Po redaktohet Illyrians (paragraf)

=== Roman era and Late Antiquity ===
{{Main|Illyrian Wars}}
{{Further|Illyricum (Roman province)|Dalmatia|Moesia|l1=Roman provinces of Illyricum}}

Prior to the [[Roman Empire#Punic Wars and expansion in the Mediterranean (264–146 BC)|Roman conquest]] of [[Illyria]], the [[Roman Republic]] had started expanding its power and territory across the [[Adriatic Sea]]. The Romans came nevertheless into a series of conflicts with the Illyrians, equally known as the [[Illyrian Wars]], beginning in 229 BC until 168 BC as the Romans defeated [[Gentius]] at [[Scodra]].<ref>Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Chronological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31Bc, from the Historians of the Ancient World (Greenhill Historic Series) by John Drogo Montagu, {{ISBN|1-85367-389-7}}, 2000, page 47</ref> The [[Bellum Batonianum|Great Illyrian Uprising]] took place in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples revolted against the Romans. The main ancient source that describes this military conflict is [[Velleius Paterculus]], which was incorporated into the second book of ''Roman History''. Another ancient source about it is the biography of Octavius [[Augustus]] by [[Pliny the Elder]].{{sfn|Mesihović|2011|pp=8, 15}} The two leaders of uprising were [[Bato the Breucian]] and [[Bato the Daesitiate]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Geographically, the name 'Illyria' came to mean Roman ''Illyricum'' which from the 4th century to the 7th century signified the [[prefecture of Illyricum]]. It covered much of the western and central Balkans. After the defeat of the Great Illyrian Revolt and the consolidation of Roman power in the Balkans, the process of integration of Illyrians in the Roman world accelerated even further. Some Illyrian communities were organized in their pre-Roman locations under their own ''[[civitates]]''. Others migrated or were forcefully resettled in different regions. Some groups like the [[Azali (tribe)|Azali]] were transferred from their homeland to frontier areas (northern Hungary) after the Great Illyrian Revolt. In [[Dacia]], Illyrian communities like the [[Pirustae]] who were skilled miners were settled to the gold mines of [[Alburnus Maior]] where they formed their own communities. In [[Trajan]]'s period these population movements were likely part of a deliberate policy of resettling, while later they involved free migrations. In their new regions, they were free salaried workers. Inscriptions show that by that era many of Illyrians had acquired Roman citizenship.{{sfn|Holleran|2016|p=103}}

By the end of the 2nd century and beginning of the  3rd century CE, Illyrian populations had been highly integrated in the Roman Empire and formed a core population of its Balkan provinces. During the [[crisis of the Third Century]] and the establishment of the [[Dominate]], a new elite faction of Illyrians who were part of the Roman army along the [[Pannonian Limes|Pannonian]] and [[Danubian Limes]] rose in Roman politics. This faction produced many emperors from the late 3rd to the 6th century CE who are collectively known as the [[Illyrian Emperors]] and include the [[Constantinian dynasty|Constantinian]], [[Valentinianic dynasty|Valentinianic]] and [[Justinian Dynasty|Justinianic]] dynasties.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Noel |last1=Lenski |title=Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. |publisher=Univ of California Press, 2014 |isbn=9780520283893 |pages=45–67 |language=en|date=2014-06-26 }}</ref><ref name="Constantine the Great">{{cite book|last1=Odahl|first1=Charles M.|title=Constantine and the Christian empire|date=2001|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=London|isbn=978-0-415-17485-5|pages=40–41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=770uCgAAQBAJ&q=constantine%20illyrian&pg=PA40}}</ref><ref name="Valentinian I">{{cite book|last=Lenski|first=Noel Emmanuel|title=Failure of empire: Valens and the Roman state in the fourth century A.D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvXo39xOV8kC&pg=PA56|access-date=12 October 2010|year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23332-4|page=56}}</ref><ref name="Anastasius I Dicorus">{{cite book|last=Croke|first=Brian|title=Count Marcellinus and his chronicle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ep6U-meRt00C&pg=PA89|access-date=12 October 2010|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-815001-5|page=89}}</ref><ref name="Justinian I">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AvjaThtrKYC&q=Justinian++latin-speaking+Illyrians&pg=PA74 |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian|publisher=Cambridge University Press|first=Michael |last=Maas |date=2005|isbn=978-1139826877}}</ref> [[Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius]] , a native of [[Sirmium]], is usually recognized as the first Illyrian emperor in historiography.<ref name="Bohec">{{cite book|last1=Bohec|first1=Yann Le|title=The Imperial Roman Army |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IFWSAgAAQBAJ |page=83 |date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135955069}}</ref> The rise of the Illyrian Emperors represents the rise of the role of the army in imperial politics and the increasing shift of the center of imperial politics from the city of Rome itself to the eastern provinces of the empire.

The term ''Illyrians'' last appears in the historical record in the 7th century AD, in the  ''[[Miracula Sancti Demetrii]]'', referring to a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] garrison operating within the former [[Illyricum (Roman province)|Roman province of Illyricum]].<ref name="Schaefer2008"/><ref>{{harvnb|Juka|1984|p=60}}: "Since the Illyrians are referred to for the last time as an ethnic group in Miracula Sancti Demetri (7th century AD), some scholars maintain that after the arrival of the Slavs the Illyrians were extinct."</ref> However, in the acts of the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] from 787, Nikephoros of Durrës signed himself as "Episcopus of Durrës, province of the Illyrians".<ref>Meksi, Aleksandër (1989) [https://www.persee.fr/doc/iliri_1727-2548_1989_num_19_1_1516 Të dhëna për historinë e hershme mesjetare të Shqipërisë (fundi i shek. VI — fillimi i shek. XI)], / Données sur l'histoire médiévale ancienne de l'Albanie Iliria  Année 1989, 19-1, p. 120</ref> Since the Middle Ages the term "Illyrian" has been used principally in connection with the [[Albanians]], although it was also used to describe the western wing of the [[Southern Slavs]] up to the 19th century,{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=2|ps=: "The name Illyrian was used to identify the western wing of the Southern Slavs up to the nineteenth century, although since the Middle Ages it has been used primarily in connection with the Albanians."}} being revived in particular during the [[Habsburg monarchy]].{{Sfn|Djilas|1991|p=|pp=20–21}}{{Sfn|Stergar|2016|pp=111–112}} In Byzantine literature, references to Illyria as a defined region in administrative terms end after 1204 and the term specifically began to refer only to the more confined Albanian territory.{{sfn|Koder|2017|p=206}}