ILLYRIA, or ILLYRICUM

ILLYRIA, or ILLYRICUM. The kingdom of Illyria, as it was before the new territorial arrangement of Austria in 1849, represented only a comparatively small portion of the ancient Illyria or Illyricum. In its widest sense that term comprised all the country extending along the shores of the Adriatic, from the mouths of the Po to the frontiers of Epirus. Inland it stretched from the sea to the banks of the Ister or Danube, and the Alps that separate Italy from Germany. On the E. it was bounded by Macedonia, and the barbarous tribes that once obeyed Macedonian sway. In a more limited sense it may be regarded as comprising the sea-board between the Naro (Neretva) and the Drilo (Drin), and reaching inland as far as the country of the Triballi. In course of time the "Illyricus Limes" were pushed forwards on all sides, and in the second century after Christ it comprised Noricum, the whole of Pannonia, the whole of Mœsia, Dacia, and Thrace. In the fourth century, Constantine having added to it Macedonia, Thessaly, and the whole of Greece, made it one of the four great quarters into which the Roman world was subdivided for the purposes of government. At a later period the provinces added by Constantine were detached, and annexed to the Eastern Empire, while the original Illyricum was reunited to the Empire of the West.

The inhabitants of this extensive region were known under the general title of Illyrii. Ethnologically they were a distinct race from their Slavonic neighbours on the N., and their Epirot neighbours on the S.; but so little is known of their modes of life and language that it is impossible to trace with certainty their ethnical affinities. The subject has been investigated with much care and ability by Ritter von Xylander. The results of his researches will be found in full in vol. iii. of Prichard's great work. This much is certain, that from the old Illyrians have sprung the modern Albanians, or, as they are called by the Turks, the "Arnauts." These Albanians, though the country they now occupy represents part of Epirus, have nothing in common with the ancient Epirots. When they themselves began to be hard pressed by the Gauls and Slaves on the E. and N., they retired southwards, seized Epirus,

and such of the inhabitants as escaped the sword were gradually merged in the Illyrian tribes. The earliest writers who mention the Illyrians describe them as tattooing their bodies, a practice which they shared with their neighbours of Thrace. Like that people, too, they sought to appease their gods by human sacrifices. Their women are described as enjoying much influence in politics as well as social life, and do not seem to have been very strictly bound by their marriage vow.

The Illyrians are first mentioned in history in the Peloponnesian War, when Thucydides describes them offering a fierce resistance to Brasidas and the Spartans. In B.C. 383 they are found amalgamated into a sort of kingdom, under the sway of a bandit chief, Bardylis by name. This Bardylis attacked Macedonia, defeated the king Amyntas, and took several cities. Some years later he again attacked the Macedonians, and defeated and slew Perdiccas. The war was renewed when Philip came to the throne, and by his energy the inroads of the Illyrians were checked, and their country partially subjugated. Clitus, the son of Bardylis, in vain endeavoured to recover from Alexander the territory which his father had lost to Philip. Soon after this the Illyrians became formidable by sea as buccaneers, and carried their devastations over the coasts of Italy and the islands of the Ionian Sea. Their coasts afforded great facilities for privateering, as they abounded in excellent harbours, which were difficult of access, and were only known to the pirates themselves. The Greeks, unable to protect themselves, applied to the Romans for aid. The Romans, whose commerce had suffered severely, demanded redress. Teuta, the Illyrian queen, not only refused it, but murdered the Roman ambassadors. War was accordingly declared against her, and in B.C. 229 a Roman army invaded her country, and was everywhere victorious. Teuta was obliged to sue for peace, which was only granted her on condition that she should surrender a large tract of the Illyrian sea-board, and send out no armed vessel south of the Gulf of Lyssus. Ten years later the Illyrians renewed their inroads, and the second Illyrian War was proclaimed, which ended in exactly the same manner as the first. During the Macedonian War they proved faithful to their Roman masters, and considerable additions were made to their territory; but in B.C. 168 they again rebelled, and the Romans having defeated and taken Gentius, their king, and stormed Scodra, their capital, annexed their entire country. The Illyrians, though conquered, were far from being finally subdued, and their constant outbreaks and revolts were only kept in check by the presence of an overwhelming force. Under the empire, when the Romans were securing their conquest in this part of the world by a chain of forts along the Danube, they recruited their legions from the warlike youth of Illyria; and the vanity of the conquered race was sometimes flattered by seeing a countryman of their own seated on the throne of the Cæsars. Claudius, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian, and Maximian were all the sons of Illyrian peasants. In the sixth century the Sclaves invaded Illyricum, and, defying the power of the Byzantine emperors, erected the independent kingdoms of Croatia and Dalmatia. (See AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, and DALMATIA.) Venice and Hungary were the next invaders, and they in their turn were compelled by the Turks to relinquish the greater part of their conquests in Illyria. After the beginning of the fourteenth century the name of this country disappeared altogether as a geographical term from the map of Europe, till, in 1809, it was revived by Napoleon. In that year the peace of Presburg was concluded, in virtue of which Austria ceded to the French emperor the Hungarian provinces south of the Drave, part of the Tyrol, Dalmatia, and the crown lands of Carinthia, Carniola, and the Küstenland. When the peace of Vienna restored these countries to the House of Hapsburg, the three last

named of these provinces were erected into the kingdom of Illyria. As thus constituted, the kingdom of Illyria lay between N. Lat. 44. 59. and 47. 8, and E. Long. 12. 36. and 16. 27, and was bounded on the N. by the provinces of Salzburg and Styria, E. by Styria and Croatia, S. by the Adriatic, and W. by Lombardy. Its length from N. to S. was 160 miles, its breadth was 110; its area fell a little short of 11,000 square miles. In 1822 the circle of Carlsstadt and the Küstenland were detached from it by the Emperor Francis, and annexed to Hungary, with a view to developing the internal resources of that country. The kingdom of Illyria now exists only in name. In 1849 the Austrians remodelled the territorial distribution of their empire. The division of the Illyrian kingdom was abolished, and out of it were formed the three provinces of Kärnthen or Carinthia, Krain or Carniola, and Küstenland or the Littorale (sea-board). Each of these provinces will be found described under its special head.