Pliny the Elder in his work Natural History used the term "properly named Illyrians" (Illyrii proprii/proprie dicti) for a small group of people between Epidaurum (now Cavtat) and Lissus (now Lezhë).
[1][2] "... this region contained the Labeatae, Senedi, Rudini, Sasaei, Grabaei, properly called Illyrians, and Taulantii and Pyraei," he said.
(Latin: ... eo namque tractu fuere Labeatae, Senedi, Rudini, Sasaei, Grabaei; proprie dicti Illyri et Taulantii et Pyraei.
According to other modern scholars, the term Illyrii may have originally referred only to a small ethnos in the area between Epidaurum and Lissus, and Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela may have followed a literary tradition that dates back as early as Hecataeus of Miletus.
[7] The area of the Illyrii proprie dicti is largely included in the southern Illyrian onomastic province in modern linguistics.