Dardania (Balkans)

Dardania (/dɑːrˈdeɪniə/; Ancient Greek: Δαρδανία; Latin: Dardania) was a Roman province in the Central Balkans, initially an unofficial region in Moesia (87–284), then a province administratively part of the Diocese of Moesia (293–337). It was named after the ancient tribe of Dardani which inhabited the region prior to the Roman conquests in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.

It is debated in scholarship whether the Dardani (or Dardanians), after whom the region was named, were an Illyrian or Thracian people. It has been suggested that the region was originally populated by Thracians who then came into contact with Illyrians over a long time period.Celts were present in Dardania in 279 BC. In 179 BC, the Bastarnae conquered the Dardani, who later in 174 pushed them out, in a war which proved catastrophic, with a few years later, in 170 BC, the Macedonians defeating the Dardani. Macedonia and Illyria became Roman protectorates in 168 BC. The Scordisci, a tribe of Celtic origin, most likely subdued the Dardani in the mid-2nd century BC, after which there are for long no mention of the Dardani. In 97 BC the Dardani are mentioned again, defeated by the Macedonian Roman army. Dardanian slaves or freedmen at the time of the Roman conquest were clearly of Paleo-Balkan origin, according to their personal names, noted as being mostly of the "Central-Dalmatian type". Dardania was Romanized early on.

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