The Balkans Before Alexander (800–500 BC)

South of the Danube and north of Greece, the Balkans were already contested ground. Liburnian warships fought for control of the Adriatic. In the mountains behind them, hillforts and burial mounds marked the ridges. On the Glasinac plateau, warrior elites went into the ground with weapons, bronze armor, and imports from Italy and Greece. Near Lake Ohrid, gold masks covered the faces of the dead. Farther east, Thracian chiefs raised thousands of tumuli while Greek colonies pushed onto the coast for silver and gold. This episode covers the Balkans from 800 to 500 BC — the Liburnians, Histri, Iapodes, the Glasinac warrior culture, Enchelei, Taulantii, Dardanians, Paeonians, Thracians, and the Greeks and Epirotes at the margins. It's the world between the Adriatic, the Danube, and the Aegean before Macedon changed everything. #ancienthistory #europeanhistory #historydocumentary #balkanhistory Chapters: 0:00 A Gold Face at Lake Ohrid 0:48 Liburnians and the Adriatic Coast 3:41 Histri and Nesactium 4:18 Iapydes and the Mountain Belt 4:58 Glasinac: Highland Princes and Burial Mounds 7:25 South Toward Lake Ohrid 8:20 Trebenište: Gold Masks and Greek Imports 9:45 Gold Faces Across Macedonia 10:30 Novi Pazar and the Princely Grave 11:13 Paeonians, Thracians, and Greek Colonies 13:57 Epirus and Dodona 15:37 Coast, Mountains, and Frontier