HIST 3131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Illyrians, Superleague Greece, First Macedonian War
Document Summary
Illyrians were very big on state sponsored piracy. Illyrians raided a town where italian traders were: killed and enslaved them, merchants went to the senate for help. Polybius: romans sent an embassy to the illyrians: telling her to stop her raiding against italian traders, queen was rude to the ambassador. Murdered him when he left for rome. Appian: illyrians were besieging the isle of issa: romans sent an embassy to illyria, ambassadors were killed by pirates on the way to illyria. Polybius states that the romans wanted to defend their mercantile interests as the reason for war. Appian states that the war was an example of imperialism by invitation. Rome did not occupy illyria: required the illyrians to leave their previously occupied territories, dynasty change of the illyrians. Illyrians banned of sending large fleets of ships past a point south. Illyrians did not follow the treaty and by 220bce they were plundering greece again.
