Original scientific paper
THE EARLY HISTORY OF ISTRIA AND SOME REFLECTIONS ON MODERN TIMES
Robert Matijašić
; Archeological Museum of Istria, Pula
Abstract
The article gives a historical survey of historiography concerning
ancient Istria, Le. protohistory, the late iron age up to the great
migration period, with special emphasis on comprehending the
ethnic character of the pre-Roman inhabitants of Istria, their
Romanization and the settling of Italics, as well as inhabitants from
other parts of the Empire. Namely, the ethnic orientation of the
Histres had, since the turn of the century, been the subject of
heated discussions occuring between Italian and Croatian
historiography, each of which tried to instrumentalize this issue in
view of their own political struggle for the awareness of the popular
and national being of Istria. Romanization was comprehended in
the same dual way, on the one hand as a "hateful foreign power",
on the other as the "bearer of civilization". The settling of the Slavs,
later Croats and Slovenes, had been purposefully neglected by
Italian historiography, so that early medieval and late Croatian
archeology started developing after 1947.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
33114
URI
Publication date:
1.7.1993.
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