Great Illyrian Revolt The Great Illyrian Revolt , ( " Bellum Batonianum " or Pannonian Revolt ) was a major conflict between an alliance of indigenous communities from Illyricum and Roman forces that lasted for four years beginning in AD 6 and ending in AD 9 . The war . In AD 6 , several regiments of Daesitiates , natives of area that now comprises central Bosnia and Herzegovina , led by Bato the Daesitiate ( Bato I ) , were gathered in one place to prepare to join Augustus ' s stepson and senior military commander Tiberius in a war against the Germans . Instead , the Daesitiates mutinied and defeated a Roman force sent against them . The Daesitiates were soon joined by the Breuci led by Bato of the Breuci ( Bato II ) , another community inhabiting the region between the rivers Sava and Drava in modern Croatia . They gave battle to a second Roman force from Moesia led by Caecina Severus ( the governor of Moesia ) . Despite their defeat , they inflicted heavy casualties at the Battle of Sirmium . The rebels were now joined by a large number of other communities . At risk was the strategic province of Illyricum , recently expanded to include the territory of the Pannonii , an indigenous communities inhabiting the region between the rivers Drava and Sava , who were subjugated by Rome in 12 - 9 BC . Illyricum was on Italy ' s eastern flank , exposing the Roman heartland to the fear of a rebel invasion . Augustus ordered Tiberius to break off operations in Germany and move his main army to Illyricum . Tiberius sent Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus ( the governor of Dalmatia and Pannonia ) ahead with troops . The panic broke out in Rome and Augustus raised a second task force under Tiberius ' s nephew Germanicus . He resorted to the compulsory purchase and emancipation of thousands of slaves in order to amass enough troops . This happened for the first time since the aftermath of the Battle of Cannae two centuries earlier . At one moment , in winter AD 6 / 7 , 10 legions were deployed and an equivalent number of auxilia ( 70 cohors , 10 ala and more than 10 , 000 veterans ) In addition , they were assisted by a large number of Thracian troops deployed by their King Rhoemetalces , a Roman " amicus " ( ally ) a grand total of some 100 , 000 men . They faced further reverses on the battlefield and a bitter guerrilla war in the Bosnian mountains , but bitter fighting also occurred in southern Pannonia around Mons Almus ( modern Fruška Gora ) near Sirmium . It took them three years of hard fighting to quell the revolt , which was described by the Roman historian Suetonius as the most difficult conflict faced by Rome since the Punic Wars two centuries earlier . Tiberius finally quelled the revolt in AD 9 . This was just in time : that same year Arminius destroyed Varus ' s three legions in Germany . The Roman high command did not doubt that Arminius would have formed a grand alliance with the Illyrians . The fighting of the Illyrian Revolt had lasting effects on Roman soldiers . Unhappy with their payment of swampy and mountainous Pannonian lands for such harsh military service , and with abuses relating to their pay and conditions , Roman soldiers staged a mutiny in AD 14 , after Augustus ' death , demanding recompense . Tiberius , now the ruling Emperor , dispatched his son , Drusus , to pacify the mutineers . Roman punishment . The Romans , aside from committing atrocities during the war , split up Illyrian tribes into different groups than the ones they had previously composed . The administrative civitates of Osseriates Colapiani and Varciani were probably created from the Breuci . Other members of tribes were probably sold as slaves or deported in different locations , such as the Azali . Further reading . Detailed and critical commentary of the sources is given in : Useful historical narratives of the events in English can be found in : Velleius Paterculus