butterfly | Notes on a Name

Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night was set in a fictionalized Illyria.

There was a historical Illyria, though.

From here:

Illyria was a region along the coast of the Adriatic Sea facing Italy. It spanned from northwestern Greece all the way to what is today the Venice area. The people of Illyria were considered "barbarous" by the Greeks (they didn't speak Greek). Greek settlements were established in the southern part of Illyria, including the city of Epidamnus, a colony of Corcyra (itself a colony of Corinth).

From here:

The origins of the Albanian people, as was mentioned before, are not definitely known, but data drawn from history and from linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological studies have led to the conclusion that Albanians are the direct descendants of the ancient Illyrians and that the latter were natives of the lands they inhabited. Similarly, the Albanian language derives from the language of the Illyrians, the transition from Illyrian to Albanian apparently occurring between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.

Illyrian culture is believed to have evolved from the Stone Age and to have manifested itself in the territory of Albania towardthe beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BC. The Illyrians were not a uniform body of people but a conglomeration of many tribes that inhabited the western part of the Balkans, from what is now Slovenia in the northwest to and including the region of Epirus, which extends about halfway down the mainland of modern Greece. In general, Illyrians in the highlands of Albania were more isolated than those in the lowlands, and their culture evolved more slowly--a distinction that persisted throughout Albania's history.

In its beginning, the kingdom of Illyria comprised the actual territories of Dalmatia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, with a large part of modern Serbia. Shkodra (Scutari) was its capital, just as it is now, the most important center of Northern Albania.

The earliest known king of Illyria was Hyllus (The Star) who is recorded to have died in the year 1225 B.C. The Kingdom, however, reached its zenith in the fourth century B.C. when Bardhylus (White Star), one of the most prominent of the Illyrian kings, united under scepter the kingdoms of Illyria, Molossia (Epirus*) and a good part of Macedonia. But its decay began under the same ruler as a result of the attacks made on it by Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.

In the year 232 B.C. the Illyrian throne was occupied by Teuta, the celebrated Queen whom historians have called Catherine the Great of Illyria. The depredations of her thriving navy on the rising commercial development of the Republic forced the Roman Senate to declare war against the Queen. A huge army and navy under the command of of Santumalus and Alvinus attacked Central Albania, and, after two years of protracted warfare, Teuta was induced for peace (227 B.C.)

The last king of Illyria was Gentius, of pathetic memory. In 165 B.C. he was defeated by the Romans and brought to Rome as a captive.

Henceforth, Illyria consisting of the Enkalayes, the Taulantes, the Epirotes, and the Ardianes, became a Roman dependency. She was carved out into three independent republics the capitals of which were respectively Scodar (Shkoder), Epidamnus (Durres) and Dulcigno (todays' Ulqin in Montenegro).

Authors of antiquity relate that the Illyrians were a sociable and hospitable people, renowned for their daring and bravery at war. Illyrian women were fairly equal in status to the men, even to the point of becoming heads of tribal federations. In matters of religion, Illyrians were pagans who believed in an afterlife and buried their dead along with arms and various articles intended for personal use. The land of Illyria was rich in minerals--iron, copper, gold, silver--and Illyrians became skillful in the mining and processing of metals. They were highly skilled boat builders and sailors as well; indeed, their light, swift galleys known as liburnae were of such superior design that the Romans incorporated them into their own fleet as a type of warship called the Liburnian.

From here:

Definitions of Illyria, Illyricum, and the Illyrians are still a puzzle in scholarly literature, despite several books having recently been written about the Illyrians, and partly perhaps because of this. The name must have carried a political prestige and contained a broad enough geographical and symbolic significance, as well as a kind of magnetism that it could denote, at the expense of other geographical names between Noricum and Pannonia on the one hand, and Epirus and Macedonia on the other, at one time or another so many different regions.

Appian of Alexandria, a Greek historian of the 2nd century AD, was the only ancient historian to have written a history of Illyria. Although he explicitly stated that many mythological stories concerning the name of Illyria were still circulating in his time, he chose for his audience a genealogical story, which included most of the peoples who inhabited the Illyricum of the Antonine era. They all descended from the son of Polyphemus and Galatea, Illyrius. Unfortunately, of all the stories referred to by Appian, merely one more concerning the eponymous ancestor of the Illyrians has to my knowledge been preserved to date; this is the legend of Cadmus and Harmonia and their son Illyrius.

By way of introduction, some other myths and legends related to the lands of Illyricum will be briefly considered, those which have a broader significance and are not only of limited local interest. Interestingly, all of them refer to the regions along the Adriatic, which additionally confirms the extreme importance of maritime routes used by travellers, merchants, and explorers; even northern ports may have been at least to some extent known to the Greeks at a relatively early date, while the interior of Illyria had for a long time remained terra incognita. These include the legend about the Hyperboreans, a mythical blessed northern race, dwelling beyond the mountains from where the northern wind blew, with whom Apollo had stayed for a period before his ceremonial arrival in Delphi, and further the legend about the return journey of the Argonauts. The worship of the Greek hero Diomedes was related to both Adriatic coasts, while the legend of the Trojan Antenor, whose route led him along Dalmatia, was particularly important for the history of Venetia and the western Adriatic coast. A legend has been preserved about the mysterious Ionius of the Illyrian race, the eponym for the Ionian (ie. the Adriatic) Sea; he may have once ruled over Issa, but according to the earlier variant he was inadvertently killed by Heracles in Dyrrhachium. Hercules was connected with other places along the eastern Adriatic coast, and so was his son Hyllus.

The most important passages follow, referring to the legends of Illyrius, the son of Cadmus and Harmonia, and Illyrius, the son of Polyphemus and Galatea.

Mythological Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus (3.39.2) :

“Cadmus accompanied by Harmonia left Thebes and went to the Enchelei. They were at war with the Illyrians who had attacked them, but they had been advised by a god that they would defeat the Illyrians if they were led by Cadmus and Harmonia. They trusted in the prophecy and appointed them as leaders against the Illyrians, who were then defeated. Cadmus ruled over Illyria and had a son Illyrius. Afterwards, together with Harmonia, he was turned into a serpent and Zeus conveyed him to the Elysian Fields”.

Commentary to Virgil’s Aeneid, Scholia Vaticana (to verse 1.243; II p. 311 Lion):

“When Cadmus the son of Agenor, accompanied by his wife Harmonia, left Thebes, and bearing his unjust fate passed through the territory of Macedonia, he left a young son borne to him by Harmonia by the Illyrian River. A serpent twined around this son and, until he had grown, nursed him in the embrace of its body and filled him with the power to subdue this entire country. It named him Illyrius after itself.”

Appian, Illyr. 2.3–4:

“It is said that the country received its name from Polyphemus' son Illyrius; the Cyclops Polyphemus and Galatea had the sons Celtus, Illyrius and Galas; they left Sicily and ruled over the peoples who were named after them: the Celts, the Illyrians, and the Galatians. This mythological story pleases me the most, although many others are also told by many writers. (4) Illyrius had the sons Encheleus, Autarieus, Dardanus, Maedus, Taulas, Perrhaebus and the daughters Partho, Daortho, Dassaro and others, from whom arose the peoples of the Taulantii, Perrhaebi, Enchelei, Autariatae, Dardanians [and Maedi], Partheni, Dassaretii and Darsi. Autarieus himself had a son Pannonius or Paeon, who in turn had Scordiscus and Triballus, from whom nations also were descended who were named after them. But I shall leave this subject to the antiquarians.”

This episode certainly is making me think. I haven't posted so much on one episode in a while.