Roman era Byzantine Greek colonies Illyrian Albanian edit wars Epir plz read all my message In the dark and solemn days of the wondrous lands which would later be called the Balkans there existed two people One that would later be known as the Greek people and the other the men that would form the nation of Albania For centuries these two cultures would have many periods of cultural exchange and of cultural strife Most of scholars and philologists alike contend that the modern Albanian language to be descended from Illyrian check the atlas of world in Barnes Noble see where they put the Albanian languange The Illyrian name is understood in the Albanian interpretation of the Illyrians Ilir t The root in Ilir t is i lir which simply means FREE Thus the meaning of Ilir t is freemen and the meaning of Illyria long before America came into existence is land of the free The first references that of 1285 cf Jirecek 1901 1904 Ajeti 1977 1982 occurs not in Albania itself but in Dubrovnik Ragusa where a sizeable Albaniancommunity had existed for some time In the investigation of a robbery in the house of Petro del Volcio of Belena now Prati a certain Matthew son of Mark of Man e who appears to have been witness to the crime states Audivi unam vocem clamantem in monte in lingua Albanesca I heara a voice crying in the mountains in the Albanian languange and I sure those who study Albanian history have 4 more importan references they should know that What is the significance of these references First and foremost it is apparent that in the period 1285 to 1322 the Albanian languange was well established on the southeastern Adriatic coast The dating of these refernces should not however be taken as an indication that Albanian or early forms of it were not spoken in the preceding centuries If the Albanians tells us were rural nomads warlike inhabitants and if their settlements were more concentrated in the highlands than on the coast it is quite likely that they were not taken note of even though they may have costituted at substantial population group Most historians of the Balkans believe the Albanian people are in large part descendants of the ancient Illyrians who like other Balkan peoples were subdivided into tribes and clans The name Albania is derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Arb r or Arb resh and later Albanoi that lived near Durr s Only Albanians preserve the Illyrian names ex me my name is Taulant Taulant t illyrians tribes Genti Bardhyl Dori Boiken Bato etc etc so the question is How come Albanians are the only one to preserve this names and languange and NO its not communist propaganda my greatgrandfather s name was Bardhyl and his dads was Agroni The most known Illyrian sign is the snake or dragons rolled or twisted that Illyrians used in their shields in their art Dragons and snakes were worshiped by Illyrians they still continue to exist until this day in Albanian mythology Greek roots with Illyrian its a stupid argument mixing oil with water I never heard that Greeks claiming Illyrians One point its true some did mix with Greeks I am sure not everyone was isolated on southern Illyria from the Albanian hardesh geography or imigrated towards Italy Greeks have their old history and I don t think they need Illyrians to prove that I was the one who started the Greek colonies because they show that we all have a worked together but never thought that it will end up like this with maps to be used for nationalistic ideas to claim lands Epir it was and is to the Albanians Greeks Albanian Greeks Greeks Albanian people We need to show some respect from those mountaints of north west of Greece south of Albania Pyrros Bubullima Bo ari etc called home I don t like nationalist of any kind its 2008 people there is thousand of books about Albanians wake up but to delete critical points that linked Albanians with Illyrians its wrong shame on u people it makes Wikipedia looks bad and it shows that some people still leave in the past All these Roman Byzantine Greekcolonies articles need to be on one article they are too long I would suggest to help in here I really do think he is the only Greek Wikipedian that can really help and has an open mind We know that the shadow of the ancient Greece was too strong too close for the Illyrian Albanian civilization but at least try to understand that not everyone who dresses Levis listens to hip hop or writes grafitti in English is an American