Gentius - Relations With Rome

Relations With Rome

By 181 BC the loyal Pleuratus had been succeeded by his son Gentius. During his reign relations with the Ardiaean State and Rome started to dwindle. The coast and hinterland south of the Drin remained under Roman control since the First Illyrian Wars against Teuta. Gentius moved to increase Illyrian power over kindred peoples living to the north and west. Among the islands the Greek city of Issa had retained some form of independence under Roman protection but Pharos remained an Illyrian possession. On the mainland the Delmatae and the Daorsi were at one time subjects, but the former defected soon after the accession of Gentius. Illyrian strength lay in the navy and ships and it was their interference with Adriatic shipping which once more aroused Roman interest in the area.

In 180 BC a Roman praetor responsible for coastal protection arrived in Brudisium with some ships of Gentius said to have been caught in the act of piracy. An embassy to Illyria failed to locate the king; but the praetor discovered that Romans were held for ransom at Korcula. No outcome of the affair is reported and it may well be that the Senate accepted a claim by Gentius' envoys that the charges were false. Ten years later,when Rome was gripped with war-fever against Perseus of Macedonia, Issa accused Gentius of plotting war with the king and now the Illyrian envoys were denied a hearing before the Senate. Instead the Romans seized 54 Illyrian lembi at anchor in the harbor of Epidamnus. On the eve of war a Roman senator was sent to Illyria to remind Gentius of his formal friendship with the Roman Republic.