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The Dardani (Ancient Greek:"Δαρδάνιοι") were a Thraco-Illyrian tribe that lived in Dardania, an area roughly corresponding to modern day Kosovo and part of the Republic of Macedonia.

According to Strabo, they were divided into two sub-groups, the Galabri and the Thunaki.

Name and ethnicity

Living on the border between Thracian and Illyrian influence, the Dardani appear to have been a prototypically "balkanized" Thraco-Illyrian tribe.

Beginning with Johann Georg von Hahn in 1854, 19th century historical linguistics speculated that Dardanoi and Dardania may be related to a proto-Albanian word meaning pear tree (dardhë in modern Albanian). Opinions differ whether the ultimate etymon of this word in Proto-Indo-European was *g'hord- (which would make it related also to Greek achrás 'wild pear'), or *dheregh-.. Robert Graves connected Greek δάρδανος "burned up" (from the verb δαρδάπτω dardapto "to wear, to slay, to burn up"..

The distribution of ancient names found inscribed in Dardania are one of the main evidences that support the idea that the Dardani were Illyrians commingled with Thracians. Thracian names are found mostly in eastern Dardania, from Scupi to Naissus and Remesiana, although some Illyrian names occur. Illyrian names are dominant in the western areas, where Thracian names are not found.

Greek mythology

In Greek mythology "Δάρδανος" (Dardanus), one of the sons of Illyrius (the others being Enchelus, Autarieus, Maedus, Taulas, and Perrhaebus) was the eponymous ancestor of the "Δάρδανοι" (Dardanoi) .

Some Roman writers proposed a connection between these Dardani of the Balkans and the Dardans (Trojans) of the Troad, the popular version of the story being that a group of Dardan colonists had settled in the Balkans and had degenerated in their new Balkan home to a state of barbarism, becoming the Dardani..

History

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The Dardani were an Thraco-Illyrian tribe. They seem to have often been a threat to the Greeks in the kingdom of Macedon. Dardania's largest towns were those of Ulpiana (Pristina), Naissus (Niš), Therranda (Prizren), Vicianum (Vučitrn), Skopi (Stoc, Skopje), and its capital was Damastioni.

List of the rulers of Dardania:

• Bardyllis,king,4th century BC
• Longarus, king, 3rd century BC
• Bato, king, 3rd and 2nd century BC
• Monunius, king, 3rd century BC
• Etuta,Princess,3rd century BC,

Dardania was conquered into the Roman Empire in 6 AD and became part of the province of Moesia Superior in 87 AD. Emperor Diocletian later c. 284 made Dardania into a separate province with its capital at Naissus (Niš).

References

1. The Thracians by Ralph F. Hoddinott,1981,ISBN 050002099X,Chapter "The Odrysian state",section "The Roman intervention",page 223,"An invasion of the Thraco-Illyrian Dardanians"
2. Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN 0631198075.,Page 85,"... Whether the Dardanians were an Illyrian or a Thracian people has been much debated and one view suggests that the area was originally populated with..."
3. Noel Malcolm, Kosovo: A Short History (UP: New York, 2003) 31.
4. Aleksandar Stipcevic, Iliri, p.30
5. Mirdita, Studime dardane, pp.7-46
6. Papazoglu, Central Balkan Tribes, pp.210-69
7. Katicic, Ancient Languages, pp.179-81
8. Papazogu, "Dardanska onomastika"
9. Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN 0631198075,Page 49,"... historic Lychnitis around Ohrid and in Dardania around Skopje in the upper Vardar basin. Among the many tumuli surviving in Pelagonia only Visoi has so far been fully investigated. ..."
10. Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN 0631198075,Page 213,"... Siscia and Sirmium at either end of the Sava valley, Aequum among the Delmatae in Dalmatia and Scupi (Skopje) among the Dardani in Moesia.33 Though its beginnings were marked by atrocity, ..."
11. Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN 0631198075,Page 245,"... was a potent symbol, especially among the southern Illyrians. Even in the Roman period altars were dedicated in Dardania (near Skopje) to the serpentine pair Dracon and Dracaena. ..."
12. Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN 0631198075,Page 266,"... whose varieties of Romance language are descended from Latin-speaking pastoralists. In Dard- ania the old Roman city of Scupi (Skopje), destroyed by an earthquake in AD 518, was abandoned as its Romanized population chose to remain in the surrounding hills, ...
13. Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN 0631198075,Page 201,"... the Pannonians the Scordisci have an Illyrian name perhaps connected with the mons Scordus or Scardus (Sar planina west of Skopje). ..."
14. Strabo: Books 1‑7, 15‑17 in English translation, ed. H. L. Jones (1924), at LacusCurtius
15. "Not one of the peoples with whom we have to deal in this book has such a claim to the epithet "Balkan" as the Dardanians... because they appear as the most stable and the most conservative ethnic element in the area where everything was exposed to constant change, and also because they, with their roots in the distant prehomeric age, and living in the frontiers of the Illyrian and the Thracian worlds retained their individuality and, alone among the peoples of that region succeeded in maintaining themselves as an ethnic unity even when they were militarily and politically subjected by the Roman arms...and when at the end of the ancient world, the Balkans were involved in far-reaching ethnic perturbations, the Dardanians, of all the Central Balkan tribes, played the greatest part in the genesis of the new peoples who took the place of the old" Papazoglu, Central Balkan Tribes, p.131
16. Elsie, Robert (1998): "Dendronymica Albanica: A survey of Albanian tree and shrub names". Zeitschrift für Balkanologie 34: 163-200 online paper
17. The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, ISBN 0140171991
18. Durham, M. Edith, Dardania and Some Balkan Place-Names, Man, Vol. 23 (Mar., 1923), pp. 39-42
19. Appian, The Foreign Wars, III, 1.2
20. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,page 220,"... Leaving aside Strabo's comment on the dirty habits of the Dardanians, there is little on which to judge the general health of the Illyrian population. ..."
21. Macurdy, Grace Harriet, The Wanderings of Dardanus and the Dardani, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 46 (1915), pp. 119-128
22. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,Page 49,"... historic Lychnitis around Ohrid and in Dardania around Skopje in the upper Vardar basin. Among the many tumuli surviving in Pelagonia only Visoi has so far been ..."
23. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes,1992,ISBN 0631198075,Page 86,"... including the names of Dardanian rulers, Longarus, Bato, Monunius and Etuta, and those on later epitaphs, Epicadus, Scerviaedus, Tuta, Times and Cinna. Other Dardanian names ..."
24. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,,page 210,"... Here the old name of Dardania appears as a new province formed out of Moesia, along with Moesia Prima, Dacia (not Trajan's old province but a ..."
25. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes,1992,ISBN 0631198075,page 210, "... 210 Roman Illyrians Skopje. Though its line is far from certain there seems little doubt that most of the Dardanians were excluded from Illyricum and were to become a part of the province of Moesia organized in the reign of ...
26. The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, ISBN 0631198075,,page 210,"... Here the old name of Dardania appears as a new province formed out of Moesia, along with Moesia Prima, Dacia (not Trajan's old province but a ..."

• Grace Harriet Macurdy. The Wanderings of Dardanus and the Dardani, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 46 (1915), pp. 119-128

See also

• List of Illyrian tribes
• Dardan
• Bardyllis

External links

• Illyria and Illyrians

• Ancient peoples
• Illyrian tribes
• Dardania (Balkans)
• Thracian tribes
• History of Kosovo
• History of Serbia
• Thraco-Illyrian