Delmati, vino i formiranje etničkog identiteta u predrimskom Iliriku more

The Delmatae, wine and formation of ethnic identity in pre-Roman Illyricum

This paper deals with the lack of archaeological finds that confirm wine-drinking habits amongst the Delmatae in Illyricum. The thesis of Dietler, that the demand for goods is not an automatic response but rather something that should be understood in regional political and cultural relationships, is used to link the absence of wine and the construction of Delmataean ethnic identity.
Focusing on the wider clash of drinking ideologies in ancient (and modern) Europe, this paper suggests that the change in alcohol-consumption habits from Continental beer/mead/cider-drinking to Mediterranean wine-drinking amongst the neighbours of the Delmatae is the consequence of wider socio-political transitions and the establishment of the core-periphery model of exchange in pre-Roman Illyricum, after Greek penetration into the Adriatic in the 4th century BC. The foundation of the Delmataean alliance in c. 3rd century BC is considered to be an attempt to redistribute the networks of exchange in Illyricum that were controlled by its Delmataean neighbours, who were strongly impacted by Mediterranean ‘globalisation’. At the same time the Delmataean political alliance was recognised as the core of the Delmataean ethnic identity, further strengthened through the conflicts with their neighbours such as the Liburni, Illyrians, Issaean commonwealth and certainly, the Roman Republic.
Differences in consumption of alcoholic beverages are essentially a part of Bourdieu’s social habitus, and Barthian “cultural stuff ”, that is not directly involved in the process of construction of identities. However, in the background of the Delmataean conflicts with their neighbours who accepted some elements of Mediterranean culture, including consumption of wine, the choice of alcoholic beverage becomes an “ethnic boundary” that significantly influences the construction of ethnic identity. This paper concludes that the newly-formed identity of the Delmatae, amongst other things, incorporated a strong anti-Mediterranean sentiment that draw the Delmatae closer to their northern neighbours, the Pannonii, and that sentiment is visible through their unity in the bellum Batonianum, but can be assumed even earlier in the bellum Pannonicum jointly fought against the Romans.
Thus, lack of evidence for consumption of wine amongst the Delmatae is the fact that reveals a complex regional process of formation and transition of ethnic identities in pre-Roman Illyricum. This process was caused by wider ‘tectonic’ historical movements that corresponded with the formation of the ‘global’ Mediterranean world and the incorporation of Illyricum and its heterogeneous ethnic communities in that world.