Geography

​The tribes of the Pannonians are the Breuci, the Andizetii, the Ditiones, the Pirustae, the Mazaei, and the Daesitiatae, of whom Baton was the leader, and other smaller and less known tribes, which extend as far as Dalmatia, and almost to the land of the Ardiaei for one going toward the south. All the mountainous region extending from the recess of the Adriatic as far as the Rhizonic Gulf and the land of the Ardiaei falls between the sea and the Pannonian tribes. And one must make our beginning of the continuous description from about this point, resuming briefly what has been said before. Now we said in our description of Italy that the Istroi are the first of the Illyrian coast contiguous to Italy and the Carni, and that the present rulers extended the boundaries of Italy as far as Pola, an Istrian city. These, therefore, are about eight hundred stadia from the recess. And the distance is the same from the promontory in front of Pola to Ancona, for one who has the Venetic territory on the right. The entire coastal voyage of Istria is one thousand three hundred stadia.

​Next is the coastal voyage of the Iapodes, which is one thousand stadia; for the Iapodes are settled on Mount Albius, which is the last of the Alps and is very high, bordering on the Pannonians and the Ister on one side, and on the Adriatic on the other; they are warlike, but were completely subdued by Augustus. Their cities are Metulum, Arupini, Monetium, and Vendon. Their lands are poor, the people feeding mostly on spelt and millet. Their armor is Celtic, and they are tattooed like the rest of the Illyrians and Thracians. After the territory of the Iapodes is the Liburnian coastal voyage, which is larger than the former by [some] stadia; on this coastal voyage is a river which has a navigation for cargo boats as far as the Dalmatian country, and Scardon, a Liburnian city.

​Along the whole coast which I have mentioned are islands: first, the Apsyrtides, around which Medea is said to have destroyed her brother Apsyrtus who was pursuing her. Next is Cyrictica, off the land of the Iapodes; then the Liburnides, about forty in number. Then other islands, of which the most famous are Issa, and Tragurium, a foundation of the Issaeans, and Pharos, formerly called Paros, a foundation of the Parians, from which came Demetrius of Pharos. Next is the coast of the Dalmatians and Salona, their seaport. This tribe is one of those that warred against the Romans for a long time; and they had as many as fifty noteworthy settlements, of which some were even cities, such as Salona, Promona, Ninia, and Sinotium, both the new and the old, which Augustus burned. There is also Andetrium, a stronghold, and Delmium, a large city, after which the tribe is named; Nasica made it small and turned its plain into a pasture for sheep on account of the greed of the people. It is peculiar to the Dalmatians to make a redistribution of land every eight years; and not to use coins is peculiar to those on this coast, but common to many of the other barbarians. Mount Adrion is a mountain which cuts Dalmatia in the middle, separating the coastal part from the part on the other side. Then the river Naron and around it the Daorizi, the Ardiaei, and the Pleraei, to some of whom is near the island called Black Corcyra and a city, a foundation of the Cnidians, and to the Ardiaei is Pharos, formerly called Paros, for it is a foundation of the Parians.

​Later generations called the Ardiaei by the name of Vardaei; but the Romans drove them from the sea into the interior, because they infested it with piracy, and compelled them to farm. The country, however, is rugged and poor, and not suited for a farming people, so that they have been completely ruined and have almost died out. And this happened also to the other tribes in this region; for those who were formerly the most powerful were completely humbled and died out: among the Galatians, the Boii and the Scordistae; among the Illyrians, the Autariatae, the Ardiaei, and the Dardanians; and among the Thracians, the Triballi; who were at first wasted in war by one another, and later by the Macedonians and the Romans.