Illyrian culture is believed to have evolved from the Stone Age and to have manifested itself in the territory of Albania in the middle of the Bronze Age.

The Illyrians are not a uniform body of people but a conglomeration of many tribes that inhabit the western part of the Balkans, from what is now Slovenia in the northwest to (and including) the region of Epirus, which extends about halfway down the mainland of modern Greece.

The name of Illyrians as applied by the ancient Greeks to their northern neighbors may have referred to a broad, ill-defined group of peoples, and it is today unclear to what extent they were linguistically and culturally homogeneous.

The Illyrian tribes never collectively regard themselves as 'Illyrians'; the term Illyrioi may originally have designated only a single people who came to be widely known to the Greeks due to proximity.

This had occurred during the Bronze Age, when Greek tribes were neighboring the Illyrii proprie dicti, the southernmost Illyrian tribe of that time, in the Zeta plain, Montenegro.

Indeed, such a people known as the Illyrioi will occupy a small and well-defined part of the south Adriatic coast, around Skadar Lake astride the modern frontier between Albania and Montenegro.

The name may then have expanded and come to be applied to ethnically different peoples such as the Liburni, Delmatae, Iapodes, or the Pannonii.

In any case, most modern scholars are certain that the Illyrians constituted a heterogeneous entity.

Illyrians in the highlands of Albania are generally more isolated than those in the lowlands, and their culture will evolve more slowly—a distinction that is to persist throughout Albania's history.

The Illyrian kingdom of Bardylis (Bardhyllus), a tribal chief, becomes a formidable local power on the northwestern frontier of Macedon in the mid-fourth century BCE.

Bardyllis succeeds in bringing various tribes in a single organization and soon makes Dardania into a formidable power in the Balkans, resulting in 393 BCE in a change of relations with the Illyrians and Macedonians.

Unlike previous Illyrian kings, Bardylis combined military and economic developments.

His subjects, the Damastini, began to issue a fine silver coinage from around 395 BCE in the Illyrian city of Damastion, adopting a version of the standard and some emblems of the powerful Chalcidian League.

They also export silver in ingot form.

The Illyrians in 385 BCE attack the Molossians.

Dionysius of Syracuse aids the Illyrian attack in order to place Alcetas, a refugee in his court, on the throne.

Dionysius plans to control all the Ionian Sea.

Sparta intervenes on behalf of the Molossians despite having been aided by two thousand Greek hoplites and five hundred suits of Greek armor.

The Illyrians are defeated by the Spartans led by Agesilaus but not before ravaging the region and killing fifteen thousand Molossians.

An Illyrian kingdom based in modern-day Shkodër, Albania, remains an important factor in the region, however.

Illyria emerges as an independent kingdom in the region near Shkodër around 350.

Independent Illyrian kingdoms again arise after Alexander's death in 323 BCE.

In 312 BCE, King Glaucius expels the Greeks from Durrës.

By the end of the third century, an Illyrian kingdom based near what is now the Albanian city of Shkoder controls parts of northern Albania, Montenegro, and Hercegovina.

Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attack Roman merchant vessels plying the Adriatic Sea and give Rome an excuse to invade the Balkans.

Rome overruns the Illyrian settlements in the Neretva River valley in the Illyrian Wars of 229 and 219 BCE.

An Illyrian kingdom based near what is now the Albanian city of Shkodër controls parts of present northern Albania, Montenegro, and Herzegovina by the end of the third century BCE.

The presence of the string of Greek colonies on Illyrian soil, dating from the eighth to the sixth centuries BCE, had brought the Illyrians, bearers of the Hallstatt culture, into contact with a more advanced civilization, which helped them to develop their own culture, while they in turn influenced the economic and political life of the colonies.

The colonies began to decline in the third century BCE and eventually perished.

The Illyrians are divided into tribes, each a self-governing community with a council of elders and a chosen leader.

Roughly parallel with the rise of Greek colonies, Illyrian tribes began to evolve politically from relatively small and simple entities into larger and more complex ones.

At first they formed temporary alliances with one another for defensive or offensive purposes, then federations and, still later, under strong tribal chieftains, kingdoms.

The most important of these kingdoms, which flourish from the fifth to the second century BCE, are those of the Enkalayes, the Taulantes, the Epirotes, and the Ardianes.

By the latter part of the third century BCE, the Ardian branch of the Illyrian people has developed a strong state with efficient armed forces and a fleet of warships, and Rome determines to curb the power of this vigorous neighbor.

One of the most important rulers of this last and best-known Illyrian kingdom, centered upon Scodra (modern Shkodër, Albania), is Agron, who, in alliance with Demetrius II of Macedonia in 231, defeats the Aetolians.

He dies suddenly, however, and during the minority of his son, his widow, Teuta, acts as regent.

Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attack Sicily and the Greek colonies of the coast with part of the Illyrian navy.

…force Illyrian rulers to pay tribute.

The Romans make new gains in 168 BCE, and Roman forces captures Illyria's King Gentius at Shkoder, which they call Scodra, and bring him to Rome in 165 BCE.

A century later, Julius Caesar and his rival Pompey fight their decisive battle near Durrës.