Listed 6 sub titles with search on: The inhabitants for destination: "ILLYRIA Ancient country ALBANIA".
At war with the Encheleans, conquered by Cadmus, conquer Epirus, act as pirates, attacked by Gauls, dispossessed by Gauls.
Dassaretae, Dassaretii (Dassaretioi, Strab. vii. p. 318; Ptol. iii. 13. § 32; Dassaritai Steph. B. Appian, Illyr. i; Mela, ii. 3. § 11; Plin. iii. 23. s. 26), an Illyrian people whose position can be well ascertained, from their having occupied the great valley which contained the lake of Lychnitis and the plains of Koritza. The W. part of Dassaretia was a contrast to the E., consisting entirely of lofty and rugged mountains, intersected by branches of the river Apsus. If Berat be the site of Antipatria, it will follow that the Dassaretae possessed all the lower mountainous country lying between Koritza and Berat, beyond which latter the frontiers of the Dassaretae met those of the Taulantii Bylliones and Chaonians of Epirus; on the N. they bordered on the Eordeti and Penestae and partly on the Taulantii, while to the E. the crest of the great central ridge very naturally formed the line of demarcation between them and the Pelagones, Brygi, and Orestae, or in other words, between Illyria and Macedonia. It follows from these boundaries that Dassaretia was not less than 60 miles in length and as much in breadth, - an extent such as might be expected from the statement in Polybius (v. 108) who in addition to the towns on the lake of Lychnitis represents the Phoebatae, Pissantini, Calicoeni, and Pirustae all as tribes of Dassaretia. (Leake, Trav. in North Greece, vol. iii. pp. 325, foll.) The Phoebatae chiefly inhabited the valley of the Uzumi, and the Pissantini that of the Devol. The Pirustae would seem to have been on the N. frontier of Dassaretia, as they joined the Taulantii and some other more northerly Illyrians to assist the Romans in the reduction of Gentius. (Liv. xlv. 26). They probably occupied an intermediate tract between the Pissantini on the lower part of the Devol and the S. extremity of the lake Lychnitis, in which case there is only the plain of Korytza to the left of the Eordaicus for the situation of the Calicoeni. The operations of the consul Sulpicius against Philip in the campaign of B.C. 200, illustrate the ancient geography of this district. The Roman general marched from Apollonia of Illyria through Dassaretia into Lyncestis. The open country supplied him with such abundance of grain that he was enabled to save his own stock while he passed through the plain of Dassaretia, and induced, him afterwards to send back his foragers thither, though he was encamped in an equally fertile plain, of which however he had not military possession. (Liv. xxxi. 33.) On peace being made after the battle of Cynoscephalae, Lychnidus, which was the principal town of the Dassaretae, was given up to Pleuratus (Liv. xxxiii. 34) the son of Scardilaidas, the Illyrian prince, who in the Social War had struggled unsuccessfully with Philip for the possession of Dassaretia (Polyb. v. 108.) The Dassaretae had several towns besides Lychnidus. Gerunium and Atipatria were in Phoebatis both on the Uzumi; to the E. of these on the Devol may be placed Orgessus which was a town of the Pissantini; and somewhat nearer to the camp of Sulpicius, Corragum, Codrion, and Ilium seem to have been in the valley of the Uzumi above Berat on the slopes of Tomor. Besides these Creonium and Gerus are enumerated, with four towns on the lake Lychnitis, viz. Enchelariae, Cerax, Sation, and Boii (Polyb. l. c.). These four towns were, it has been inferred, on its W. shore, as the Itineraries which followed the E. side of the lake from the bridge of the Drilo to Lychnidus, make no mention of these places.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ardiaei (Ardiaioi), an Illyrian people mentioned by Strabo, probably inhabited
Mt. Ardion, which the same geographer describes as a chain of mountains running
through the centre of Dalmatia. (Strab. vii. p. 315.)
Autariatae (Autariatai), described by Strabo (vii. p. 317) as, at one time, the most numerous and bravest of the Illyrians, appear to have bordered to the eastward upon the Agrianes and Bessi, to the south upon the Maedi and Dardani, and in the other directions upon the Ardiaei and Scordisci. (Leake.) We have only a few particulars respecting their history. Strabo relates (l. c.) that they were frequently engaged in hostilities with the Ardiaei respecting some salt-works situated on the confines of both nations; that they once subdued the Triballi; but were in their turn subjugated, first by the Scordisci, and subsequently by the Romans. We also learn from Diodorus (xx. 19) that the Auriatae were likewise conquered by Audoleon, king of Paeonia, who transported 20,000 of them to Mount Orbelus. (Comp. Strab. vii. p. 315; Arrian, Anab. i. 5; Aelian, H. A. xvii. 41; Justin, xv. 2; Appian, Illyr. 3; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 463, 464.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Penestae a people of Illyricum, who appear [p. 574] to have--possessed a large
tract of mountainous country 10 the N. of the Dassaretae, and extending to the
E. as far as the frontier of Macedonia, while on the W. and NW. it almost reached
to the Labeates and the dominions of Gentius. (Liv. xliii. 20, 21, 22, 23, 25,
xliv. 11.) The principal city of this warlike tribe was Uscana; besides which
they had the two fortresses of Draudacum and Oaeneum.
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