Illyrian fibulae or brooches were widely used by

Illyrians The Illyrians ( grc, Ἰλλυριοί, ''Illyrioi''; la, Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, a ...

and were very common in Illyria. Some types of

fibulae The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

are one of the few objects that all of the Illyrians used and some are even used to declare the distribution of Illyrian people. Illyrians loved ornaments, and on festive occasions their womenfolk would appear heavily draped with all manner of jewellery. Several varieties of fibulae have a distinctive evolution in Ilyria, notable the Spectacle brooch of two concentrically wound spirals attached to the pin. The Glasinac fibula was a variant of the simple bow-fibula which is common among many Illyrians. Other forms which appear in the early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

include those and with bosses on the arch, animal-shaped brooches, serpent-shaped and plate-brooches, the last being distinctively

Liburnian The Liburnians or Liburni ( grc, Λιβυρνοὶ) were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' ( Raša) and ''Titius'' ( Krka) in what is now Croatia ...

. A significant later import was the heavy brooch with a large arch and long arm named from the site of Certosa near

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. Another distinctive brooch, often made in silver and with a wide arch in the form of open petals, is named from the fine examples found at Strpci on the

Drina The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long Balkans river, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps whi ...

river near Gorazde. This type seems to have been popular among the southern Illyrians and is believed to be modeled on Greek forms.

References

See also