Romain Mougenot

My main research subject is focused on the Greek colonisation in the Adriatic Sea and how it impacted the native communities of the Illyricum. I completed a Master degree in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the University Lumière Lyon 2 in 2013 and wrote a master thesis about the Historical Geography of the Illyrian Peoples. I am a member of the Franco-Albanian Archaeological and Epigraphical Mission in Apollonia as a field archaeologist where I work on a dwelling quarter of the Hellenistic and Roman period. I have also worked in industrial archaeology with the Archaeological Service of the City of Lyon in 2012 on a rescue excavation in the old city.

PhD thesis
The aim of my research project is to explore the impact of the Greek colonisation in the Adriatic Sea on the Liburnian group identity. The Liburnians were settled on the Northern Croatian coast from the Histrian peninsula in the North until the region of Zadar in the South, they occupied the coastal plains as well as the numerous islands that face it. According to the archaeological sources, they are attested in this region at least from the 12th century b. c., and they represent one of the most powerful and stable Adriatic people of the Iron Age. When the first Greek merchants and colonizers arrived in the Adriatic Sea during the second half of the 8th century b. c., the Liburnians represented a strong sea power which controlled the strategic trade routes that crossed the Adriatic Sea from North to South. The integration of the region in the Greek commercial network and the foundation of the colonies of Corcyra, Epidamnus and Apollonia that followed must have engaged an important shaking amongst the Liburnians through contacts and conflicts with the new comers; however, this first colonial movement was only localized in the Southern part of the Adriatic Sea and did not involve the proper Liburnian homeland. But in the early 4th century b. c., a new wave of colonisation leaded by the tyrant of Syracuse reached the Central Dalmatian islands and founded the cities of Issa and Pharos, this time directly in the Liburnian territory.

The consequences of the Greek colonisation over the Iron Age communities as well as the search for identities in Antiquity are two subjects that have recently known an increasing interest and development within the research in archaeology and ancient history, and they can be linked for a better understanding of the contacts and exchanges that occurred between the ancient societies. Thus, mostly focusing on archaeological sources, I wish to explore how the Liburnian group identity has been affected by those relations – both peaceful and conflictual - with the colonizers, from the 8th century b. c. until the Roman conquest during the 1st century b. c. Through the study of the Liburnian material culture, and especially the Greek artefacts within it, I want to look for the changes that must have occurred within the collective identities of this Adriatic people. Did the conflicts with the Greeks and the struggle for the leadership in the Adriatic Sea engaged an evolution of the Liburnian policies? Did they become more aware of their collectiveness through the opposite image of the “Others”? Did the integration of the Adriatic Sea in the “globalized” Mediterranean commercial network have an impact on the Liburnian socio-political organization? Are the Greek prestige goods found in Liburnian sites the mark of a Hellenization process among the Liburnian elites?  These are some example of the issues I wish to explore during my PhD in Classical Archaeology at Stockholm University.

Advisors
Lena Sjögren, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University.

Susanne Berndt-Ersöz, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University.