Roman eraByzantineGreek colonies Illyrian Albanianedit warsEpir 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 Illyriancheck the atlas of world in Barnes Noblesee where they put the Albanian languange  The Illyrian name is understood in the Albanian interpretation of the Illyrians Ilirt  The root in Ilirt is i lir which simply means FREE Thus the meaning of Ilirt is freemen and the meaning of Illyria long before America came into existence is land of the free   The first referencesthat of  cfJirecek Ajeti occurs not in Albania itself but in DubrovnikRagusa where a sizeable Albaniancommunity had existed for some timeIn the investigation of a robbery in the house of Petro del Volcio of Belenanow Pratia certain Matthewson of Mark of Mane 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  more importan referencesthey should know that  What is the significance of these references First and foremost it is apparent that in the period  to  the Albanian languange was wellestablished on the southeastern Adriatic coast  The dating of these referncesshould not however be taken as an indication that Albanian or early forms of it were not spoken in the preceding centuriesIf the Albanianstells us were rural nomadswarlike inhabitantsand if their settlements were more concentrated in the highlands than on the coastit 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 Arbr or Arbresh and later Albanoi that lived near DurrsOnly Albanians preserve the Illyrian names ex me my name is TaulantTaulantt illyrians tribes GentiBardhylDoriBoikenBato 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 greatgrandfathers 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 artDragons and snakes were worshiped by Illyrians they still continue to exist until this day in Albanian mythology  Greek roots with Illyrian its a stupid argumentmixing oil with waterI never heard that Greeks claiming IllyriansOne 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 dont 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 ideasto claim landsEpir it was and is to the AlbaniansGreeksAlbanianGreeksGreeksAlbanian people We need to show some respectfrom those mountaints of north west of Greece south of Albania Pyrros BubullimaBoari etc called home   I dont like nationalist of any kind its  peoplethere is thousand of books about Albanianswake up but to delete critical points that linked Albanians with Illyrians its wrongshame on u people it makes Wikipedia looks bad and it shows that some people still leave in the past All these RomanByzantineGreekcolonies articles need to be on one articlethey are too longI would suggest  to help in hereI 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 strongtoo close for the Illyrian Albanian civilization but at least try to understand that not everyone who dresses Levis listens to hiphop or writes grafitti in English  is an American