The name Dalmatia in second and first centuries b.c.

Abstract

When, under Augustus, Roman Illyricum was divided in two provinces, the northern one got the name Pannonia, while the southern one kept the name of Illyricum. However, already since the beginning, the latter was also known as Dalmatia. There is no doubt that it owed its name to the people of Delmatae (Dalmatae), though it seems that another fact had decisive role: name Dalmatia was already deeply rooted - probably since the end of the second century B.C. - in the area between the River Krka at the North-West and the River Neretva at the South-East. In this paper, the author discusses these early records of territorial name Dalmatia. Since this region was not perceived as a whole in the early Greek works, it was not named separately there. In the period from the fourth to the early second century B.C. the region was divided among various native communities (Hylloi, Boulinoi and Nestoi in the coastal area), Greek Issaeans (Tragurium, Epetium) and, occasionally, Illyrian kings and dynasts. The situation radically changed along with the affirmation and independence of Delmatae. Although Delmatae never occupied the region in its entirety, their domination over it is indubitable. In addition, it is equally important that all of the local populations were ethnically related to Delmatae. These two factors most probably caused that the region between the south-eastern border of Libumia and the north-western border of the Roman possession in Illyricum (conquered in 168 B.C.) would be named precisely after Delmatae. The author analyses places in Posidonius (F 174 Jacoby = Athenaeus, IX 369cd) and in Vatinius’s letters to Cicero (ad fam. 5, 9, 2; 5, 10, 4). In addition, he presents in greater detail problems of Pliny’s data (Nat. hist. 3, 141: Liburniae finis et initium Delmatiae Scardona in amne eo XII passuum a mari) for which is assumed that originated from some Vano’s work. Finally, the author reminds of the fact that Strabo too included Dalmatia as a separate region in his description of Illyricum (7, 5, 5). The author concludes the paper pointing out writings of Velleius Paterculus (2, 90, 1; 2, 110, 1-2; 2, 114, 3) in which one can observe connection of Delmatae with kindred tribes of the interior (2, 115, 4: Daesitiates, Pirustae). This is a clear indication of spreading the name o,ut on the area that at the end of the Augustus’s rule would be partitioned off as a province in which the name Dalmatia would be gradually established.