20 Facts About Gentius

Gentius was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept positive relations with Rome.

Gentius married Etuta, the daughter of the Dardanian king Monunius II.

In 171 BC, Gentius was allied with the Romans against the Macedonians, but in 169 BC he changed sides and allied himself with Perseus of Macedon.

Gentius arrested two Roman legati, accusing them of not coming as emissaries but as spies.

Gentius destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Epidamnos, which were allied with Rome.

Gentius moved to increase power over kindred peoples living to the north and west.

In 180 BC a Roman praetor responsible for coastal protection arrived in Brudisium with some ships of Gentius said to have been caught in the act of piracy.

Ten years later, when Rome was gripped with war-fever against Perseus of Macedon, Issa accused Gentius of plotting war with the king and now the Illyrian envoys were denied a hearing before the Senate.

In 169 BC Gentius arranged the murder of his brother Plator killed because his plan to marry Etuta, daughter of the Dardanian king Monunius II, would have made him too powerful.

Gentius then married Plator's fiancee for himself, securing the alliance of the powerful Dardani.

At this point Perseus sent his first embassy to Gentius, consisting of the Illyrian exile Pleuratus and the Macedonian Adaeus and Beroea.

Gentius sent Olympio with a delegation to Perseus to collect the money, and the treaty was concluded with some ceremony at Dium on the Thermaic Gulf.

Gentius accompanied the new anti-Roman orientation in Illyrian foreign policy with a series of measures to strengthen his state.

The other coins of Gentius have what is probably his head with a cap not unlike the petasos, and a torque around his head, and on the reverse in one case a thunderbolt and in the others a warship, the lembi.

Gentius built up a fleet of 270 lembi, showing that he awaited an enemy in the Adriatic.

Meanwhile, the Romans under Appius Claudius had heard of the alliance that Gentius made with Perseus of Macedonia and the arrest of the Roman envoys.

Gentius concentrated his remaining forces near his capital Shkodra, a well-fortified city situated in a strong natural position.

Gentius asked for, and was given, a three-day truce hoping that Caravantius would come at any moment with a large relieving army: but that it did not happen.

The year of Gentius' death is not known but there are ruins of what is perhaps his tomb.

Gentius is depicted on the reverse of the Albanian 50 leke coin, issued in 1996 and 2000, and on the obverse of the 2000 leke banknote, issued in 2008.