by the generals lictors in their red war-robes, their fasces wreathed in laurel, then the general in his four-horse chariot. A companion, or a slave, might share the chariot with him or, in some cases
29.
Gubbio
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Gubbio is a town and comune in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia. It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, the citys origins are very ancient. The hills above the town were occupied in the Bronze Age. After the Roman conquest in the 2nd century BC — it kept its name as Iguvium — the city remained important, as attested by its Roman theatre, Gubbio became very powerful in the beginning of the Middle Ages. The following centuries were turbulent, and Gubbio was engaged in wars against the surrounding towns of Umbria. One of these saw the miraculous intervention of its bishop, St. Ubaldo Baldassini, who secured Gubbio an overwhelming victory. In 1350 Giovanni Gabrielli, count of Borgovalle, a member of the most prominent noble family of Gubbio, seized communal power, however his rule was short, and he was forced to hand over the town to Cardinal Albornoz, representing the Church. A few years later, Gabriello Gabrielli, bishop of Gubbio, betrayed by a group of noblemen which included many of his relatives, the bishop was forced to leave the town and seek refuge at his home castle at Cantiano. With the decline of the prestige of the Gabrielli family. Federico da Montefeltro rebuilt the ancient Palazzo Ducale, incorporating in it a studiolo veneered with intarsia like his studiolo at Urbino, the maiolica industry at Gubbio reached its apogee in the first half of the 16th century, with metallic lustre glazes imitating gold and copper. Gubbio became part of the Papal States in 1631, when the family della Rovere, in 1860 Gubbio was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy along with the rest of the Papal States. The town is located in northern Umbria, near the borders with Marche, the municipality borders wit Cagli, Cantiano, Costacciaro, Fossato di Vico, Gualdo Tadino, Perugia, Pietralunga, Scheggia e Pascelupo, Sigillo, Umbertide and Valfabbrica. The historical centre of Gubbio has a medieval aspect, the town is austere in appearance because of the dark grey stone, narrow streets. Many houses in central Gubbio date to the 14th and 15th centuries and they often have a second door fronting on the street, usually just a few inches from the main entrance. This secondary entrance is narrower, and a foot or so above the street level. This type of door is called a porta dei morti because it was proposed that they were used to remove the bodies of any who might have died inside the house and this is almost certainly false, but there is no agreement as to the purpose of the secondary doors. A more likely theory is that the door was used by the owners to protect themselves when opening to unknown persons, leaving them in a dominating position. Among most visited buildings and sites in the city are, Roman Theater, traces of mosaic decoration have been found
30.
Illyrian Wars
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The Illyrian Wars were a set of wars fought in the period 229–168 BC between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom. Rome expelled Illyrian garrisons from a number of Greek cities including Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra, Pharos, the Romans also set up Demetrius of Pharos as a power in Illyria to counterbalance the power of Teuta. The Second Illyrian War lasted from 220 BC to 219 BC, in 219 BC, the Roman Republic was at war with the Celts of Cisalpine Gaul, and the Second Punic War with Carthage was beginning. These distractions gave Demetrius the time he needed to build a new Illyrian war fleet, leading this fleet of 90 ships, Demetrius sailed south of Lissus, violating his earlier treaty and starting the war. Demetrius fleet first attacked Pylos, where he captured 50 ships after several attempts, from Pylos, the fleet sailed to the Cyclades, quelling any resistance that they found on the way. Demetrius foolishly sent a fleet across the Adriatic, and, with the Illyrian forces divided, from Dimale the navy went towards Pharos. In 171 BC, the Illyrian king Gentius was allied with the Romans against the Macedonians, but in 169 BC he changed sides and allied himself with Perseus of Macedon. During the Third Illyrian War, in 168 BC, he arrested two Roman legati and destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, which were allied to Rome. He was defeated at Scodra by a Roman force under L. Anicius Gallus, in the second half of the third century BC, the Ardiaei kingdom was transformed into a formidable power under the leadership of Agron. During this time, Agron invaded part of Epirus, Corcyra, Epidamnos and Pharos in succession, the Illyrians used the lembus, a small and fast warship with a single bank of oars. Raids by sea from the Adriatic and Ionian were probably a familiar threat to the north-western Greeks, what was new was the use of a land army to follow up and profit from the victories gained by the navy. The Greek cities on the coast of Illyria were systematically attacked, Rome answered an appeal from the island of Issa, threatened by Agron, by sending envoys. They were attacked en route by Illyrian vessels, and one of them was killed and that time a number of political events marked the adjacent Greek states. In 234 BC, the succession in Epirus came to an end. In the south, the part of Acarnania seceded from this arrangement. Besieged at Medion, the Acarnanians sought assistance from Demetrius II of Macedonia, in response, the king requested assistance from Agron to relieve the siege. The Illyrian attack under Agron was mounted in either 232 or 231 BC, one hundred lembi, with 5000 men on board, sailed up to land at Medion. They then formed up in the order that was usual in their own country and this defeat of the Aetolians, who were famed for their victory over the invading Gauls a generation before, caused a sensation in Greece
31.
Agron (king)
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For others named Agron, see the Agron navigation page Agron was the king of the Ardiaean Kingdom in c. The son of Pleuratus II, Agron succeeded in extending Illyrian rule over peoples and cities in the Adriatic region. He is most famed for his victory over the Aetolian League. Around 231 BC, Agron suddenly died after his triumph over the Aetolians, Pinnes, his son with his first wife Triteuta, officially succeeded his father as king in 231 BC, but the kingdom was ruled by Agrons second wife, Queen Teuta. Agron was mentioned by two Greek historians, Appian in his Foreign Wars and Polybius in his Histories, Agron extended his rule over other neighboring tribes as well. He annexed part of Epirus, Epidamnus, and the islands of Corfu and Pharos and his state stretched from Narona in Dalmatia south to the river Aoos and Korkyra. During his reign, the Ardiaean state reached the height of its power, the Ardiaean army and fleet made it a major regional power in the Balkans and the southern Adriatic. Agron gained control of the Adriatic with his warships, a domination once enjoyed by the Liburnians, none of his neighbors were nearly as powerful. Agron gave the city of Pharos to Demetrius of Pharos to rule as its governor, in 234 BC, the royal succession in Epirus came to an end, and a federal republic was instituted. In the south, the part of Acarnania seceded from this arrangement. Besieged at Medion, the Acarnanians sought assistance from Demetrius II of Macedonia, in response, the king brought Agron into the conflict. The Illyrian attack under Agron, mounted in either 232 or 231 BC, is described by Polybius, dropping anchor at daybreak, they disembarked speedily and in secret. They then formed up in the order that was usual in their own country, but the Illyrians, being on higher ground, and charging down on from it upon the Aetolian trrops formed up on the plain, routed them without difficulty. The defeat of the Aetolians, famed for their victory over the invading Gauls a generation before, Agron was beside himself with delight when his ships returned and he learned of the victory from his commanders. Agron then drank so much by way of celebration, it was reported, Agron died in the winter of 231 BC. The Greek cities on the coast of Illyria were systematically attacked, rome answered an appeal from the island of Vis, threatened by Agron, by sending envoys. They were attacked en route by Illyrian vessels, and one of them was killed, rome thereupon undertook military action against Agrons wife, Teuta, Agron having died in the interim. His son, Pinnes, succeeded him and ruled de jure for thirteen years, tritueta was Agrons first wife and the mother of Pinnes
32.
Epirus
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Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It is currently divided between the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece and the counties of Gjirokastër, Vlorë, the largest city in Epirus is Ioannina, seat of the region of Epirus, with Gjirokastër the largest city in the Albanian part of Epirus. A rugged and mountainous region, Epirus was the north-west area of ancient Greece. It was inhabited by the Greek tribes of the Chaonians, Molossians, and Thesprotians, and home to the sanctuary of Dodona, the oldest ancient Greek oracle, and the most prestigious one after Delphi. Unified into a state in 370 BC by the Aeacidae dynasty, Epirus achieved fame during the reign of Pyrrhus of Epirus. Epirus subsequently became part of the Roman Empire along with the rest of Greece in 146 BC, following the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade, Epirus became the center of the Despotate of Epirus, one of the successor states to the Byzantine Empire. Conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, Epirus became semi-independent during the rule of Ali Pasha in the early 19th century, but the Ottomans re-asserted their control in 1821. Following the Balkan Wars and World War I, southern Epirus became part of Greece, the name Epirus is derived from the Greek, Ἤπειρος, Ḗpeiros, meaning mainland or terra firma. It is thought to come from an Indo-European root *apero- coast, and was applied to the mainland opposite Corfu. The local name was stamped on the coinage of the unified Epirote commonwealth, the Albanian name for the region, which derives from the Greek, is Epiri. The historical region of Epirus is generally regarded as extending from the end of the Ceraunian mountains, located just south of the Bay of Aulon. The northern boundary of ancient Epirus is alternatively given as the mouth of the Aoös river, epiruss eastern boundary is defined by the Pindus Mountains, that form the spine of mainland Greece and separate Epirus from Macedonia and Thessaly. To the west, Epirus faces the Ionian Sea, the island of Corfu is situated off the Epirote coast but is not regarded as part of Epirus. The definition of Epirus has changed over time, such that modern administrative boundaries do not correspond to the boundaries of ancient Epirus, the region of Epirus in Greece only comprises a fraction of classical Epirus and does not include its easternmost portions, which lie in Thessaly. Epirus is a rugged and mountainous region. It is largely made up of the Pindus Mountains, a series of limestone ridges that are a continuation of the Dinaric Alps. The Pindus mountains form the spine of mainland Greece and separate Epirus from Macedonia, the ridges of the Pindus are parallel to the sea and generally so steep that the valleys between them are mostly suitable for pasture rather than large-scale agriculture. Altitude increases as one moves east, away from the coast, reaching a maximum of 2, 637m at Mount Smolikas, most of Epirus lies on the windward side of the Pindus, and the prevailing winds from the Ionian Sea make the region the rainiest in mainland Greece
33.
Polybius
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Polybius was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 264–146 BC in detail. The work describes the rise of the Roman Republic to the status of dominance in the ancient Mediterranean world, Polybius was born around 200 BC in Megalopolis, Arcadia, when it was an active member of the Achaean League. His father, Lycortas, was a prominent, land-owning politician, consequently, Polybius was able to observe first hand the political and military affairs of Megalopolis. He developed an interest in riding and hunting, diversions that later commended him to his Roman captors. In 182 BC, he was quite an honor when he was chosen to carry the funeral urn of Philopoemen. In either 169 BC or 170 BC, Polybius was elected hipparchus and his early political career was devoted largely towards maintaining the independence of Megalopolis. Polybius’ father, Lycortas, was a prominent advocate of neutrality during the Roman war against Perseus of Macedon. Lycortas attracted the suspicion of the Romans, and Polybius subsequently was one of the 1,000 Achaean nobles who were transported to Rome as hostages in 167 BC, Polybius remained on cordial terms with his former pupil Scipio Aemilianus and was among the members of the Scipionic Circle. Polybius remained a counselor to Scipio when he defeated the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War, following the destruction of Carthage, Polybius likely journeyed along the Atlantic coast of Africa, as well as Spain. After the destruction of Corinth in the year, Polybius returned to Greece. Polybius was charged with the task of organizing the new form of government in the Greek cities. He apparently interviewed veterans to clarify details of the events he was recording and was given access to archival material. Little is known of Polybius later life, he most likely accompanied Scipio to Spain and he later wrote about this war in a lost monograph. Polybius probably returned to Greece later in his life, as evidenced by the many existent inscriptions, polybius’ Histories cover the period from 264 BC to 146 BC. Its main focus is the period from 220 BC to 167 BC, describing Romes efforts in subduing its arch-enemy, Carthage, in Book VI, Polybius describes the political, military, and moral institutions that allowed the Romans to succeed. He describes the First and Second Punic Wars, in Book XII, Polybius discusses the worth of Timaeus’ account of the same period of history. He asserts Timaeus point of view is inaccurate, invalid, therefore, Polybiuss Histories is also useful in analyzing the different Hellenistic versions of history and of use as a credible illustration of actual events during the Hellenistic period. In the seventh volume of his Histories, Polybius defines the historians job as the analysis of documentation, the review of relevant geographical information, and political experience
34.
Ionian Sea
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The Ionian Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, all major islands in the sea belong to Greece. They are collectively referred to as the Ionian Islands, the ones being Corfu, Zakynthos, Kephalonia, Ithaca. There are ferry routes between Patras and Igoumenitsa, Greece, and Brindisi and Ancona, Italy, that cross the east and north of the Ionian Sea, and from Piraeus westward. Calypso Deep, the deepest point in the Mediterranean at −5,267 m, is located in the Ionian Sea, the sea is one of the most seismically active areas in the world. The name Ionian comes from the Greek language Ἰόνιον, Ancient Greek writers, especially Aeschylus, linked it to the myth of Io. In Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios was used as an epithet for the sea because Io swam across it, according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the name may derive from Ionians who sailed to the West. There were also narratives about other eponymic legendary figures, according to one version, Ionius was a son of Adrias, according to another, Ionius was a son of Dyrrhachus. When Dyrrhachus was attacked by his own brothers, Heracles, who was passing through the area, came to his aid, the corpse was cast into the sea, which thereafter was called the Ionian Sea. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Ionian Sea as follows, On the North. A line running from the mouth of the Butrinto River in Albania, to Cape Karagol in Corfu, along the North Coast of Corfu to Cape Kephali, from the mouth of the Butrinto River in Albania down the coast of the mainland to Cape Matapan. A line from Cape Matapan to Cape Passero, the Southern point of Sicily, the East coast of Sicily and the Southeast coast of Italy to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca
35.
Polis
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Polis, plural poleis literally means city in Greek. It can also mean a body of citizens, in modern historiography, polis is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, and thus is often translated as city-state. The term city-state, which originated in English, does not fully translate the Greek term. The poleis were not like other primordial ancient city-states like Tyre or Sidon, which were ruled by a king or a small oligarchy, the term polis, which in archaic Greece meant city, changed with the development of the governance center in the city to signify state. Finally, with the emergence of a notion of citizenship among landowners, the ancient Greeks did not always refer to Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and other poleis as such, they often spoke instead of the Athenians, Lacedaemonians, Thebans and so on. The body of citizens came to be the most important meaning of the polis in ancient Greece. The Greek term that meant the totality of urban buildings. Plato analyzes the polis in The Republic, whose Greek title, Πολιτεία, the best form of government of the polis for Plato is the one that leads to the common good. The philosopher king is the best ruler because, as a philosopher, in Platos analogy of the ship of state, the philosopher king steers the polis, as if it were a ship, in the best direction. Books II–IV of The Republic are concerned with Plato addressing the makeup of an ideal polis, in The Republic, Socrates is concerned with the two underlying principles of any society, mutual needs and differences in aptitude. Starting from these two principles, Socrates deals with the structure of an ideal polis. According to Plato, there are five main classes of any polis, producers, merchants, sailors/shipowners, retail traders. Along with the two principles and five classes, there are four virtues. The four virtues of a just city include, wisdom, courage, moderation, with all of these principles, classes, and virtues, it was believed that a just city would exist. Publication of state functions, laws, decrees, and major fiscal accounts were published, synoecism, conurbation, Absorption of nearby villages and countryside, and the incorporation of their tribes into the substructure of the polis. Many of a polis citizens lived in the suburbs or countryside, most cities were composed of several tribes or phylai, which were in turn composed of phratries, and finally génea. They had the right to vote, be elected into office, and bear arms, metics could not vote, be elected to office, bear arms, or serve in war. They otherwise had full personal and property rights, albeit subject to taxation, slaves, chattel in full possession of their owner, and with no privileges other than those that their owner would grant at will
36.
Vis (island)
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Vis is a small Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. The farthest inhabited island off the Croatian mainland, Vis had a population of 3,617 in 2011, Vis has an area of 90.26 square kilometres. The highest point of the island is Hum which is 587 metres above sea level, the islands two largest settlements are the town of Vis on the eastern side of the island, and Komiža, on its western coast. Once known for its fishing industry in the late 19th and early 20th century. Vis town and Komiža are also seats of separate administrative municipalities which cover the island and nearby islets. Vis was inhabited by the time of the Neolithic period, in the 4th century BC, the Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius the Elder, founded the colony Issa on the island. Later, it became an independent polis, and even minted its own money and founded its own colonies, in the 1st century BC, the island was held by the Liburnians. Its importance in the region ended with the first Illyro-Roman war, having sided with Pompeus during the period of civil struggles in Rome, became an oppidum civium Romanorum in 47 BC. Until 1797, the island was under the rule of the Republic of Venice, during this time large settlements developed along the coastline. Administratively, the island of Lissa was for centuries bound to the island of Lesina, the Venetian influence is still recognizable in architecture found on the island, and some vocabulary of the Croatian dialect spoken locally are Venetian in origin. After the short-lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, with Italian as the official language and it maintained its Italian name of Lissa. Vis was at one point the site of the headquarters of Marshal Josip Broz Tito. It was occupied by Italy between 1941 and 1943 and Germany between 1943 and 1944 and it was liberated by the Partisans under the command of Tito, and by a British flotilla, in 1944. At the end of World War II the island returned to Yugoslavia, during the war the island was mined. Allied fighter planes were based at an airfield that was also used for emergency landings of Allied bombers. No.6 Squadron RAF extensively used the airfield as an operating base, flying Hawker Hurricane Mk IV aircraft. During World War II, a crate of the Armed Services Editions of paperback books was dropped by parachute along with supplies on to Vis Island off the coast of Yugoslavia. The books were read aloud to the partisans by English speaking soldiers who translated the books as they read them
37.
Acarnania
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Today it forms the western part of the regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. The capital and principal city in ancient times was Stratos, the north side of Acarnania of the Corinthian Gulf was considered part of the region of Epirus. Acarnanias foundation in Greek mythology was traditionally ascribed to Acarnan, son of Alcmaeon, in the 7th century BC, Greek influence in the region became prominent when Corinth settled Anactorium, Sollium and Leucas, and Kefalonia settled Astacus. Because it is located strategically on the route to Italy. In the 5th century BC, the Corinthians were forced out of their Acarnanian settlements by Athens, the Acarnanian League came into existence as a loose federation of the Acarnanian cities. In the 4th century BC, c.390 BC, the cities of Acarnania surrendered to the Spartans under King Agesilaus, the Acarnanians later sided with the Boeotians in their fight against Sparta, and with Athens against Philip II of Macedon at Chaeronea. Acarnania thereafter came under Macedonian rule, in 314 BC, at the behest of the Macedonian king Cassander, the settlements of Acarnania lying near the Aetolian border were conglomerated into fewer, larger settlements. Still, border conflicts with the Aetolians were frequent, and led to Acarnanias territory being partitioned between Aetolia and Epirus, c.250 BC. After the fall of the king of Epirus, the Acarnanian territory that had given to Epirus regained its independence. Acarnania allied itself with Philip V of Macedon against Rome in 200 BC, although it lost Leucas because of this, in the 1st century BC, Acarnania suffered greatly at the hands of pirates, and in Romes civil wars. Afterwards, the towns and settlements of Acarnania fell under the rule of Nicopolis, when the Byzantine Empire broke up, Acarnania passed to the Despotate of Epirus and in 1348 it was conquered by Serbia. Then in 1480 it fell to the Ottoman Empire, since 1832 it has been part of Greece. Acarnania is composed of three regions, 1) a rocky coastline, 2) a rugged strip of mountain range that follows the coastline. Carnus, seer of Apollo who established the cult of Apollo Carneus among the Dorians, megistias, seer at the battle of Thermopylae. List of cities in Acarnania List of traditional Greek place names Hornblower, Simon
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Aetolia
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Aetolia is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. The country has a level and fruitful coastal region, but an unproductive, the mountains contained many wild beasts, and acquired fame in Greek mythology as the scene of the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Dionysius of Halicarnassus mentions that Curetes was the old name of the Aetolians, the Aetolians took part in the Trojan War, under their king Thoas. The mountain tribes of Aetolia were the Ophioneis, the Apodotoi, the Agraeis, the Aperantoi, the primitive lifestyle of those tribes made an impression on ancient historians. Polybius doubted their Greek heritage, while Livy reports that spoke a language similar to the Macedonians. On the other hand, Thucydides claims that Eurytanians spoke a very difficult language and they were semi-barbaric, warlike and predatory. They worshiped Apollo as god of nature and Artemis as goddess of wilderness. They also worshiped Athena, not as goddess of wisdom, and they called Apollo and Artemis “Laphrios gods, ” i. e. patrons of the spoils and loot of war. In addition, they worshiped Hercules, the river Achelous and Bacchus, in Thermos, an area north of Trichonis lake, there was after the 7th century a shrine of Apollo “Thermios, ” which became a significant religious center during the time of the Common Aetolia. The Aetolians refused to participate in the Persian Wars, in 426 BC, led by Aegitios, they defeated the Athenians and their allies, who had turned against Apodotia and Ophioneia under the general command of Demosthenes. However, they failed to regain Naupaktos, which had meanwhile been conquered by the Corinthians with the aid of the Athenians, at the end of the Peloponnesian War, the Aetolians took part as mercenaries of the Athenians in the expedition against Syracuse. Then the Achaeans occupied Calydon, but the Aetolians recovered it in 361 BC, in 338 BC, Naupaktos was again taken by the Aetolians, with the help of Philip II. During the Lamian War, the Aetolians helped the Athenian general Leosthenes defeat Antipater, as a result, they came into conflict with Antipater and Craterus, taking great risks, but were eventually saved by the disagreement between the two Macedonian generals and Perdiccas. The Acarnanians then attempted to invade their land, but the Aetolians were able to force them to flee, the Aetolians set up a united league, the Aetolian League, in early times. It soon became a confederation and by c.340 BC it became one of the leading military powers in ancient Greece. Subsequently, the Sotiria Games were established by the Aetolians, in honour of Zeus the Saviour, the Aetolians’ power increasingly magnified with the occupation of the lands of Ozoloi, Locrians and Phocians, as well as Boeotia. They then united under the power of their League in the areas of Tegea, Mantinea, Orchomenus, Psophida, between 220–217 BC, the Social War broke out between the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues. The war was first started by the Aetolians with the help of the Spartans and Eleans, allies of the Achaeans were the Macedonians, the Boeotians, the Phocians, the Epirotes, the Acarnanians and the Messenians
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Ambracian Gulf
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The Ambracian Gulf, also known as the Gulf of Arta or the Gulf of Actium, and in some official documents as the Amvrakikos Gulf, is a gulf of the Ionian Sea in northwestern Greece. About 40 km long and 15 km wide, it is one of the largest enclosed gulfs in Greece, the towns of Preveza, Amphilochia, and Vonitsa lie on its shores. The gulf takes its name from the ancient city of Ambracia located near its shores and its alternative name comes from the medieval city of Arta, located in the same place as ancient Ambracia. The entrance to the gulf is through a 700-meter wide channel between Aktio on the south and Preveza on the north, a recent road tunnel connects the two. The gulf is shallow, and its shore is broken by numerous marshes. The Louros and Arachthos rivers drain into it, for this reason it is warmer and less salty than the Ionian, and it is rich in grey mullet, sole, and eel. The Ambracian Gulf was the site of the Battle of Actium, in which Augustus forces defeated those of Mark Antony, from Greek independence until the Second Balkan War, the gulf formed part of the border between the Kingdom of Greece and the Ottoman Empire. The remains of ancient cities lie on its shores, Actium at the entrance, where the famous Battle of Actium was fought in 31 BC, Nicopolis, Argos Ippatum, Limnaea. Since 2002, the northern and southern sides at the mouth of the gulf are connected by the Aktio-Preveza Undersea Tunnel, the tunnel greatly shortens the travel distance across the gulf, which used to be possible only by ferry. Preveza Weather Station SV6GMQ - Live Weather Conditions
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Ambracia
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Ambracia, was a city of ancient Greece on the site of modern Arta. It was founded as a Corinthian colony in the 7th century BC and was situated about 7 miles from the Ambracian Gulf, on a bend of the navigable river Arachthos, after the expulsion of Gorguss son Periander its government developed into a strong democracy. The early policy of Ambracia was determined by its loyalty to Corinth, ambraciot politics featured many frontier disputes with the Amphilochians and Acarnanians. Hence it took a prominent part in the Peloponnesian War until the defeat at Idomene. In the 4th century BC it continued its policy. With the assistance of Corinth and Athens, it escaped complete domination at Philips hands, in the wars of Philip V of Macedon and the Epirotes against the Aetolian League Ambracia passed from one alliance to the other, but ultimately joined the latter confederacy. During the struggle of the Aetolians against Rome, it stood a stubborn siege, Ambracia was captured and plundered by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior in 189 BC, after which it was declared by Rome a free city, and gradually fell into insignificance. The foundation by Augustus of Nicopolis, into which the inhabitants were drafted. In Byzantine times a new settlement took its place under the name of Arta, some fragmentary walls of large, well-dressed blocks near this latter town indicate the early prosperity of Ambracia. Epigonus of Ambracia, 6th BC musician Nicocles, auletes Hippasus, tragic actor Epicrates of Ambracia, c
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Phoenice
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Phoenice or Phoenike was an ancient Greek city in Epirus and capital of the Chaonians. It was also the location of the Treaty of Phoenice which ended the First Macedonian War, during the early Byzantine period, Phoenice was the see of a bishopric. The city is a park of Albania and is located on a hill above a modern town which bears the same name, Finiq. The city was the center of the Chaones, one of the three major Greek tribes in ancient Epirus. The patron god of the city was probably Athena Polias, the walls of Phoenice consisted of massive blocks up to 3.60 meters thick, the Chaonians primary concern being to defend the city against Illyrian attacks. In 231 BC, an Illyrian army of Queen Teuta, returning north from a raid in the Peloponnese, an army was sent by the Epirote League to relieve the town, but the Illyrians were forced to withdraw their troops to deal with an internal rebellion. A truce was reached, and Phoenice and the Illyrians free-born captives were returned to the Epirotes for a ransom. During their occupation of Phoenice, the Illyrians murdered several Roman merchants in the town, in 205 BC, a peace treaty was signed there between the Kingdom of Macedon and the Roman Republic that ended the First Macedonian War. During the Third Macedonian War, Epirus was split into two states with the Molossians siding with the Macedonians and the Chaonians and Thesprotians siding with Rome, the latter were centered in Phoenice under the leadership of Charops. After the Roman conquest, the region of Epirus was devastated except for the supporters in Chaonia. During the following centuries, Phoenice and nearby Antigoneia did not reveal strong traces of Roman presence, in the early Byzantine era, Emperor Justinian I constructed fortifications on a hill adjacent to Phoenice. Phoenice was one of the settlements in Epirus Vetus together with Nicopolis, Dodona, Euroia, Andrianoupolis, Anhiasmos, Vouthroton, Photike, Corfu. However, the city vanished after the 6th century and the center of the area moved to nearby Mesopotamon. Formal excavations in the area started in 1924 by an Italian Archaeological Mission as a tool for Mussolinis nationalistic ambitions to the east of the Adriatic. During 1924–1928, French and Italian archaeologists found a few Illyrian artifacts in Phoenice, Ugolini also stated that materials found there were related to the Iron Age culture of southern Italy. Ugolinis thesis was later exploited by the Italian government. In 1928, a year after an Italo-Albanian economic and military pact, after 1928, excavations moved to the nearby archaeological sites of Kalivo and Çuka e Aitoit and continued until 1943. After the war, excavations resumed in 1958 by a joint Albanian-USSR archaeological team, after 1961, when a political rift occurred between Albania and the USSR, excavations continued under Albanian authorities
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