The Illyrians

For more than a thousand years before the arrival of the Slavs inthe sixth century AD, the lands between the Adriatic and the riverDanube, now Yugoslavia and Albania, were the home of the peoplesknown to the ancient world as Illyrians. This book, now availablein paperback, draws upon the considerable archaeological evidencethat has become available since the Second World War to provide anaccount of the origins, culture, history and legacy of theIllyrians. John Wilkes describes the geography of Illyria and surveys theregion in the prehistoric, Greek, Roman and medieval periods. Hediscusses Illyrian art, material, culture, religion and customs. Achapter examines the Illyrian language, of which little tracesurvives, and its connection with other Indo-European languages.Professor Wilkes also scrutinizes the linguistic evidence for theIllyrians' relatedness to other peoples - Thracian, Italic, Greekand Celtic. He concludes with a discussion of a possible survivalof an Illyrian native culture in the Roman and Byzantineperiods.