The Illyrian Wars were fought from 229 to 228 BC, 220 to 219 BC, and 169 to 168 BC when the Roman Republic fought against the Illyrian pirates of present-day Albania and Dalmatia. While the first war of 229-228 BC was an anti-piracy expedition, the Romans took advantage of the wars to exert their control over the region, and, in 168 BC, the Romans crushed their client king Gentius' uprising and established four client republics ruled from Rome.
Background[]
By 231 BC, the Roman Republic had defeated Carthage in the First Punic War and established naval dominance at sea; in the east, Ptolemaic Egypt, Macedon, and the Seleucid Empire vied for dominance over their border territories. During this period, Illyria was regarded as a thoroughly barbarian region, only half civilized through its contact with its Hellenistic neighbors. While its Greek contacts had caused a degree of urbanization in the south and along the coast, the region was still made up of tribal chieftains who were known to be turbulent and warlike. From time to time, one of the tribes would gain temporary hegemony over the others, and, by the 230s BC, this tribe was the Ardiaei. At the same time, Epirus collapsed as its monarchy fell, and the Illyrians invaded and seized Epirote territory far south of the traditional border. Despite these successes, the Ardiaei king Agron died and he was succeeded nominally by his son Pinnes, but his wife Teuta became queen regent. During her reign, piracy became a major problem in the Mediterranean, and the conquest of Epirus allowed for the brigands to have access to more ports. This prompted the Roman Senate to act, and the initial senatorial reaction in 230 BC was to send a diplomatic embassy to investigate the situation.
Wars[]
First war[]
The Coruncanius brothers protested to Teuta about the increasing piracy and demanded that it cease immediately; the demand was not negotiable, and the Illyrians could comply peacefully. Teuta refused this demand due to her inability to control her tribal allies, as well as because of her fierce independence. The murder of a Roman envoy by Teuta in the midst of her anger at the meeting triggered a war between Rome and the Illyrians, as the Romans did not want a rival power in the Adriatic Sea. Later in the campaigning season of 229 BC, a massive Roman force of 22,000 troops and 200 ships bore down on the Illyrians, and the Roman expedition was a complete success from north to south. The Illyrian governor of Corcyra, Demetrius of Pharos, went over to the Romans almost immediately, while Teuta's forces were defeated in the field. In 228 BC, Teuta was forced into a peace treaty with the Romans, breaking her kingdom into weaker segments and forbidding ventures of piracy into the southern Adriatic.
Second war[]
Demetrius of Pharos with his army
The Romans then withdrew their troops and left behind their "friendship", meaning that the Ardiaei became an informal client state. Demetrius came to rule over his own fragment state between the Ardiaei and the Greek Cities, but he was not content to remain in his small kingdom; he then married Triteuta, the Queen of the Ardiaei. Demetrius thus effectively recreated the kingdom abolished by Rome in the first war, and he began to launch pillaging raids into the territory of Roman-allied tribes. Due to the lack of any Roman response, he gained the impression that the Romans were uninterested in intervening; however, Rome's intervention was delayed by a war with the Gauls. In the summer of 220 BC, Demetrius and 90 light galleys embarked on a grand piracy expedition, ravaging Roman cities on the Adriatic and violating the treaty. The Romans decided that Demetrius posed the same threat that Teuta had, and the Romans set out to invade Illyria once again. Demetrius planned to hold the fortresses of Dimallum and Pharos, and, while the Romans took the former in just seven days, a rash sortie by Demetrius lost him Pharos. Demetrius escaped on a squadron of secret galleys, abandoning his family to Roman imprisonment and reaching Actium, where the fleet of Philip V of Macedon was anchored. Philip heartily welcomed Demetrius, who became a key advisor. Meanwhile, the Romans ended their military presence in Illyria, although they demonstrated to the Macedonians that they had the will to intervene in the east.
Third war[]
Demetrius remained a courtier of Philip until his death in 214 BC. In 169 BC, the Roman client king Gentus switched sides during the Third Macedonian War, allying with King Perseus of Macedon. He arrested two Roman legati and destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, which were allied to Rome, but Lucius Anicius Gallus defeated him at Scodra and brought him to Rome in 167 BC to attend his triumph as a prisoner. Illyria was then divided into four client republics which were essentially Roman provinces; it was not until 27 BC that the province of Illyricum was established.