Programme - Ancient History and Epigraphy

GREEK AND ROMAN LITERARY SOURCES FOR THE WESTERN BALKANS AND SOUTHEASTERN ALPINE AREA

The aim of the project is to collect and comment upon those passages from the Greek and Latin writers, which illuminate the history of the regions mentioned in the title. To date the comments concerning the Roman histories of Cassius Dio (3rd century AD), Herodian (2nd century AD), and Appian of Alexandria were published (see the literature), as well as short commentaries to various passages from other Greek and Roman authors (see the bibliography cited in the book on Appian, in particular Šašel Kos 1990; 1993; 1994; 1997; 1998; 2002).

Cassius Dio and Appian are important sources on the three Illyrian Wars; the war against Agron and Teuta in 229 BC signified the first Roman military expedition across the Adriatic. Both historians describe exhaustively also the Roman conquest of the Alpine, Adriatic and western Balkan regions in the time of Caesar and Augustus. It is interesting to compare both narratives in terms of differing versions of single events.

The study of the eastern Adriatic coastal region as described in the Periplous of Pseudo-Scylax (4th century BC) is planned, as well as an analysis of the relevant passages from the Augustan period Geography of Strabo (in collaboration with Slobodan Čače, University of Zadar).

Appiano Alessandrino, Delle gverre, 1563, in possession of the Provost Janez Prešeren (Ioannes Preschern), the first president of the Academia operosorum founded in 1693 in Ljubljana.

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The extent of Illyria as defined by Appian. The main routes leading into the interior of Illyria, known to the Greeks of the late Classical and Hellenistic periods.

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Hellenistic bronze belt plate with a depiction of fighting soldiers and a serpent, possibly representing Cadmus, found at Selcë e Poshtme near Podgradec, on the Albanian side of Lake Ohrid (from Albanien, 1988, 372-373 no. 284).

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Peaks in front of Mt. Promina (the Drniš area), which according to Appian's description of the Illyrian War of Octavian, surrounded the fortified Delmataean town of Promona "like the teeth in a saw".

Contact: dr. Marjeta Šašel Kos

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