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TheDalmatae, alternativelyDelmatae, during the Roman period, were a group ofIllyrian tribes inDalmatia, contemporary southern Croatia and westernBosnia and Herzegovina. The region of Dalmatia takes its name from the tribe.
The Delmatae appear in historical record for the first time in 181 BC, when upon the death of their rulerPleuratus III of the Illyrian kingdom, they refused to accept the rule of his son,Gentius and seceded. They expanded and came to include coastal Illyrian tribes like theTariotes, the Hylli and the Nesti and increased their territory to the north against theLiburni. Conflict with Roman expansionism and its local allies in the eastern Adriatic began in 156–55 BC. TheRoman–Dalmatae Wars lasted until 33 BC whenOctavian (the later Emperor Augustus) installed Roman hegemony in Dalmatia. Local instability and minor rebellions continued in theprovince of Dalmatia and culminated in theGreat Illyrian Revolt in Dalmatia and closely linkedPannonia in 6 AD. The revolt, which lasted for three years, involved more than half a million combatants, auxiliaries and civilians on both side. In the aftermath, some Delmataean communities were relocated in the northernSandzak region and others were resettled in parts ofCarinthia to provide labor for the Roman mines. The defeat of the revolt began the integration of Dalmatia which in turn led to theromanization of the region by the early Middle Ages.
The original form of the name of the tribe isDelmatae, and shares the same root with the regional nameDalmatia and the toponymDelminium.[1][2][3] It is considered to be connected to theAlbaniandele and its variants which include theGheg formdelmë, meaning "sheep", and to the Albanian termdelmer, "shepherd".[4][5][6][7][8][9] According toOrel, the Gheg formdelme hardly has anything in common with the name ofDalmatia because it represents a variant ofdele with*-mā, which is ultimately fromproto-Albanian*dailā.[10] Toponyms linked to the name are found throughout the territories inhabited by Illyrians including the chief settlement of the Delmatae,Delminium andDalmana in present-day N. Macedonia.[9] The medieval Slavic toponymOvče Pole ("plain of sheep" in South Slavic) in the nearby region represents a related later development.[9] In Albania,Delvinë represents a toponym linked to the root*dele.[7] The formDalmatae and the respective regional nameDalmatia are later variants as is already noted byAppian (2nd century AD). His contemporary grammarianVelius Longus highlights in his treatise about orthography that the correct form ofDalmatia isDelmatia, and notes thatMarcus Terentius Varro who lived about 2 centuries prior of Appian and Velius Longius, used the formDelmatia as it corresponded to the chief settlement of the tribe,Delminium.[11] The toponymDuvno is a derivation from Delminium in Croatian via an intermediate form*Delminio in late antiquity.[3]
The Delmatae appear in historical record in 181 BC. The death ofPleuratus III of the Illyrian kingdom and the succession by his sonGentius led the Delmatae to not recognize his rule and secede altogether. TheDaorsi, who lived to the south of the Delmatae did the same. Over the centuries, the Delmatae and Ardiaei were among the Illyrian groups which expanded their territory northwards at the expense of theLiburni. They Delmatae may have been originally pushed towards the coast because of Celtic migrations inPannonia Strabo writes that the territory of the Delmatae was divided into an inland (present-dayTropolje) and a coastal region by the Dinaric Alps. Their capital settlementDelminium was located close to present-dayTomislavgrad.[1]
Thefirst Dalmatian war in 156–155 BC finished with the destruction of capitalDelminium by consulScipio Nasica. Thesecond Dalmatian war was fought in 119–118 BC, apparently ending in Roman victory as consulL. Caecilius Metellus celebrated triumph in 117 BC and assumed his surnameDelmaticus. Thethird Dalmatian war 78–76 BC finished with the capture ofSalona (port Solin near modern citySplit) by the proconsulC. Cosconius.[12]
During the Roman Civil War of 49–44 BC, the Delmatae supportedPompey against the coastal Roman colonies which supported Caesar and continuously fought against the Caesarian generalsGabinius andVatinius. After Pompey's defeat they continued to fight against Roman legions in Dalmatia.[13] The fourth and final conflict occurred 34–33 BC during Octavian's expedition toIllyricum because of their iterative revolts, and finished with the capture of the new Delmatian capital-Soetovio (nowKlis). The last revolts of Delmatae under their federal leaderBato, against Romans were in 12 BC and theGreat Illyrian Revolt in 6–9 AD; both also failed and finished by a terminal pacification of bellicose Delmatae.
InRoman Imperial times the Dalmatae formed numerousRoman auxiliaries:
Archaeology and onomastic shows that the Delmatae were akin to eastern Illyrians and northernPannonii.[14] The tribe was subject toCeltic influences.[15][16] One of the Dalmatian tribes was calledBaridustae[17] that later was settled in Roman Dacia.Pliny the Elder also mentioned theTariotes, and their territory Tariota, which was described as an ancient region. The Tariotes are considered part of the Delmatae.[18][19]
The archeological remnants suggest their material culture was more primitive than those of the surrounding ancient tribes, especially in comparison with the oldestLiburnians. Only their production of weapons was rather advanced. Their elite had stone built houses only, but numerous Delmatic herdmen yet settled in natural caves, and a characteristic detail in their usual clothing was the fur cap.
Their nomadic society had a strong patriarchal structure, consisting chiefly of shepherds, warriors and their chieftains. Their main jobs had been the extensive cattle breeding, and the iterative plundering of other surrounding tribes and of coastal towns on the Adriatic.
The major collective deity of the Delmatic federation was their pastoral god 'Sylvanus' they called Vidasus.[20] His divine wife was 'Thana',[21] a Delmatic goddess mostly comparable with Roman Diana and Greek Artemis. Their frequent reliefs often accompanied by nymphs, are partly conserved up today in some cliffs of Dalmatia; in Imotski valley also their temple used from 4th to 1st century BC, was unearthed. The third important one of Delmatae was a war god 'Armatus' comparable with Roman Mars and Greek Ares. Their bad deity was the celestial Dragon[citation needed] devouring the sun or moon in the eclipses.
A strong weapons cult was very specific for the patriarchal Delmatae, and in their masculine tombs different weapons are widely present (that is rare in neighbouring peoples e.g. Liburni, Iapydes, etc.). Their usual tombs were under the stone tumuli ofkurgan type. After the classic Roman reports (Muzic 1998), nomadic Delmatae were extremely superstitious, and they had a primitive panic dread[citation needed] from all celestial phenomena: any view on the night stars was for them forbidden in the fear of a sure death, and in the case of solar or lunar eclipses they repeated tremendous collective howling because of the immediate world ending, made hysterical suicides etc.
dele f, pl dele, dhen, dhën 'sheep'. The Geg variant delme represents a formation in *-mā (and hardly has anything in common with the name of Dalmatia pace MEYER Wb. 63 and ÇABEJ St. I 111). The word is based on PAlb *dailā 'sheep' < 'suckling' and related to various l-derivatives from IE *dhē(i)- 'to suckle' (MEYER Wb. 63, Alb. St. Ill 29 operates with *dailjā < IE *dhailiā or *dhoiliā), cf., in particular, Arm dayl 'colostrum' < IE *dhailo-.
