Teuta
Teuta had to relinquish the southern parts of her territory and pay a tribute to Rome, but was eventually allowed to keep a realm confined to an area north of Lissus (modern Lezhë, Albania).
[5][2] Biographical details on the life of Teuta are biased by the fact that the surviving ancient sources, which were written by Greek and Roman authors, were generally hostile to Illyrians and their queen alike for political and/or misogynistic reasons.
[8] The Illyrian name *Teuta(na) is an exact cognate of the Gothic masculine form 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐍃 (þiudans 'king'), itself derived from an earlier *teuto-nos ('master of the people').
On their way home, they captured the Epirote city of Phoenice, at that time the most prosperous place of Epirus and a centre for the growing commerce with the Italian Peninsula.
[15] The seizure of an urban centre, as opposed to looting in the countryside, represented an escalation in the threat posed by Illyrians to Greeks and Romans alike.
[16] The vivid account of the event, given by the Greek historian Polybius and overtly hostile to Teuta, was probably influenced by an earlier Roman tradition originally intended to justify the invasion of Illyria.
[16][17] On their arrival, the Roman ambassadors found Queen Teuta celebrating the end of an internal Illyrian rebellion as her armies were about to lay siege to the Greek island city of Issa.
[19] In 229 BC, Rome declared war on Illyria and, for the first time, the Roman armies crossed the Adriatic Sea to set foot in the western Balkans.
[24] An army consisting of approximately 20,000 troops, 200 cavalry units and an entire Roman fleet of 200 ships, led by Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus and Lucius Postumius Albinus, was sent to conquer Illyria.
[3] The Roman attack seems to have caught Teuta by surprise, since she had ordered a large naval expedition involving most of her ships against the Greek colony of Corcyra in the winter of 229.
[27] Appian mentions that, after the defeat, Teuta sent an embassy to Rome to deliver captives and to apologize for the events that had occurred during her spouse Agron's reign, but not under hers.
