ILLYRIAN ROSTER
(Delmetae, Daorsi, Ardiaei, Breuci)
With the term Illyrians are defined all that tribes that share an authentic language and culture, coming from the East Hallstatt Cultural Facies and living in the area of modern ex-Jugoslavija and Albania.
Even if the different Illyrian tribes were quite different one another, being somehow celticized in the north and hellenized in the south, Classical writers identified a common root for all of them, and common habits (for example, the use of tattoo).
Illyrians were also famed pirates, and their ships, Lembos, Pristis and Libyrnis, were well known for being very fast and highly maneuverable, and were even copied by more civilized nations like Makedonia.
Illyrian Archers
Illyrian slingers
Illyrian Skirmishers
Illyrian Levies
Illyrian Levy Spearmen
Illyrian Spearmen
Illyrian Axemen
Illyrian Riders
Illyrian Hoplitai
Illyrian Cavalry
Peltastai Agrianoi
Iapodes Skirmishers
Iapodes Warriors
______________________
Illyrian Archers
Illyrian Slingers
Illyrian Skirmishers
Being Illyrian culture an offspring of the Eastern facies of Hallstatt culture, the most common shield used by Illyrians was the thyreos, wile the Negau helmet was also common.
Along with the Negau, there was also a characteristic illyrian helmet probably of Cretan-Mycaenean origin.
As hand weapon, the axe was widely used, along with curved knifes and kopis sword, the latter believed by archaeologists to have developed here in the Balkans.
Illyrian Levies
Illyrian Levy Spearmen
Illyrian panoply sometimes included also cardiophilax, probably an heritage of ancient hallstatt curture, or bronze thorax for the richer, professional warriors.
Illyrian Warriors on the Vace Plate:
Illyrian Spearmen
Illyrian Axemen
Illyrian Warriors
Illyrian Riders
Tribes from center-southern Illyria, like the Ardiaei and the Daorsi, were strongly influenced by Greeks and Epirotes, and their nobles were equipped with holpite-like panoplies that mimic Greeks and Macedonians.
Illyrian belt plate showing Illyrian Hoplites killing a Celt (probably a Scordistae)
Illyrian Hoplites
Illyrian Cavalry
Peltastai Agrianoi
The Agrianes were a tribe of mixed Thracian-Illyrian-Paeonian stock, famed for being one of the best skirmishers of the Hellenic world.
Praised javelinemen, they were recruited in big numbers even by Alexander the Great, and proved crucial for the resolution of various battles.
Iapodes were a fierce people of Northern Illyria, of mixed Celtic and Illyrian stock, probably born from the mixture of Pannonian warbands and local Illyrians..
As distinctive trait, they employed some celtic weaponry and they were expecially known for a charachteristic whicker helmet, sometimes reinforced with bronze appliqués.
“Their weapons are similar to celtic ones, and like all Illyrian and Thracian they are tattooed” (Herodotus, VII, 5, 4)
Whicker Iapodes helmet with metal reinforcements and phalerae:
Iapodes Skirmishers
Iapodes Warriors