Teuta

Teuta (Ancient Greek: Τεύτα) was the queen regent[A] of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria,[2] who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 227 BC.[3]

Queen Teuta of Illyria
Queen[A] of the Ardiaei
Reign231–227 BC[1]
SuccessorGentius
SpouseAgron
HouseArdiaei

Following the death of her spouse Agron in 231 BC, she assumed the regency for her stepson Pinnes, continuing Agron's policy of expansion in the Adriatic sea, in the context of an ongoing conflict with the Roman Republic regarding Illyrian piracy and its consequences on Roman trade in the region.[4][3] The death of one of the Roman ambassadors at the hands of Illyrian pirates gave Rome the occasion to declare war against her in 229 BC. After losing the First Illyrian War in 228, Teuta surrendered the following year. After having relinquished the southern parts of her territory and paid a tribute to Rome, she was allowed to keep a realm confined to an area north of Lissus (modern Lezhë).[5][3]

Reign

After the death of her husband Agron (250–231 BC),[6] the former king of the Ardiaei, she inherited his kingdom, stretching from central Albania up to the Neretva river,[3] although its exact extent remains unknown,[7] and acted as regent for her young stepson Pinnes.[8] According to Polybius, she ruled "by women's reasoning".[9] Teuta started to address the neighbouring states malevolently, supporting the piratical raids of her subjects, which plundered Roman vessels and increasingly interfered with their trade route and interests in the Adriatic and Ionian seas.[3]

Illyrians soon captured and later fortified Dyrrachium (modern-day Durrës, Albania) and Phoenice (which was soon liberated with a truce and a fee).[10] While her ships were off the coast of Onchesmos, they intercepted and plundered[10] some Roman merchant vessels. Teuta's forces extended their operations further southward into the Ionian Sea, defeating the combined Achaean and Aetolian fleet in the battle of Paxos and capturing the island of Corcyra, which put them in position to breach the important trade routes between the mainland of Greece and the Greek cities in Italy.[1]

Because the Roman Republic felt threatened by the opposing side of the Adriatic in the very vicinity of its territories (where most of the raids occurred),[11] the senate was compelled to dispatch two ambassadors to the city of Scodra to solicit reparations and demand an end to all pirate expeditions. Queen Teuta told the ambassadors that according to the law of the Illyrians, piracy was a lawful trade and that her government had no right to interfere with this as a private enterprise. She also implied that "it was never the custom of royalty to prevent the advantage of its subjects they could get from the sea".[11] One of the envoys reportedly replied that Rome would make it her business to introduce better law among the Illyrians as "we have an excellent custom of punishing private wrongs by public revenge".[11] At any rate, one of the two present ambassadors expressed himself to the queen so disrespectfully that her attendants were ordered to seize the ambassadors' ship as it embarked back for Rome.[12] One of the ambassadors was killed and the other was put in captivity.[1]

War with Rome

In 229 BC, Rome declared war[13][14] on Illyria and for the first time armies crossed the Adriatic to Illyria (the western regions of the Balkan Peninsula in modern usage). An army consisting of approximately 20,000 troops, 200 cavalry units and an entire Roman fleet of 200 ships was sent to conquer Illyria.[12] When the fleet showed up by Corcyra, Teuta's governor, Demetrius surrendered the city and sided with the Romans as their advisor for the remaining time of the war;[15] at the end of the war (228 BC) the Romans awarded him, resulting in Demetrius' becoming the governor of Pharos and the adjacent coasts.[15] The remainder of the Roman army in the meantime landed further north at Apollonia.[15] The combined army and navy proceeded northward together, subduing one town after another and eventually besieging the capital Scodra. Teuta herself had retreated to Rhizon, the principal base of the Illyrian fleet,[15] and finally surrendered in 227 BC, having to accept an ignominious peace. The Romans allowed her to continue her reign but restricted[16] her to a narrow region around Scodra, deprived her of all her other holdings, and forbade her to sail an armed ship south of Lissus.[17] They also required her to pay an annual tribute[1][18] and to acknowledge the final authority of Rome.[5]

Her rule was finally ended by the politician Lucius Postumius Albinus, after she opted against Roman suppression.[19] Very little is known of the rest of her life. According to the folklore of the modern inhabitants of Risan, Teuta ended her life in grief by throwing herself from Orjen Peak.

See also
  • Illyrian warfare
  • List of rulers of Illyria

Annotations
  1. ^ She was never referred to as a "queen" by Appian since she was a regent to Pinnes.[13][20]

References
  1. Jackson-Laufer 1999, "Teuta", pp. 382–383.
  2. Polybius, Scott-Kilvert & Walbank 1979, pp. 114–122; Wilkes 1995, pp. 80, 129, 167.
  3. Elsie 2015, p. 3.
  4. Wilkes 1992, p. 158.
  5. Derow 2016.
  6. Hammond 1993, p. 105.
  7. Berranger, Cabanes & Berranger-Auserve 2007, p. 136.
  8. Wilkes 1995, p. 167.
  9. Arthur M. Eckstein (2 January 1995). Moral Vision in the Histories of Polybius. University of California Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-520-91469-8. Such is the case, of course, with his presentation of Queen Teuta, ruler of the Illyrian Ardiaei (2.4-1 1). Teuta succeeded her husband, Agron (himself a drunkard; cf. 2.4.6), in 231. Polybius sneers that she ruled "by women's reasoning" ...
  10. Wilkes 1995, p. 158.
  11. Strickland & Strickland 1854, pp. 290–291.
  12. Meijer 1986, p. 167.
  13. Arnold 1846, p. 259.
  14. Wilkes 1995, p. 160.
  15. Ceka 2013, pp. 180.
  16. Wilkes 1995, p. 161.
  17. Evans 2006, p. 277.
  18. Polybius. Histories, 2.12.
  19. Freeman 1863, pp. 418–419.
  20. Berranger, Cabanes & Berranger-Auserve 2007, p. 133.

Sources

Further reading
Teuta
Ardiaean kingdom
Born: Unknown Died: Unknown
Preceded by
Agron		 Queen of the Ardiaei (regent to Pinnes)
231–227 BC		 Succeeded by
Gentius

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