Product Code Database
The Labeatae, Labeatai or Labeates (; ) were an Illyrians people that lived on the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria, between modern Albania and Montenegro, around Lake Shkodra (the ancient Lacus Labeatis).; ; ; ; ; ; .
Their territory, which was called Labeatis in classical antiquity, seems to have stretched from Lissus at the river Drin river in the south, or probably even from the valley of Mat, up to Meteon in the north.; . Their centre and main stronghold was Skodra, which during the last period of the Illyrian kingdom was the capital city.; ; ; . The Labeatan kingdom was also in possession of Rhizon, the Ardiaei capital.
The dynasty of the last Illyrian kingdom (Scerdilaidas, Pleuratus III, Gentius) was Labeatan.; ; It is possible that the decline of the Ardiaei dynasty after Queen Teuta's defeat in the First Illyrian War against Roman Republic caused the emergence of the Labeatan dynasty on the political scene. In Roman times the Labeatae minted coins bearing the inscription of their ethnicon.
In the description of the place where the envoy of Gentius and Perseus met in 168 BC, Polybius ( 2nd century BC) reports that the site of Meteon was located in the territory of the Labeatae. It was there that the Illyrian and Macedonian kings established an alliance against the Roman Republic. Livy mentions Meteon as a "city of the Labeates", where at the end of the war Gentius' wife Etuta, their two sons, and Gentius' brother Caravantius took refuge, implying that this city belonged to Labeatan territory until it was conquered by the Romans. Meteon can be considered as the northern border of Labeatan territory, beyond which Docleatae territory began encompassing the area between the rivers Zeta and Morača. In the west the territory of Labeatae was bordered by the Adriatic Sea, its eastern border was presumably marked by the Accursed Mountains. The southern border may be considered the site of Lissus at the mouth of the river Drin, or further south the mouth of the river Mat, beyond which stretched the region of the Taulantii. In Roman times Lissus was located in the territory of the Labeatae, however ancient sources never relate it with this tribe. Taking into account archaeological and historical considerations, the city of Lissus should have been founded in a Labeatan ethnos context, but perhaps by the time of queen Teuta's fall in the end of the 3rd century BC, it was organized as a proper polis separating from the context of the ethnos.
The territory of the Labeatae comprised a number of relevant rivers, including Drin river ( Oriund), Buna ( Barbana), Kiri ( Klausali) and Morača, and the alluvial plains surrounding the Lake Shkodra ( Lacus or Palus Labeatis). However, the only navigable rivers in antiquity were Buna and Drin.
After the Roman conquest of southern Illyria, the territory of the Illyrian realm of Gentius was separated into three parts. One of these areas coincided with the Labeatan region.
The number of fortified settlements throughout the Shkodra basin increased at the beginning of the Iron Age, and the proceeding of social and economic diversification occurred in the area. Remarkable examples are the fortified settlement on the site of Gajtan, along with the cemeteries in Shtoj and Shkrel. In Grunas, in the deep mountainous valley of the Shala river in the Dukagjin Highlands, a fortified community has been discovered, dating back to the 11th–8th centuries BC. These fortifications shed new lights on the history of the Illyrians, and in particular of the inhabitants of the Shkodra region where a politically complex society emerged. In this region the population practiced seasonal transhumance, built mountain fortifications and terraces, and defended a key trade route across an isolated harsh territory. There evidently emerged a social stratum of merchants and artisans.
During his reign, the Illyrian king Gentius adopted economic measures which are well testified by archaeological finds. He developed a new system of coinage in the territory of his political entity. He allowed to mint coins to the cities of Skodra, Lissus, Rhizon and Lychnidus, allowing it also to the Labeatae and Daorsi, two of the most important Illyrian ethnics of the region at that time. This system considerably expanded the circulation of coins reaching even the deepest areas of the kingdom.
Gentius centralized the production of the coins, interrupting the old minting of Skodra, and starting the production of new coins, which, instead of the engraving of Zeus, adopted the portrait of the king, while on the reverse continued bearing the typical engraving of the Illyrian ship ( lembus), but the name of the king was engraved on them instead of the legend of the city. Thus Gentius had evidently removed monetary autonomy from the city of Skodra, and transformed the mint of Skodra's koinon into a royal mint.
Gentius allowed other communities like Lissus, Labeatae and Daorsi to mint coins with the names of their koinon or ethnos, but nevertheless obliged them to respect the state standard, that was to engrave in the coins the portrait of the king and the Illyrian light ships. In addition, the coins of all these political entities had to respect the same size and weight as the coins produced in the royal mint of Skodra.
Coins bearing the ethnicon of the Labeatae were minted also during the Roman period. These coins are mainly found on the mountainous area surrounding Skodra.
|
|
