For more than a thousand years before the arrival of the Slavs in the sixth century AD, the lands between the Adriatic and the river Danube, now Yugoslavia and Albania, were the home of the peoples known to the ancient world as Illyrians. This book, now available in paperback, draws upon the considerable archaeological evidence that has become available since the Second World War to provide an account of the origins, culture, history and legacy of the Illyrians. John Wilkes describes the geography of Illyria and surveys the region in the prehistoric, Greek, Roman and medieval periods. He discusses Illyrian art, material, culture, religion and customs. A chapter examines the Illyrian language, of which little trace survives, and its connection with other Indo--European languages. Professor Wilkes also scrutinizes the linguistic evidence for the Illyriansa relatedness to other peoples -- Thracian, Italic, Greek and Celtic. He concludes with a discussion of a possible survival of an Illyrian native culture in the Roman and Byzantine periods.
- ISBN10 0631198075
- ISBN13 9780631198079
- Publish Date 30 November 1995
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
- Imprint Blackwell Publishers
- Format Paperback
- Pages 376
- Language English