In the region which was inhabitated by the Adriatic Illyrians, from the Histrians to Epirus, one can observe a number of phenomena which are in character pre-ethnic, i. e. Mediterranean. These phenomena appeared here as the beginnmgs of the ethnogenesis of the Balkan Illyrians: before the appearance of the Illyrians, and later during the proto-Illyrian and the pre-Illyrian stages, as late as the beginnings of the Iron Age. Owing to the well-known conservatism of this seaboard region, such phenomena had been preserved in the historic period and are, though only in part, touched upon in the historic souroes. This is especially true of the anc'ent Liburnians. This peri-Adriatic element, which had played an important role on the Adriatic as early as the late Bronze Age during what the author calls the proto-Liburnian period, was the basic pre-ethnic substratum of the Illyrians along the seaboard and, as hinted by ancient writers, was possessed of a considerable number of characteristics and institutions inherited from the earliest stages of Illyrian ethnogenesis. This element connected not only the eastern shore of the Adriatic but also the western shore and information from the Greek authors from VI c. B. C. and later is in isolated fragments wh:ch point out the extent of their earlier settlements along the shores of the Adriatic. The system of dodecapolitia (tetrapolit’a respectively) can be observed in the Adriatic region and it should undoubtedly be assigned to the pre-ethnic substratum and along the shores of the Adriatic th:s consisted of the above-montioned proto-Liburnian element. The system appears on the Corcyra (Corfu) as can be attested from the Odyssey of Homer. Taking into consideration the obvious presence of the Liburnians on this island, of which Strabo informs us, the phenomenon can be assigned to the Liburn’ans who had arrived there before the Greek Eretrians and Corinthians. Hecataios of Milet mentions the tribe of the Hythmitai as living in the neighbourhood of the Liburnians, and whose name contains the basic element meaning »four«. The Sallentinians were divided into twelve populi, and Pliny mentions twelve Illyrian populi in connection with the Peucetae. Probably the Liburnians had also been divided into twelve populi, three groups of four, comparably to the Etruscans, These units had later, during the Iron Age, developed into the well-known Liburnian civitates. The Liburnian poleis of Ps. Scylax should be taken not as urbes but as civitates. The selfsame civitates Liburniae appear in inscriptions, and are also mentioned by Pliny who says that their number was fourteen. It is important that Pliny insists on the numerical system of such civitates in the Scardonitan juridical conventus, so it could be surmised that the number of the civitates (earlier populi) was at first twelve resp. thirteen, as with the Messa- pians and on the island of Alcinous. Another phenomenon originating in these pre-ethnic periods is the octen- nium, the system of reckoning time, which appears over the wider regions of the Balkan peninsula. The system is documented with the Dalmatae who, according to Strabo, divided their land after every eight years. A further phenomenon from the same stage is the well-known gynecocratia of the Liburnians. This is undoubtedly a reminiscence of the Mediterranean matriarchy. The information from Ps. Scylax, Varro, and Nic. 'Damasc. suggest that Liburnian women, similarly to Etruscan women, enjoyed not only family freedom but also a privileged position in society. From the earlier matriarchy only hierodutia remained, i. e. intercourse with strangers (guests), independence from husband, and, if Varro is to be believed, uncertain paternity which was conditioned by free intercourse of Liburnian girls. The reflection of such a position of women in Liburnian society is manifest in Liburnian epichoric cults. All deities of Illyrian names are female (Anzotica, lea, Iria, Jutossica, Sentona), and of similar character were probably the female deities of the neighbouring Histrians: Boria, Nebres, lea. All these are ancient cults associated with fecundity and fertility, and each of these goddesses is in a way the Magna Mater of a particular territorial unit (civitas). The meaning of these cults can be best observed in the goddes Anzotica, which is Venus in Roman interpretation. Her statue, found at Nin (Aenona) shows the male par-hedrus (the principle of male fertility) drastically subordinated to the female principle, to Anzotica herself. Thus the iconographic realisation of this composition cannot be set apart neither from the general phenomenon of female cults nor from the position of Liburnian women in society.
