Po redaktohet Dardania (Roman province) (paragraf)

== Background ==
{{Further|Kingdom of Dardania|Paeonia (kingdom)}}
Dardania is named after the Dardani, a tribe that lived in the region and formed the [[Kingdom of Dardania]] in the 4th century BC. The eastern parts of the region were at the [[Thraco-Illyrian]] contact zone. In archaeological research, Illyrian names are predominant in western Dardania (present-day Kosovo), while Thracian names are mostly found in eastern Dardania (present-day south-eastern Serbia). Thracian names are absent in western Dardania; some Illyrian names appear in the eastern parts. The correspondence of Illyrian names - including those of the ruling elite - in Dardania with those of the southern Illyrians suggests a "thracianization" of parts of Dardania.<ref name="Wilkes-1992-85">{{harvnb|Wilkes|1992|p=85}} {{quote|Whether the Dardanians were an Illyrian or a Thracian people has been much debated and one view suggests that the area was originally populated with Thracians who then exposed to direct contact with Illyrians over a long period. [..] The meaning of this state of affairs has been variously interpreted, ranging from notions of Thracianization' (in part) of an existing Illyrian population to the precise opposite. In favour of the latter may be the close correspondence of Illyrian names in Dardania with those of the southern 'real' lllyrians to their west, including the names of Dardanian rulers, Longarus, Bato, Monunius and Etuta, and those on later epitaphs, Epicadus, Scerviaedus, Tuta, Times and Cinna.}}</ref> [[Celtic settlement of Southeast Europe|Celts were present]] in Dardania in 279 BC.{{sfn|Mócsy|2014|p=9}}

In 179 BC, the [[Bastarnae]] conquered the Dardani, who later in 174 pushed them out, in a war which proved catastrophic, with a few years later, in 170 BC, the Macedonians defeating the Dardani.{{sfn|Mócsy|2014|p=10}} Macedonia and Illyria became Roman protectorates in 168 BC.{{sfn|Papazoglu|1978|p=173}} The [[Scordisci]], a tribe of Celtic origin, most likely subdued the Dardani in the mid-2nd century BC, after which there is for a long time no mention of the Dardani.{{sfn|Mócsy|2014|p=12}} In 97 BC the Dardani are mentioned again, defeated by the Macedonian Roman army.{{sfn|Mócsy|2014|p=15}} Dardanian slaves or freedmen at the time of the Roman conquest were clearly of [[Paleo-Balkan languages|Paleo-Balkan]] origin, according to their personal names,{{sfn|Papazoglu|1978|p=224}} noted as being mostly of the "Central-Dalmatian type".{{sfn|Papazoglu|1978|p=245}} Dardania was [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]] early on.{{sfn|Papazoglu|1978|p=224}}