I Celti in Illiria. A proposito del frg. 40 di Teopompo

[Autom. eng. transl.] The oldest evidence of the presence of Celts in Illyria offered by Greek sources, the frg. 40 of Teopompo, preserved by Ateneo (X, 443 b-c), is corrupt and presents several problems of interpretation, including those of the identification of the Illyrian people defeated by the Celts and of the chronological location of the episode. From the chronological point of view, it can only be affirmed that the episode has as its terminus ante quem the publication of the Philippic teopompee, which arises between 336 and 323. As regards the identification of the people, it is very probably the Ardiei . Since the fourth century, the Celts seem to be in the Illyrian area, which is overlooked by the Danubian plains, a significant factor of instability, capable of creating problems for powerful and rising peoples like the Ardiei and therefore to push themselves, well before the invasions of the III century, up to the borders of the Greek-Macedonian world. Thus Illyria confirms its function as a hinge between the southern regions of Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace and the northern regions, facing the world of the Danubian civilizations and the plains of central Europe.