Monunius of Dardania
Encyclopedia
Monunius was an Illyrian king of the Dardani
an State who lived in the late 3rd century BC and early 2nd century BC. Monunius attested first in 176 BC
was the son of Longarus
, a Dardanian king who caused much trouble to Macedonia from 230 BC
onwards. He succeeded his brother Bato
to the Dardanian throne. Monunius was known for his victory he inflicted on the Bastarnae
during the Bastarnae Invasion of Dardania.
Etuta
the daughter of Monunius married the Ardiaean King Gentius
in 169 BC
. Since the dynastic marriage relations seem not to have brought an alliance between the two Illyrian States, in 168 BC Gentius allied with Perseus, the enemy of his father-in-law. Many Dardanian kings of the same time were named Monunius and there seems to be some confusion as to whom certain actions and events pertain.
drew up a plan to get the large Germanic
/Celtic tribe of the Bastarnae against them. While on campaign in Thrace
in 184 BC
Philip sent agents to stir up the barbarians along the river Danube
, that they might invade Italy
. Two years later Philip was pleased to learn that the Bastarnae had accepted his alliance and were offering a princess in marriage for one of his sons, Perseus
as it turned out. This formidable people, dwelt beyond the lower Danube but were often willing to join in expeditions far from their homelands. The following year Philip mass deportations from Paeonia where he filled the towns with Thracians
and other barbarians, as being likely to remain more securely loyal to him in the coming hour of danger., that is war with Rome
.
In fact Philip's purpose for the Bastarnae was more specific to the security of Macedonia: They were to invade and eject the Dardanians under Monunius and take over their country, and later continue on their way through Illyria
, finally reaching Italy. Livy (XL, 574-9) writes that Philip's purpose was to wipe out the Dardanians and settle the Bastarnae in their lands (in the Polog
valley), and send them to Italy and lay it waste, leaving their women and children in Dardania.
It was a typically ruthless yet realistic scheme, and was later imitated in the Danube lands on more than one occasion by the Romans
. The Bastarnae were accompanied by the kindred Scordisci
whose lands their route lay. To get the Bastarnae to Monunius' State, Philip had gone to great trouble and expense to arrange safe passage through the Thracians. They left home after a great deal of hesitation but had gone as far as Amphipolis
when, in summer of 179 BC
, news arrived that Philip V was dead. Soon there was trouble with the Thracians and the Bastarnae retreated to Donica (perhaps Rila
), a high mountain in western Thrace. After Philp's death, his son Perseus tried to follow through his fathers plans. After further skirmishes some decided to return home and set off for Appolonia and Mesembria on the Black Sea
coast of Thrace, but the rest, under the leadership of Clondicus, pressed on towards Monunius and set about to eject the population in accordance with their arrangement with the late king.
Monunius sent envoys to Rome with news of an invasion by the Bastarnae. The Dardanian envoys declared that they were warriors massive in size and numbers and alleged that they were in league with Perseus and the Gauls. Representatives from Thessaly
appeared also in order to confirm the story and back up Monunius. The patres would make their customary response, they would send an embassy to investigate. On the return of that embassy, Livy records that the Romans reported only that a Dardanian war was underway, and Appian
adds that they had observed a major military build-up in Macedonia. Perseus in the meantime, dispatched his own envoys to Rome with denials that he had any part in the activity of the Bastarnae. The senate would neither censure nor absolve Perseus, but simply directed that he take care to giving the appearance of observing his treaty with Rome and therefore the senate did nothing to support Monunius.
, the Bastaranae supported by the Thracians and the Scordisci, began the invasion and stormed into Dardania. To face the incoming danger, Monunius mobilized all his forces and concentrated them in the city (name of which is not known) closest to the camp of the Bastarnae. Monunius waited for the beginning of winter to launch the decisive strike, when the allies of the Bastarnae would return to their countries.
As soon as the Dardanians had learned of their withdrawal, which left on the forces of the Bastarnae, numbering 30,000, on the field, Monunius separated his forces into two armies. The first was to march head on to the enemy and attack them directly, while the other unit was to march along hidden roads and attack from the rear. But the battle began before the second army back to the enemy's back; the defeated Dardanians withdrew to the city, which was just twelve miles from the camp of the Bastarnae. Th victors immediately surrounded the city, believing either that the Dardanians would soon surrender from fear or that they immediately take the city by force. Meanwhile, the second of Monunius' army, having made its way unaware of the lost of the first, found the camp of the Bastarnae undefended, and easily took it without any effort. Having lost their entire baggage and supplies, the Bastarnae were obliged to withdraw from Dardania and to return home. Most perished as they crossed the frozen Danube on foot, only for the ice to give way. Among the survivors was Clondicus who had led the people into Dardania four years earlier.
Despite the failure of Philip's Bastarnae strategy, the suspicion aroused by these events in the Roman Senate, which had been warned by the Dardani of the Bastarnae invasion, ensured the demise of Macedonia as an independent state. Thus Monunius managed to protect the borders of the Dardanian State which would have perished otherwise.
to the Ardiaean King Gentius
in 169 BC
. However, the marriage does not seem to have secured an Illyrian-Dardanian alliance. Perseus conquered a broad swath of territory in the south of the Dardanian State, also taking the region of Penesta (Polog valley) with its cities Uscana
, Oene and Draudachus. In order to stop the Dardanian raids into Macedonia, Perseus burned and destroyed the regions to the north and west of Mount Scardus(Sar Mountains), an area known thereafter as 'Deserted Illyria'. Through these campaigns, Perseus annihilated the military bases that the Romans had built in the northwest of his kingdom, cut off for good the routes the Dardanians had used for their forays into Macedonia, and inserted himself like a wedge between Monunius and Gentius.
Since the dynastic marriage relations seem not to have brought an alliance between the two Illyrian States, in 168 BC Gentius allied with Perseus, the enemy of his father-in-law. Nonetheless, Monunius preserved Dardanains neutrality, both in the war between Gentius and Perseus on the one hand and the war with the Romans on the other. After the destruction of Macedonia in 167 BC, the Dardanians ask the consul Paullus Aemilius for control of Paeonia, but he refused, giving them only the right to trade in salt there. Many Dardanian kings of the same time were named Monunius and there seems to be some confusion as to whom certain actions and events pertain.
Dardani
Dardania was the region of the Dardani .Located at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone, their identification as either an Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain. Their territory itself was not considered part of Illyria by Strabo. The term used for their territory was , while for other tribes had...
an State who lived in the late 3rd century BC and early 2nd century BC. Monunius attested first in 176 BC
176 BC
Year 176 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hispallus/Laevinus and Spurinus...
was the son of Longarus
Longarus
Longarus was an Illyrian king of the Dardanian Kingdom. Longarus was at war with various Macedonian kings and managed to conquer at different times part of Macedonia. Longarus was an ally of the Paeonian State and liberated the Paeonians in order to open the routes towards Macedonia...
, a Dardanian king who caused much trouble to Macedonia from 230 BC
230 BC
Year 230 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Barbula and Pera...
onwards. He succeeded his brother Bato
Bato
Bato can have different meanings, not related in Etymology, in various times, places and cultures:-People:Bato as an Illyrian male name may refer to:*Bato of Dalmatia, Illyrian tribal chief...
to the Dardanian throne. Monunius was known for his victory he inflicted on the Bastarnae
Bastarnae
The Bastarnae or Basternae were an ancient Germanic tribe,, who between 200 BC and 300 AD inhabited the region between the eastern Carpathian mountains and the Dnieper river...
during the Bastarnae Invasion of Dardania.
Etuta
Etuta
Etuta was an Illyrian queen of the Ardiaean Kingdom. Etuta was a Dardanian princess of the Dardanian State and father of Monunius of Dardania. Etuta married Gentius in 169 BC....
the daughter of Monunius married the Ardiaean King Gentius
Gentius
Gentius was the last Illyrian king of the Ardiaean State. The name appears to derive from PIE *g'en- "to beget", cognate to Latin gens, gentis "kin, clan, race". He was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept relations with Rome very strong...
in 169 BC
169 BC
Year 169 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Caepio...
. Since the dynastic marriage relations seem not to have brought an alliance between the two Illyrian States, in 168 BC Gentius allied with Perseus, the enemy of his father-in-law. Many Dardanian kings of the same time were named Monunius and there seems to be some confusion as to whom certain actions and events pertain.
Macedonian alliances against Dardania
Since it was difficult to defeat the Dardanians militarily, Philip VPhilip V of Macedon
Philip V was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of Rome. Philip was attractive and charismatic as a young man...
drew up a plan to get the large Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
/Celtic tribe of the Bastarnae against them. While on campaign in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
in 184 BC
184 BC
Year 184 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pulcher and Licinus...
Philip sent agents to stir up the barbarians along the river Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, that they might invade Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Two years later Philip was pleased to learn that the Bastarnae had accepted his alliance and were offering a princess in marriage for one of his sons, Perseus
Perseus
Perseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians...
as it turned out. This formidable people, dwelt beyond the lower Danube but were often willing to join in expeditions far from their homelands. The following year Philip mass deportations from Paeonia where he filled the towns with Thracians
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
and other barbarians, as being likely to remain more securely loyal to him in the coming hour of danger., that is war with Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
In fact Philip's purpose for the Bastarnae was more specific to the security of Macedonia: They were to invade and eject the Dardanians under Monunius and take over their country, and later continue on their way through Illyria
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....
, finally reaching Italy. Livy (XL, 574-9) writes that Philip's purpose was to wipe out the Dardanians and settle the Bastarnae in their lands (in the Polog
Polog
Polog also known as the Polog Valley , is located in the north-western part of the Republic of Macedonia near the border with Serbia.It is divided into Upper and Lower Polog...
valley), and send them to Italy and lay it waste, leaving their women and children in Dardania.
It was a typically ruthless yet realistic scheme, and was later imitated in the Danube lands on more than one occasion by the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. The Bastarnae were accompanied by the kindred Scordisci
Scordisci
The Scordisci were an Iron Age tribe centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus , Dravus and Danube rivers. They were historically notable from the beginning of the third century BC until the turn of the common era...
whose lands their route lay. To get the Bastarnae to Monunius' State, Philip had gone to great trouble and expense to arrange safe passage through the Thracians. They left home after a great deal of hesitation but had gone as far as Amphipolis
Amphipolis
Amphipolis was an ancient Greek city in the region once inhabited by the Edoni people in the present-day region of Central Macedonia. It was built on a raised plateau overlooking the east bank of the river Strymon where it emerged from Lake Cercinitis, about 3 m. from the Aegean Sea. Founded in...
when, in summer of 179 BC
179 BC
Year 179 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Flaccus and Fulvianus...
, news arrived that Philip V was dead. Soon there was trouble with the Thracians and the Bastarnae retreated to Donica (perhaps Rila
Rila
Rila is a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria and the highest mountain range of Bulgaria and the Balkans, with its highest peak being Musala at 2,925 m...
), a high mountain in western Thrace. After Philp's death, his son Perseus tried to follow through his fathers plans. After further skirmishes some decided to return home and set off for Appolonia and Mesembria on the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
coast of Thrace, but the rest, under the leadership of Clondicus, pressed on towards Monunius and set about to eject the population in accordance with their arrangement with the late king.
Rome's refusal of help
In 176 BC176 BC
Year 176 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hispallus/Laevinus and Spurinus...
Monunius sent envoys to Rome with news of an invasion by the Bastarnae. The Dardanian envoys declared that they were warriors massive in size and numbers and alleged that they were in league with Perseus and the Gauls. Representatives from Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
appeared also in order to confirm the story and back up Monunius. The patres would make their customary response, they would send an embassy to investigate. On the return of that embassy, Livy records that the Romans reported only that a Dardanian war was underway, and Appian
Appian
Appian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.He was born ca. 95 in Alexandria. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome ca. 120, where he practised as...
adds that they had observed a major military build-up in Macedonia. Perseus in the meantime, dispatched his own envoys to Rome with denials that he had any part in the activity of the Bastarnae. The senate would neither censure nor absolve Perseus, but simply directed that he take care to giving the appearance of observing his treaty with Rome and therefore the senate did nothing to support Monunius.
The Bastarnae Invasion of Dardania
In 175 BC175 BC
Year 175 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scaevola and Lepidus...
, the Bastaranae supported by the Thracians and the Scordisci, began the invasion and stormed into Dardania. To face the incoming danger, Monunius mobilized all his forces and concentrated them in the city (name of which is not known) closest to the camp of the Bastarnae. Monunius waited for the beginning of winter to launch the decisive strike, when the allies of the Bastarnae would return to their countries.
As soon as the Dardanians had learned of their withdrawal, which left on the forces of the Bastarnae, numbering 30,000, on the field, Monunius separated his forces into two armies. The first was to march head on to the enemy and attack them directly, while the other unit was to march along hidden roads and attack from the rear. But the battle began before the second army back to the enemy's back; the defeated Dardanians withdrew to the city, which was just twelve miles from the camp of the Bastarnae. Th victors immediately surrounded the city, believing either that the Dardanians would soon surrender from fear or that they immediately take the city by force. Meanwhile, the second of Monunius' army, having made its way unaware of the lost of the first, found the camp of the Bastarnae undefended, and easily took it without any effort. Having lost their entire baggage and supplies, the Bastarnae were obliged to withdraw from Dardania and to return home. Most perished as they crossed the frozen Danube on foot, only for the ice to give way. Among the survivors was Clondicus who had led the people into Dardania four years earlier.
Despite the failure of Philip's Bastarnae strategy, the suspicion aroused by these events in the Roman Senate, which had been warned by the Dardani of the Bastarnae invasion, ensured the demise of Macedonia as an independent state. Thus Monunius managed to protect the borders of the Dardanian State which would have perished otherwise.
Neutrality
Monunius engaged his daughter, EtutaEtuta
Etuta was an Illyrian queen of the Ardiaean Kingdom. Etuta was a Dardanian princess of the Dardanian State and father of Monunius of Dardania. Etuta married Gentius in 169 BC....
to the Ardiaean King Gentius
Gentius
Gentius was the last Illyrian king of the Ardiaean State. The name appears to derive from PIE *g'en- "to beget", cognate to Latin gens, gentis "kin, clan, race". He was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept relations with Rome very strong...
in 169 BC
169 BC
Year 169 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Caepio...
. However, the marriage does not seem to have secured an Illyrian-Dardanian alliance. Perseus conquered a broad swath of territory in the south of the Dardanian State, also taking the region of Penesta (Polog valley) with its cities Uscana
Uscana
Uscana or Hyscana was an ancient city of the Illyrian tribe Penestae.- See also :*List of ancient cities in Illyria...
, Oene and Draudachus. In order to stop the Dardanian raids into Macedonia, Perseus burned and destroyed the regions to the north and west of Mount Scardus(Sar Mountains), an area known thereafter as 'Deserted Illyria'. Through these campaigns, Perseus annihilated the military bases that the Romans had built in the northwest of his kingdom, cut off for good the routes the Dardanians had used for their forays into Macedonia, and inserted himself like a wedge between Monunius and Gentius.
Since the dynastic marriage relations seem not to have brought an alliance between the two Illyrian States, in 168 BC Gentius allied with Perseus, the enemy of his father-in-law. Nonetheless, Monunius preserved Dardanains neutrality, both in the war between Gentius and Perseus on the one hand and the war with the Romans on the other. After the destruction of Macedonia in 167 BC, the Dardanians ask the consul Paullus Aemilius for control of Paeonia, but he refused, giving them only the right to trade in salt there. Many Dardanian kings of the same time were named Monunius and there seems to be some confusion as to whom certain actions and events pertain.