Autariatae

[6] An Illyrian people named Αὐταριᾶται, Autariatai was firstly recorded in the Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax dating back to the middle of the 4th century BC.

[7] According to a mythological tradition reported by Appian (2nd century AD), the Autariatae descended from a common progenitor called Autarieus, one of the sons of Illyrius, the eponymous ancestor of all the Illyrian peoples.

[1][10] The Autariatan communities unified into a single political entity that can be called with the collective name Autariatae in the period 6th – 4th centuries BC.

The leading class of the Autariatae society reached the peak of its political and economic development indicated through many great luxurious royal tumuli and graves created during the 5th century BC.

[15] As reported by ancient historian Arrian, the Autariatae were one of the three Illyrian tribes that made war against Alexander the Great during his 335 BC campaign.

[21] He also reports that the Autariatae were punished by Apollo for raiding the Pythian Oracle together with the Celtic Cimbri, after which moment they migrated to the lands of the Getae near the tribe of Bastarnae.

The Autariatae and the Celtic Scordisci are thought to have merged into one tribe in the Lower Morava valley, after 313 BC, since excavations show that the two groups made burials at the same exact grave field in Pecine, near Kostolac.

[26] This practice perhaps was motivated by the superstitious belief that the enemy, by drinking the blood of prisoners and by eating parts of their bodies containing their virtues, would become even stronger and acquire a special power over the entire community of the Autariatae.

Artifacts consisting of metal sheets with luxurious golden and silver belts of Mramorac[citation needed] type indicate the complexity of this tradition.

[citation needed] Case in point, the Autariatae have strongly maintained their burial customs of burning the dead in tumuli, which did not change until the end of the Glasinac culture.