Dalmatae
The Delmatae, alternatively Dalmatae, during the Roman period, were a group of Illyrian tribes in Dalmatia, contemporary southern Croatia and western Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Delmatae appear in historical record for the first time in 181 BC, when upon the death of their ruler Pleuratus III of the Illyrian kingdom, they refused to accept the rule of his son, Gentius and seceded.
In the aftermath, some Delmataean communities were relocated in the northern Sandzak region and others were resettled in parts of Carinthia to provide labor for the Roman mines.
[10] Toponyms linked to the name are found throughout the territories inhabited by Illyrians including the chief settlement of the Delmatae, Delminium and Dalmana in present-day N.
The death of Pleuratus III of the Illyrian kingdom and the succession by his son Gentius led the Delmatae to not recognize his rule and secede altogether.
[13] The fourth and final conflict occurred 34–33 BC during Octavian's expedition to Illyricum because of their iterative revolts, and finished with the capture of the new Delmatian capital- Soetovio (now Klis).
[18][19] The archeological remnants suggest their material culture was more primitive than those of the surrounding ancient tribes, especially in comparison with the oldest Liburnians.
Their elite had stone built houses only, but numerous Delmatic herdmen yet settled in natural caves, and a characteristic detail in their usual clothing was the fur cap.
Their frequent reliefs often accompanied by nymphs, are partly conserved up today in some cliffs of Dalmatia; in Imotski valley also their temple used from 4th to 1st century BC, was unearthed.
After the classic Roman reports (Muzic 1998), nomadic Delmatae were extremely superstitious, and they had a primitive panic dread[citation needed] from all celestial phenomena: any view on the night stars was for them forbidden in the fear of a sure death, and in the case of solar or lunar eclipses they repeated tremendous collective howling because of the immediate world ending, made hysterical suicides etc.
