"The nature of peoples is
first crude, then severe, then benign,
then delicate, finally dissolute."
- Giambattista Vico's The New Science -
The Illyrians were not a uniform body of people but a cluster of independent tribes connected racially and linguistically. More plainly, they did not have a "national identity" and their cultures differed in the north vis-a-vis the south.(1)
The Greek sources described them as tall, strong and ready for fight.(2) They were known to have worn tunics (long shirts). The women of Illyria also wore tunics accompanied with a cloak or head scarf.(3)
As a primary source of income, the Illyrians raised livestock - pigs, sheep and goats mostly, and in some rare instances, cattle and horses as well.(4) Although the Illyrians did hunt, with the bow and arrow as their weapon of choice, this skill was reserved primarily for attaining fur.(5) Farming was a luxury to those on rich fertile plains, e.g. the Pannonian region, (see map in Tribes) as wheat and millet were the basic crops.(6)
The Illyrians also mined for metals and were skilled in tool making often trading with each other and neighboring peoples.(7) Yet, some Illyrians found "pillage and plunder" an easier practice for economic stimulation and wealth (see Tribes and
Piracy).
Piracy).
(1) Appian (X, 22) for lack of central authority and see section on Religion for different beliefs and customs. (2) Herodian (Book VIII). (3) Wilkes, Dalmatia (pp. 403). (4) Lengyel and Radan, Pannonia (pp. 324). (5) Stipcevic, Illyrians (pp. 138). (6) Lengyel/Radan, op. cit. (pp. 324). (7) Casson, op. cit. (pp. 321).
