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The Great Illyrian Revolt: Rome's Forgotten War in the Balkans, AD 6–9
In the year AD 9, three Roman legions were crushed by the German warlord Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. This event is well-known, but there was another uprising that Rome faced shortly before, which lasted from AD 6 to 9, and was just as intense.
This rebellion occurred in the western Balkans (an area roughly corresponding to modern Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, and parts of Serbia and Albania) and it tested the Roman Empire to its limits. For three years, fifteen legions fought in the narrow valleys and forest-covered crags of the Dinaric Mountains in a ruthless war of attrition against an equally ruthless and determined foe, and yet this conflict is largely unknown today. The Great Illyrian Revolt is believed to be the first book ever devoted to this forgotten war of the Roman Empire. Within its pages, we examine the history and culture of the mysterious Illyrian people, the story of how Rome became involved in this volatile region, and what the Roman army had to face during those harrowing three years in the Balkans.
This rebellion occurred in the western Balkans (an area roughly corresponding to modern Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, and parts of Serbia and Albania) and it tested the Roman Empire to its limits. For three years, fifteen legions fought in the narrow valleys and forest-covered crags of the Dinaric Mountains in a ruthless war of attrition against an equally ruthless and determined foe, and yet this conflict is largely unknown today. The Great Illyrian Revolt is believed to be the first book ever devoted to this forgotten war of the Roman Empire. Within its pages, we examine the history and culture of the mysterious Illyrian people, the story of how Rome became involved in this volatile region, and what the Roman army had to face during those harrowing three years in the Balkans.
- GenresHistoryAncient History
265 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 25, 2019
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98 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 30, 2023
I really have to stop reading Pen and Sword Military publishing releases no matter how cheap they are on Kindle. They are invariably poorly written and poorly edited, sometimes to the point of unreadability (see my review of
The Emperor Commodus
). If this were submitted by an undergraduate history major, it'd be pretty good. Definitely a B+ / A- effort on the student's part. But as a professional historian's take on a little known episode in Roman history, it's amateurish.
That said - Abdale does shed some light on an up-to-now obscure war in the western Balkans that deserves more scrutiny since it involved 15 legions, lasted three years & provides valuable insight into Roman imperial and colonial policies (e.g., the author brings up, but doesn't explore, parallels between the empire's and modern states' policies toward clients and colonies).
I can't recommend it but if you're really interested in early imperial history, the bibliography might be mined for the primary sources and few secondary sources that have looked at the matter.
That said - Abdale does shed some light on an up-to-now obscure war in the western Balkans that deserves more scrutiny since it involved 15 legions, lasted three years & provides valuable insight into Roman imperial and colonial policies (e.g., the author brings up, but doesn't explore, parallels between the empire's and modern states' policies toward clients and colonies).
I can't recommend it but if you're really interested in early imperial history, the bibliography might be mined for the primary sources and few secondary sources that have looked at the matter.
April 28, 2019
General thoughts: The book is immensely valuable to those interested in this period of history, as there is so little out there - it really is a forgotten war, by the Ancient Romans themselves, never mind modern scholars. It is easy to read, full of detail and well worth your time.
The ethnographic detail, the ancient history and cultural details of the Illyrians in the first chapters of the book is interesting and fulsome. I found it satisfying that a lot of attention was paid to the other side of this war - we can read about the Romans anywhere, but this book cast some much needed light on the otherwise shadowy rebels.
Once we get into the war itself, the detail which Abdale has added to the typically sparse ancient record is colourful and useful, and in many places, gives the reader a much fuller picture than the ancient historians, such as suggesting possible routes for example; describing particular sieges, battles etc.
My interest in this book is derived from a passion for the Plautii, one member of whom is Marcus Plautius Silvanus, one of the commanders in the Great Illyrian Revolt. When I began researching the family, I was naturally led to research the Revolt, and I soon discovered there was almost no modern writing about it.
Thus there are a couple of things my research can add. At one point, the author says that we don’t know where Plautius Silvanus came from; on the contrary, he was the proconsul in Galatia and Pamphylia in the year 6-7AD, and therefore he must have brought his legions from the east - Syria has been suggested. Abdale also goes against the ancient record (and Syme) by saying that Silvanus arrived in Illyricum in 6AD - everything I’ve read supports his arriving in the region in the year 7 AD...
But these are minor, no doubt contested, and some would argue unimportant, points. Probably only a slightly obsessed scholar, trying to recreate the timeline of a particular Roman general, with scanty evidence, would be all that concerned. (Yes, I mean me.)
The ethnographic detail, the ancient history and cultural details of the Illyrians in the first chapters of the book is interesting and fulsome. I found it satisfying that a lot of attention was paid to the other side of this war - we can read about the Romans anywhere, but this book cast some much needed light on the otherwise shadowy rebels.
Once we get into the war itself, the detail which Abdale has added to the typically sparse ancient record is colourful and useful, and in many places, gives the reader a much fuller picture than the ancient historians, such as suggesting possible routes for example; describing particular sieges, battles etc.
My interest in this book is derived from a passion for the Plautii, one member of whom is Marcus Plautius Silvanus, one of the commanders in the Great Illyrian Revolt. When I began researching the family, I was naturally led to research the Revolt, and I soon discovered there was almost no modern writing about it.
Thus there are a couple of things my research can add. At one point, the author says that we don’t know where Plautius Silvanus came from; on the contrary, he was the proconsul in Galatia and Pamphylia in the year 6-7AD, and therefore he must have brought his legions from the east - Syria has been suggested. Abdale also goes against the ancient record (and Syme) by saying that Silvanus arrived in Illyricum in 6AD - everything I’ve read supports his arriving in the region in the year 7 AD...
But these are minor, no doubt contested, and some would argue unimportant, points. Probably only a slightly obsessed scholar, trying to recreate the timeline of a particular Roman general, with scanty evidence, would be all that concerned. (Yes, I mean me.)
November 15, 2022
The portions of the book that rest on the merits of factual evidence are well researched and explained. The portions of the book that are left to supposition quickly turn into the author’s fanfiction of what “he would do” better.
40% history, 60% sophomorically written nonsense. Again, the parts supported by factual evidence are great. However, I wouldn’t recommend to anyone without the massive qualification that “no, it isn’t good”.
40% history, 60% sophomorically written nonsense. Again, the parts supported by factual evidence are great. However, I wouldn’t recommend to anyone without the massive qualification that “no, it isn’t good”.
March 1, 2022
The beginning of the book was very promising, but after the second chapter the author started to make free assumptions (speculate). Moreover, the author mainly used three sources for the majority of the book.
March 6, 2020
Finally a new book with new researches about Illyria . Worth reading it if you want details about the revolt .
April 24, 2022
I really enjoyed this book! It's approach to ancient history research is fine, take a topic, that's not much known, try and aggregate the ancient sources, look for secondary (modern) works (if any) and then try to extrapolate and read between the lines for what could have happened. I can't think of a better way to approach this.
In many cases the author's extrapolations are clearly marked as guesswork and do not try to influence the reader, simply gives options.
One criticism I have is that there must have been a lot of research performed about Illyricum in modern day Croatia/Serbia/Bosnia/Hungary. Very little is indicated about the type of local research that the author incorporated here. We can see the list of works in the appendix true, but it's not clear whether the author has done any fieldwork there etc... It's very hard to talk about a specific region without going there in person and even if this means observing the countryside after 2000 years has passed. All-in-all this is still a good book worth reading for those interested in the workings and life of the Imperii Romani.
In many cases the author's extrapolations are clearly marked as guesswork and do not try to influence the reader, simply gives options.
One criticism I have is that there must have been a lot of research performed about Illyricum in modern day Croatia/Serbia/Bosnia/Hungary. Very little is indicated about the type of local research that the author incorporated here. We can see the list of works in the appendix true, but it's not clear whether the author has done any fieldwork there etc... It's very hard to talk about a specific region without going there in person and even if this means observing the countryside after 2000 years has passed. All-in-all this is still a good book worth reading for those interested in the workings and life of the Imperii Romani.
December 9, 2025
This book was very disappointing, not deserving of the 265 pages it was written on. I have several complaints. 1) the first 62 pages are devoted to discussing who the Illyrians are. This part was less than interesting and didn't really provide a good answer to that question. Far fewer pages could have been devoted to the topic. 2) One would expect a book on this topic to have uncovered new sources, researched known sources to greater depth, or provide logical development of new conclusions from known sources. This book does none of the previous scholarly things. 3)The text is generously sprinkled with weakly supported speculation such as: "I believe that..", "we can only assume..", "I imagine..", and etc. This feels like a book that resulted from a ill-conceived commission to cover a topic the author had little to no new relevant information.
September 17, 2022
Four stars for the effort, three for incorrect names of the present-day cities.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews