Great Illyrian Revolt
| Bellum Batonianum | |||||||||
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.svg) Map of the uprising |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Daesitiates Breuci Dalmatae Andizetes Pannonians Pirustae Liburnians Japodes |
Roman army Cavalry detachment of Rhoemetalces king of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace Veterans and volunteers from Italy Freedmen from Italy |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Bato the Daesitiate Bato the Breucian †? Pinnes king of the Breuci |
Tiberius Valerius Messallinus Aulus Caecina Severus Germanicus Marcus Plautius Silvanus Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Rhoemetalces |
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The Bellum Batonianum (Latin for "war of the Batos") was a military conflict fought in the Roman province of Illyricum in which an alliance of the native peoples of Illyricum rebelled against the Romans. There were two regions in this Roman province: Dalmatia and Pannonia. The rebellion began among native peoples who were recruited as auxiliary troops for the Romans. They were led by Bato the Daesitiate (the Deasitiae were a tribe which lived in Dalmatia). They were joined by the Breuci (a tribe in Pannonia) led by Bato the Breucan. Many other tribes in Illyria also joined the revolt. The Roman called this conflict bellum batonianum (Batonian war) after these two leaders who had the same name. Velleius Paterculus called it the Pannonian and Dalmatian war because it involved both regions of Illyricum. In English it has been called the "Great Illyrian revolt", "Pannonian-Dalmatian uprising" and "Bato uprising." This four-year war, which lasted from 6 AD to 9 AD, saw a large deployment of Roman forces in the province, with whole armies operating across the western Balkans and fighting on more than one front. In 8 AD the Breuci of the Sava valley surrendered, but it took another winter blockade and a season of fighting before the surrender in Dalmatia came in 9 AD . The Roman historian Suetonius described this war as the most difficult conflict faced by Rome since the Punic Wars two centuries earlier.
Illyricum saw some fighting during the Great Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Senate led by Pompey. The Romans who lived in some of the coastal towns supported Caesar, while the native peoples supported Pompey. Quintus Cornificius, a Caesarian, repulsed Quintus Octavius, a Pompeian. The Dalmatians routed Aulus Gabinius, a Caesarian who had been ordered by Caesar to join Cornificius in Illyricum. The Dalmatians later asked Caesar for pardon. Caesar demanded a tribute and hostages (as normal practice) as compensation and sent Publius Vatinius with three legions to enforce this. When Caesar was murdered in 44 BC the Dalmatians ignored these demands and routed five of Vatinius' cohorts. With the disruptions caused by the further Roman civil wars Dalmatian piracy in the Adriatic Sea became a problem again.
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