Queen Teuta

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For the Albanian club with the same name, see KS Teuta Durrës.

Queen Teuta (also Queen Tefta), was an Illyrian queen and regent who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228 BC.

After the death of Agron (250 BC?-231 BC) who established the first kingdom of Illyria, extending from Dalmatia on the north to the Aous River (Vjosa River) to the south with Skodra as its capital, his widow, Teuta, acted as regent for her young stepson Pinnes. Teuta's first decision was to drive out the Greek colonies off the Illyrian coast. Attempting this, she attacked Dyrrachium and fortified the city, but Phoenice further south surrendered. While her Illyrian ships were off the coast of Sarandë, they intercepted and plundered some merchant vessels of Rome. Encouraged by this success, Teuta's pirates extended their operations southward into the Ionian Sea, westward along the coast of Italy, and were soon feared as the terror of the Adriatic. The seat of her throne was in Risan, a town in today's Montenegro.

The Roman Senate sent two ambassadors to the pirate lair at Shkodër to require reparations and demand an end to all pirate expeditions. Apparently, she told the ambassadors that according to the law of the Illyrians, piracy was a lawful trade and that her government had no right to interfere with this as a private enterprise. One of the envoys was reported to have replied that Rome would make it her business to introduce better law among the Illyrians. At any rate, one of the ambassadors addressed the queen so disrespectfully that her attendants killed him as he embarked for Rome.

This was too much for Rome to endure. In 229 BC, Rome declared war on Illyria and for the first time armies crossed the Adriatic to Illyria (the Balkan Peninsula in modern usage). The Roman fleet of 200 ships went first to Corcyra. Teuta's governor, Demetrius had little alternative but to surrender, and the Romans awarded him a considerable part of Teuta's holdings (228 BC). The Roman army then landed further north at Apollonia. The combined army and navy proceeded northward together, subduing one town after another and besieging Shkodra, the capital. Teuta finally surrendered in 227 BC, having to accept an ignominious peace. The Romans allowed her to continue her reign but restricted her to a narrow region around Skodra, deprived her of all her other holdings, and forbade her to sail an armed ship below Lissus just south of the capital. They also required her to pay an annual tribute and to acknowledge the final authority of Rome.

References

• This article contains information from Frosina.org and it is used with permission.
• Jacques, Edwin E. The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1995.
• Wilkes, John. The Illyrians. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992.

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