Labeatae

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A bronze coin bearing the legend ΛΑΒΙΑΤΑΝ (LABIATAN) and depicting an Illyrian lembus with figureheads of serpents.

The Labeatae, Labeatai or Labeates (

Lake Scodra (the ancient Lacus Labeatis).[1]

Their territory, which was called Labeatis in classical antiquity, seems to have stretched from

Skodra, which during the last period of the Illyrian kingdom was the capital city.[3] The Labeatan kingdom was also in possession of Rhizon, the Ardiean capital.[4]

The dynasty of the last

First Illyrian War against Rome caused the emergence of the Labeatan dynasty on the political scene.[6] In Roman times the Labeatae minted coins bearing the inscription of their ethnicon.[7]

Name

Attestation

Lacus Labeatis
.

The name is attested for the first time in

Lake Scodra).[8] Coins bearing the inscription of the ethnicon ΛΑΒΙΑΤΑΝ have been found in northern Albania.[9]

Etymology

The name of the Labeatae is formed by the Lab- particle which is frequently found in the southern Illyrian onomastic area and the common Illyrian suffix -at(ae). The Lab- particle represents a metathesis from Alb- > Lab-, which itself could be related to the appearance of the ethnonym of the Albanians in the same area. It is present in hydronyms like the Llapi river and toponyms like Llapashticë along the later Roman route from Lissus to Ulpiana and indicates the movement of Illyrian tribes from the interior of Illyria to the coastline or vice versa.[10]

Geography

Lake Scodra, known as Lacus Labeatis in classical antiquity.[11]

Unlike other Illyrian tribes, the extent of the territory of the Labeatae can be determined with relative precision through some important literary informations from ancient sources. In the accounts of the

Lake Shkodra as Lacus Labeatium. The core of the Labeatan territory must therefore have been the area around this lake.[12][13] The Labeatan king Genthius was also in possession of Rhizon, the capital of the Ardiaean kingdom.[4]

In the description of the place where the envoy of Gentius and

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.[12][15][16] In Roman times Lissus was located in the territory of the Labeatae,[12][17] 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.[12]

The territory of the Labeatae comprised a number of relevant rivers, including

Lake Shkodra (Lacus or Palus Labeatis).[11][18] However, the only navigable rivers in antiquity were Buna and Drin.[11]

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.[7]

Culture

By the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age (c. 1100–800 BC), the formation of a large, cohesive, and quite homogeneous cultural group had already occurred in a well defined territory of the Shkodra region, which was referred in historical sources to as 'the tribe of the Labeatae' in later times.[19]

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

artisans.[19]

Language

See also:
Illyrian languages

The idiom spoken by the tribe of Labeatae belonged to the southeastern Illyrian linguistic area.[20]

Religion

See also: Illyrian religion

Several

Lake Scutari in the territory of the Labeatae, indicating a common hero-cult practice in those regions. Modern scholars suggest that the iconographic representation of the same mythological event includes the Illyrian cults of the serpent, of Cadmus, and of the horseman, the latter being a common Paleo-Balkan hero.[21][22] The cult of the serpent among the Labeatae is reflected also on their coinage: ships depicted with figureheads of serpents are often engraved on Labeatan coins.[23] The serpents depicted on ships were related to the beliefs of the sailors that these animal totems would have safeguarded them from storms and enemies. The serpent was a powerful symbol among southern Illyrians, who attributed it an important role as a protector animal.[24]

Economy

Labeatan ruler Gentius
.

The Labeates minted coins around the 2nd century BC. Coins bearing the inscription of the ethnicon ΛΑΒΙΑΤΑΝ (LABIATAN) have been found in northern Albania. Illyrian light ships (lembus, pl. lembi) are often engraved on Labeatan coins,[9] sometimes depicted with figureheads of serpents.[23]

A 2nd-century BC Labeatan coin from Scodra.

During his reign, the Illyrian king

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.[25]

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.[25] Thus Gentius had evidently removed monetary autonomy from the city of Skodra, and transformed the mint of Skodra's koinon into a royal mint.[26]

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.[27]

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.[7]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Illyria & Illyrians.

References

  1. ^ Cabanes 2002, p. 36; Stipčević 1974, p. 31; Wilkes 1992, p. 172; Šašel Kos 2005, p. 131; Dzino 2014, p. 47; Jaupaj 2019, pp. 68–69; Gavoille 2019, p. 7.
  2. ^ Cabanes 2002, p. 36; Gavoille 2019, p. 7.
  3. ^ Cabanes 2002, p. 36; Shpuza & Dyczek 2015, p. 273; Shehi 2015, p. 32; Jaupaj 2019, pp. 68–69.
  4. ^ a b Šašel Kos 2007, p. 137.
  5. ^ Dzino 2010, p. xvii; Dzino 2014, p. 57; Waterfield 2014, p. 57
  6. ^ Jaupaj 2019, p. 69.
  7. ^ a b c Shpuza 2014, p. 123.
  8. ^ Šašel Kos 2005, p. 131.
  9. ^ a b Waterfield 2014, p. 57.
  10. ^ Boeglin 1968, p. 321.
  11. ^ a b c Shpuza 2017, p. 44.
  12. ^ a b c d e Shpuza 2017, p. 43.
  13. ^ Mesihović & Šačić 2015, pp. 67–68.
  14. ^ Mesihović & Šačić 2015, p. 66.
  15. ^ Jaupaj 2019, pp. 68–69, 81.
  16. ^ Gavoille 2019, p. 7.
  17. ^ Waterfield 2014, p. 49.
  18. ^ Shehi 2015, p. 32.
  19. ^ a b Tafilica, Baze & Lafe 2023, p. 70.
  20. ^ Šašel Kos 2002, p. 117: "The Illyrian peoples, mentioned in the sources in which the events concerning the Illyrian kingdom are narrated – to name the most outstanding – are the Taulantii, Atintani, Parthini, Enchelei, Penestae, Dassaretii, Ardiaei, Labeates, and the Daorsi. All of these peoples were conceivably more or less closely related in terms of culture, institutions and language. Many of them may have had their own kings, some of whom attained great power and actively took part in the struggle for power in the Hellenistic world. The name “Illyrian” must have carried enough prestige at the time of the rise of the Ardiaean dynasty within the Illyrian kingdom that it was imposed at a later date, when the Romans conquered Illyria and the rest of the Balkans, as the official name of the future provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia."
  21. ^ Garašanin 1976, pp. 278–279.
  22. ^ Castiglioni 2010, pp. 93–95.
  23. ^ a b Stipčević 1976, p. 235.
  24. ^ Stipčević 1989, pp. 142–143.
  25. ^ a b Prifti 2002, p. 131.
  26. ^ Prifti 2002, pp. 131–132.
  27. ^ Prifti 2002, p. 132.

Bibliography

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