Liburnia
Encyclopedia
Liburnia in ancient geography was the land of the Liburnians
, a region along the northeastern Adriatic coast in Europe
, in modern Croatia
, whose borders shifted according to the extent of Liburnian dominance at a given time between 11th and 1st century BC. Domination of the Liburnian thalassocracy
in the Adriatic Sea was confirmed by a several Antique writers, but the archeologists have defined a region of their material culture more precisely in northern Dalmatia
, Kvarner and eastern Istria
.
after the Balkan-Pannonian migrations, and during the Iron Age
in a region bordered by Raša
, Zrmanja
and Krka
rivers (Arsia, Tedanius, Titius), including the nearby islands. This territory lay mostly at the coast and on the numerous islands. Its continental borders were marked by the rivers and mountains: Raša, Učka, Gorski Kotar
, peaks of Velebit
mountain (Mons Baebius), Zrmanja and Krka, with a small area northeast of Krka bordered by Butišnica, Krka, Kosovčica and Čikola
, around the city Promona (modern Tepljuh near Drniš
). Thus, it neighbored in the northwest with the Histrian, in the north with the Iapodian and in the southeast with the Dalmatian
cultural groups.
Liburnian culture had distinct features and differed considerably from those of its neighbors. Its isolation and special qualities resulted primarily from its geographical isolation from the hinterland and its seaward orientation, important for traffic circulation and territorial connection. Maritime focus shaped Liburnian ethnic development on the Indo-European
basis with the transfer of Mediterranean cultural traditions into an independent ethnic community, separated from neighboring peoples, but having evident similarities and links with the wider Illyrian and Adriatic territories. The Liburnians' skillful seamanship allowed them to hold navigable routes along the eastern Adriatic coast with strategic points, such as the islands of Hvar
and Lastovo
in the central Adriatic and Corfu
(8th century BC) in the Ionian Sea
, while they already had colonies at the western Adriatic coast, especially in region of Picenum
, from the beginning of the Iron Age
. From the 9th to the 6th century there was certain koine - cultural unity in the Adriatic, with the general Liburninan seal, whose naval supremacy meant both political and economical authority in the Adriatic Sea through several centuries.
According to Strabo
(VI, 269), the Liburnians were masters of the island Korkyra (Corfu
), until 735 BC, when they left it, under pressure of Corinth
ian ruler Hersikrates, in a period of Corinthian expansion to South Italy
, Sicily
and Ionian Sea. However their position in the Adriatic Sea was still strong in the next few centuries. Historian Theopompus
(377-320 BC) informed about the island groups in the Adriatic Sea: Apsartides (Cres
and Lošinj
), Elektrides (Krk
), while all the others were the Liburnian islands - Liburnides, from Zadar
archipelago to Ladesta (Lastovo
) in the south, including Paros (Hvar). Geographer Scymnus
(4th century BC) noted that Greek
island of Paros
had a namesake in the Adriatic Sea, Liburnian island of Paros (Hvar
); this name was later changed to Pharos, according to Strabo (VII, 5). Scymnus specially noted the island group Mentorides (Arba - Rab
and Cissa - (Pag
). Old Greek sources never noted any Liburnian settlement in the northern coasts, possibly because the ancient mariners had been using only outer island channels for navigation towards the beginning of the Amber Road
in the north of Adriatic, evading inner seas which were ruled by Liburnian thallasocracy. Alexandria's librarian Apollonius of Rhodes
(295 – 215 BC) yet described the islands, Issa (Vis
), Diskelados (Brač
) and Pitiea (Hvar
) as Liburnian. But by the 1st century AD Pliny the Elder
includes in the island group Liburnicae only the archipelagos in Zadar and Šibenik
aquatories, Gissa (Pag
), Sissa (Sestrunj
), Scardagissa (Škarda), Lissa (Ugljan
and Pašman
), Colentum (Murter
), island groups Celadussae (Dugi Otok
), Crateae, and several other minor ones, though their municipalities occupied islands to the north, Curycta (Krk), Arba (Rab), Crepsa (Cres), Apsorus (Lošinj).
Archaeology has confirmed that the narrow region of the Liburnian ethnic nucleus was at the eastern Adriatic coast between Krka and Raša rivers, in "Classical Liburnia", especially between Krka and Zrmanja rivers, where the material remains of their culture and settlements were the most frequently distributed, while their cities were urbanized at certain degree even in pre-Roman ages. By the material remains it's obvious that they didn't settle the eastern Adriatic coast to the south-east of Krka river; their supremacy on the islands to the south of their ethnic region should not be understood necessarily as their ethnic dominion in the southern Adriatic archipelagos (Hvar, Brač, Vis, Lastovo, etc.), but rather as their organized military-naval region based on the island outposts, by which they maintained control of the navigable route to the south.
In the 6th century BC their domination of the Adriatic Sea coasts started to diminish. They lost their trade colonies in the Western Adriatic coast due to invasion of the Umbri
and the Gauls
, caused by expansion of the Etruscan
union in the basin of Po river. The 5th century BC saw Greek colonization in the south Adriatic, and final Liburnian retreat to Liburnia was caused by military and political activities of Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse
in the 4th century BC. Liburnia was strongly held, but Greek colonization reached Liburnian strategic possessions in the central Adriatic, Issa (on the island of Vis) and Pharos (Starigrad, Hvar), a colony of the Greeks from Paros. Celtic invasion from the west bypassed Liburnia in the 4th century BC, but their northern neighbors the Iapodes were under considerably more pressure. The Liburnians took the opportunity to spread their territory to the Kvarner archipelago and the eastern coast of Istria to the river Raša, previously held by Iapodes, thus making the Histri their new neighbors to the west. On the basis of ancient records, the Iapodes inhabited the coast between Albona (Labin) and Lopsica (Sv. Juraj, south from Senj) and island Curycta (Krk) to the end of the 4th century BC. Material remains from the Early Iron Age in that region have alternately shown Histrian provenance, not necessarily Liburnian, but often ascribed to the Liburnians from the 4th century BC to the age of Roman conquest. Although archaeology of the region has not strictly confirmed the earlier presence of Iapodian material culture the group's presence and strong influence on the region is evident. They surely broke to Kvarner in the 20’s of the 3rd century BC and the border between Iapodia and Liburnia was the river Telavius (Žrnovnica, Velebit channel). It’s not certain how long they ruled these coasts (some propose until the 1st century BC) and when exactly they retreated to their main historical lands. Borders of Liburnia didn’t change until its conflict with Dalmatae
in 51 BC, when the Liburnians lost their city Promona (Tepljuh, Drniš) in the south and probably some lands around Krka river. By that time the Romans were already engaged in centuries long wars against Liburnian neighbors, Histri, Dalmatae and other Illyrians
.
force ended independence of their naval force in 33 BC, the Liburnians lost their freedom and Liburnia became a part of the Roman province of Dalmatia
, but marginal in a military sense. Burnum
on Krka river became a Roman military camp, while the frequently settled and already urbanized plains of Classical Liburnia, in the inland of Iader (Zadar), became easily accessible and controlled by the Roman rulers. However Liburnian seamanship tradition was never wiped out, but became primarily trade-oriented under the new circumstances, a shift which contributed to the economic and cultural flourishing of its ports and cities, as well as to those of the province in general. Despite the process of Romanization
that especially effected some of the bigger cities, the Liburnians saved their traditions, cults, typical funeral monuments (Liburnian cipus), names etc., as attested by the archaeological material from those ages.
After the Roman conquest, the delineation of Liburnia as a region became more settled. Pliny the Elder
(1st century AD) gave a detailed geography of Liburnia, noting their tetradekapolis political-regional organization, 14 Liburnian municipalities subject to Scardona (Skradin
). Worth mention were Lacinienses (unknown), Stulpinos (unknown Stulpi), Burnistas (Burnum
), Olbonenses (unknown), those who enjoyed Italic law
(Ius Italicum) were Alutae (Alvona - Labin
), Flanates (Flanona – Plomin
, the gulf of Kvarner was named by them - sinus Flanaticus), Lopsi
(around the strategic pass of Vratnik and the town of Lopsica – Sv. Juraj, south from Senj
), Varvarini (Varvaria – Bribir), tribute immunity was given to Asseriates (Asseria – Podgrađe near Benkovac
) and to the islanders Fertinates (*Fulfinates, Fulfin(i)um - Omišalj
on Krk
) and Curictae (Curicum, Krk).
He listed the cities along the coast from north to the south: Alvona (Labin), Flanona (Plomin), Tarsatica (Trsat; in Rijeka
), Senia (Senj
), Lopsica (Sv. Juraj, south from Senj), Ortoplinia (probably Stinica, in Velebit
), Vegium (Karlobag
), Argyruntum (Starigrad
), Corinium (Karin Donji), Aenona (Nin
), civitas Pasini (in Ražanac
– Vinjerac – Posedarje
range), important island cities Absortium (Apsorus – Osor
), Arba (Rab
), Crexi (Cres
), Gissa (Cissa, Caska near Novalja
, Pag
), Portunata (Novalja, older was Gissa portu nota – Cissa known by its port Novalja), by the coast colonia Iader (Zadar
with status of Roman colony), Colentum insula (Murter
, city and island).
Liburnia was a part of the Roman Empire
until its collapse in 476 AD. During the reign of Augustus
, border between the Liburnians and Histri was Raša
river in Istria
. In 170 AD a part of north-western Liburnian periphery that included the city Tarsatica (Trsat) was cut off from Liburnia. The new border was by Vinodol
’s synclinal not northern from modern Crikvenica
.
From the middle of the 2nd century AD, the name "Liburnia" was used not only for the territory settled by the Liburnians, but also for previously "Iapodian" territory in official usage; the Iapodians were included with the Liburnians to the court jurisdiction county of Scardona (Skradin
), one of the convent seats in the provinces of Dalmatia. By the end of 330s AD, Liburnia was administratively attached to Dalmatia, however it was still treated and recognized as a special and different area.
was administratively added to the Gothic province of Dalmatia; capital city of the both provinces was Salona
(Solin), a seat of the ruler "comes Dalmatiarum et Saviae".
The Goths lost the most of Dalmatia and a part of Liburnia in the south-east around Skradin in 536 AD, in war against the Byzantine
emperor Justinian the Great who started it to reconquer the territories of the former Western Empire (see Gothic War
), while a part of Liburnia in Ravni Kotari
with Zadar
surrendered to the Byzantines in 552 AD. However, northern Liburnia and the rest of Classical Liburnia remained in the Gothic hands until 555 AD; after Byzantine conquest of Savia (540 AD) and Istria (543 AD) it was organized to special administrative-territorial unit of the Gothic state, known as "Liburnia Tarsatica", military province directly subject to comes Gotharum settled in Aquilea.
This "military-naval" region, protected by heavy fleet, became a barrier to the Byzantine army step to Lika
and Gorski Kotar
, keeping safe continental road route over Tarsatica to Aquileia
and northern Italy. According to anonymous Cosmographer of Ravenna
(6th or 7th century), Liburnia Tarsatica considered all coastal cities from Albona (Labin
) to Elona (Aenona, Nin
) of Classical Liburnia and Iapodian settlements in the inland (Lika
).
From 550 and 551 AD, the Slavs (Sclabenoi) started to break into Illyria
and Dalmatia
, as recorded by Procopius
; by some thinking it was beginning of Slavic colonization there, which lasted during the next few centuries. Initial ethnic nucleus under Croatian
name originated in Liburnian inland from where it soon spread to all Liburnia and from there to the other regions of former Illyricum
province. In the pre-Roman ages, the Liburnians had been organized in 14 municipalities (tetradekapolis), the Croats probably used existing Illyrian municipality structure and had 14 županijas, Old Croatian political-jurisdictional forms (municipalities), as reported by Constantine Porphyrogenitus
, while many of twelve Old Croatian tribes were settled in Liburnia. In the next centuries Croatian language
overlaid Dalmatian language
spoken in Liburnia and Dalmatia and already by the end of the 9th century, in the islands of Zadar aquatory, more than 70 % of toponyms were Slavic forms.
From the 6th to 9th century, names Liburnia and Dalmatia were continually used for separate specifics in the sources, not necessarily meaning that Liburnia was a separate political unit, but it was certainly used as for Classical Liburnia territorial range. At the end of the 8th century Charlemagne
conquered Pannonia
and Dacia
, then Istria, Liburnia and Dalmatia, but the main littoral Liburnian and Dalmatian cites, however, remained under Byzantine control, organized to a Dalmatian archonty with Jadera (Zadar) in status of a provincial metropolis. The most of Liburnia was under direct Frankish
rule (king, Friuli
an duke) and separated from Croatian Principality of Dalmatia
until 820 AD. By some suppositions, Croatian prince Borna
was a Frankish vassal sent from Liburnia to Dalmatia to organize it into a vassal state to the Frankish Empire; in 820 AD, Louis the Pious
rewarded him for his merits and devotion, by giving also Liburnia to his jurisdiction. Borna enjoyed a title of "dux Dalmatiae atque Liburniae".
After Borna, Croatian rulers replaced "Liburnia" with "Croatia" in their titles and continually after reign of Držislav (969-997) they were the kings of "Dalmatia and Croatia"; thus geographical name Liburnia has disappeared from official use and has been further used only for a historical land.
Liburnians
The Liburnians were an ancient Illyrian tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers Arsia and Titius in what is now Croatia....
, a region along the northeastern Adriatic coast in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, in modern Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, whose borders shifted according to the extent of Liburnian dominance at a given time between 11th and 1st century BC. Domination of the Liburnian thalassocracy
Thalassocracy
The term thalassocracy refers to a state with primarily maritime realms—an empire at sea, such as Athens or the Phoenician network of merchant cities...
in the Adriatic Sea was confirmed by a several Antique writers, but the archeologists have defined a region of their material culture more precisely in northern Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, Kvarner and eastern Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
.
Classical Liburnia
The Liburnian cultural group developed at the end of the Bronze AgeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
after the Balkan-Pannonian migrations, and during the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
in a region bordered by Raša
Raša (river)
The river Raša, in Croatian Istria is a major river of Croatia's Istria County. Its mouth is in the long ria of Raški zaljev/Porto d'Arsia, which is a drowned river valley scoured out when world sea levels were lowered, then drowned by the rising waters of the post glacial era...
, Zrmanja
Zrmanja
Zrmanja is a river in southern Lika and northern Dalmatia, Croatia. It is long and its basin covers an area of .It was known to the ancient Romans as Tedanius. The spring of Zrmanja is located in southern part of Lika under Postak - the southern peak of Pljesevica mountain, and close to south end...
and Krka
Krka (Croatia)
Krka is a river in Croatia's Dalmatia region, famous for its numerous waterfalls. It is long and its basin covers an area of .Possibly the river called Catarbates by the ancient Greeks, it was known to the ancient Romans as Titius, Corcoras, or Korkoras.The river has its source near the border...
rivers (Arsia, Tedanius, Titius), including the nearby islands. This territory lay mostly at the coast and on the numerous islands. Its continental borders were marked by the rivers and mountains: Raša, Učka, Gorski Kotar
Gorski kotar
Gorski kotar is the mountainous region in Croatia between Karlovac and Rijeka. Together with Lika and the Ogulin-Plaški valley it forms Mountainous Croatia. Because 63% of its surface is forested it is popularly called the green lungs of Croatia or Croatian Switzerland...
, peaks of Velebit
Velebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
mountain (Mons Baebius), Zrmanja and Krka, with a small area northeast of Krka bordered by Butišnica, Krka, Kosovčica and Čikola
Čikola
Čikola is a river of 47.8 km in length, located in Dalmatia, southern Croatia.Čikola river's springs is near the village Čavoglave, flows through the city of Drniš and then flows near village of Miljevci into the river of Krka which flows into Adriatic Sea.-See also:*Krka*Krka National Park...
, around the city Promona (modern Tepljuh near Drniš
Drniš
Drniš is a town in Croatia, located in inland Dalmatia at halfway between Šibenik and Knin. Its municipality population is 8,595 , with 3,332 in the town itself and the rest in two dozen surrounding villages...
). Thus, it neighbored in the northwest with the Histrian, in the north with the Iapodian and in the southeast with the Dalmatian
Dalmatae
The Dalmatae or Delmatae were an ancient people who inhabited the core of what would then become known as Dalmatia after the Roman conquest - now the eastern Adriatic coast in Croatia, between the rivers Krka and Neretva...
cultural groups.
Liburnian culture had distinct features and differed considerably from those of its neighbors. Its isolation and special qualities resulted primarily from its geographical isolation from the hinterland and its seaward orientation, important for traffic circulation and territorial connection. Maritime focus shaped Liburnian ethnic development on the Indo-European
Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language , a reconstructed prehistoric language of Eurasia.Knowledge of them comes chiefly from the linguistic reconstruction, along with material evidence from archaeology and archaeogenetics...
basis with the transfer of Mediterranean cultural traditions into an independent ethnic community, separated from neighboring peoples, but having evident similarities and links with the wider Illyrian and Adriatic territories. The Liburnians' skillful seamanship allowed them to hold navigable routes along the eastern Adriatic coast with strategic points, such as the islands of Hvar
Hvar
- Climate :The climate of Hvar is characterized by mild winters and warm summers. The yearly average air temperature is , 686 mm of precipitation fall on the town of Hvar on average every year and the town has a total of 2800 sunshine hours per year. For comparison Hvar has an average of 7.7...
and Lastovo
Lastovo
Lastovo is an island municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The municipality consists of 46 islands with a total population of 792 people, of which 93% are ethnic Croats, and a land area of approximately . The biggest island in the municipality is also named Lastovo, as is the...
in the central Adriatic and Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
(8th century BC) in the Ionian Sea
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...
, while they already had colonies at the western Adriatic coast, especially in region of Picenum
Picenum
Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name is an exonym assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum was the birthplace of such notables as Pompey the Great and his father Pompeius Strabo. It was situated in what is now Marche...
, from the beginning of the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
. From the 9th to the 6th century there was certain koine - cultural unity in the Adriatic, with the general Liburninan seal, whose naval supremacy meant both political and economical authority in the Adriatic Sea through several centuries.
According to Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
(VI, 269), the Liburnians were masters of the island Korkyra (Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
), until 735 BC, when they left it, under pressure of Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
ian ruler Hersikrates, in a period of Corinthian expansion to South Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and Ionian Sea. However their position in the Adriatic Sea was still strong in the next few centuries. Historian Theopompus
Theopompus
Theopompus was a Greek historian and rhetorician- Biography :Theopompus was born on Chios. In early youth he seems to have spent some time at Athens, along with his father, who had been exiled on account of his Laconian sympathies...
(377-320 BC) informed about the island groups in the Adriatic Sea: Apsartides (Cres
Cres
Cres is an Adriatic island in Croatia. It is one of the northern island in the Kvarner Gulf and can be reached via ferry from the island Krk or from the Istrian peninsula ....
and Lošinj
Lošinj
Lošinj is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, in the Kvarner Gulf. It is almost due south of the city of Rijeka and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
), Elektrides (Krk
Krk
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
), while all the others were the Liburnian islands - Liburnides, from Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
archipelago to Ladesta (Lastovo
Lastovo
Lastovo is an island municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The municipality consists of 46 islands with a total population of 792 people, of which 93% are ethnic Croats, and a land area of approximately . The biggest island in the municipality is also named Lastovo, as is the...
) in the south, including Paros (Hvar). Geographer Scymnus
Scymnus
Scymnus of Chios was a Greek geographer. He was said to have been the author of a periegesis in prose.An anonymous verse periegesis first published at Augsburg in 1600, originally ascribed to Marcianus of Heraclea, was long thought to be the lost work of Scymnus, but this was shown not to be the...
(4th century BC) noted that Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
island of Paros
Paros
Paros is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets...
had a namesake in the Adriatic Sea, Liburnian island of Paros (Hvar
Hvar
- Climate :The climate of Hvar is characterized by mild winters and warm summers. The yearly average air temperature is , 686 mm of precipitation fall on the town of Hvar on average every year and the town has a total of 2800 sunshine hours per year. For comparison Hvar has an average of 7.7...
); this name was later changed to Pharos, according to Strabo (VII, 5). Scymnus specially noted the island group Mentorides (Arba - Rab
Rab
Rab is an island in Croatia and a town of the same name located just off the northern Croatian coast in the Adriatic Sea.The island is long, has an area of and 9,480 inhabitants . The highest peak is Kamenjak at 408 meters...
and Cissa - (Pag
Pag (island)
Pag is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea. It is the fifth-largest island of the Croatian coast, and the one with the longest coastline....
). Old Greek sources never noted any Liburnian settlement in the northern coasts, possibly because the ancient mariners had been using only outer island channels for navigation towards the beginning of the Amber Road
Amber Road
The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber. As one of the waterways and ancient highways, for centuries the road led from Europe to Asia and back, and from northern Africa to the Baltic Sea....
in the north of Adriatic, evading inner seas which were ruled by Liburnian thallasocracy. Alexandria's librarian Apollonius of Rhodes
Apollonius of Rhodes
Apollonius Rhodius, also known as Apollonius of Rhodes , early 3rd century BCE – after 246 BCE, was a poet, and a librarian at the Library of Alexandria...
(295 – 215 BC) yet described the islands, Issa (Vis
Vis (island)
Vis is the most outerly lying larger Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, and is part of the Central Dalmatian group of islands, with an area of 90.26 km² and a population of 3,617 . Of all the inhabited Croatian islands, it is the farthest from the coast...
), Diskelados (Brač
Brac
Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...
) and Pitiea (Hvar
Hvar
- Climate :The climate of Hvar is characterized by mild winters and warm summers. The yearly average air temperature is , 686 mm of precipitation fall on the town of Hvar on average every year and the town has a total of 2800 sunshine hours per year. For comparison Hvar has an average of 7.7...
) as Liburnian. But by the 1st century AD Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
includes in the island group Liburnicae only the archipelagos in Zadar and Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
aquatories, Gissa (Pag
Pag (island)
Pag is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea. It is the fifth-largest island of the Croatian coast, and the one with the longest coastline....
), Sissa (Sestrunj
Sestrunj (island)
Sestrunj is an island in Croatian part of Adriatic Sea. It is situated in Zadar archipelago, between Ugljan, Rivanj and Dugi Otok. Its area is 11.1 km², and it has population of 48 . The eponymous settlement is located in the island's interior. The island is partially covered with maquis...
), Scardagissa (Škarda), Lissa (Ugljan
Ugljan
Ugljan is a Croatian island and the first in the Zadar Archipelago. It is located northwest of the island of Pašman and southeast of the islands of Rivanj and Sestrunj. Separated from the mainland by the Zadar Channel, it is connected with the island of Pašman by a bridge spanning over the Ždrelac...
and Pašman
Pašman
Pašman is an island off the coast of the Adriatic Sea in Croatia, located to the south of Zadar, surrounded by the islands Ugljan, Iž, Dugi otok and Kornati...
), Colentum (Murter
Murter
Murter is name of the island in the Croatian part of the Adriatic sea, located in central Dalmatia at , as well as that of a small village on the north-western part of the island....
), island groups Celadussae (Dugi Otok
Dugi Otok
Dugi otok is the seventh largest island in the Adriatic Sea, part of Croatia. It is located off the Dalmatian coast, west of Zadar. It is the largest and eastern-most of the Zadarian Islands, and derives its name from its distinctive shape...
), Crateae, and several other minor ones, though their municipalities occupied islands to the north, Curycta (Krk), Arba (Rab), Crepsa (Cres), Apsorus (Lošinj).
Archaeology has confirmed that the narrow region of the Liburnian ethnic nucleus was at the eastern Adriatic coast between Krka and Raša rivers, in "Classical Liburnia", especially between Krka and Zrmanja rivers, where the material remains of their culture and settlements were the most frequently distributed, while their cities were urbanized at certain degree even in pre-Roman ages. By the material remains it's obvious that they didn't settle the eastern Adriatic coast to the south-east of Krka river; their supremacy on the islands to the south of their ethnic region should not be understood necessarily as their ethnic dominion in the southern Adriatic archipelagos (Hvar, Brač, Vis, Lastovo, etc.), but rather as their organized military-naval region based on the island outposts, by which they maintained control of the navigable route to the south.
In the 6th century BC their domination of the Adriatic Sea coasts started to diminish. They lost their trade colonies in the Western Adriatic coast due to invasion of the Umbri
Umbri
The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is currently occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria....
and the Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
, caused by expansion of the Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
union in the basin of Po river. The 5th century BC saw Greek colonization in the south Adriatic, and final Liburnian retreat to Liburnia was caused by military and political activities of Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse
Dionysius I of Syracuse
Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in what is now Sicily, southern Italy. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies...
in the 4th century BC. Liburnia was strongly held, but Greek colonization reached Liburnian strategic possessions in the central Adriatic, Issa (on the island of Vis) and Pharos (Starigrad, Hvar), a colony of the Greeks from Paros. Celtic invasion from the west bypassed Liburnia in the 4th century BC, but their northern neighbors the Iapodes were under considerably more pressure. The Liburnians took the opportunity to spread their territory to the Kvarner archipelago and the eastern coast of Istria to the river Raša, previously held by Iapodes, thus making the Histri their new neighbors to the west. On the basis of ancient records, the Iapodes inhabited the coast between Albona (Labin) and Lopsica (Sv. Juraj, south from Senj) and island Curycta (Krk) to the end of the 4th century BC. Material remains from the Early Iron Age in that region have alternately shown Histrian provenance, not necessarily Liburnian, but often ascribed to the Liburnians from the 4th century BC to the age of Roman conquest. Although archaeology of the region has not strictly confirmed the earlier presence of Iapodian material culture the group's presence and strong influence on the region is evident. They surely broke to Kvarner in the 20’s of the 3rd century BC and the border between Iapodia and Liburnia was the river Telavius (Žrnovnica, Velebit channel). It’s not certain how long they ruled these coasts (some propose until the 1st century BC) and when exactly they retreated to their main historical lands. Borders of Liburnia didn’t change until its conflict with Dalmatae
Dalmatae
The Dalmatae or Delmatae were an ancient people who inhabited the core of what would then become known as Dalmatia after the Roman conquest - now the eastern Adriatic coast in Croatia, between the rivers Krka and Neretva...
in 51 BC, when the Liburnians lost their city Promona (Tepljuh, Drniš) in the south and probably some lands around Krka river. By that time the Romans were already engaged in centuries long wars against Liburnian neighbors, Histri, Dalmatae and other Illyrians
Illyrians
The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
.
Roman Liburnia
When empowered RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
force ended independence of their naval force in 33 BC, the Liburnians lost their freedom and Liburnia became a part of the Roman province of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, but marginal in a military sense. Burnum
Burnum
Burnum or Burnum Municipium, an archaeological site, was a Roman Legion camp and town. It is located 2.5 km north of Kistanje, in inland Dalmatia, Croatia...
on Krka river became a Roman military camp, while the frequently settled and already urbanized plains of Classical Liburnia, in the inland of Iader (Zadar), became easily accessible and controlled by the Roman rulers. However Liburnian seamanship tradition was never wiped out, but became primarily trade-oriented under the new circumstances, a shift which contributed to the economic and cultural flourishing of its ports and cities, as well as to those of the province in general. Despite the process of Romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
that especially effected some of the bigger cities, the Liburnians saved their traditions, cults, typical funeral monuments (Liburnian cipus), names etc., as attested by the archaeological material from those ages.
After the Roman conquest, the delineation of Liburnia as a region became more settled. Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
(1st century AD) gave a detailed geography of Liburnia, noting their tetradekapolis political-regional organization, 14 Liburnian municipalities subject to Scardona (Skradin
Skradin
Skradin is a small town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia it has a population about 3,986 . It is located near the Krka river and at the entrance to the Krka National Park, from Šibenik and from Split...
). Worth mention were Lacinienses (unknown), Stulpinos (unknown Stulpi), Burnistas (Burnum
Burnum
Burnum or Burnum Municipium, an archaeological site, was a Roman Legion camp and town. It is located 2.5 km north of Kistanje, in inland Dalmatia, Croatia...
), Olbonenses (unknown), those who enjoyed Italic law
Ius Italicum
Ius Italicum was an honour conferred on particular cities of the Roman Empire by the emperors. It did not describe any status of citizenship, but granted to communities outside Italy the legal fiction that it was on Italian soil...
(Ius Italicum) were Alutae (Alvona - Labin
Labin
Labin is a town in Istria, Croatia, with a town population of 6,884 and 11,703 in the greater municipality ....
), Flanates (Flanona – Plomin
Plomin
Plomin is a village in the Croatian part of Istria, situated approximately 11 km north of Labin, on an 80 meters high hill. It is a popular destination for tourists traveling through Istria by road....
, the gulf of Kvarner was named by them - sinus Flanaticus), Lopsi
Lopsi
Lopsi is the name of a Liburnian tribe inhabiting the mountains along the eastern coast of the Adriatic before and during the Roman Empire, specifically present-day Velebit. The tribe was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, and it borrowed its name to one of the Roman cities on...
(around the strategic pass of Vratnik and the town of Lopsica – Sv. Juraj, south from Senj
Senj
Senj , German Zengg, Hungarian Zeng and Italian Segna) is the oldest town on the upper Adriatic, and it was founded in the time before the Romans some 3000 years ago on the hill Kuk. It was the center of the Illyrian tribe Iapydes. The current settlement is situated at the foot of the slopes Mala...
), Varvarini (Varvaria – Bribir), tribute immunity was given to Asseriates (Asseria – Podgrađe near Benkovac
Benkovac
Benkovac is a town and municipality in the interior of Zadar County, Croatia.- Geography :Benkovac is located where the plain of Ravni Kotari and the karstic plateau of Bukovica meet, 20 km from the town of Biograd na Moru and 30 km from Zadar. The Zagreb-Split motorway and Zadar-Knin...
) and to the islanders Fertinates (*Fulfinates, Fulfin(i)um - Omišalj
Omišalj
Omišalj is a small coastal town in the north-west of the island of Krk in Croatia. The population of the town itself is 1,790 , while the Omišalj municipality also includes the nearby Njivice, bringing the total up to 2,998 people...
on Krk
Krk
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
) and Curictae (Curicum, Krk).
He listed the cities along the coast from north to the south: Alvona (Labin), Flanona (Plomin), Tarsatica (Trsat; in Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
), Senia (Senj
Senj
Senj , German Zengg, Hungarian Zeng and Italian Segna) is the oldest town on the upper Adriatic, and it was founded in the time before the Romans some 3000 years ago on the hill Kuk. It was the center of the Illyrian tribe Iapydes. The current settlement is situated at the foot of the slopes Mala...
), Lopsica (Sv. Juraj, south from Senj), Ortoplinia (probably Stinica, in Velebit
Velebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
), Vegium (Karlobag
Karlobag
Karlobag is a historic and picturesque seaside municipality on the Adriatic coast in Croatia, located underneath Velebit overlooking the island of Pag, west of Gospić and south of Senj. The Gacka river also runs through the area...
), Argyruntum (Starigrad
Starigrad
Starigrad is a municipality in Croatia in the Zadar County. The total population is 1,875 . According to the 2001 census, 95% of the population are Croats.The list of settlements in the municipality is:* Seline, population 454...
), Corinium (Karin Donji), Aenona (Nin
Nin, Croatia
Nin is a town in the Zadar county of Croatia, population 1,256 , total municipality population 4,603 .Nin was historically important as a centre of a Christian Bishopric in the Middle Ages. Up to the abolition and Latinization imposed by King Tomislav in the first half of the 10th century, Nin was...
), civitas Pasini (in Ražanac
Ražanac
Ražanac is a municipality in Croatia in the Zadar County. According to the 2001 census, there are 3,107 inhabitants, 98% which are Croats.The settlements in the municipality are:* Jovići * Krneza...
– Vinjerac – Posedarje
Posedarje
Posedarje is a municipality in Zadar County of Croatia with 3,513 inhabitants....
range), important island cities Absortium (Apsorus – Osor
Osor
Osor is a village and a small port on the Cres island in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia.Osor lies at a narrow channel that separates islands Cres and Lošinj. The channel was built in Roman times to make sailing possible. Now the islands are connected with a rotating bridge.The...
), Arba (Rab
Rab (town)
Rab is the main settlement on the island of Rab in Croatia. It is located on a small peninsula on the southwestern side of the island, and had 554 residents as of 2001....
), Crexi (Cres
Cres (town)
Cres is a Croatian town found on the Island of Cres which can be found directly off the Istrian Peninsula and in the Kvarner Gulf. The town is inhabited by 2,959 people , and located at .-Town:...
), Gissa (Cissa, Caska near Novalja
Novalja
Novalja is a town in the north of the island of Pag in the Croatian part of Adriatic Sea. In recent times Novalja became famous because of the Zrće Beach, which is one of the biggest summer party zones in Europe.- History :...
, Pag
Pag
Pag may refer to:*Pag , an island in the Adriatic Sea, part of Croatia*Pag , the largest town on the island of Pag* Pag, the ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 code for the Pangasinan languageSee also* PAG...
), Portunata (Novalja, older was Gissa portu nota – Cissa known by its port Novalja), by the coast colonia Iader (Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
with status of Roman colony), Colentum insula (Murter
Murter
Murter is name of the island in the Croatian part of the Adriatic sea, located in central Dalmatia at , as well as that of a small village on the north-western part of the island....
, city and island).
Liburnia was a part of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
until its collapse in 476 AD. During the reign of Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
, border between the Liburnians and Histri was Raša
Raša
Raša is a town and municipality in the inner part of the Raška Inlet in the south-eastern part of Istria, Croatia. Raša lies southwest of Labin at an elevation of ....
river in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
. In 170 AD a part of north-western Liburnian periphery that included the city Tarsatica (Trsat) was cut off from Liburnia. The new border was by Vinodol
Vinodolska
Vinodol is a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. There are 3,530 inhabitants, with 94% Croats.The settlements are:* Bribir* Drivenik* Grižane-Belgrad* Tribalj...
’s synclinal not northern from modern Crikvenica
Crikvenica
Crikvenica is the largest settlement on the coast of the Vinodol coastal area, Croatia, and grew up on an area which was a settlement in the Roman era called Ad Turres. Population 7,121 , total municipality population 11,348 with 90% Croats...
.
From the middle of the 2nd century AD, the name "Liburnia" was used not only for the territory settled by the Liburnians, but also for previously "Iapodian" territory in official usage; the Iapodians were included with the Liburnians to the court jurisdiction county of Scardona (Skradin
Skradin
Skradin is a small town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia it has a population about 3,986 . It is located near the Krka river and at the entrance to the Krka National Park, from Šibenik and from Split...
), one of the convent seats in the provinces of Dalmatia. By the end of 330s AD, Liburnia was administratively attached to Dalmatia, however it was still treated and recognized as a special and different area.
Medieval Liburnia
After the faulth of the Roman Empire and probably already from 490 AD, Liburnia within Dalmatia passed to the rule of the Ostrogoths, which lasted for six decades. Region of SaviaPannonia Savia
The Pannonia Savia, also known as Savia and Pannonia Ripariensis, was an ancient Roman province. It was formed in the year 296, during the reign of emperor Diocletian. The capital of the province was Siscia . Pannonia Savia included parts of present-day Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and...
was administratively added to the Gothic province of Dalmatia; capital city of the both provinces was Salona
Salona
Salona was an ancient Illyrian Delmati city in the first millennium BC. The Greeks had set up an emporion there. After the conquest by the Romans, Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia...
(Solin), a seat of the ruler "comes Dalmatiarum et Saviae".
The Goths lost the most of Dalmatia and a part of Liburnia in the south-east around Skradin in 536 AD, in war against the Byzantine
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
emperor Justinian the Great who started it to reconquer the territories of the former Western Empire (see Gothic War
Gothic War
Gothic War can refer to several periods of warfare between the Roman empire and the Goths, including:*Gothic War – Greuthungs and Thervings against the Eastern Roman Empire*Gothic War – Visigoths against the Western Roman Empire...
), while a part of Liburnia in Ravni Kotari
Ravni Kotari
Ravni Kotari is a geographical region in Croatia. It is situated in northern Dalmatia, around Zadar. It is bordered by Bukovica to the northwest, lower Krka on the southeast and the Adriatic Sea. The biggest settlement of the region is the town of Benkovac...
with Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
surrendered to the Byzantines in 552 AD. However, northern Liburnia and the rest of Classical Liburnia remained in the Gothic hands until 555 AD; after Byzantine conquest of Savia (540 AD) and Istria (543 AD) it was organized to special administrative-territorial unit of the Gothic state, known as "Liburnia Tarsatica", military province directly subject to comes Gotharum settled in Aquilea.
This "military-naval" region, protected by heavy fleet, became a barrier to the Byzantine army step to Lika
Lika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
and Gorski Kotar
Gorski kotar
Gorski kotar is the mountainous region in Croatia between Karlovac and Rijeka. Together with Lika and the Ogulin-Plaški valley it forms Mountainous Croatia. Because 63% of its surface is forested it is popularly called the green lungs of Croatia or Croatian Switzerland...
, keeping safe continental road route over Tarsatica to Aquileia
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...
and northern Italy. According to anonymous Cosmographer of Ravenna
Ravenna Cosmography
The Ravenna Cosmography was compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around AD 700. It consists of a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland. Textual evidence indicates that the author frequently used maps as his source....
(6th or 7th century), Liburnia Tarsatica considered all coastal cities from Albona (Labin
Labin
Labin is a town in Istria, Croatia, with a town population of 6,884 and 11,703 in the greater municipality ....
) to Elona (Aenona, Nin
Nin, Croatia
Nin is a town in the Zadar county of Croatia, population 1,256 , total municipality population 4,603 .Nin was historically important as a centre of a Christian Bishopric in the Middle Ages. Up to the abolition and Latinization imposed by King Tomislav in the first half of the 10th century, Nin was...
) of Classical Liburnia and Iapodian settlements in the inland (Lika
Lika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
).
From 550 and 551 AD, the Slavs (Sclabenoi) started to break into Illyria
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....
and Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, as recorded by Procopius
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
; by some thinking it was beginning of Slavic colonization there, which lasted during the next few centuries. Initial ethnic nucleus under Croatian
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
name originated in Liburnian inland from where it soon spread to all Liburnia and from there to the other regions of former Illyricum
Illyricum (Roman province)
The Roman province of Illyricum or Illyris Romana or Illyris Barbara or Illyria Barbara replaced most of the region of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern north Albania to Istria in the west and to the Sava river in the north. Salona functioned as its capital...
province. In the pre-Roman ages, the Liburnians had been organized in 14 municipalities (tetradekapolis), the Croats probably used existing Illyrian municipality structure and had 14 županijas, Old Croatian political-jurisdictional forms (municipalities), as reported by Constantine Porphyrogenitus
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
, while many of twelve Old Croatian tribes were settled in Liburnia. In the next centuries Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
overlaid Dalmatian language
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
spoken in Liburnia and Dalmatia and already by the end of the 9th century, in the islands of Zadar aquatory, more than 70 % of toponyms were Slavic forms.
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
conquered Pannonia
Pannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
and Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
, then Istria, Liburnia and Dalmatia, but the main littoral Liburnian and Dalmatian cites, however, remained under Byzantine control, organized to a Dalmatian archonty with Jadera (Zadar) in status of a provincial metropolis. The most of Liburnia was under direct Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
rule (king, Friuli
Friuli
Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
an duke) and separated from Croatian Principality of Dalmatia
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
The Kingdom of Croatia , also known as the Kingdom of the Croats , was a medieval kingdom covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans.Established in 925, it ruled as a sovereign state for almost two centuries...
until 820 AD. By some suppositions, Croatian prince Borna
Borna of Croatia
Borna was the Knez of Littoral Croatia in 803–821 under the Frankish Empire. He was the son of his predecessor, Višeslav.- Ruler of Dalmatia :...
was a Frankish vassal sent from Liburnia to Dalmatia to organize it into a vassal state to the Frankish Empire; in 820 AD, Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
rewarded him for his merits and devotion, by giving also Liburnia to his jurisdiction. Borna enjoyed a title of "dux Dalmatiae atque Liburniae".
After Borna, Croatian rulers replaced "Liburnia" with "Croatia" in their titles and continually after reign of Držislav (969-997) they were the kings of "Dalmatia and Croatia"; thus geographical name Liburnia has disappeared from official use and has been further used only for a historical land.
See also
- LiburniansLiburniansThe Liburnians were an ancient Illyrian tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers Arsia and Titius in what is now Croatia....
- Liburnian languageLiburnian languageThe Liburnian language is an extinct language which was spoken by the ancient Liburnians, who occupied Liburnia in classical times. The Liburnian language is reckoned as an Indo-European language, in the Centum group. Alternative speculations place it on the same Indo-European branch as the Venetic...
- DalmatiaDalmatiaDalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
- CroatiaCroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
- Adriatic
- IllyriansIllyriansThe Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
- Ancient RomeAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
Publications
- Friedrich Lübker, Realllexikon des klassichen Altertums, volume ii (eighth edition, Leipzig, 1914); article, "Liburni"