Teuta

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Teuta
Queen regent[A] of the Ardiaean
Regency231–228/227 BC
PredecessorAgron of Illyria
SuccessorDemetrius of Pharos
MonarchPinnes
SpouseAgron
HouseArdiaei
DynastyArdiaean

Teuta (

queen regent[A] of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria,[1] who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228/227 BC.[2][3]

Following the death of her spouse

Biographical details on the life of Teuta are biased by the fact that surviving ancient sources, which were written by Greek and Roman authors, are generally hostile to Illyrians and their queen alike for political and/or misogynistic reasons.[6][7][3]

Name

Her name is known in

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stem *teutéh₁- ('the people', perhaps 'the people under arms'),[B] attached to the PIE suffix -nā ('mistress of'; masc. -nos).[9] The Illyrian name Teuta(na) is cognate with the Gothic masculine form þiudans 'king' (derived from an earlier *teuto-nos 'master of the people').[10][11]. It is also cognate with (or probably even related to) Albanian tëtanë, from an earlier Albanian *tetan, ultimately descending from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ (“people, tribe”). Alternatively, it could also be interpreted as të + tanë (“all, people, total”; Gheg variant of Tosk tërë (“whole, entire”)), which has been recorded earliest since the 13th century;[12]
also a possible doublet of tytë and tul is not excluded.

Biography

Background

After the death of her husband

Early reign (231–230 BC)

In 231 BC, Teuta's armies attacked the regions of

ambassadors to the city of Scodra in order to solicit reparations and demand an end to all pirate expeditions.[6] The vivid account of the event, given by the Greek historian Polybius and overtly hostile to Teuta, was probably influenced by an earlier Roman tradition originally intended to justify the invasion of Illyria.[6][7]

On their arrival, the Roman ambassadors found Queen Teuta celebrating the end of an internal Illyrian rebellion as her armies were about to lay siege to the Greek island city of Issa.[6] She promised that no royal force would hurt them, but that piracy was a traditional Illyrian custom she was unable to put an end to.[6] Teuta also implied that "it was contrary to the custom of the Illyrian kings to hinder their subjects from winning booty from the sea".[17] One of the envoys reportedly lost his temper and replied that Rome would make it her business to "improve relations between sovereign and subject in lllyria",[18] since "[they had] an admirable custom, which is to punish publicly the doers of private wrongs and publicly come to the help of the wronged."[19]

The ambassador expressed himself to the queen so disrespectfully that her attendants were ordered to seize their ship as it embarked back for Rome, and the insolent envoy was murdered on his homeward voyage, allegedly on Teuta's order.

lemboi before they landed on Illyrian land while Agron was still alive, implying that the interview between Teuta and the ambassadors may not have occurred.[21][22] In any case, news of the murder caused the Romans to prepare for war: legions were enlisted and the fleet assembled.[18]

War with Rome (229–228 BC)

In 229 BC, Rome declared war on

troops, 200 cavalry units and an entire Roman fleet of 200 ships, led by Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus and Lucius Postumius Albinus, was sent to conquer Illyria.[3]

The Roman attack seems to have caught up Teuta by surprise, since she had ordered a large naval expedition involving most of her ships against the Greek colony of

Apollonia.[24] The combined army and navy proceeded northward together. After subduing one town after another, they eventually besieged the capital, Scodra.[24] Teuta herself had retreated with a few followers to the fortified and strategically well-placed city of Rhizon, the principal base of the Illyrian fleet.[24][3]

According to Polybius, she made a treaty in the early spring of 228 BC by which she consented to pay an annual tribute, to reign over a restricted and narrow region north of Lissus (modern Lezhë), and not to sail beyond Lissus with more than two unarmed ships.[2][3] He also reports that they required her to acknowledge the final authority of Rome.[5][2] According to Cassius Dio, she abdicated later in 227 BC.[25][2][3]

Later life

Appian mentions that, after the defeat, Teuta sent an embassy to Rome to deliver captives and to apologize for the events that had occurred during her spouse Agron's reign, but not under hers.[3]

Ancient depictions

Reliability of accounts

Teuta on the reverse of an Albanian coin (100 Lek).
Modern statue of Teuta with her stepson Pinnes in Tirana, Albania

The most detailed account of Teuta's short reign is that of Polybius (c. 200–118 BC), supplemented by Appian (2nd c. AD) and Cassius Dio (c. 155–235 AD).[3] According to scholar Marjeta Šašel Kos, the most objective portrait of Teuta is that of Appian.[3] Historian Peter Derow also argues that Appian's version, especially the story of the murder of the ambassadors, is more plausible than that of Polybius.[26]

Polybius' narrative, written almost one century after the events and generally hostile to Illyrians and their queen alike, was probably inherited from an earlier account written by the Roman historian Quintus Fabius Pictor (fl. 200 BC), a contemporary of Teuta who was strongly biased towards his own nation.[27][7] But if Polybius was ready to accept the negative picture of the existing tradition, as it confirmed his own negative views on women, he was also aware of Fabius' own prejudices and opposed them on some occasions.[7]

Misogyny

In his Histories, Polybius opens the story of the reign of Teuta in those terms: "[Agron] was succeeded on the throne by his wife Teuta, who left the details of administration to friends on whom she relied. As, with a woman's natural shortness of view, she could see nothing but the recent success and had no eyes for what was going on elsewhere..."[28]

The misogyny of Cassius Dio is also evident in his portrait of Teuta. He describes the Illyrian queen as follows: "...woman-like, in addition to her innate recklessness, she was puffed up with vanity because of the power that she possessed ... In a very short time, however, she demonstrated the weakness of the female sex, which quickly flies into a passion through lack of judgment, and quickly becomes terrified through cowardice."[29]

Modern legend

Kruja
.

According to a legend with its roots in the town of Risan, Teuta ended her life in grief by throwing herself from Orjen mountains at Lipci.[30]

Legacy

Teuta is a common given name among modern Albanian women.[31] The Albanian sporting club Teuta Durrës was named after her in 1930.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ Polybius 2010: 2:4:6: "King Agron (...) was succeeded on the throne by his wife Teuta..."; Wilkes 1992, pp. 80, 129, 167.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Elsie 2015, p. 3.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Šašel Kos 2012.
  4. ^ Wilkes 1992, p. 158.
  5. ^ a b Derow 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Wilkes 1992, p. 159.
  7. ^ a b c d Eckstein 1995, p. 154.
  8. ^ Boardman & Sollberger 1982, pp. 869–870; Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 288; Wilkes 1992, p. 72; West 2007, p. 137; De Simone 2017, p. 1869
  9. ^ Boardman & Sollberger 1982, pp. 869–870; Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 288; West 2007, p. 137
  10. ^ Boardman & Sollberger 1982, pp. 869–870.
  11. ^ West 2007, p. 137.
  12. ^ Gashi, Skender (2014). Kërkime onomastikë II. Emrat e shqiptarëve në shek. VIII-XV në dritën e burimeve kishtare serbe. 73. Shtëpia botuese TENDA Prishtinë.
  13. ^ Hammond 1993, p. 105.
  14. ^ Wilkes 1992, p. 167.
  15. ^ a b Berranger, Cabanes & Berranger-Auserve 2007, p. 136.
  16. ^ Wilkes 1992, pp. 158–159.
  17. ^ Polybius 2010, 2:8:9.
  18. ^ a b c d Wilkes 1992, p. 160.
  19. ^ Polybius 2010, 2:8:11.
  20. ^ Cassius Dio 1914, 12, Zonaras 8, 19.
  21. ^ Derow 1973, p. 119.
  22. ^ Appian 2019, 9:2:18–19.
  23. ^ Wilkes 1992, pp. 159–160.
  24. ^ a b c d e Ceka 2013, p. 180.
  25. ^ Cassius Dio 1914, 12 fr. 49.7.
  26. ^ Derow 1973, p. 128.
  27. ^ Derow 1973, pp. 123, 129.
  28. ^ Polybius 2010, 2:4:6–2:4:8.
  29. ^ Cassius Dio 1914, 12, Zonaras 8, 18.
  30. ^ Dyczek 2009, p. 189.
  31. ^ Elsie 2010, p. 439.
  32. .

Footnotes

  • ^
    Compare with Old Irish túath '[common] people, nation', Lithuanian tautà 'people', Oscan touto 'community', Albanian tëtanë 'people, everyone', and with Gothic þiuda 'folk'.[2]
  • Primary sources

    Bibliography

    Further reading

    Teuta
    Born: Unknown Died: Unknown
    Preceded by Queen of the Ardiaei (regent to
    Pinnes
    )

    231–227 BC
    Succeeded by
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