Product Description
SCWPM.#74a - TBB.#B320a - Date: 2007 (2008)Grade: UNC - Signature: 6
Description: Colour: Purple. - Front: MBRETI GENT (Gentius, last king of Illyria); three ancient coins; outline of Bank of Albania building in OVI; coat of arms.
Back: Medicinal plant, gentiana lutea (great yellow gentian, or bitter root); AMFITEATRI I BUTRINTIT (ancient Butrint amphitheater near Sarandë). - Hologram.
Windowed security thread with demetalized 2000.
Watermark: Gentius and Cornerstones. Printer: (TDLR).
Size: 155 x 72 mm. - Material: Paper.
Some more history: Gentius (181 – 168 BC) was an Illyrian king who belonged to the Labeatan dynasty. He ruled in 181–168 BC, being the last attested Illyrian king. He was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept positive relations with Rome. The capital city of the Illyrian kingdom under Gentius was Scodra.(Shkodër - Abania)
In 180 BC, during his early reign, the Dalmatae and Daorsi declared themselves independent from his rule and the city of Rhizon abandoned him prior to his defeat, receiving immunity from the Romans. He 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. The southern city of the Illyrian kingdom was Lissus (now Lezhë, Albania), a situation established since the first Illyrian War.
He arrested two Roman legati, accusing them of not coming as emissaries but as spies. Gentius destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Epidamnos (Roman Dyrrachium, now Durrës, Albania), which were allied with Rome. In 168 BC, he was defeated at Scodra by a Roman force under Anicius Gallus, in only twenty or thirty days and in 167 brought to Rome as a captive to participate in Gallus's triumph, after which he was interned in Iguvium. The date of his death is unknown. After his defeat, the Romans split the region into three administrative divisions, called meris. The extent of the first meris is not known, while the second was Labeates, and the third was Acruvium, Rhizon, Olcinium and their environs. - Source: Wikipedia
