It is possible to argue that the concept of civilisation in Strabo’s Geography was so significant that Strabo composed at least some of his books following a rigid descriptive trajectory from barbarity to civilisation. Strabo’s depiction of Illyricum stands oddly between these two categories. While pointing out barbarity in his cultural assessment, he often contradicts himself and shows that the area was culturally much more advanced than he was prepared to admit. This paper recognises certain reasons behind his inconsistency. One is Strabo’s ideological intention to present Roman political and military force as the agent of civilisation in the framework of Augustan imperial discourse.

This thesis examines the development of Roman Illyrian policy, from the late Republican hegemony over the region to the establishment of permanent imperial frontiers on the Danube and the beginning of the process that would integrate Illyricum (the area between the Adriatic Sea and the River Danube) into the Roman Empire. This thesis has two principal aims. Firstly, on the regional, ‘microscopic’, level it defines and explains the development of Roman policy in Illyricum. Secondly, on the global, ‘macroscopic’, level it examines some of the mechanisms of Roman policy-making, and fits Illyrian policy into the wider picture of Roman foreign and later provincial policy. Ultimately, the thesis recognizes and explains the reasons for a major change in Roman strategic interests from the Eastern Adriatic coast to the interior of the western Balkans in the late Republic and early Empire. Despite the problems of deficient sources, this thesis observes Roman Illyrian policy as essentially a political interaction between Rome and the entire regional geopolitical system of Illyricum, rather than defining it through Roman interactions with individual polities inside the system, or as part of the system.

The work argues that the use of the term 'sabaiarius' by Ammianus Marcelinus served to ridicule and identify what was seen as the 'other' and barbarian. Ammianus' use of the word in the scenario involving emperor Valens serves not only to offend him but to malign his Pannonian origins.

The fieldwork carried out in 2015 as part of the Varvaria / Breberium / Bribir Archaeological Project continued the field operations undertaken in 2014 along the following lines2: excavation below the floor level of the church of Sts Joachim and Ann (fig. 1) and to the NE of the trench T2 opened last year; UDC: 726.54(497.581.2) V. Ghica 726.822(497.581.2) A. Milošević Preliminary communication N. Uroda Manuscript received: 10. 02. 2017. D. Dzino* Revised manuscript accepted: 15. 02. 2017. DOI: 10.1484/J.HAM.5.113762