The
Liburnians (or
Liburni,
Greek: Λιβυρνοί) were an ancient people inhabiting the district called
Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the river
Arsia (now
Raša) in
Istria and the river
Titius (now
Krka) in what is now
Croatia. Liburnia became the northern part of Roman
Illyricum. They, together with the
Siculians, had originally occupied the opposite coast of
Picenum in a city called
Truentum.
Strabo reports that
Corcyra (modern
Corfu) had been peopled by them in the distant past until they were expelled by the legendary
Archias. Another ancient source credits their former presence in
Issa and neighbouring islands.
The Liburnians had been considerably extended to the north, for
Noricum had been previously inhabited by Liburnian tribes; for the
Vindelicians were Liburnians.
[Servius' commentary on Virgil's Aeneid i. 243.] Strabo makes a distinction between them and the
Breuni and
Genauni, whom he calls
Illyrians.
Virgil's words
seem distinctly to term the
Veneti Liburnians, for the "innermost realm of the Liburnians" must have been the goal at which
Antenor is said to have arrived.
By the middle of the first century BC they were partly losing territory to their Illyrian neighbors on the southeast, the
Delmatae and probably the
Ardiaei. Over the centuries it seems that the Liburnians, having once controlled the Adriatic down to
Corfu, were being steadily pushed westwards. Due to these pressures, to conserve and stabilise their area the Liburnians adhered to Romans by 35 BC, and then their land was incorporated into
Dalmatia province.
Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age
Italy during the sixth century BC.
Driven out from the countries between
Pannonia and the Veneti by the Gallic invasion, they were compressed within the district from the
Titius (mod.
Krka) to the
Arsia (mod.
Raša), which came to be called Liburnia. A wild and piratical race, they used privateering vessels (
lembi or
naves Liburnicae, "Liburnian ships") with one very large
lateen sail, which, adopted by the Romans in their struggle with
Carthage and in the
Second Macedonian War, gradually supplanted the high-bulwarked galleys which had formerly been in use.
Liburnia was afterwards incorporated with the province of
Dalmatia, and
Iadera (mod.
Zadar), its capital, was made a Roman colony. In AD 634
Heraclius invited the
Chrovates or
Chrobati (ancestors of the
Croats), who lived on the north side of the
Carpathians, in what is now southern Poland (or
Galicia), to occupy the province as vassals of the Empire. Their presence had a permanent effect on the Romanized culture, and the Liburnians faded as a distinct
ethne.
Settlements and territories
The principal settlements of the Liburnians lay in the south of their territory, in the coastal plain around
Iadera (
Zadar), between the rivers
Tedanius (
Zrmanja) and
Titius (
Krka). A major megalithic town had been
Curycta on
Krk island. Other settlements were found along the coast northwards towards eastern Istria, an area which was more firmly part of Liburnia after the fifth century BC. Liburnian possessions from that time included the islands of the
Kvarner bay, i.e.
Curyctae (
Krk),
Arba (
Rab), the
Apsyrtides (
Cres and
Lošinj) and
Gissa (
Pag).
Strabo extends the coast-line of Liburnia as far as 1500 stadia; their chief cities were
Iadera (mod.
Zadar) and the "conventus" or congress of
Scardona (mod.
Skradin), at which the inhabitants of fourteen towns assembled.
[Plin. iii. 25.] Besides these,
Pliny enumerates the following:
Albona (mod.
Labin),
Flanona (mod.
Plomin),
Tarsatica (mod.
Trsat, near
Rijeka),
Senia (mod.
Senj),
Lopsica (mod.
Sveti Juraj),
Ortopula (mod.
Jablanac?),
Vegium (mod.
Karlobag),
Argyruntum (mod.
Starigrad-
Paklenica),
Corinium (mod.
Karin),
Aenona (mod.
Nin)
and
Civitas Pasini.
Strabo enumerates the following as the Liburnian Islands:
The
Libyrnides (
Rab,
Pag,
Dugi Otok,
Kornat, etc., which border the coasts of ancient Liburnia, now Murlaka), the
Absyrtides (mod.
Cres and
Lošinj,
It. Cherso and
Lussino),
Cyrictica(mod.
Krk,
It. Veglia),
Issa (mod.
Vis and
Biševo,
It. Lissa),
Tragurium (mod.
Trogir,
It. Traù), the Black Corcyra (mod.
Korčula,
It. Curzola) and
Pharos (mod.
Hvar,
It. Lesina).
The
Periplus of Scylacis Caryandensis (§21) enumerates the Liburnian coastal cities of
Lias,
Idassa,
Attienites,
Dyÿrta,
Aloupsoi,
Olsoi,
Pedetai, and
Hemionoi of which Scylacis notes: "These people are ruled by women, who are the wives of freeborn men, but they cohabit with their own slaves and with the men of the neighboring regions."
Seafarers
The Liburnians were renowned seafarers, notorious for their raids in the
Adriatic Sea, which they conducted in their swift
galleys. The Romans knew them principally as a people addicted to
piracy. The major harbour of Liburnian navy since 5th century BC was
Corynthia at eastern cape of
Krk island, including 7 unearthed docks, marine arsenal, and stony fortifications; this early harbour persisted in ancient and medieval function to 16th century.
Liburnians constructed different ship types; their
galaia was an early prototype of transport galleys,
lembus was a fishing ship continued by the actual Croatian
levut, and a
drakoforos was apparently mounted with a dragonhead at the prow.
Liburna
Another Liburnian warship, known as a
libyrnis to the Greeks and a
liburna to the Romans, was propelled by oars; it was a smaller version of a
trireme, but with two banks of oars (a
bireme), faster, lighter, and more agile. The liburnian design was adopted by the Romans and became a key part of
Ancient Rome's
navy. It was long and wide with a draft. Two rows of oarsmen pulled 18 oars per side. The ship could make up to 14 knots under sail and more than 7 under oars.
Such a vessel, used as a merchantman, might take on a passenger, as Lycinus relates in the second-century dialogue,
, traditionally attributed to
Lucian of Samosata: "I had a speedy vessel readied, the kind of bireme used above all by the Liburnians of the Ionian
Gulf."
Once the Romans had adopted the liburnian, they proceeded to make a few adaptations to improve the ships’ use within the navy. The benefits gained from the addition of rams and protection from missiles more than made-up for the slight loss of speed. Besides the construction, the ships required that the regular Roman military unit be simplified in order to function more smoothly. Each ship operated as an individual entity, so the more complicated organization normally used was not necessary. Within the navy, there were probably liburnian of several varying sizes, all put to specific tasks such as scouting and patrolling Roman waters against piracy. The Romans made use of the liburnian particularly within the provinces of the empire, where the ships formed the bulk of the fleets.
Language
The Liburnian language is reckoned as an
Indo-European language, in the
Centum group. It appears to have been on the same Indo-European branch as the
Venetic language.
No writings in Liburnian are known however. The grouping of Liburnian with Venetic is based on the Liburnian
onomastics.
Yoshamya and Yoshamya (2005) suggest that the Liburnians were not
Illyrians linguistically, connecting the
Liburnian language to the
Venetic language.
Religion
Anzotica, the Liburnian goddess of love, counterpart of
Venus and
Aphrodite, and also
Ica, their water goddess of fountains, both appear in traditional Greco-Roman guise in Roman-era Liburnian sculpture.
See also
Sources
- HELVII u Jaderu i Liburniji, ["Helvii in Iader and Liburnia"], Radovi - zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru, 37, Zadar, 1955, 9-37.
- Liburnski cipus iz Verone (CIL 5, 2200, 8852; CIL 3, 2190), ["Liburnian cippus from Verona"], Diadora, 10, Zadar, 1988, 73-99.
- "Prilog klasifikaciji liburnskih nadgrobnih spomenika, tzv. liburnskih cipusa - sjeverna grupa nalaza," [“Contribution to classification of Liburnian gravestones, so called cipuses - northern group of findings”], Izdanja HAD-a, 13, Arheoloska istrazivanja na otocima Krku, Rabu i u Hrvatskom primorju, Zagreb, 1989, 51-59.
- [ ], "Aserijatska skupina liburnskih nadgrobnih spomenika, tzv. liburnskih cipusa," [“Asseriate group of Liburnian gravestones, so called cippi”], Diadora, 12: 209-299, Zadar, 1990; Diadora, 13, Zadar, 1991, 169-211.
- Barac, L. et al., '"Y-chromosomal heritage of Croatian population and its island isolates", European Journal of Human Genetics, 11: 535-542, 2003.
- Batovic, Sime, Sepultures de la peuplade illyrienne des Liburnes, Bonn, 1962.
- Batovic, Sime, '"Die Eisenzeit auf dem Gebiet des illyrischen Stammes der Liburnen." Archaeologia Jugoslavica '6 (1965.), 55 p.,
- Tolk, H.V. et al., "MtDNA haplogroups in the populations of Croatian Adriatic Islands." Coll. Anthropologica 24: 267-279, 2000.
- Wilkes, John J., The Illyrians, Blackwell Books, 1992.
- Yoshamya, Mitjel and Zyelimer Yoshamya, Gan-Veyan: Neo-Liburnic glossary, grammar, culture, genom, Old-Croatian Archidioms, Monograph I, pp. 1-1.224, Scientific Society for Ethnogenesis studies, Zagreb 2005.
- Brusic, Zdenko, Hellenistic and Roman Relief Pottery in Liburnia ISBN 184171030X. [British Archaeological Reports http://www.archaeopress.com/searchBar.asp?QuickSearch=184171030X] (December 8, 1999), 254 pages, 122 plates of drawings and photographs.
