Dalmatia

A Roman province on the east coast of the Adriatic, roughly corresponding to modern Yugoslavia. The Roman expansion began c mid-2nd century BC and ended around the 9th century AD when it became the province of Illyricum. The fall of the Dalmatian capital, Delminium, in 155 brought Roman civilization to the country. On the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Dalmatia fell under the power of Odoacer in 481 and later under that of Theodoric. It was a battlefield during the wars between the Goths and the Byzantine emperor Justinian I and valuable to Rome for its mineral deposits, land routes and harbors, and legendary soldiers. Illyricum was soon subdivided into two provinces, known by the Flavian period as Dalmatia and Pannonia. The name Dalmatia probably comes from the name of an Illyrian tribe, the Delmata, an Indo-European people who overran the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula beginning about 1000 BC.

A Roman province, called after the local tribe of the Delmatae, which corresponds partly to modern Yugoslavia. The whole eastern Adriatic area, roughly equivalent to present-day Yugoslavia and Albania put together, was finally annexed by Rome in 9 ad and became the province of Illyricum, valuable to Rome for its mineral deposits, land routes and harbours, and the legendary fighting qualities of its soldiers. Illyricum was soon sub-divided into two provinces, known by the Flavian period as Dalmatia and Pannonia.