AFRODITA (Afrodite,lat. Venus)-hyjneshë e dashurisë dhe e bukurisë, më e bukura prej të gjitha hyjneshave të miteve antike.
Origjina e saj disi na është e paqartë. Sipas Homerit ishte e bija e Zeusit, zotit suprem dhe e Dianës, hyjneshës së shiut, ndërsa sipas Hesiodit lindi nga shkuma e detit dhe prej detit doli në ujëdhesën Qipro.Në këtë rast origjinën e vet tejet të ndërlikuar e ka prej Uranit, zotit të qiellit. Qoftë kështu apo ashtu, Afrodita, në saje të bukurisë dhe të magjepjes së vet me të cilat ka qenë e pajisur u bë njëra prej hyjneshave më të fuqishme. As zotërat as njerëzit nuk kanë mundur t'i përballonin. Përveç kësaj ka pasur shumë bashkëpunëtorë dhe bashkepunëtore: Karitet, hyjneshat e magjepjeve dhe të bukurisë, Horet, hyjneshat e stinëve të motmotit, Peitën, hyjneshen e lajkave dhe te mistoreve, Himerin, zotin e dëshirës së zjarrt, Potin, zotin e dëshirës së dashurisë, Himenin, zotin e martesës dhe sidomos Erosin, zotin e ri të dashurisë, shigjetave të të cilit nuk ka qenë e mundur qe t'iu shmangen.
Pasi që dashuria ka rol tejet të rëndësishëm në jetën e zotërave dhe të njerëzve, Afrodita ka qene tejet e nderuar dhe e çmuar. Kush e ka nderuar dhe i ka bërë flijime, ka mundur të jetë i sigurtë në dashamirësinë e saj, por disi nuk ka qenë e qëndrueshme,kurse fatin të cilin ua ka ofruar shpesh ,ka qenë i përciptë. Nganjëhere bënte mrekullira të vërteta çfarë di të bëjë vetëm dashuria: skulptorit qipriot, Pigmalionit, ia ka ngjallur, për shembull, truporen e ftohtë prej mermerit në të cilën u dashurua. Të dashurit e vet i mbronte në beteja, në shtërgata detare dhe nga sulmet e armikut. Ka ditur edhe të urrej, sepse urrejtja është motra e vërtetë e dashurisë. Kështu djaloshi frikacak, Narcisi, i cili sipas tregimit të nimfave i ka përbuzur dhuratat e saj sa që është dashuruar ne vetveten, më në fund bën vetëvrasje. Por, për çudi, vetë nuk ka pasur shumë fatë në dashuri dhe nuk e ka mbajtur asnjë dashnor. As bashkëshortesia nuk ka qenë e lumtur. Zeusi ia cakton për burr më te shëmtuarin prej gjithë zotërave, Hefestin e çalë dhe përherë i djersitur, farkatarin hyjnor. Si shpërblim për këtë ka kërkuar ngushllimin në Aresin, zotin e zemëruar të luftës, me të cilin i ka pasur pesë fëmijë (Erosin, Anterin, Deimosin, Fobin dhe Harmoninë), pastaj në Dionisin, zotin e verës (me të cilin ka pasur të birin, Priapin), dhe përveç të tjerëve edhe në Hermesin, zotin e tregtisë, madje edhe në të vdekshmin e rëndomtë, Anhizin, mbretin dardan, të cilit ia lind të birin, Enean.
Prej ndërhyrjeve të saja në ngjarjet e vrullshme të botës së miteve pasoja më të mëdha ka pasur dashamirësia e saj ndaj Paridit të ri, birit të Priamit, mbretit trojan. Pasi që në grindje me hyjneshat, Herën dhe Athenën, i ka dhëne përparësi, për shpërblim ia premton gruan me të bukur prej të gjitha grave të vdekshme. Kjo grua, sipas mendimit unanim të zotërave dhe të njerëzve, ishte Helena nga Argu, bashkëshortja e Menelaut, mbretit spartan. Afrodita i ndihmon Parisit për ta sjellë Helenën në Trojë. Menelau nuk dëshiron që të heqë dorë nga gruaja e vet dhe kërkon t'ia kthejnë. Pasi që Paridi e refuzon këtë, Menelau me ndihmën e vëllait të tij, Agamemnonit, mbretit te fuqishëm të Mikenës, i dërgon të gjithë mbretërit akeas në akspeditë ndëshkuese kundër Trojës. Nën udhëheqjen e Agamemnonit lundruan njëqindmijë akeas përtej detit dhe e sulmuan Trojën. Afrodita, kuptohet, u ka nidhmuar trojanëve, ndonëse lufta nuk ka qenë vetia e saj e fuqishme. Mjaftonte, që për shembull, çjerr shigjeta e Diomedit, komandantit ushtarak dhe të ik me vaj nga fushëbeteja. Në luftën e tmershme, në të cilën morën pjese të gjithë trimat e atëhershëm dhe gati gjithë zotërat, Paridi më në fund u vra dhe pas vdekjes së tij bie edhe Troja. Ushtria ngadhnjimtare akease e shndërroi Trojën në gërmadha - prej saj ka mbetur vetëm fama e pavdekshme në epët e Homerit.
Në bazë të kërkimeve të tanishme, Afrodita, si duket, ishte me origjinë nga Azia e Vogël, siç duket nga Ishtari, hyjnesha sirio-fenikase e dashurisë. Grekët e marrin që në kohërat më të lashta, sipas të gjitha gjasave përmes ujëdhesave të Qipros dhe Kiterës, ku po ashtu e kanë adhuruar. Asaj i qenë dedikuar mërsina, trandafili, molla, lulëkuqja, pëllumbesha, delfini, dallëndyshja dhe bliri, si dhe tempujt madhështorë në Kind, Pafos, Korint, Alaband e gjetiu. Kulti i saj u përhap nga kolonitë greke në Italinë e Jugut deri në Romë, ku e kanë identifikuar me Venerën, hyjneshën e lashtë italike dhe e kanë adhuruar në të njëjtën mënyrë si në Greqi. Prej tempujve të ndërtuar për nderë të saj më të mëdhenjt kanë qenë në forumin e Cezarit (tempulli i Venerës Nënë) dhe pranë rrugës së shenjtë kah forumi romak (tempulli i Venerës dhe i Romës). Kulti i saj zhduket me ngadhënjimin e krishterimit, kurse emri i është ruajtur në saje të poetëve, të skulptorëve, të piktorëve dhe të astronomëve.Afrodita, hyjnesha e dashurisë dhe e bukurisë, ndoshta është shembulltyrë që është paraqitur më së shumti nga mitet antike: bukuria dhe dashuria, megjithatë më së shumti i ,kanë tërhequr dhe i tërheqin artistët e të gjitha kohërave.
Prej shembëlltyrave të saj nga koha antike më të njohura janë: Afrodita në mjellmë, pikturë në gotën antike të viteve 470-460 para e.s.; Venera dhe Marsi, pikturë muri në Pompejë nga fundi i shek para e.s. dhe të shek. IV para e.s. për tempullin e Asklepiut në Kojo (për të dimë vetëm në saje të burimeve antike të cilën e quajnë „të paarritshme"); përveç kësaj janë ruajtur edhe disa qindra enë të pikturuara me figurën e Afroditës. Prej relievëvet më i famshmi është e ashtuquajtura Afrodita Ludovisi, vepër e skulptorit grek rreth vitit 460 para e.s., sot në Muzeun Kombëtar Romak në Termë. Skulpturat e saj janë krijime më të larta të artit antik. Në mesin e tyre hynë Afrodita e Knidit, të cilën me siguri e ka skalitur Praksiteli për tempullin në Kind (pas vitit 350 para e.s.; kopjet e saja të shkëlqyeshme gjenden në Muzeun e Vatikanit në Romë, në Luvër të Parisit dhe në Muzeun Metropoliten në Nju-Jork), pastaj Afrodita e Kirenës, kopja romake e skulpturës helenistike në shak. III para e.s. (tani në Muzeun Kombëtar Romak në Termë), Venera e Kapitolit kopja romake e origjinalit helenistik, siç duket nga gjysma e shek. III para ejs. (në Museo Capitolino romano-Muzeu i Kapitolit Ro-mak), Venera e Mediqve, kopja romake e veprës së Kleomenit nga shekulli II para es. (në Galleria degli Uffizi në Firencë). Se çfarë realizimi të lartë ,kanë arritur skulptorët grek në paraqitjen e figurës së Afroditës, tregojnë skulpturat e saj të cilat autorët antik nuk i përmendin. Më e famshmja ndër to është Afrodita e Melosit e shek. III - II para e.s., e gjetur më 1820. (dhe sot gjendet në Muzeun e Luvrit në Paris). Koka e mirë e Afroditës (ose e Artemidës) prej bronze të praruar, e cila është e gjysmës së dytë të shek. IV para e.s., me siguri e shkollës së Praksitelit, gjendet në koleksioinin arkeologjik në Vis.
Interesi për paraqitjen e figurës së Afrodites në artin e kohërave të reja është i njëjtë me atë të kohërave antike. Pikturat dhe skulpturat e Afroditës praktikisht nuk është e mundur të numërohen. Ndër më të famshmet është: Lindja e Venerës dhe Venera dhe Marsi të Sandër Botiqellit e vitit 148C. dhe 1847 që sot gjendet në pallatin firentin Ufici dhe në Galerinë Kombëtare Londoneze), Venera pushon e Giorgoneut (Gjorgjoneut), (e përfundon Tiziani) pas vitit 1510), Lindja e Venerës e Luca Girodanit (Lukë Gjordanit) sot gjendet në Muzeun e qytetit në Bel) Venera me Amorim i Luca Granachuat (Lukë Granakut) plak (sot gjendet në Villa Borgese të Romës), Venera dhe Amori të Palmo Vecchiut (Palmo Vekkiut) (rreth vitit 1520, që sot gjendet në Galerinë Kombëtare në Bukuresht), Venera në gjumë edhe Venera dh muzikanti me mandolinë e Tizianit (Ticianit) (sot gjendet në Galerinë e Dresdenit), Lindja e Venerës, Kremtimi i Venerës dhe Venera dhe Marsi të Pierre Paule Rubensit (Pjer Pol Rubensit) (prej vitit 1622—164G, e para në Galerinë Kombetare Londoneze, kurse tjetra në Muzeun Artistiko-historik të Vjenës, dhe e treta në Palazzo Bianco (Palaco Bjanko)) në Gjenovë), Venera me Amorin i Guido Renit (Gvido Renit) (pas vitit 1605) dhe piktura me të njëjtin emër e Nicolas Poussini (Nikolas Pusini) (rreth vitit 1630., sot gjendet në Galerinë e Dresdenit), Toaleta e Venerës dhe Venera e argëton Amorin e François Boucherit (Fransoa Busher) (e para prej 1746 që gjendët në koleksionin e Walleceit (Waillaceit) në Londër dhe tjetra përafërsfeht e vitit 1751 ne Galerinë Kombëtare në Washington), si dhe Venera dhe Kupido e Velazqiuezit (Velaskezit) (rreth vitit 1651, sot gjendet ne Galerinë Kombëtare në Londër).Prej të rejave t'i pëarmendim së paku Afroditën e Raoul Dufyut (Raul Dufy) në Galerinë Kombetare të Pragës, rreth viteve 1930).Prej veprave të autorëve në Ballkan në këtë vend duhet përmendur Veneren me kandil të Milena Pavlloviq-Barilit e vitit 1938 (sot gjendet në Muzeun e Artit Modern në Beograd).
Prej veprave skulpturale duhet përmendur Venerën dhe Marsin e Anton Canovës (Anton Kanovës) (dhe skulptura e tij portretike e Paolina Bonapartes si Venerë e vitit 1807, që gjendet në Villa Borgese në Romë), Venerën Ngadhënjimtare të August Renoireit (August Ronoarit) e vitit 1914 dhe Venerën me qafore prej margaritave të Aristid Maillolit, e vitit 1918 (sot gjenden të dyjat në Tate Galleri në Londër), dhe ndoshta edhe Venerën e Marin Marinit e vitit 1940 (sot gjendet në koleksion privat në SH.B.A). Lidhur me këtë ndoshta do të na interesojë edhe Muzika e njohur e Myslbekut (e viteve 1907-1912), përpunim i modelit antik siç është konstatuair në trashigiminë e tij; e ka punuar në bazë të studimit minucioz të proporcioneve të Venerës së Eskvilinit (e shek. I para e.s.).
Dërguar nga: Vlentin Batalaku- Slloveni
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Mitologji: ANTIGONA
Mitologji Shqiptare: ANTIGONA
ANTIGONA (Antigone)- e bija e Edipit, mbretit të Tebës dhe bashkëshortës së tij Jokastës, një prej personazheve më të mëdha të mitologjisë greke dhe të letërsisë dramaturgjike botërore. Meritë për famën e saj ka Sofokliu. Antigona e tij, së bashku me Mbretin Edip, hyn në radhën e veprave më të njohura të letërsisë dramaturgjike dhe deri më sot është pjesë e trashëgimisë së kulturës antike. Në fillim Antigona ishte njëra prej personazheve epizodike të miteve të lashta tebane për Edipin dhe luftën „të shtatë kundër Tebës". Më vonë ngritet në trimëreshën e vërtetë të madhësisë dhe fisnikrisë klasike.
Kështu të kuptuar Sofokliu Antigonën e shndërron në bartëse të mosmarrëveshjeve në mes „ligjeve të ndryshueshme të njerëzve", cënimi i të cilëve shkakton dënimin e patronit dhe të „ligjeve të amshueshme'' të morailit dhe të religjionit, thyerja e të cilëve shkakton turpin e gijthmbarshëm dhe për pasojë ka denimin e zotërave. Jo vetëm bartësin, por edhe viktimën tragjike të këtij konflikti.
Fisnikërinë e vet dhe besnikërinë ndaj ligjeve të larta, të pashkruara të moralit, Antigona për herë të parë i ka dëshmuar gjatë dëbimit të babait të saj nga atdheu. Edipi ishte i detyruar ta braktisë Teben, se u hap lajmi se duke mos ditur e ka vrarë babain e vet dhe u martua me Jokastën, të vejën e tij, përkatësiht me nënën e vet. Jokasta, pasi që mëson për këtë virret, kurse Edipi në dëshpërim verbohet. Populli i Tebës, i cili deri më ateherë e ka dashur dhe e ka nderuar për shkak të meritave të tij për shtetin, menjëherë fillon të kërkojë që të përmbyset nga froni dhe të ndiqet si „profanizues" i qytetit. Kreonti, vëllau i Jokastës, së pari e mbron Edipin fatëzi, por kur dëbimin e tij e kërkonin djemt e tij, Eteokli dhe Poliniku, merret vesh me ta dhe e përsekuton Edipin. Izmena, e bija më e vogël e Edipit, në të vërtetë, e ruajti dashurinë ndaj babës, mirëpo, Antigona këte edhe e dëshmon. Vullnetarisht shkon në mërgim me babain e vet të verbët për ta mbrojtur dhe për ta ndarë me të fatin e tij të rëndë.
Së shpejti pas largimit të Edipit dhe Antigonës nga Teba, Eteokli dhe Poliniku bijnë në konflikt për shkak të pushtetit. Eteokli i bashkohet Kreontit dhe e dëbon Polinikun. Poliniku strehohet në Argë dhe atje i gjen aleatët me ushtrinë e të cilëve niset për në Tebë. Orvatej që për kauzën e vet ta përfitojë edhe Edipin se nga profecia ka mësuar se në betejën për Tebën do të ngadhënjejë ai, në anën e të cilit do të jetë Edipi. Aq më tepër, për shkak të negociatave të turpshme me babain muar mbi vete mallkimin e tij: „Para se ta pushtosh Tebën, do të rrëzohesh i përgjakur. Dhe dije, se me ty do të vritet edhe Eteokli". Kështu Edipi në mënyrë të barabartë ua ndanë trashëgimin e vet djemve.
Mallkimi i tmerrshëm u plotësua: të dy vëllazërit u vranë në betejën reciproke, kurse mbret i Tebës u bë Kreonti.
Pas ngadhënjimit mbi argeasit, Tebanët ia përgatitën Eteoklit varrimin solemn, kurse trupin e Polinikut, sipas urdhërit të Kreontit, e lanë mbi dhe nën mure, për arsye se e ka sjellë ushtrinë e huaj kundër Tebës.
S'do mend se Poliniku me luftën kundër Tebës, vendlindjes së vet, ka bëre krim. Mirëpo, a ka qenë i pafajshëm Eteokli? A ka guxuar Kreonti që me të drejtën e ngadhënjimtarit ta dënojë Polinikun, me turpin më të tmerrshëm dhe me dënimin e përjetshëm? Kufoma e Polinikut nuk u varros dhe kështu u është lënë në mëshiren e mishngrënësve dhe qenve të egër, kurse shpirti i tij nuk ka mundur të shkojë në mbretërinë e të vdekurve që aty:ta gjejë pushimin pa u varrosur. Vendimi i Kreontit, në të vërtetë, nga aspekti juridiko-shtetëror ka qene i drejtë, mirëpo, bie në kundërshtim me ligjet e larta të cilat urdhërojnë që i vdekuri të varroset. Vëçmas biente në kundërshtim me ligjet më të shenjta të cilat i lidhin kusherirët e afërt. Për këtë airsye Antigona vendosi që vëllaut të vdekur t'ia bëjë nderimin e fundit, pavarësiht që Kreonti iu ka kërcnuar atyre që do ta thyejnë urdhërin e tij. U përpoq që motrës së vet, Izmenës, t'ia mhushë mendjen, që të marrë pjesë në varrim, por nuk mundi ta mposhtë frikën e saj. Prandaj vellaut të vdekur vetë ia bëri nderimet e fundit.
Kreonti në afërsi të trupit të Polinikut i ka vendosur rojet të cilëve u është urdhëruar që secilin që dëshiron ta varrosë menjëherë ta arrestojnë dhe ta sjellin në pallat. Zotërat u pajtuan me vendimin hyjnor të Antigonës. Prandaj e shkaktuan shtërngatën dhe fushën nën mure e mbuluan me një re, kështu që rojtarët e vërejtën Antigonen mu atëherë kur kjo e mbulonte trupin e Polinikut me dhe dhe kështu simbolikisht e varrosi. Menjëherë e sjellin para Kreontit, i cili e sulmoi me sharje e fyerje dhe kërkoi prej që ta pranojë krimin e vet. Antigona veprën e vet nuk e mohonte: „E kam shkelur ligjin e mbretit, por e kam kryer detyren ndaj vëllaut të vdekur, sipas ligjeve të pashkruara dhe vullnetit të zotërave. Nuk kam bërë krim, por vepër të përshpirtshme, dhe në qoftë se përshpirtshmëria sipas ligjeve laike është e dënuar, atëherë nuk i frikësohem vdekjes, por përkundrazi mallëngjehem për të".
Fjalët e Antigonës e tërbuan Kreontin. Urdheroi që Antigona veprën e vet ta paguajë me jetë dhe me të edhe motra e saj, për të cilën ka qenë i "bindur se i ka ndihmuar me rastin e varrimit. Izmena e frikësuar gjet në vete fuqi që fatin ta ndajë me Antigonën, por Antigona nuk lejoi që kjo të kryhet. Populli teban, i cili në turma tubohej para pallatit të Kreontit, qëndronte në heshtje. Në të vërtetë, e pa, se Antigona ka vepruar mirë kur e ka kryer ligjin më të lartë, se sa është ligji i mbretit. Por frika prej Kreontit ia ka mbyllur gojën. Vetëm Hemoni, i biri i Kreontit dhe i fejuari i Antigonës, pat guxim që t'i kundërvihet urdhërit të vrazhdë. Së pari u përpoq për ta bindur se ka vepruar mirë dhe se me këtë popull pajtohet dhe më ne fund e akuzoi se i ka shkelur ligjet e zoterave dhe e qortonte se zbatimi i urdhërit të tij në të ardhmën do të shkaktojë shumë vdekje. Kreonti ishte tepër i zemeruar për t'i pranuar fjalët e Hemonit. Populli i Tebës, përkundër frikës kundërshioi dhe Kreonti qe i detyruar që të lëshojë pe.Pastaj urdhëroi që Antigona të muroset e gjallë në mauzoleun mbreteror: në qoftë se nuk duhet të shkojë te të vdekurit, atëherë nuk duhet të mbetet në gjirin e të gjallëve.
Posa e çuan Antigonën, para Kreontit u paraqit falltori Tireziu dhe e bëri me dije se ka parë shenjën e kobshme. Zotërat kanë paralajmëruar se janë zemëruar për shkak të veprimit të pafe me kufomën e Polinikut dhe dënimin e Antigonës dhe kërkojnë prej Kreontit që ta korrigiojë gabimin e vet. Kreonti më së pari u vërsul në Tireziun, por, duke iu frikësuar zotërave, megjithatë vendosi që ta zbatojë vullnetin e tyre. Polinikut ia organizoi varrimin solemn dhe shkoi në mauzoleun mbretëror që ta lirojë Antigonën. Nuk e gjet të gjallë. Ishte varur në shokën e petkave të vdekjes.
Antigona e sakrifikoi jetën e vet, mirëpo, ajo ngadhënjeu. Mbreti u detyrua që t'u nënshtrohet ligjeve supreme, kurse fati i tij u bë vërejtje për të gjithë ata që mendoinë se mund t'i shkelin pa u dënuar. I biri i tij Hemoni me shpatë ia mori vetës jetën, duke parë të fejuaren e vet të vdekur, kurse Euridika, gruaja e Kreontit, prej pikëllimit për djalin, bëri vetëvrasje. I braktisur prej të gjithëve, Kreonti i luti zotërat që t'ia marrin jetën duke ia dhuruar atë që ia ka caktuar ai si dënim Antigonës.
Sofokliu e krijoi Antigonën rreth vitit 442 para e.s. Tragjedine Edipi në Kolon, ngjarjet e së cilës i paraprijnë Antigonës e ka shkruar përafërsisht tridhjetë e pesë vjet më vonë, pikërisht para vdekies (viti 406 para e.s.). Pak ka vepra që kanë ndikuar aq shumë në krijimtarinë dramaturgjike evropiane (dhe në kulturën në përgiithësi). Hegeli Antigonën e quajti „shembëll absolut i tragiedisë'' dhe kështu e ka theksuar rëndësinë e cila i është dhënë në shek. XVIII dhe XIX. U bë jo vetem shembëll i "tragjedisë në përgjithësi" por edhe baza për përpunimin e veprave të ngjashme, e veçmas në kohën e klasicizmit; asnjëra nuk ia ka kaluar Antigonës burimore të Sofokliut.
Antigona është komponuar shumë herë. Përpunimi operistik më i lashtë është Antigona e Josef Mysliveçekut (Jozef Mysliveçek) (rreth vitit 1770). Ndër më të rejat është Antigona ekspresive e Artur Honegerit (viti 1927), Antigona e Carl Orffit (Karl Orf) e vitit 1949) dhe Paraloja e Antigonës e Somerit (viti 1957). Prej veprave të njohura dramturgjike, të cilat kjo tragjedi i ka nxitur dhe ua ka dhënë idenë kryesore po përmendim dramën Antigona e Jean Anouilh (Zhan Anui), Trimat nuk banojnë në Tebë e Claus Hubalke (Klaus Hubalkut), Antigona dhe ata të tjerët e Petar Karvasit (Pjetër Karvashit).Në letërsinë bashkëkohëse kroate dy drama janë të bazuara në problemin e Antigonës: Dashuria në hidhërim e - Drago Ivanisheviqit dhe Dera e papashme e Oto Bihali-Merinit.
Dërguar nga VALENTIN BATALAKU - Slloveni
ANTIGONA (Antigone)- e bija e Edipit, mbretit të Tebës dhe bashkëshortës së tij Jokastës, një prej personazheve më të mëdha të mitologjisë greke dhe të letërsisë dramaturgjike botërore. Meritë për famën e saj ka Sofokliu. Antigona e tij, së bashku me Mbretin Edip, hyn në radhën e veprave më të njohura të letërsisë dramaturgjike dhe deri më sot është pjesë e trashëgimisë së kulturës antike. Në fillim Antigona ishte njëra prej personazheve epizodike të miteve të lashta tebane për Edipin dhe luftën „të shtatë kundër Tebës". Më vonë ngritet në trimëreshën e vërtetë të madhësisë dhe fisnikrisë klasike.
Kështu të kuptuar Sofokliu Antigonën e shndërron në bartëse të mosmarrëveshjeve në mes „ligjeve të ndryshueshme të njerëzve", cënimi i të cilëve shkakton dënimin e patronit dhe të „ligjeve të amshueshme'' të morailit dhe të religjionit, thyerja e të cilëve shkakton turpin e gijthmbarshëm dhe për pasojë ka denimin e zotërave. Jo vetëm bartësin, por edhe viktimën tragjike të këtij konflikti.
Fisnikërinë e vet dhe besnikërinë ndaj ligjeve të larta, të pashkruara të moralit, Antigona për herë të parë i ka dëshmuar gjatë dëbimit të babait të saj nga atdheu. Edipi ishte i detyruar ta braktisë Teben, se u hap lajmi se duke mos ditur e ka vrarë babain e vet dhe u martua me Jokastën, të vejën e tij, përkatësiht me nënën e vet. Jokasta, pasi që mëson për këtë virret, kurse Edipi në dëshpërim verbohet. Populli i Tebës, i cili deri më ateherë e ka dashur dhe e ka nderuar për shkak të meritave të tij për shtetin, menjëherë fillon të kërkojë që të përmbyset nga froni dhe të ndiqet si „profanizues" i qytetit. Kreonti, vëllau i Jokastës, së pari e mbron Edipin fatëzi, por kur dëbimin e tij e kërkonin djemt e tij, Eteokli dhe Poliniku, merret vesh me ta dhe e përsekuton Edipin. Izmena, e bija më e vogël e Edipit, në të vërtetë, e ruajti dashurinë ndaj babës, mirëpo, Antigona këte edhe e dëshmon. Vullnetarisht shkon në mërgim me babain e vet të verbët për ta mbrojtur dhe për ta ndarë me të fatin e tij të rëndë.
Së shpejti pas largimit të Edipit dhe Antigonës nga Teba, Eteokli dhe Poliniku bijnë në konflikt për shkak të pushtetit. Eteokli i bashkohet Kreontit dhe e dëbon Polinikun. Poliniku strehohet në Argë dhe atje i gjen aleatët me ushtrinë e të cilëve niset për në Tebë. Orvatej që për kauzën e vet ta përfitojë edhe Edipin se nga profecia ka mësuar se në betejën për Tebën do të ngadhënjejë ai, në anën e të cilit do të jetë Edipi. Aq më tepër, për shkak të negociatave të turpshme me babain muar mbi vete mallkimin e tij: „Para se ta pushtosh Tebën, do të rrëzohesh i përgjakur. Dhe dije, se me ty do të vritet edhe Eteokli". Kështu Edipi në mënyrë të barabartë ua ndanë trashëgimin e vet djemve.
Mallkimi i tmerrshëm u plotësua: të dy vëllazërit u vranë në betejën reciproke, kurse mbret i Tebës u bë Kreonti.
Pas ngadhënjimit mbi argeasit, Tebanët ia përgatitën Eteoklit varrimin solemn, kurse trupin e Polinikut, sipas urdhërit të Kreontit, e lanë mbi dhe nën mure, për arsye se e ka sjellë ushtrinë e huaj kundër Tebës.
S'do mend se Poliniku me luftën kundër Tebës, vendlindjes së vet, ka bëre krim. Mirëpo, a ka qenë i pafajshëm Eteokli? A ka guxuar Kreonti që me të drejtën e ngadhënjimtarit ta dënojë Polinikun, me turpin më të tmerrshëm dhe me dënimin e përjetshëm? Kufoma e Polinikut nuk u varros dhe kështu u është lënë në mëshiren e mishngrënësve dhe qenve të egër, kurse shpirti i tij nuk ka mundur të shkojë në mbretërinë e të vdekurve që aty:ta gjejë pushimin pa u varrosur. Vendimi i Kreontit, në të vërtetë, nga aspekti juridiko-shtetëror ka qene i drejtë, mirëpo, bie në kundërshtim me ligjet e larta të cilat urdhërojnë që i vdekuri të varroset. Vëçmas biente në kundërshtim me ligjet më të shenjta të cilat i lidhin kusherirët e afërt. Për këtë airsye Antigona vendosi që vëllaut të vdekur t'ia bëjë nderimin e fundit, pavarësiht që Kreonti iu ka kërcnuar atyre që do ta thyejnë urdhërin e tij. U përpoq që motrës së vet, Izmenës, t'ia mhushë mendjen, që të marrë pjesë në varrim, por nuk mundi ta mposhtë frikën e saj. Prandaj vellaut të vdekur vetë ia bëri nderimet e fundit.
Kreonti në afërsi të trupit të Polinikut i ka vendosur rojet të cilëve u është urdhëruar që secilin që dëshiron ta varrosë menjëherë ta arrestojnë dhe ta sjellin në pallat. Zotërat u pajtuan me vendimin hyjnor të Antigonës. Prandaj e shkaktuan shtërngatën dhe fushën nën mure e mbuluan me një re, kështu që rojtarët e vërejtën Antigonen mu atëherë kur kjo e mbulonte trupin e Polinikut me dhe dhe kështu simbolikisht e varrosi. Menjëherë e sjellin para Kreontit, i cili e sulmoi me sharje e fyerje dhe kërkoi prej që ta pranojë krimin e vet. Antigona veprën e vet nuk e mohonte: „E kam shkelur ligjin e mbretit, por e kam kryer detyren ndaj vëllaut të vdekur, sipas ligjeve të pashkruara dhe vullnetit të zotërave. Nuk kam bërë krim, por vepër të përshpirtshme, dhe në qoftë se përshpirtshmëria sipas ligjeve laike është e dënuar, atëherë nuk i frikësohem vdekjes, por përkundrazi mallëngjehem për të".
Fjalët e Antigonës e tërbuan Kreontin. Urdheroi që Antigona veprën e vet ta paguajë me jetë dhe me të edhe motra e saj, për të cilën ka qenë i "bindur se i ka ndihmuar me rastin e varrimit. Izmena e frikësuar gjet në vete fuqi që fatin ta ndajë me Antigonën, por Antigona nuk lejoi që kjo të kryhet. Populli teban, i cili në turma tubohej para pallatit të Kreontit, qëndronte në heshtje. Në të vërtetë, e pa, se Antigona ka vepruar mirë kur e ka kryer ligjin më të lartë, se sa është ligji i mbretit. Por frika prej Kreontit ia ka mbyllur gojën. Vetëm Hemoni, i biri i Kreontit dhe i fejuari i Antigonës, pat guxim që t'i kundërvihet urdhërit të vrazhdë. Së pari u përpoq për ta bindur se ka vepruar mirë dhe se me këtë popull pajtohet dhe më ne fund e akuzoi se i ka shkelur ligjet e zoterave dhe e qortonte se zbatimi i urdhërit të tij në të ardhmën do të shkaktojë shumë vdekje. Kreonti ishte tepër i zemeruar për t'i pranuar fjalët e Hemonit. Populli i Tebës, përkundër frikës kundërshioi dhe Kreonti qe i detyruar që të lëshojë pe.Pastaj urdhëroi që Antigona të muroset e gjallë në mauzoleun mbreteror: në qoftë se nuk duhet të shkojë te të vdekurit, atëherë nuk duhet të mbetet në gjirin e të gjallëve.
Posa e çuan Antigonën, para Kreontit u paraqit falltori Tireziu dhe e bëri me dije se ka parë shenjën e kobshme. Zotërat kanë paralajmëruar se janë zemëruar për shkak të veprimit të pafe me kufomën e Polinikut dhe dënimin e Antigonës dhe kërkojnë prej Kreontit që ta korrigiojë gabimin e vet. Kreonti më së pari u vërsul në Tireziun, por, duke iu frikësuar zotërave, megjithatë vendosi që ta zbatojë vullnetin e tyre. Polinikut ia organizoi varrimin solemn dhe shkoi në mauzoleun mbretëror që ta lirojë Antigonën. Nuk e gjet të gjallë. Ishte varur në shokën e petkave të vdekjes.
Antigona e sakrifikoi jetën e vet, mirëpo, ajo ngadhënjeu. Mbreti u detyrua që t'u nënshtrohet ligjeve supreme, kurse fati i tij u bë vërejtje për të gjithë ata që mendoinë se mund t'i shkelin pa u dënuar. I biri i tij Hemoni me shpatë ia mori vetës jetën, duke parë të fejuaren e vet të vdekur, kurse Euridika, gruaja e Kreontit, prej pikëllimit për djalin, bëri vetëvrasje. I braktisur prej të gjithëve, Kreonti i luti zotërat që t'ia marrin jetën duke ia dhuruar atë që ia ka caktuar ai si dënim Antigonës.
Sofokliu e krijoi Antigonën rreth vitit 442 para e.s. Tragjedine Edipi në Kolon, ngjarjet e së cilës i paraprijnë Antigonës e ka shkruar përafërsisht tridhjetë e pesë vjet më vonë, pikërisht para vdekies (viti 406 para e.s.). Pak ka vepra që kanë ndikuar aq shumë në krijimtarinë dramaturgjike evropiane (dhe në kulturën në përgiithësi). Hegeli Antigonën e quajti „shembëll absolut i tragiedisë'' dhe kështu e ka theksuar rëndësinë e cila i është dhënë në shek. XVIII dhe XIX. U bë jo vetem shembëll i "tragjedisë në përgjithësi" por edhe baza për përpunimin e veprave të ngjashme, e veçmas në kohën e klasicizmit; asnjëra nuk ia ka kaluar Antigonës burimore të Sofokliut.
Antigona është komponuar shumë herë. Përpunimi operistik më i lashtë është Antigona e Josef Mysliveçekut (Jozef Mysliveçek) (rreth vitit 1770). Ndër më të rejat është Antigona ekspresive e Artur Honegerit (viti 1927), Antigona e Carl Orffit (Karl Orf) e vitit 1949) dhe Paraloja e Antigonës e Somerit (viti 1957). Prej veprave të njohura dramturgjike, të cilat kjo tragjedi i ka nxitur dhe ua ka dhënë idenë kryesore po përmendim dramën Antigona e Jean Anouilh (Zhan Anui), Trimat nuk banojnë në Tebë e Claus Hubalke (Klaus Hubalkut), Antigona dhe ata të tjerët e Petar Karvasit (Pjetër Karvashit).Në letërsinë bashkëkohëse kroate dy drama janë të bazuara në problemin e Antigonës: Dashuria në hidhërim e - Drago Ivanisheviqit dhe Dera e papashme e Oto Bihali-Merinit.
Dërguar nga VALENTIN BATALAKU - Slloveni
Monday, December 1, 2008
PELASGIAN IN ANCIENT GREECE
PELASGIAN IN ANCIENT GREECE EVOLVES TO GREEK, MACEDONIAN AND EPIROT
À le Ve siècle, Thucydide, décrivant les opérations militaires durant la guerre du Péloponnèse, classe comme barbares toutes les populations de l’Épire, caractérisées par leur langue presque incompréhensible
Strabon (VII 7, 4), contemporain d’Auguste, considère que, pour le voyageur qui va d’Épidamne-Dyrrachion ou d’Apollonia vers Ohrid, le long de la via Egnatia, à main gauche sont des peuples illyriens, à main droite des peuples épirotes; il déplace ainsi très sensiblement la frontière entre monde civilisé et monde barbare, mais on remarque qu’il classe les Épirotes à part des Grecs proprement dits.
IDEA: so for the Ancient Greeks the Epirotian were related to Greek but was not pure Greek.
Then after this he [Croesus, a Lydian king] gave thought to inquire which people of the Hellenes he should esteem the most powerful and gain over to himself as friends. And inquiring he found that the Lacedemonians and the Athenians had the pre-eminence, the first of the Dorian and the others of the Ionian race. For these were the most eminent races in ancient time, the second being a Pelasgian and the first a Hellenic race: and the one never migrated from its place in any direction, while the other was very exceedingly given to wanderings; for in the reign of Deucalion this race dwelt in Pthiotis, and in the time of Doros the son of Hellen in the land lying below Ossa and Olympos, which is called Histiaiotis; and when it was driven from Histiaiotis by the sons of Cadmos, it dwelt in Pindos and was called Makednian; and thence it moved afterwards to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came finally to Peloponnesus, and began to be called Dorian. (Herodotus).
IDEA: The reference to Cadmos refers such happenings to be before the Trojan War (-1200).
The Macedonians, as they are called by all the ancient poets, and in the fragments of epic poetry, owed their name, as it was said, to an eponymous ancestor; according to some, this was Macednus, son of Lycaon, from whom the Arcadians were descended (Apollod. iii. 8. § 1), or Macedon, grandson of Aeolus [son of Hellen and forerunner of the Aeolians], according to Hesiod and Hellanicus. These, as well as the otherwise unsupported statement of Herodotus of the original identity of the Doric and Macednian (Macedonian) peoples, are merely various attempts to form a genealogical connection between this semi-barbarous people and the rest of the Hellenic race. [Hellen had Dorus as son, the forerunner of the Dorians].
IDEA: in the other side the Armenian and Phrygian first branches with Greek; and the homeland of the Phrygians was in actual Macedonia.
IDEA: and curiously the "Brygians" converted to "Phrygians" in Anatolia...
The ancient Greeks gradually occupied the Aegean territory from the end of the third or the beginning of the second millenium BC. But it is still not clear where the dwelt before this invasion, or, in other words, where the proto-Greek region lay. Study of toponyms shows clearly that this region lay approximately in north-western Greece.
The proofs are as follows:
1. Here the typical pre-Greek toponyms are lacking.
2. Almost all toponyms, especially the most important ones from this region are of Greek origin and they often show archaic Greek features (Thesprotia, Argos, Gonos, Tekmon, Aleron, Pinios, Pindhos, etc.)
3. The two common ancient Greek denomonations Elines and Grekoi originate from Epirus
4. The most charcteristic toponym in here is -argos- which occurs in this region four times: it means "the white town".
[...] some go so far as to call the whole of the country Macedonia, [refered to Epirus] as far as Corcyra, [Corfu] at the same time stating as their reason that in tonsure, language, short cloak, and other things of the kind, the usages of the inhabitants are similar [to those of Macedonia], although, they add, some speak both languages [Epirot and Macedonian, or Macedonian]. (Strabo).
What is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia. And it took its present name from Macedon, one of its early chieftains. And there was also a city Emathia close to the sea. Now a part of this country was taken and held by certain of the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, but most of it by the Bottiaei and the Thracians. (Strabo).
IDEA: By both accounts, it seems clear that the Macedonian language was in fact Epirot.
Ancient Greeks always considered Macedonians to be semi-barbarians.
IDEA: Maybe some account on the invasion of Egypt by the Sea Peoples can be excerpt from the ancient Greek myths. Inachus had Io as daughter, Zeus tried to seduce her, but he went/fleed to Egypt were she married Telegonus, the king of Egypt; her gransdon, Busiris, was slain by Herakles/Hercules (son of Zeus, conquerer and wanderer).
IDEA: Before the Dorians, the Thracians occupied Greece ? (by -1200).
Urnfield (-1300), with cremation and centered in the High Danube Bassin, spread to Poland as Lausitz culture, related to Illyrians and Venets. Expanded southwards to ancient Greece and Asia Minor.
IDEA: Such invasions pushed native tribes to invade the territories of their neighbours.
By -1150 Towns burned and come here Dorians, Beocians, Thessalians, etc that incinerated their dead. Their militar superiority was due that they mounted horses and used spears with iron, where Mycenians combated with chariots, axes and swords.
Longtemps on a cru que les Doriens avaient été les responsables de la destruction des citadelles mycéniennes. Forts de leurs armes de fer, ces Doriens auraient balayé le vieil univers achéen à la fin du II millénaire, introduisant entre autre en Grèce de nouvelles coutumes funéraires comme celle de l’incinération. Aujourd’hui on se rend compte que l’introduction du fer et de ces nouvelles coutumes funéraires est bien postérieure à -1200.
[...] for when the poet [Homerus] said "and all his companions Idomeneus [brother of Hellen] brought to Crete, all who escaped from the [Trojan] war, and the sea robbed him of none" (Strabo).
IDEA: Legendary Greek colonization of Crete around -1200.
Figurine of a knight mounting a horse in Greece dated of -950.
Homer "Iliad" composed by -700, first classical Greek book: the Iliad of Homer.
(explanation: Do not mix the modern "greeks" with the ancient ones; the today "greeks" don't have nothing in commun with the ancient ones)
À le Ve siècle, Thucydide, décrivant les opérations militaires durant la guerre du Péloponnèse, classe comme barbares toutes les populations de l’Épire, caractérisées par leur langue presque incompréhensible
Strabon (VII 7, 4), contemporain d’Auguste, considère que, pour le voyageur qui va d’Épidamne-Dyrrachion ou d’Apollonia vers Ohrid, le long de la via Egnatia, à main gauche sont des peuples illyriens, à main droite des peuples épirotes; il déplace ainsi très sensiblement la frontière entre monde civilisé et monde barbare, mais on remarque qu’il classe les Épirotes à part des Grecs proprement dits.
IDEA: so for the Ancient Greeks the Epirotian were related to Greek but was not pure Greek.
Then after this he [Croesus, a Lydian king] gave thought to inquire which people of the Hellenes he should esteem the most powerful and gain over to himself as friends. And inquiring he found that the Lacedemonians and the Athenians had the pre-eminence, the first of the Dorian and the others of the Ionian race. For these were the most eminent races in ancient time, the second being a Pelasgian and the first a Hellenic race: and the one never migrated from its place in any direction, while the other was very exceedingly given to wanderings; for in the reign of Deucalion this race dwelt in Pthiotis, and in the time of Doros the son of Hellen in the land lying below Ossa and Olympos, which is called Histiaiotis; and when it was driven from Histiaiotis by the sons of Cadmos, it dwelt in Pindos and was called Makednian; and thence it moved afterwards to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came finally to Peloponnesus, and began to be called Dorian. (Herodotus).
IDEA: The reference to Cadmos refers such happenings to be before the Trojan War (-1200).
The Macedonians, as they are called by all the ancient poets, and in the fragments of epic poetry, owed their name, as it was said, to an eponymous ancestor; according to some, this was Macednus, son of Lycaon, from whom the Arcadians were descended (Apollod. iii. 8. § 1), or Macedon, grandson of Aeolus [son of Hellen and forerunner of the Aeolians], according to Hesiod and Hellanicus. These, as well as the otherwise unsupported statement of Herodotus of the original identity of the Doric and Macednian (Macedonian) peoples, are merely various attempts to form a genealogical connection between this semi-barbarous people and the rest of the Hellenic race. [Hellen had Dorus as son, the forerunner of the Dorians].
IDEA: in the other side the Armenian and Phrygian first branches with Greek; and the homeland of the Phrygians was in actual Macedonia.
IDEA: and curiously the "Brygians" converted to "Phrygians" in Anatolia...
The ancient Greeks gradually occupied the Aegean territory from the end of the third or the beginning of the second millenium BC. But it is still not clear where the dwelt before this invasion, or, in other words, where the proto-Greek region lay. Study of toponyms shows clearly that this region lay approximately in north-western Greece.
The proofs are as follows:
1. Here the typical pre-Greek toponyms are lacking.
2. Almost all toponyms, especially the most important ones from this region are of Greek origin and they often show archaic Greek features (Thesprotia, Argos, Gonos, Tekmon, Aleron, Pinios, Pindhos, etc.)
3. The two common ancient Greek denomonations Elines and Grekoi originate from Epirus
4. The most charcteristic toponym in here is -argos- which occurs in this region four times: it means "the white town".
[...] some go so far as to call the whole of the country Macedonia, [refered to Epirus] as far as Corcyra, [Corfu] at the same time stating as their reason that in tonsure, language, short cloak, and other things of the kind, the usages of the inhabitants are similar [to those of Macedonia], although, they add, some speak both languages [Epirot and Macedonian, or Macedonian]. (Strabo).
What is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia. And it took its present name from Macedon, one of its early chieftains. And there was also a city Emathia close to the sea. Now a part of this country was taken and held by certain of the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, but most of it by the Bottiaei and the Thracians. (Strabo).
IDEA: By both accounts, it seems clear that the Macedonian language was in fact Epirot.
Ancient Greeks always considered Macedonians to be semi-barbarians.
IDEA: Maybe some account on the invasion of Egypt by the Sea Peoples can be excerpt from the ancient Greek myths. Inachus had Io as daughter, Zeus tried to seduce her, but he went/fleed to Egypt were she married Telegonus, the king of Egypt; her gransdon, Busiris, was slain by Herakles/Hercules (son of Zeus, conquerer and wanderer).
IDEA: Before the Dorians, the Thracians occupied Greece ? (by -1200).
Urnfield (-1300), with cremation and centered in the High Danube Bassin, spread to Poland as Lausitz culture, related to Illyrians and Venets. Expanded southwards to ancient Greece and Asia Minor.
IDEA: Such invasions pushed native tribes to invade the territories of their neighbours.
By -1150 Towns burned and come here Dorians, Beocians, Thessalians, etc that incinerated their dead. Their militar superiority was due that they mounted horses and used spears with iron, where Mycenians combated with chariots, axes and swords.
Longtemps on a cru que les Doriens avaient été les responsables de la destruction des citadelles mycéniennes. Forts de leurs armes de fer, ces Doriens auraient balayé le vieil univers achéen à la fin du II millénaire, introduisant entre autre en Grèce de nouvelles coutumes funéraires comme celle de l’incinération. Aujourd’hui on se rend compte que l’introduction du fer et de ces nouvelles coutumes funéraires est bien postérieure à -1200.
[...] for when the poet [Homerus] said "and all his companions Idomeneus [brother of Hellen] brought to Crete, all who escaped from the [Trojan] war, and the sea robbed him of none" (Strabo).
IDEA: Legendary Greek colonization of Crete around -1200.
Figurine of a knight mounting a horse in Greece dated of -950.
Homer "Iliad" composed by -700, first classical Greek book: the Iliad of Homer.
(explanation: Do not mix the modern "greeks" with the ancient ones; the today "greeks" don't have nothing in commun with the ancient ones)
ISSUES ABOUT PELASGIAN
ISSUES ABOUT PELASGIAN
From Greek mythology and legends: Uranus (sky) and Gea (earth) had as sons the Titans, some of them were Cronus (time) and Rhea/Cybeles; brother and daughter had Zeus as son. Zeus' boyhood was in Crete. Zeus had as son Minos [Minoans], the future foreign Cretan king. Atlas (grandson of Uranus and Gea) had a daughter named Taygete; she and Zeus had Lacedaemon as son, and this had Danae as grand-niece. Zeus and Danae had Perseus as son, the founder of Mycenas. Ocean (sea) son was Inachus (the first man in Argolis and who brought there humankind, the inventer of fire), he had as niece Niobe. Zeus and Niobe had as son Pelasgus [Pelasgians], this one had Lycaon as son, Lycaon had Macednus [Macedonians], Oenotrus [the Oenotrians were Epirotes] and Nyctimus as sons, and the latter had Hellen [Greeks] and Idomeneus [Cretans] as grandsons. Hellen's son was Aeolus [Aeolians], this Aeolus had two sons: Athamas [Epirotes] and Sisiphus, the last married with Merope, daughter of Atlas, and they had Bellophoron as grandson (the Greek hero that migrated to Lycia, slained Lycians, and conquered the Solymi).
IDEA: If we see Zeus as a mythic hero who spook an indoeuropean language, and his wives or lovers as the representants of the native populations, such myths would record ancient conquers, languages, and ethnic relations. Otherwise it is known that the classics liked much to fabulate and embellish... (much more even the "dark" espisodes of their own heroes as were plunderings, rapes, impity, etc.).
Pausanias, Description of Greece book 8: The Arcadians say that Pelasgus was the first inhabitant of this land [Peloponnesus].
Herodotus, The Histories: "These races, Ionian and Dorian, were the foremost in ancient time, the first a Pelasgian and the second a Hellenic people. The Pelasgian race has never yet left its home; the Hellenic has wandered often and far. For in the days of king Deucalion it inhabited the land of Phthia, then the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and Olympus, in the time of Dorus son of Hellen; driven from this Histiaean country by the Cadmeans [Phoenicians], it settled about Pindus in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into the Peloponnese, where it took the name of Dorian." (the localities mentioned in the story of the migration into the Peloponnese are all in northern Greece).
IDEA: That would confirm an European and Indoeuropean origin of the original Phoenicians. It could be that the Pelasgians represented also Greek nations before -1200 ?
What language the Pelasgians spoke I cannot say definitely. But if one may judge by those that still remain of the Pelasgians who live above the Tyrrheni in the city of Creston--who were once neighbors of the people now called Dorians, and at that time inhabited the country which now is called Thessalian-- and of the Pelasgians who inhabited Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont, who came to live among the Athenians, and by other towns too which were once Pelasgian and afterwards took a different name: if, as I said, one may judge by these, the Pelasgians spoke a language which was not Greek. If, then, all the Pelasgian stock spoke so, then the Attic nation, being of Pelasgian blood, must have changed its language too at the time when it became part of the Hellenes. For the people of Creston and Placia have a language of their own in common, which is not the language of their neighbors; and it is plain that they still preserve the manner of speech which they brought with them in their migration into the places where they live.
IDEA: Again a possible reference that Attic Greek was Pelasgian, and then that the Pelasgian language might have been identified with the Greek of Linear B, a dialectal Greek rather primitive.
Even a "deciphered" Linear B text is often largely or completely unintelligible because the Mycenaean Greek words have no cognates in later Greek. The decipherers argue that such Mycenaean words dropped out of the Greek language at some point between -1200 and -650. In a number of instances where such later Greek cognates do exist, the Mycenaean Greek predecessor clearly means something rather different, an indication, or so the skeptics argue, that the language of Linear B is being forced to become Greek.
IDEA: That point that for a classic Greek the Linear B Greek would be almost unintelligible, so considering these "Greeks" as barbars: no-Greeks.
Strabo: "As for the Pelsagi, almost all agree, in the first place, that some ancient tribe of that name spread throughout the whole of Greece, and particularly among the Aeolians of Thessaly. Again, Ephorus says that he is of the opinion that, since they were originally Arcadians, they chose a military life, and that, in converting many peoples to the same mode of life, they imparted their name to all, and thus acquired great glory, not only among the Greeks, but also among all other people whithersoever they had chanced to come [then were not considerated to be Greeks]. For example, they prove to have been colonisers of Crete, as Homer says; at any rate, Odysseus says to Penelope: 'But one tongue with others is mixed; there dwell Achaeans, there Cretans of the old stock, proud of heart, there Cydonians, and Dorians too, of waving plumes, and goodly Pelasgians.' And Thessaly is called 'the Pelasgian Argos' (I mean that part of it which lies between the outlets of the Peneius River and Thermopylae as far as the mountainous country of Pindus), on account of the fact that the Pelasgi extended their rule over these regions. Further, the Dodonaean Zeus is by the poet himself named 'Pelasgian': 'O Lord Zeus, Dodonaean, Pelasgian.' And many have called also the tribes of Epirus 'Pelasgian' because in their opinion the Pelasgi extended their rule even as far as that. And, further, because many of the heroes were called 'Pelasgi' by name, the people of later times have, from those heroes, applied the name to many of the tribes; for example, they have called the island of Lesbos 'Pelasgia' and Homer has called 'Pelasgi' the people that were neighbours to those Cilicians [here a clear indication of ethnic kindship among Lycians and Cilicians which spook Anatolian IE languages] who lived in the Troad: 'And Hippothous led the tribes of spear-fighting Pelasgi, those Pelasgi who inhabited deep-soiled Larissa.' But Ephorus' authority for the statement that this race originated in Arcadia was Hesiod; for Hesiod says: 'And sons were born of god-like Lycaon, who, on a time, was begotten by Pelasgus.' Again, Aeschylus, in his Suppliants, or else his Danaan Women, says that the race of the Pelasgi originated in that Argos which is round about Mycenae. And the Peloponnesus too, according to Ephorus, was called 'Pelasgia'. And Euripides too, in his Archelaus, says: 'Danaus, the father of fifty daughters, on coming into Argos, took up his abode in the city of Inachus, and throughout Greece he laid down a law that all people hitherto named Pelasgians were to be called Danaans'. And again, Anticleides says that they were the first to settle the regions round about Lemnos and Imbros, and indeed that some of these sailed away to Italy with Tyrrhenus the son of Atys. And the compilers of the histories of The Land of Atthis give accounts of the Pelasgi, believing that the Pelasgi were in fact at Athens too, although the Pelasgi were by the Attic people called 'Pelargi', the compilers add, because they were wanderers and, like birds, resorted to those places whither chance led them."
IDEA: more tracks as to consider the Pelasgians as the bearers of the Lineal B Greek language, that Pelasgus was the father of Lycaon (from him the Greek Lycaones), and that the Pelasgians were in fact Archadians, the original Greek settlers in the Peloponnesus, which conserved much of their original Greek dialect; or the fact that the semi-Greek semi-Bartbarian Epirotes were refered to be Pelasgians.
The Ionians furnished a hundred ships, and were equipped like Hellenes. Now the Ionians, so long time as they dwelt in the Peloponnese, in the land which is now called Achaia, and before the time when Danaos and Xuthos came to the Peloponnese, were called, as the Hellenes report, Pelasgians of the Coast-land, and then Ionians after Ion the son of Xuthos. The islanders furnished seventeen ships, and were armed like Hellenes, this also being a Pelasgian race, though afterwards it came to be called Ionian by the same rule as the Ionians of the twelve cities, who came from Athens. The Aiolians supplied sixty ships; and these were equipped like Hellenes and used to be called Pelasgians in the old time, as the Hellenes report. (Herodotus).
IDEA: It seems quite clear, the unique populations that dwelt in Greece and in the coast of Western Turkey and adjacent islands were the Greek-related nation of the Achaeans, since the Hellenes (Dorians) occupied the lands of these and no others.
As for the Hellenic race, it has used ever the same language, as I clearly perceive, since it first took its rise; but since the time when it parted off feeble at first from the Pelasgian race [so was part of the Pelasgian stock to him], setting forth from a small beginning it has increased to that great number of races which we see, and chiefly because many Barbarian races have been added to it besides. Moreover it is true, as I think, of the Pelasgian race also [that they became Doric-speakers], that so far as it remained Barbarian [not integrated in the Hellenic nation] it never made any great increase. (Herodotus).
IDEA: That is logic since the Pelasgians, being or not of a Greek phylia, became Hellenic excepting some exceptional cases.
The Sinti, a Thracian tribe, inhabited the island Lemnos; and from this fact Homer calls them Sinties; also the island was first settled by the Thracians who were called Sinties according to Strabo.
Diodorus Siculus, Library: The Arcadians alone of the Greeks had never acknowledged Philip's leadership nor did they now recognize that of Alexander. (3.48)
Herodotus, The Histories: But the Hellenic stock, it seems clear to me, has always had the same language since its beginning; yet being, when separated from the Pelasgians, few in number, they have grown from a small beginning to comprise a multitude of nations, chiefly because the Pelasgians and many other foreign peoples united themselves with them.
IDEA: Such account would confirm the filiation between Pelasgian and Greek, and also would point to a Epiro-Macedonian connexion.
The acropolis of the Argives is said to have been founded by Danaüs, who is reputed to have surpassed so much those who reigned in this region before him that, according to Euripides "throughout Greece he laid down a law that all people hitherto named Pelasgians should be called Danaans." (Strabo). And, thirdly, Greece as a whole; at any rate, he [Homer] calls all Greeks Argives, just as he calls them Danaans and Achaeans. (Strabo).
That the Pelasgians were a great tribe is said also to be the testimony of history in general: Menecrates of Elaea, at any rate, in his work On the Founding of Cities, says that the whole of what is now the Ionian coast, beginning at Mycale, as also the neighboring islands, were in earlier times inhabited by Pelasgians. (Strabo).
But the Pelasgian race, ever wandering and quick to migrate, greatly increased and then rapidly disappeared, particularly at the time of the migration of the Aeolians and Ionians to Asia [then by -1200]. (Strabo).
IDEA: Or was swallowed by the constant flow of the akin Dorics in Greece... because such areas were occupied by Mycenic Achaeans, and it is pointed that the Pelasgian was a language akin to Greek (Macedonio-Epirot).
The Lydians, on the other hand, are expressly stated to have had nothing in common with the Pelasgians (Dion. i. 30), and all we know of them points to more eastern countries as their original home.
PELASGIANS were not ANATOLIAN IE
Herodotus: of the Pelasgians who inhabited Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont [...].
IDEA: As seen in the section for Italy, almost all Italy received legendary Trojans: Rome, Sicily, Liguria, Padania, Crotone... that leads to think that such Trojans were in fact Pelasgians because almost there is an overlaping Trojan - Pelasgian factor in Italy: Agelly, Elymi, Siculi, Oenotri, etc.
In Samothrake Island, Herodotus mentions Pelasgians inhabiting there, which were the Tyrsenoi.
Herodotus describes actual Pelasgians surviving and mutually intelligible at Placie and Scylace on the Asiatic shore of the Hellespont, and near Creston on the Strymon [N. Greece]; in the latter area they had Tyrrhenian neighbors. In Lemnos and Imbros he describes a Pelasgian population who were only conquered by Athens shortly before -500 BC.
The stele found in Lemnos is written in an alphabet similar to taht of the Etruscans; moreover the endings correspond to those of Etruscan and Raethian, along with some recognized lexic: avs - avil - year, opuien - puia - to marry/wife...
IDEA: The adscription that the Pelasgians were the same people that the Tyrrhenians could have been based in the assumption that the isolated languages spoken in Lemnos and the Troad were the ancient Pelasgian, but if Lydian was not spoken in Strabo's time, and Leleges were in the Aegean Sea and in the Troad, it is not good to suppose that in fact they were dealing with and ancient Anatolian Indoeuropean language ?
The stories about Pelasgians sailing to Crete may well be fantasy (though it is historically quite possible that Pelasgians fled from Greece before the Greeks).
And of the natives of the various other towns which are really Pelasgian, though they have lost the name,-if one must pronounce judging by these, the Pelasgians used to speak a Barbarian language. If therefore all the Pelasgian race was such as these, then the Attic race, being Pelasgian, at the same time when it changed and became Hellenic, unlearnt also its language. (Herodotus).
Pelasgian language was not understood by Achaeans. Herodot was Achaean himself (he was born in the Ionic city of Halicarnassus), but he wrote: "...We can conclude that Pelasgians spoke a barbarian language... Even now the citizens of Creston and Plakia speak another language, different from their neighbours'... But what about Hellenic tribes, to my mind, they always spoke one language." (I, 57-58.) That means Herodot could not understand Pelasgian and considered Pelasgian to be barbarian language, together with Lydian, Phoenician or Thracian.
INFO: Herodotus himslef proclaimed that Achaeans might have changed their ancient language since they spoke Dorian / Hellenic by his time.
IDEA: Moreover Herodotus could have confussed a not recognizable language as Pelasgian even being it not related to it: he mentions two cities of the Troad, but more easy would be to mention Epirotes per example.
The daughters of Danaos were they who brought this rite out of Egypt and taught it to the women of the Pelasgians; then afterwards when all the inhabitants of Peloponnese were driven out by the Dorians, the rite was lost, and only those who were left behind of the Peloponnesians and not driven out, that is to say the Arcadians, preserved it. (Herodot).
IDEA: Since Arcadians were clearly a Pelasgian tribe, and since they spoke Greek, what would be the situation of an Arcadian hearing Pelasgian ?
From Greek mythology and legends: Uranus (sky) and Gea (earth) had as sons the Titans, some of them were Cronus (time) and Rhea/Cybeles; brother and daughter had Zeus as son. Zeus' boyhood was in Crete. Zeus had as son Minos [Minoans], the future foreign Cretan king. Atlas (grandson of Uranus and Gea) had a daughter named Taygete; she and Zeus had Lacedaemon as son, and this had Danae as grand-niece. Zeus and Danae had Perseus as son, the founder of Mycenas. Ocean (sea) son was Inachus (the first man in Argolis and who brought there humankind, the inventer of fire), he had as niece Niobe. Zeus and Niobe had as son Pelasgus [Pelasgians], this one had Lycaon as son, Lycaon had Macednus [Macedonians], Oenotrus [the Oenotrians were Epirotes] and Nyctimus as sons, and the latter had Hellen [Greeks] and Idomeneus [Cretans] as grandsons. Hellen's son was Aeolus [Aeolians], this Aeolus had two sons: Athamas [Epirotes] and Sisiphus, the last married with Merope, daughter of Atlas, and they had Bellophoron as grandson (the Greek hero that migrated to Lycia, slained Lycians, and conquered the Solymi).
IDEA: If we see Zeus as a mythic hero who spook an indoeuropean language, and his wives or lovers as the representants of the native populations, such myths would record ancient conquers, languages, and ethnic relations. Otherwise it is known that the classics liked much to fabulate and embellish... (much more even the "dark" espisodes of their own heroes as were plunderings, rapes, impity, etc.).
Pausanias, Description of Greece book 8: The Arcadians say that Pelasgus was the first inhabitant of this land [Peloponnesus].
Herodotus, The Histories: "These races, Ionian and Dorian, were the foremost in ancient time, the first a Pelasgian and the second a Hellenic people. The Pelasgian race has never yet left its home; the Hellenic has wandered often and far. For in the days of king Deucalion it inhabited the land of Phthia, then the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and Olympus, in the time of Dorus son of Hellen; driven from this Histiaean country by the Cadmeans [Phoenicians], it settled about Pindus in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into the Peloponnese, where it took the name of Dorian." (the localities mentioned in the story of the migration into the Peloponnese are all in northern Greece).
IDEA: That would confirm an European and Indoeuropean origin of the original Phoenicians. It could be that the Pelasgians represented also Greek nations before -1200 ?
What language the Pelasgians spoke I cannot say definitely. But if one may judge by those that still remain of the Pelasgians who live above the Tyrrheni in the city of Creston--who were once neighbors of the people now called Dorians, and at that time inhabited the country which now is called Thessalian-- and of the Pelasgians who inhabited Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont, who came to live among the Athenians, and by other towns too which were once Pelasgian and afterwards took a different name: if, as I said, one may judge by these, the Pelasgians spoke a language which was not Greek. If, then, all the Pelasgian stock spoke so, then the Attic nation, being of Pelasgian blood, must have changed its language too at the time when it became part of the Hellenes. For the people of Creston and Placia have a language of their own in common, which is not the language of their neighbors; and it is plain that they still preserve the manner of speech which they brought with them in their migration into the places where they live.
IDEA: Again a possible reference that Attic Greek was Pelasgian, and then that the Pelasgian language might have been identified with the Greek of Linear B, a dialectal Greek rather primitive.
Even a "deciphered" Linear B text is often largely or completely unintelligible because the Mycenaean Greek words have no cognates in later Greek. The decipherers argue that such Mycenaean words dropped out of the Greek language at some point between -1200 and -650. In a number of instances where such later Greek cognates do exist, the Mycenaean Greek predecessor clearly means something rather different, an indication, or so the skeptics argue, that the language of Linear B is being forced to become Greek.
IDEA: That point that for a classic Greek the Linear B Greek would be almost unintelligible, so considering these "Greeks" as barbars: no-Greeks.
Strabo: "As for the Pelsagi, almost all agree, in the first place, that some ancient tribe of that name spread throughout the whole of Greece, and particularly among the Aeolians of Thessaly. Again, Ephorus says that he is of the opinion that, since they were originally Arcadians, they chose a military life, and that, in converting many peoples to the same mode of life, they imparted their name to all, and thus acquired great glory, not only among the Greeks, but also among all other people whithersoever they had chanced to come [then were not considerated to be Greeks]. For example, they prove to have been colonisers of Crete, as Homer says; at any rate, Odysseus says to Penelope: 'But one tongue with others is mixed; there dwell Achaeans, there Cretans of the old stock, proud of heart, there Cydonians, and Dorians too, of waving plumes, and goodly Pelasgians.' And Thessaly is called 'the Pelasgian Argos' (I mean that part of it which lies between the outlets of the Peneius River and Thermopylae as far as the mountainous country of Pindus), on account of the fact that the Pelasgi extended their rule over these regions. Further, the Dodonaean Zeus is by the poet himself named 'Pelasgian': 'O Lord Zeus, Dodonaean, Pelasgian.' And many have called also the tribes of Epirus 'Pelasgian' because in their opinion the Pelasgi extended their rule even as far as that. And, further, because many of the heroes were called 'Pelasgi' by name, the people of later times have, from those heroes, applied the name to many of the tribes; for example, they have called the island of Lesbos 'Pelasgia' and Homer has called 'Pelasgi' the people that were neighbours to those Cilicians [here a clear indication of ethnic kindship among Lycians and Cilicians which spook Anatolian IE languages] who lived in the Troad: 'And Hippothous led the tribes of spear-fighting Pelasgi, those Pelasgi who inhabited deep-soiled Larissa.' But Ephorus' authority for the statement that this race originated in Arcadia was Hesiod; for Hesiod says: 'And sons were born of god-like Lycaon, who, on a time, was begotten by Pelasgus.' Again, Aeschylus, in his Suppliants, or else his Danaan Women, says that the race of the Pelasgi originated in that Argos which is round about Mycenae. And the Peloponnesus too, according to Ephorus, was called 'Pelasgia'. And Euripides too, in his Archelaus, says: 'Danaus, the father of fifty daughters, on coming into Argos, took up his abode in the city of Inachus, and throughout Greece he laid down a law that all people hitherto named Pelasgians were to be called Danaans'. And again, Anticleides says that they were the first to settle the regions round about Lemnos and Imbros, and indeed that some of these sailed away to Italy with Tyrrhenus the son of Atys. And the compilers of the histories of The Land of Atthis give accounts of the Pelasgi, believing that the Pelasgi were in fact at Athens too, although the Pelasgi were by the Attic people called 'Pelargi', the compilers add, because they were wanderers and, like birds, resorted to those places whither chance led them."
IDEA: more tracks as to consider the Pelasgians as the bearers of the Lineal B Greek language, that Pelasgus was the father of Lycaon (from him the Greek Lycaones), and that the Pelasgians were in fact Archadians, the original Greek settlers in the Peloponnesus, which conserved much of their original Greek dialect; or the fact that the semi-Greek semi-Bartbarian Epirotes were refered to be Pelasgians.
The Ionians furnished a hundred ships, and were equipped like Hellenes. Now the Ionians, so long time as they dwelt in the Peloponnese, in the land which is now called Achaia, and before the time when Danaos and Xuthos came to the Peloponnese, were called, as the Hellenes report, Pelasgians of the Coast-land, and then Ionians after Ion the son of Xuthos. The islanders furnished seventeen ships, and were armed like Hellenes, this also being a Pelasgian race, though afterwards it came to be called Ionian by the same rule as the Ionians of the twelve cities, who came from Athens. The Aiolians supplied sixty ships; and these were equipped like Hellenes and used to be called Pelasgians in the old time, as the Hellenes report. (Herodotus).
IDEA: It seems quite clear, the unique populations that dwelt in Greece and in the coast of Western Turkey and adjacent islands were the Greek-related nation of the Achaeans, since the Hellenes (Dorians) occupied the lands of these and no others.
As for the Hellenic race, it has used ever the same language, as I clearly perceive, since it first took its rise; but since the time when it parted off feeble at first from the Pelasgian race [so was part of the Pelasgian stock to him], setting forth from a small beginning it has increased to that great number of races which we see, and chiefly because many Barbarian races have been added to it besides. Moreover it is true, as I think, of the Pelasgian race also [that they became Doric-speakers], that so far as it remained Barbarian [not integrated in the Hellenic nation] it never made any great increase. (Herodotus).
IDEA: That is logic since the Pelasgians, being or not of a Greek phylia, became Hellenic excepting some exceptional cases.
The Sinti, a Thracian tribe, inhabited the island Lemnos; and from this fact Homer calls them Sinties; also the island was first settled by the Thracians who were called Sinties according to Strabo.
Diodorus Siculus, Library: The Arcadians alone of the Greeks had never acknowledged Philip's leadership nor did they now recognize that of Alexander. (3.48)
Herodotus, The Histories: But the Hellenic stock, it seems clear to me, has always had the same language since its beginning; yet being, when separated from the Pelasgians, few in number, they have grown from a small beginning to comprise a multitude of nations, chiefly because the Pelasgians and many other foreign peoples united themselves with them.
IDEA: Such account would confirm the filiation between Pelasgian and Greek, and also would point to a Epiro-Macedonian connexion.
The acropolis of the Argives is said to have been founded by Danaüs, who is reputed to have surpassed so much those who reigned in this region before him that, according to Euripides "throughout Greece he laid down a law that all people hitherto named Pelasgians should be called Danaans." (Strabo). And, thirdly, Greece as a whole; at any rate, he [Homer] calls all Greeks Argives, just as he calls them Danaans and Achaeans. (Strabo).
That the Pelasgians were a great tribe is said also to be the testimony of history in general: Menecrates of Elaea, at any rate, in his work On the Founding of Cities, says that the whole of what is now the Ionian coast, beginning at Mycale, as also the neighboring islands, were in earlier times inhabited by Pelasgians. (Strabo).
But the Pelasgian race, ever wandering and quick to migrate, greatly increased and then rapidly disappeared, particularly at the time of the migration of the Aeolians and Ionians to Asia [then by -1200]. (Strabo).
IDEA: Or was swallowed by the constant flow of the akin Dorics in Greece... because such areas were occupied by Mycenic Achaeans, and it is pointed that the Pelasgian was a language akin to Greek (Macedonio-Epirot).
The Lydians, on the other hand, are expressly stated to have had nothing in common with the Pelasgians (Dion. i. 30), and all we know of them points to more eastern countries as their original home.
PELASGIANS were not ANATOLIAN IE
Herodotus: of the Pelasgians who inhabited Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont [...].
IDEA: As seen in the section for Italy, almost all Italy received legendary Trojans: Rome, Sicily, Liguria, Padania, Crotone... that leads to think that such Trojans were in fact Pelasgians because almost there is an overlaping Trojan - Pelasgian factor in Italy: Agelly, Elymi, Siculi, Oenotri, etc.
In Samothrake Island, Herodotus mentions Pelasgians inhabiting there, which were the Tyrsenoi.
Herodotus describes actual Pelasgians surviving and mutually intelligible at Placie and Scylace on the Asiatic shore of the Hellespont, and near Creston on the Strymon [N. Greece]; in the latter area they had Tyrrhenian neighbors. In Lemnos and Imbros he describes a Pelasgian population who were only conquered by Athens shortly before -500 BC.
The stele found in Lemnos is written in an alphabet similar to taht of the Etruscans; moreover the endings correspond to those of Etruscan and Raethian, along with some recognized lexic: avs - avil - year, opuien - puia - to marry/wife...
IDEA: The adscription that the Pelasgians were the same people that the Tyrrhenians could have been based in the assumption that the isolated languages spoken in Lemnos and the Troad were the ancient Pelasgian, but if Lydian was not spoken in Strabo's time, and Leleges were in the Aegean Sea and in the Troad, it is not good to suppose that in fact they were dealing with and ancient Anatolian Indoeuropean language ?
The stories about Pelasgians sailing to Crete may well be fantasy (though it is historically quite possible that Pelasgians fled from Greece before the Greeks).
And of the natives of the various other towns which are really Pelasgian, though they have lost the name,-if one must pronounce judging by these, the Pelasgians used to speak a Barbarian language. If therefore all the Pelasgian race was such as these, then the Attic race, being Pelasgian, at the same time when it changed and became Hellenic, unlearnt also its language. (Herodotus).
Pelasgian language was not understood by Achaeans. Herodot was Achaean himself (he was born in the Ionic city of Halicarnassus), but he wrote: "...We can conclude that Pelasgians spoke a barbarian language... Even now the citizens of Creston and Plakia speak another language, different from their neighbours'... But what about Hellenic tribes, to my mind, they always spoke one language." (I, 57-58.) That means Herodot could not understand Pelasgian and considered Pelasgian to be barbarian language, together with Lydian, Phoenician or Thracian.
INFO: Herodotus himslef proclaimed that Achaeans might have changed their ancient language since they spoke Dorian / Hellenic by his time.
IDEA: Moreover Herodotus could have confussed a not recognizable language as Pelasgian even being it not related to it: he mentions two cities of the Troad, but more easy would be to mention Epirotes per example.
The daughters of Danaos were they who brought this rite out of Egypt and taught it to the women of the Pelasgians; then afterwards when all the inhabitants of Peloponnese were driven out by the Dorians, the rite was lost, and only those who were left behind of the Peloponnesians and not driven out, that is to say the Arcadians, preserved it. (Herodot).
IDEA: Since Arcadians were clearly a Pelasgian tribe, and since they spoke Greek, what would be the situation of an Arcadian hearing Pelasgian ?
BALKANS AND ILLYRIAN-THRACIAN GROUPS
BALKANS AND PONTIC AREA
ILLYRIAN GROUPS
Septentrioanl Balkanic would include Dacian, Thracian, Illyrian, Messapian, and Venet, and would have some similar isoglosses with Baltic and Slav.
Thraco-Illyro-Phrygians, settled on Balkan peninsula. It took place in the XXIIIth or the XXIIth century BC. Scientists believe it was the time of linguistic unity of all Balkan peoples. Later they divided into two groups: Thraco-Illyrian and Thraco-Phrygian, the first spread to all Balkan mountains, Illyria, Pannonia, Dacia and parts of Italy, the second existed in South-East Balkans and partly in Asia Minor. Modern Albanian means everything that left after the first group, whether it is the direct successor of Illyrian language or just related to it.
Isolated Illyrian tribes deep into hinterland shared with the Thracian tribes the custom of tattooing their bodies and of offering human sacrifices.
-2000/-1200 Proto-Illyrians in former Yugoslavia. This is the group ancestral to Istri, Dalmatians, Pannonians and other Illyrian language family tribes, listed starting in -1200.
MAP: Click here to open a new window displaying a map of the linguistic communities in the Balkans in the Bronze Age.
Vucedol est formée par la fusion de Baden-Kostolac avec des sépultures à catacombes venus du nord-est. Ces peuples de cavaliers portaient des haches de combat de section polygonales et des couteaux losangiques en cuivre. Ils utilisaient des poteries noires polies (parfois avec des anses) décorées de signes solaires (cercles concentriques) incisés, pointillés et sillonnés. Leurs descendants étaient connus dans l'antiquité sous le nom de "Vénètes" en Italie du nord-est et en Slovénie. Plusieurs tribus issues de la culture de Vucedol partiront envahir l'Italie. Ces hommes, appelés "italiotes" ou "italiques", seront les ancètres directs des latins (Romains et Falisques) et des osco-ombriens.
Vucedol culture: in Croatia, Hungary, Bosnia, Austria, Czech Rep., Slovenia, Slovakia, and Germany, where men and womed were buried toguether along offers. From there surely came the Apenine Culture of Italy.
In Vucedol the tumular burials were replaced slowly by simple inhumations and cremations.
Since -1400 Illyrians in the Balkans.
-1500 Pannonians in north Croatia.
About -1300 the Illyrians settled on the northern and eastern coasts of the Adriatic Sea. Included among its members were various tribes of Dalmatians and the Pannonians. Those of Illyrians who crossed the Adriatic and settled in Italy spoke the Messapic language.
IDEA: The Wends in Germany, the Venets in Brittany then could be linked with the dispersal of Illyrian peoples with the Urnfield.
In Croatia -1200/-700 Urnfield Culture with cremation and weapons inside urns.
IDEA: Such culture might have carried Illyrian there ?
The Illyrians were Indo-European tribesmen who appeared in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula about -1000, a period coinciding with the end of the Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age. They inhabited much of the area for at least the next millennium. Archaeologists associate the Illyrians with the Hallstatt culture, an Iron Age people noted for production of iron and bronze swords with winged-shaped handles and for domestication of horses. All the western part of the Balkan Peninsula was considered, until recently, inhabited by the Illyrians. Basing on the latest researches, some scientists distinguish Dalmatians and Pannonians from Illyrians, although their languages were close or just Illyrian dialects. They also make the difference between Istrians and Liburnians who are close to the Venetians, having lived in present Northern Italy.
In about -1300 Illyrian and Venetic groups (or one group which was later divided into two) started migrating to the south, from Pannonia (modern Hungary) to Dalmatia (modern Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia).
Urnfield (-1300), with cremation, spreads to Poland as the Lausitz culture; related to Illyrians and Venets. Secondary expansion to Greece, Asia Minor, Lacio, SE France, Catalonia, Netherland, and Dover area.
IDEA: That would point to an Illyrian occupation of Dalmatia around such epoch.
After having many children, Cadmus and Harmonia left Thebes in order to defend the Encheleans, a people living in southern Illyria, which is the region north of Epirus, and there defeated the Illyrian intruders.
IDEA: So by the time of Cadmus (some two centuries before the Trojan Wars), there is attested the presence of Illyrians north of Greece, at least in legends.
ILYRIANS: Utilisation de tumuli comme lieux de sépulture jusqu’au début de l’ère chrétienne est caractéristique de ces populations. Objets déposés là sont bijoux, armes et monnaies. La grande difficulté pour la connaissance de l’histoire des Illyriens tient à l’absence de texte écrit en langue illyrienne.
Sufficient is not known either of the language or customs of the Illyrians, by which their race may be ascertained. The most accurate among the ancient writers have always distinguished them as a separate nation, or group of nations, from both the Thracians and Epirots. In the practice of tattooing their bodies, and offering human sacrifices, the Illyrians resembled the Thracians.
IDEA: as the Illyrians do not appear in history before the PeloponnesianWar, it seems that the classics before that might have taken Illyrians as Thracians... Otherwise similar customs could have in fact a substrate origin.
After Illyrians began their movement to the south from the Danube valley, Phrygian tribes which probably came to the Balkans together with some branches of the Hellenic group were forced to leave their settlements and start the migration which was to play an important role in Anatolia. At first they lived in the northern Balkans, contacting with Thracians, Illyrians and Doric Greeks, and now had to cross the Bosporus and to settle in West Asia Minor, among non-Indo-European tribes who lived in Troy and other towns here.
DALMATIANS = PANNONIANS = ILLYRIANS
-1500/-1200 Liburni in Istria
Appian, The Foreign Wars: "The Liburni, another Illyrian tribe, were next to the Ardiæi as a nautical people". In another text: "At the time when Cæsar held the command in Gaul these same Dalmatians and other Illyrians, who were then in a very prosperous condition, took the city of Promona from the Liburni, another Illyrian tribe." And also: "They were supplanted by the Taulantii, an Illyrian tribe, who were displaced in their turn by the Liburnians, another Illyrian tribe, who were in the habit of making piratical expeditions against their neighbors, with very swift ships."
LIBURNIANS = ILLYRIANS
Corcyra [Korfu], before the Greeks took possession of it, was peopled by them. (Strab. vi. p. 269.) So was Issa and the neighbouring islands. (Schol. ad Apollon. iv. 564.). They were also considerably extended to the N., for Noricum, it is evident, had been previously inhabited by Liburnian tribes; for the Vindelicians were Liburnians (Serv. ad Viry. Aen. i. 243), and Strabo (iv. p. 206) makes a distinction between them and the Breuni and Genauni, whom he calls Illyrians. The words of Virgil, too, seem distinctly to term the Veneti Liburnians, for the innermost realm of the Liburnians must have been the goal at which Antenor is said to have arrived.
LIBURNIANS were not [pure] ILLYRIANS
IDEA: By such accounts the Liburnians together with Veneti expelled from North Italy (or subjugated) the native tribes, the Euganei.
At Ancona begins the coast of that part of Gaul known as Gallia Togata [North Italy, Po Bassin]. The Siculi [Epiro-Macedonians, also Pelasgians] and the Liburni possessed the greater part of this district [since -1200, as the presence of Illyrians and Epirotes is posterior to the Trojan War], and more particularly the territories of Palma, of Praetutia, and of Adria. These were expelled by the Umbri [Italics, as Urnfield invader, -1000], these again by the Etrurians [around -600, the colonists will be known as Raethians], and these in their turn by the Gauls [by -400, Celtics that will be the dominant ethnic element in the Po Basin at the arrival of the Romans]. (Pliny).
Ptolomey in the II Century: Illyrian tribe in Albania named "Albanians".
Après les invasions gothiques, puis l’arrivée des Slaves du Sud, se développe, en Albanie septentrionale notamment, la civilisation dite de Koman. Celle-ci est surtout remarquable par les bijoux, fibules, agrafes, qui témoignent de la permanence d’une technique du métal et d’un art de la décoration apparentés aux productions illyriennes antérieures
IDEA: So Illyrian as say many scholars have the unique descendant left in Albanian.
Many Illyrian names have been preserved in Albanian language: Didi=Dede, Lalus=Lala, Dassios=Dash, Bardhyllis=Bardhan, Bardhosh, etc. Even such names could be explained by Albanian etymology: Bardhyllis=bardhë+yllis=white star, or Bardibalus=bardi+balus=white forehead.
The Illyrian origins of Albanian can now be proven only with the use of lexical similarities of modern Albanian words with what was found of the Illyrian glossary, some Illyrian - Albanian correspondences: buris / burrë "man"; datan / datë "place"; drenis / dreni "deer"; pupa / pupë "hill"; rera / lera "stones".
Modern Albanians still use the vigesimal numeric system of ancient Illyrians.
Arutiunov: the only remnant of Illyrian is Albanian.
Strabo, Geography: The [Thracian] Bessi live in huts and lead a wretched life; and their country borders on Mount Rhodope, on the country of the Paeonians, and on that of two Illyrian peoples-the Autariatae, and the Dardanians.
DARDANIANS (around modern Kosovo) = ILLYRIANS
According to HOLLIS, the Illyrian languages include the Messapian and Venetic language.
Strabo: "And further, the Iapodes (we now come to this mixed tribe of Illyrii and Celti) dwell round about these regions [west Slovenia]; and Mount Ocra is near these people. The Iapodes, then, although formerly they were well supplied with strong men and held as their homeland both sides of the mountain and by their business of piracy held sway over these regions, have been vanquished and completely outdone by Augustus Caesar. Their cities are: Metulum, Arupini, Monetium, and Vendo. After the Iapodes comes Segestica, a city in the plain, past which flows the River Saüs [Sava], which empties into the Ister."
Les Alpes s'étendent jusqu'au pays des Iapodes, nation tout à la fois celtique et illyrienne. [Strabo, Book VII, 31]
Les Iapodes sont établis près de l'Albie, très haute montagne qui se trouve à l'extrémité des Alpes, et vont d'un côté jusqu'aux Pannonies et à Pister, de l'autre jusqu'à l'Adrias. ils sont tatoués tout comme les autres Illyries et les Thraces. [Strabo, Book VII, 33]
IAPODES = ILLYRIAN TRIBE (but Celtized)
Appian, The Foreign Wars: They are called Pæones [Paeones] by the Greeks, but Pannonians by the Romans.
Paeones: They appear neither as Macedonians, or Illyrians, but professed to be descended from the Teucri of Troy.
Next followed the Paeonians, who occupied both banks of the Strymon, from its source down to the lake near its mouth, but were pushed away from the coast towards the interior. (Strabo).
"But who," he [Darius] answered, "are the Paeonians, and where do they dwell, and with what intent have you come to Sardis? [in Lydia]" They told him, that they had come to be his men, that the towns of Paeonia lay on the Strymon, a river not far from the Hellespont, and that they were colonists from the Teucrians of Troy. (Herodotus).
Appian, The Foreign Wars: "Among the many myths prevailing among many peoples this seems to me the most plausible. Illyrius had six sons, Encheleus, Autarieus, Dardanus, Maedus, Taulas, and Perrhaebus, also daughters, Partho, Daortho, Dassaro, and others, from whom sprang the Taulantii, the Perrhaebi, the Enchelees, the Autarienses, the Dardani, the Partheni, the Dassaretii, and the Darsii. Autarieus had a son Pannonius, or Paeon, and the latter had sons, Scordiscus and Triballus, from whom nations bearing similar names were derived. But I will leave these matters to the archaeologists."
ILLYRIANS = DARDANIANS = PAEONES/PANNONIANS
Francisco Villar: The Paeonian was IE; per example in its sonority of aspired sonors (*bh, *dh, etc. /b/, /d/, etc.), and in names as Agrianes, Paeonian tribe (from *agro- ‘field’, as the Latin ager) or in Doberos, Paeonian city (from *dheubh- ‘deep’, as the Greek and Lithuanian dubus).
Appian, The Foreign Wars: "These peoples [Illyrian tribes], and also the Pannonians, the Rhaetians, the Noricans, the Mysians of Europe, and the other neighboring tribes who inhabited the right bank of the Danube, the Romans distinguished from one another just as the various Greek peoples are distinguished from each other, and they call each by its own name, but they consider the whole of Illyria as embraced under a common designation."
IDEA: Such fact can be explained as that once such Great Illyria was ethnically homogeneus: it is attested that the Rhaetians crossed the Alps in classical sources, also we know that the Norics were Celtics that sprang with the Hallstadt culture, and the Mysians could have suffered a process of Thracization.
The earliest writer who has left any account of the peoples inhabiting the Adriatic coast is Scylax; according to whom the Illyrians, properly so called (for the Liburnians and Istrians beyond them are excluded), occupy the sea-coast from Liburnia to the Chaonians of Epirus. The Bulini were the northernmost of these tribes, and the Amantini the southernmost. Herodotus (i. 196) includes under the name, the Heneti or Veneti, who lived at the head of the gulf; in another passage (iv. 49) he places the Illyrians on the tributary streams of the Morava river [Bosnia].
MAP: Click here to open a new window displaying a linguistic map of the Balkans in the Iron Age.
Croatia: Celts there since -400 with La Tène Culture; cremation funerals, and being substrat for the actual Croat language.
NOTE: The possible Illyrian branch of the Venets is taken into consideration in Italy's section. Also the Messapic tribes.
THRACIAN GROUPS
Cernavoda III in North Bulgaria (since -3000) is the first bronze culture in the area; practices inhumation.
-2100 Ochre Grave Culture in South Ukraine and South Russia, till the Caucasus.
Thraco-Illyro-Phrygians, settled on Balkan peninsula. It took place in the XXIIIth or the XXIIth century BC. Scientists believe it was the time of linguistic unity of all Balkan peoples. Later they divided into two groups: Thraco-Illyrian and Thraco-Phrygian, the first spread to all Balkan mountains, Illyria, Pannonia, Dacia and parts of Italy, the second existed in South-East Balkans and partly in Asia Minor. Modern Albanian means everything that left after the first group, whether it is the direct successor of Illyrian language or just related to it. Modern Armenian is NOT the descendant of Phrygian but is really its close relative.
-2000/-1200 Proto-Thracians in east Balkans, including Romania. The origins of the Thracians are ambiguous, but has them coming into Balkans from Hungary and E Galicia. Possible connection with Ochre Grave culture.
-1750/-1650 [Thracian] Mysians in the lower Danube; after they expand their area: north Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, etc.
At the turn of the second millennium BC (around -1900), the Thracian tribes of Indo-European origin settled alongside the population that had already lived in the Carpathian-Balkan region.
Towards the end of the Early Bronze I, the Pit-Grave Culture penetrated in the Balkans from the Northwest Black Sea. It occupied different microregions but Northeast Bulagria was one of the secondary areas of occupation of the PGC. It is characterized by tumulus inhumation graves in which there are traces of initial social stratification. As in the Northern Black Sea, typical were inhumations in crouched position on their back.
By -2200 Stock-breeding cultures in Middle and Lower Danube from Pit Grave culture: Domestic horse is presented, high probability of genetic relations with Pit Grave and Corded Ware cultures.
"Balkan" [linguistic] branch descend from Catacomb Grave culture [which was akin to the Pit Grave Culture].
Ezerovo in Bulgarian coasts, first bronze there and with corded ware.
Cotofeni Culture in NW Bulgaria appears with Middle Bronze Age (since -2000); use of tumuli and of incineration.
Encrusted Pottery Ware in the NW of Bulgaria appears in the Middle Bronze (-2000 to -1600); they used cremation urns.
Ezero Culture in NE Thrace (since -3250), with tumuli. Also, in contrast to the other Southern Balkan cultures, in the Ezero culture there are micro-region of active integration of the Ezero population or of co-existence with the PGC which penetrated from Northeastern Bulgaria to the south. For the time being, the only mode of burial documented is inhumation. The typical position seems to be crouched inhumations to the left or to the right, but inhumations in crouched position on back have also occurred.
In Northeast Bulgaria it was developed the Koslogeni culture, for the first time defined and typologically elaborated on the based of materials from Romania. Flat cemeteries and single graves indicate typical was inhumation in crouched position aside, as in Thrace where some late tumulus grave may belong to Late Bronze Age (since -1600).
"The formation of Thracian ethno-cultural common has been referred by the majority of researchers to the beginning of the early Iron Age. People of the previous period, especially the carriers of the Noa and the Koslogeni cultures, closely connected with tribes of the northern Black Sea land, are considered by Romanian scholars as the including in the Thracian common but they are yet not Thracians. [Proto-Thracians then ?]. Sharp change of cultures in 11 - 12-th centuries B.C. which is observed by researchers in the Karpatian-Danube area is convincing argument for such conclusion, testifying about the occurrence of the new population here. Just this arrival population is considered as the basic nucleus of northern Thracians which assimilated local tribes [with gave rise to the differences betweem Thracians and Getians ?]" (Melyukova).
In the former half of the first millennium BC, in the Carpathian-Danube-Pontic area - which was the northern part of the large surface inhabited by the Thracian tribes - a northern Thracian group became clearly individualized. It consisted of a mosaic of Getae and Dacian tribes.
Il est probable que les porteurs de la Culture Foltesti soient les ancètres des grecs et des phrygiens. Dans les Balkans, les Foltesti se mèleront aux porteurs des tombes à charpentes pour former le groupe des Daces / Gètes de Roumanie, des Illyriens d'Albanie, des Thraces de Bulgarie.
In Upper Thrace the material culture have peculiarities, but the different elements have affinity to the cultures from the Black Sea coast, European Turkey, the Northern Aegean and Southwestern Bulgaria, as well as from the Rhodopes, documented for the time being from Late Bronze Age [-1600].
IDEA: the Thracians ?
The pottery of Cernavoda in the Danube/Dobrogea area, Cotofeni in western Romania, and Ezero in the south, exhibit similarities, suggesting a wide ranging communication network. This may have extended beyond Hungary, via Bulgaria and northern Greece, to the Aegean Sea, judging by stylistic similarities of handled jugs and cups.
IDEA= Thracians ?
Anonyme ou Scymnos de Chios: Tout à côté des Énétes [Venetoi] sont les Thraces appelés Istres Puis, c'est l'Eridan, qui porte l'ambre, cette merveille; ce sont, dit-on, des larmes pétrifiées, gouttes transparentes que distillent des peupliers.
ISTRIANS = THRACIANS
ISTRIANS = LIBURNIANS (not certainity, but occupied the same region)... so:
THRACIANS = ILLYRIANS ?
Strabo, a famous geographer and historian in the age of emperor Augustus, informs that "the Dacians have the same language as the Getae". Basically, it was the same people, the only real difference between the Dacians and the Getae was just the area they inhabited.
Moesians = Thracians = Dacians = Getas
Thracian and Dacian are very close languages, but also they have many differences.
Herodotus (425 BC) would write: "The Thracian people is the most numerous one of the world; the Thracians have several names, according to their specific regions, but their habits are more or less the same."
Now the Thracian race is the most numerous, except the Indians, in all the world: and if it should come to be ruled over by one man, or to agree together in one, it would be irresistible in fight and the strongest by far of all nations, in my opinion. Since however this is impossible for them and cannot ever come to pass among them, they are in fact weak for that reason. They have many names, belonging to their various tribes in different places; but they all follow customs which are nearly the same in all respects, except the Getai and Trausians and those who dwell above the Crestonians. (Herodotus).
IDEA: so determination that Getians were a tribe of the Thracians.
"Now, the Greeks used to suppose that Getae were Thracians [so easy to confuse might have a reason]; and the Getae lived on either side of the Ister, as did also the Mysi (Mysoi), these also being Thracians and identical with the people who are now called Moesi; from these Mysi sprang also the Mysi who now live between the Lydians and the Phrygians and the Trojans" (Strabo III).
GETIANS (in south Romania) = THRACIANS
These are their most remarkable customs; and of the gods they worship only Ares and Dionysos and Artemis. Their kings, however, apart from the rest of the people, worship Hermes more than all gods, and swear by him alone; and they say that they are descended from Hermes. The manner of burial for the rich among them is this: for three days they expose the corpse to view, and they slay all kinds of victims and feast, having first made lamentation. Then they perform the burial rites, either consuming the body with fire or covering it up in the earth without burning; and afterwards when they have heaped up a mound they celebrate games with every kind of contest, in which reasonably the greatest prizes are assigned for single combat. This is the manner of burial among the Thracians. (Herodotus)
IDEA: their rulers would have been previously of an alocton nation, maybe Iranian.
-1100 Thracian peoples arrive to Balkans. At this time (or even earlier) archaeological cultures which are believed to have been connected with Thracians occupy the territory of modern Romania, Bulgaria and reach the Aegean Sea together with Illyrians and Doric Greeks.
During the 12th - 8th centuries B.C., the Basarabi culture, thriving almost throughout the Carpatho - Danubian - Pontic territory, testifies the beginning of the Iron Age.
IDEA: the same area that Strabo pointed out as the original homeland of the Anatolian Mysians that vanquished the Trojans with their strong weapons of iron...
IDEA: To known more about the subdivisions of Thracian tribes, and the colonization of Anatolia, see the Anatolian section.
ILLYRIAN GROUPS
Septentrioanl Balkanic would include Dacian, Thracian, Illyrian, Messapian, and Venet, and would have some similar isoglosses with Baltic and Slav.
Thraco-Illyro-Phrygians, settled on Balkan peninsula. It took place in the XXIIIth or the XXIIth century BC. Scientists believe it was the time of linguistic unity of all Balkan peoples. Later they divided into two groups: Thraco-Illyrian and Thraco-Phrygian, the first spread to all Balkan mountains, Illyria, Pannonia, Dacia and parts of Italy, the second existed in South-East Balkans and partly in Asia Minor. Modern Albanian means everything that left after the first group, whether it is the direct successor of Illyrian language or just related to it.
Isolated Illyrian tribes deep into hinterland shared with the Thracian tribes the custom of tattooing their bodies and of offering human sacrifices.
-2000/-1200 Proto-Illyrians in former Yugoslavia. This is the group ancestral to Istri, Dalmatians, Pannonians and other Illyrian language family tribes, listed starting in -1200.
MAP: Click here to open a new window displaying a map of the linguistic communities in the Balkans in the Bronze Age.
Vucedol est formée par la fusion de Baden-Kostolac avec des sépultures à catacombes venus du nord-est. Ces peuples de cavaliers portaient des haches de combat de section polygonales et des couteaux losangiques en cuivre. Ils utilisaient des poteries noires polies (parfois avec des anses) décorées de signes solaires (cercles concentriques) incisés, pointillés et sillonnés. Leurs descendants étaient connus dans l'antiquité sous le nom de "Vénètes" en Italie du nord-est et en Slovénie. Plusieurs tribus issues de la culture de Vucedol partiront envahir l'Italie. Ces hommes, appelés "italiotes" ou "italiques", seront les ancètres directs des latins (Romains et Falisques) et des osco-ombriens.
Vucedol culture: in Croatia, Hungary, Bosnia, Austria, Czech Rep., Slovenia, Slovakia, and Germany, where men and womed were buried toguether along offers. From there surely came the Apenine Culture of Italy.
In Vucedol the tumular burials were replaced slowly by simple inhumations and cremations.
Since -1400 Illyrians in the Balkans.
-1500 Pannonians in north Croatia.
About -1300 the Illyrians settled on the northern and eastern coasts of the Adriatic Sea. Included among its members were various tribes of Dalmatians and the Pannonians. Those of Illyrians who crossed the Adriatic and settled in Italy spoke the Messapic language.
IDEA: The Wends in Germany, the Venets in Brittany then could be linked with the dispersal of Illyrian peoples with the Urnfield.
In Croatia -1200/-700 Urnfield Culture with cremation and weapons inside urns.
IDEA: Such culture might have carried Illyrian there ?
The Illyrians were Indo-European tribesmen who appeared in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula about -1000, a period coinciding with the end of the Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age. They inhabited much of the area for at least the next millennium. Archaeologists associate the Illyrians with the Hallstatt culture, an Iron Age people noted for production of iron and bronze swords with winged-shaped handles and for domestication of horses. All the western part of the Balkan Peninsula was considered, until recently, inhabited by the Illyrians. Basing on the latest researches, some scientists distinguish Dalmatians and Pannonians from Illyrians, although their languages were close or just Illyrian dialects. They also make the difference between Istrians and Liburnians who are close to the Venetians, having lived in present Northern Italy.
In about -1300 Illyrian and Venetic groups (or one group which was later divided into two) started migrating to the south, from Pannonia (modern Hungary) to Dalmatia (modern Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia).
Urnfield (-1300), with cremation, spreads to Poland as the Lausitz culture; related to Illyrians and Venets. Secondary expansion to Greece, Asia Minor, Lacio, SE France, Catalonia, Netherland, and Dover area.
IDEA: That would point to an Illyrian occupation of Dalmatia around such epoch.
After having many children, Cadmus and Harmonia left Thebes in order to defend the Encheleans, a people living in southern Illyria, which is the region north of Epirus, and there defeated the Illyrian intruders.
IDEA: So by the time of Cadmus (some two centuries before the Trojan Wars), there is attested the presence of Illyrians north of Greece, at least in legends.
ILYRIANS: Utilisation de tumuli comme lieux de sépulture jusqu’au début de l’ère chrétienne est caractéristique de ces populations. Objets déposés là sont bijoux, armes et monnaies. La grande difficulté pour la connaissance de l’histoire des Illyriens tient à l’absence de texte écrit en langue illyrienne.
Sufficient is not known either of the language or customs of the Illyrians, by which their race may be ascertained. The most accurate among the ancient writers have always distinguished them as a separate nation, or group of nations, from both the Thracians and Epirots. In the practice of tattooing their bodies, and offering human sacrifices, the Illyrians resembled the Thracians.
IDEA: as the Illyrians do not appear in history before the PeloponnesianWar, it seems that the classics before that might have taken Illyrians as Thracians... Otherwise similar customs could have in fact a substrate origin.
After Illyrians began their movement to the south from the Danube valley, Phrygian tribes which probably came to the Balkans together with some branches of the Hellenic group were forced to leave their settlements and start the migration which was to play an important role in Anatolia. At first they lived in the northern Balkans, contacting with Thracians, Illyrians and Doric Greeks, and now had to cross the Bosporus and to settle in West Asia Minor, among non-Indo-European tribes who lived in Troy and other towns here.
DALMATIANS = PANNONIANS = ILLYRIANS
-1500/-1200 Liburni in Istria
Appian, The Foreign Wars: "The Liburni, another Illyrian tribe, were next to the Ardiæi as a nautical people". In another text: "At the time when Cæsar held the command in Gaul these same Dalmatians and other Illyrians, who were then in a very prosperous condition, took the city of Promona from the Liburni, another Illyrian tribe." And also: "They were supplanted by the Taulantii, an Illyrian tribe, who were displaced in their turn by the Liburnians, another Illyrian tribe, who were in the habit of making piratical expeditions against their neighbors, with very swift ships."
LIBURNIANS = ILLYRIANS
Corcyra [Korfu], before the Greeks took possession of it, was peopled by them. (Strab. vi. p. 269.) So was Issa and the neighbouring islands. (Schol. ad Apollon. iv. 564.). They were also considerably extended to the N., for Noricum, it is evident, had been previously inhabited by Liburnian tribes; for the Vindelicians were Liburnians (Serv. ad Viry. Aen. i. 243), and Strabo (iv. p. 206) makes a distinction between them and the Breuni and Genauni, whom he calls Illyrians. The words of Virgil, too, seem distinctly to term the Veneti Liburnians, for the innermost realm of the Liburnians must have been the goal at which Antenor is said to have arrived.
LIBURNIANS were not [pure] ILLYRIANS
IDEA: By such accounts the Liburnians together with Veneti expelled from North Italy (or subjugated) the native tribes, the Euganei.
At Ancona begins the coast of that part of Gaul known as Gallia Togata [North Italy, Po Bassin]. The Siculi [Epiro-Macedonians, also Pelasgians] and the Liburni possessed the greater part of this district [since -1200, as the presence of Illyrians and Epirotes is posterior to the Trojan War], and more particularly the territories of Palma, of Praetutia, and of Adria. These were expelled by the Umbri [Italics, as Urnfield invader, -1000], these again by the Etrurians [around -600, the colonists will be known as Raethians], and these in their turn by the Gauls [by -400, Celtics that will be the dominant ethnic element in the Po Basin at the arrival of the Romans]. (Pliny).
Ptolomey in the II Century: Illyrian tribe in Albania named "Albanians".
Après les invasions gothiques, puis l’arrivée des Slaves du Sud, se développe, en Albanie septentrionale notamment, la civilisation dite de Koman. Celle-ci est surtout remarquable par les bijoux, fibules, agrafes, qui témoignent de la permanence d’une technique du métal et d’un art de la décoration apparentés aux productions illyriennes antérieures
IDEA: So Illyrian as say many scholars have the unique descendant left in Albanian.
Many Illyrian names have been preserved in Albanian language: Didi=Dede, Lalus=Lala, Dassios=Dash, Bardhyllis=Bardhan, Bardhosh, etc. Even such names could be explained by Albanian etymology: Bardhyllis=bardhë+yllis=white star, or Bardibalus=bardi+balus=white forehead.
The Illyrian origins of Albanian can now be proven only with the use of lexical similarities of modern Albanian words with what was found of the Illyrian glossary, some Illyrian - Albanian correspondences: buris / burrë "man"; datan / datë "place"; drenis / dreni "deer"; pupa / pupë "hill"; rera / lera "stones".
Modern Albanians still use the vigesimal numeric system of ancient Illyrians.
Arutiunov: the only remnant of Illyrian is Albanian.
Strabo, Geography: The [Thracian] Bessi live in huts and lead a wretched life; and their country borders on Mount Rhodope, on the country of the Paeonians, and on that of two Illyrian peoples-the Autariatae, and the Dardanians.
DARDANIANS (around modern Kosovo) = ILLYRIANS
According to HOLLIS, the Illyrian languages include the Messapian and Venetic language.
Strabo: "And further, the Iapodes (we now come to this mixed tribe of Illyrii and Celti) dwell round about these regions [west Slovenia]; and Mount Ocra is near these people. The Iapodes, then, although formerly they were well supplied with strong men and held as their homeland both sides of the mountain and by their business of piracy held sway over these regions, have been vanquished and completely outdone by Augustus Caesar. Their cities are: Metulum, Arupini, Monetium, and Vendo. After the Iapodes comes Segestica, a city in the plain, past which flows the River Saüs [Sava], which empties into the Ister."
Les Alpes s'étendent jusqu'au pays des Iapodes, nation tout à la fois celtique et illyrienne. [Strabo, Book VII, 31]
Les Iapodes sont établis près de l'Albie, très haute montagne qui se trouve à l'extrémité des Alpes, et vont d'un côté jusqu'aux Pannonies et à Pister, de l'autre jusqu'à l'Adrias. ils sont tatoués tout comme les autres Illyries et les Thraces. [Strabo, Book VII, 33]
IAPODES = ILLYRIAN TRIBE (but Celtized)
Appian, The Foreign Wars: They are called Pæones [Paeones] by the Greeks, but Pannonians by the Romans.
Paeones: They appear neither as Macedonians, or Illyrians, but professed to be descended from the Teucri of Troy.
Next followed the Paeonians, who occupied both banks of the Strymon, from its source down to the lake near its mouth, but were pushed away from the coast towards the interior. (Strabo).
"But who," he [Darius] answered, "are the Paeonians, and where do they dwell, and with what intent have you come to Sardis? [in Lydia]" They told him, that they had come to be his men, that the towns of Paeonia lay on the Strymon, a river not far from the Hellespont, and that they were colonists from the Teucrians of Troy. (Herodotus).
Appian, The Foreign Wars: "Among the many myths prevailing among many peoples this seems to me the most plausible. Illyrius had six sons, Encheleus, Autarieus, Dardanus, Maedus, Taulas, and Perrhaebus, also daughters, Partho, Daortho, Dassaro, and others, from whom sprang the Taulantii, the Perrhaebi, the Enchelees, the Autarienses, the Dardani, the Partheni, the Dassaretii, and the Darsii. Autarieus had a son Pannonius, or Paeon, and the latter had sons, Scordiscus and Triballus, from whom nations bearing similar names were derived. But I will leave these matters to the archaeologists."
ILLYRIANS = DARDANIANS = PAEONES/PANNONIANS
Francisco Villar: The Paeonian was IE; per example in its sonority of aspired sonors (*bh, *dh, etc. /b/, /d/, etc.), and in names as Agrianes, Paeonian tribe (from *agro- ‘field’, as the Latin ager) or in Doberos, Paeonian city (from *dheubh- ‘deep’, as the Greek and Lithuanian dubus).
Appian, The Foreign Wars: "These peoples [Illyrian tribes], and also the Pannonians, the Rhaetians, the Noricans, the Mysians of Europe, and the other neighboring tribes who inhabited the right bank of the Danube, the Romans distinguished from one another just as the various Greek peoples are distinguished from each other, and they call each by its own name, but they consider the whole of Illyria as embraced under a common designation."
IDEA: Such fact can be explained as that once such Great Illyria was ethnically homogeneus: it is attested that the Rhaetians crossed the Alps in classical sources, also we know that the Norics were Celtics that sprang with the Hallstadt culture, and the Mysians could have suffered a process of Thracization.
The earliest writer who has left any account of the peoples inhabiting the Adriatic coast is Scylax; according to whom the Illyrians, properly so called (for the Liburnians and Istrians beyond them are excluded), occupy the sea-coast from Liburnia to the Chaonians of Epirus. The Bulini were the northernmost of these tribes, and the Amantini the southernmost. Herodotus (i. 196) includes under the name, the Heneti or Veneti, who lived at the head of the gulf; in another passage (iv. 49) he places the Illyrians on the tributary streams of the Morava river [Bosnia].
MAP: Click here to open a new window displaying a linguistic map of the Balkans in the Iron Age.
Croatia: Celts there since -400 with La Tène Culture; cremation funerals, and being substrat for the actual Croat language.
NOTE: The possible Illyrian branch of the Venets is taken into consideration in Italy's section. Also the Messapic tribes.
THRACIAN GROUPS
Cernavoda III in North Bulgaria (since -3000) is the first bronze culture in the area; practices inhumation.
-2100 Ochre Grave Culture in South Ukraine and South Russia, till the Caucasus.
Thraco-Illyro-Phrygians, settled on Balkan peninsula. It took place in the XXIIIth or the XXIIth century BC. Scientists believe it was the time of linguistic unity of all Balkan peoples. Later they divided into two groups: Thraco-Illyrian and Thraco-Phrygian, the first spread to all Balkan mountains, Illyria, Pannonia, Dacia and parts of Italy, the second existed in South-East Balkans and partly in Asia Minor. Modern Albanian means everything that left after the first group, whether it is the direct successor of Illyrian language or just related to it. Modern Armenian is NOT the descendant of Phrygian but is really its close relative.
-2000/-1200 Proto-Thracians in east Balkans, including Romania. The origins of the Thracians are ambiguous, but has them coming into Balkans from Hungary and E Galicia. Possible connection with Ochre Grave culture.
-1750/-1650 [Thracian] Mysians in the lower Danube; after they expand their area: north Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, etc.
At the turn of the second millennium BC (around -1900), the Thracian tribes of Indo-European origin settled alongside the population that had already lived in the Carpathian-Balkan region.
Towards the end of the Early Bronze I, the Pit-Grave Culture penetrated in the Balkans from the Northwest Black Sea. It occupied different microregions but Northeast Bulagria was one of the secondary areas of occupation of the PGC. It is characterized by tumulus inhumation graves in which there are traces of initial social stratification. As in the Northern Black Sea, typical were inhumations in crouched position on their back.
By -2200 Stock-breeding cultures in Middle and Lower Danube from Pit Grave culture: Domestic horse is presented, high probability of genetic relations with Pit Grave and Corded Ware cultures.
"Balkan" [linguistic] branch descend from Catacomb Grave culture [which was akin to the Pit Grave Culture].
Ezerovo in Bulgarian coasts, first bronze there and with corded ware.
Cotofeni Culture in NW Bulgaria appears with Middle Bronze Age (since -2000); use of tumuli and of incineration.
Encrusted Pottery Ware in the NW of Bulgaria appears in the Middle Bronze (-2000 to -1600); they used cremation urns.
Ezero Culture in NE Thrace (since -3250), with tumuli. Also, in contrast to the other Southern Balkan cultures, in the Ezero culture there are micro-region of active integration of the Ezero population or of co-existence with the PGC which penetrated from Northeastern Bulgaria to the south. For the time being, the only mode of burial documented is inhumation. The typical position seems to be crouched inhumations to the left or to the right, but inhumations in crouched position on back have also occurred.
In Northeast Bulgaria it was developed the Koslogeni culture, for the first time defined and typologically elaborated on the based of materials from Romania. Flat cemeteries and single graves indicate typical was inhumation in crouched position aside, as in Thrace where some late tumulus grave may belong to Late Bronze Age (since -1600).
"The formation of Thracian ethno-cultural common has been referred by the majority of researchers to the beginning of the early Iron Age. People of the previous period, especially the carriers of the Noa and the Koslogeni cultures, closely connected with tribes of the northern Black Sea land, are considered by Romanian scholars as the including in the Thracian common but they are yet not Thracians. [Proto-Thracians then ?]. Sharp change of cultures in 11 - 12-th centuries B.C. which is observed by researchers in the Karpatian-Danube area is convincing argument for such conclusion, testifying about the occurrence of the new population here. Just this arrival population is considered as the basic nucleus of northern Thracians which assimilated local tribes [with gave rise to the differences betweem Thracians and Getians ?]" (Melyukova).
In the former half of the first millennium BC, in the Carpathian-Danube-Pontic area - which was the northern part of the large surface inhabited by the Thracian tribes - a northern Thracian group became clearly individualized. It consisted of a mosaic of Getae and Dacian tribes.
Il est probable que les porteurs de la Culture Foltesti soient les ancètres des grecs et des phrygiens. Dans les Balkans, les Foltesti se mèleront aux porteurs des tombes à charpentes pour former le groupe des Daces / Gètes de Roumanie, des Illyriens d'Albanie, des Thraces de Bulgarie.
In Upper Thrace the material culture have peculiarities, but the different elements have affinity to the cultures from the Black Sea coast, European Turkey, the Northern Aegean and Southwestern Bulgaria, as well as from the Rhodopes, documented for the time being from Late Bronze Age [-1600].
IDEA: the Thracians ?
The pottery of Cernavoda in the Danube/Dobrogea area, Cotofeni in western Romania, and Ezero in the south, exhibit similarities, suggesting a wide ranging communication network. This may have extended beyond Hungary, via Bulgaria and northern Greece, to the Aegean Sea, judging by stylistic similarities of handled jugs and cups.
IDEA= Thracians ?
Anonyme ou Scymnos de Chios: Tout à côté des Énétes [Venetoi] sont les Thraces appelés Istres Puis, c'est l'Eridan, qui porte l'ambre, cette merveille; ce sont, dit-on, des larmes pétrifiées, gouttes transparentes que distillent des peupliers.
ISTRIANS = THRACIANS
ISTRIANS = LIBURNIANS (not certainity, but occupied the same region)... so:
THRACIANS = ILLYRIANS ?
Strabo, a famous geographer and historian in the age of emperor Augustus, informs that "the Dacians have the same language as the Getae". Basically, it was the same people, the only real difference between the Dacians and the Getae was just the area they inhabited.
Moesians = Thracians = Dacians = Getas
Thracian and Dacian are very close languages, but also they have many differences.
Herodotus (425 BC) would write: "The Thracian people is the most numerous one of the world; the Thracians have several names, according to their specific regions, but their habits are more or less the same."
Now the Thracian race is the most numerous, except the Indians, in all the world: and if it should come to be ruled over by one man, or to agree together in one, it would be irresistible in fight and the strongest by far of all nations, in my opinion. Since however this is impossible for them and cannot ever come to pass among them, they are in fact weak for that reason. They have many names, belonging to their various tribes in different places; but they all follow customs which are nearly the same in all respects, except the Getai and Trausians and those who dwell above the Crestonians. (Herodotus).
IDEA: so determination that Getians were a tribe of the Thracians.
"Now, the Greeks used to suppose that Getae were Thracians [so easy to confuse might have a reason]; and the Getae lived on either side of the Ister, as did also the Mysi (Mysoi), these also being Thracians and identical with the people who are now called Moesi; from these Mysi sprang also the Mysi who now live between the Lydians and the Phrygians and the Trojans" (Strabo III).
GETIANS (in south Romania) = THRACIANS
These are their most remarkable customs; and of the gods they worship only Ares and Dionysos and Artemis. Their kings, however, apart from the rest of the people, worship Hermes more than all gods, and swear by him alone; and they say that they are descended from Hermes. The manner of burial for the rich among them is this: for three days they expose the corpse to view, and they slay all kinds of victims and feast, having first made lamentation. Then they perform the burial rites, either consuming the body with fire or covering it up in the earth without burning; and afterwards when they have heaped up a mound they celebrate games with every kind of contest, in which reasonably the greatest prizes are assigned for single combat. This is the manner of burial among the Thracians. (Herodotus)
IDEA: their rulers would have been previously of an alocton nation, maybe Iranian.
-1100 Thracian peoples arrive to Balkans. At this time (or even earlier) archaeological cultures which are believed to have been connected with Thracians occupy the territory of modern Romania, Bulgaria and reach the Aegean Sea together with Illyrians and Doric Greeks.
During the 12th - 8th centuries B.C., the Basarabi culture, thriving almost throughout the Carpatho - Danubian - Pontic territory, testifies the beginning of the Iron Age.
IDEA: the same area that Strabo pointed out as the original homeland of the Anatolian Mysians that vanquished the Trojans with their strong weapons of iron...
IDEA: To known more about the subdivisions of Thracian tribes, and the colonization of Anatolia, see the Anatolian section.
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