Aevum Dolabelae Time of Dolabella

Abstract

During the last two thousand years the Western
Balkans area has been mainly ruled by external factors,
whose governors were mainly interested in personal
gain or the exploitation of domestic resources,
people and riches. One of the rare individuals who
stood out from this general rule was Publius Cornelius
Dolabella. His reign, lasting from14 to 20 AD, was
marked with the introduction of civilisation values
from the developed Mediterranean world into the less
developed world of the proto-historic Western Balkans.
This was especially crucial if we take into consideration
the fact that this was the time of reconstruction
after the catastrophe which befell upon the Illyrian
lands during the Great Illyrian Uprising from 6
to 9 AD. Dolabella’s activities were mainly focused on
the large infrastructural works, such as the building
of a road network with a combined length of over 400
Roman miles, which is a feat not even rivalled in modern
times.
Beside this, Dolabella also undertook another important
project by introducing a unified land-registry
which was the first of its kind in the Western Balkans.
This land-registry would later become the basis for
the development of territorial relations.