Bardyllis - Early Life

Early Life

Bardyllis was born around the year 448 BC. Bardyllis became king despite his humble roots. An early charcoal-burner and coal miner, he gained power by force and enjoyed the sympathy of the Dardanian warriors because he divided the spoils of war fairly and impartially. Bardyllis was not the heir of Sirras, but of the previous Illyrian king who had entered in a peace treaty with Amyntas II over the control of Lyncestia. Bardyllis succeeded in bringing various tribes into a single organisation and soon made Dardania into a formidable power in the Balkans, resulting in a change of relations with Macedonia. Only acknowledgement of this fact can explain the change that occurred in relations with the Illyrians and Macedonians in 393 BC. Nothing stands on the record to locate the center of his power, save for the fact that Philip's victory in 358 BC gained control of Lyncestia. Therefore, Bardyllis' capital may be located in this very region. However, a more reasonable seat of power might by located in the heart of the Dardanian State, corresponding to today's Kosovo.

Bardyllis, unlike previous Illyrian kings, combined military and economic developments. His subjects, the Damastini, began to issue a fine silver coinage from c.395 BC in the Illyrian city of Damastion. These coins adopted a version of the standard and some emblems of the then powerful Chalcidian League. They also exported silver in ingot form. Another coinage began c.365 in Daparria, a mining city in Kosovo which used the same standard and types as the coinage of the Damastini. The distribution of the coinages shows that Bardyllis built up a wide region of trade within the central Balkans and northwards to the Danube, which was far from the region dominated by Greek trade. Dionysius of Syracuse tried to tap Bardyllis' region of trade when he planted colonies in the Adriatic. It is probable that Bardyllis, unlike previous Illyrian kings, built a few fortified cities, for Lychnidus and Pelion in the lakeland were walled sites probably before the accession of Philip.

Baraliris was an imagined Illyrian ruler, who (according to Tertullian) after seeing a sign in a dream, embarked on a series of military victories which allowed him to extend Illyrian rule over the Molossians and other tribes, as far as the frontiers of Macedon. This king was probably the same as Bardyllis since the events of his life conform to this pattern as well.