In the middle of the third century BC an Illyrian kingdom emerged in the political life of the Haemos (the old name of the present-day of Balkan) peninsula. A powerful federal state had been established in the region stretching around the Lake Shkodra and to the north. According to Polybos, the power of the Illyrian King Agron (250-31 BC) both on land and at sea was distantly superior to all his predecessors. Victorious over his neighbours he had annexed various regions of the Dalmatian coast. He had made an alliance with Macedonia and had advanced as far as Acarnania, where he had defeated the Aetolian army not far from the town of Medion.

On Agrons death, his wife Teuta, reigned as Regent for her young son, Pines, and continued the policies of her husband. She still sent the Illyrian fleet into Adriatic and Ionian seas. On her orders one expedition-among others-reached the shores of the Peloponnese which she pillaged. On her return, she disembarked in Epirus and captured Phoinike, the capital of Koinon of Epirus, which was forced into concluding an alliance with Illyrian Kingdom. Pursuing her conquest, Queen Teuta captured Corcyra and laid siege to Dyrrachium.

These successes did not fail to worry Romans who had already appeared on the western coast of the Adriatic, with the intention of establishing their authority on the other coast, so as to impose their domination over Illyria and Greece. As Polybius said, Rome was beginning to nourish the audacious project of subjugating the whole world to her laws.
Rome undertook her Illyrian campaign with the pretext of defending her commerce and navigation in the Adriatic, which according to her, were seriously threatened by Illyrian pirates. And so Rome started preparation for war.

The hostilities began in 229 BC and continued with few interruptions until 168 BC. Having taken possession of Corcyra after the treachery of Demetrios of Pharaos, the commandant of the island, and having captured Apollonia and Dyrrachium, by means of a powerful fleet of 200 ships, the Romans rallied to their cause the leaders of two most important tribes of southern Illyria, the Parthinians and Atintanians. Seeing the situation turn decidedly to her disadvantage, Queen Teuta made peace with Rome on very heavy conditions. Teuta did not survive for long after her defeat. Demetrios of Pharos, a man trusted by the Romans, succeeded her as a governor of Pines. However he soon manifested his independence by making an alliance with Macedonia. In 219 BC a second war was waged between Rome and the Illyrian Kingdom which ended in 218 with the defeat of Demetrios of Pharos. The Roman position in Illyria was reinforced.

A new governor of Pines, Skerdilaides, a protégé of Rome, was put at the head of the Illyrian Kingdom. Rome's military success in southern Illyria threatened the expansion of Macedonia. Her King, Philip V, immediately marched at the same moment against the Illyrians and Romans. Rome was involved in the Punic wars, so it was to her ally Skerdilaides that felt the heavy task of withstanding the reiterated assaults of the Macedonian army. Having conquered Carthage, Rome quickly turned against Macedonia. A long war followed, which did not end until 197 with the defeat of Philip V. Skerdilaides and his son, Pleurate, continued to base their policies on Roman protection. Pleurate's successor, Gentius, who was called King of Illyrians (Rex Illyricorum), distinguished himself by an active external and internal policy. Following his policy of centralisation, Gentius deprived the cities of their autonomy, putting coins in his own name into circulation the Illyrian market. Despite these measures he could not keep his northern neighbours under his domination the Dalmatians, who freed themselves from his realm.
It is this general policy which explains his agreement with the Dardarians, his eastern neighbours, and his marriage with the daughter of the Dardarians king Monounios. This led him to approach Macedonia, who after its uprising during the reign of Perseus, had entered into battle with the Romans.

In 168 BC Gentius in his return engaged in hostilities against Rome which marked the beginning of the third war between Illyria and Rome. Rome had little difficulty in bringing this last war to a victorious end. In fact, she had won to her cause the tribal chiefs and the town leaders, who were not happy with Gentius. The decisive battle took place at the foot of the city of Shkodra (north Albania). The Illyrians army suffered a crushing defeat. Abandoned by the Illyrian dynastic, Gentius surrendered to the Romans. After the battle of Shkodra the Romans went south and attacked Macedonia. They totally destroyed the Macedonian army. They then set forth for Epirus, but here they met with a strong resistance. However the Epiriotes paid very dearly for their bravery. With the authorisation of the Senate, the consul, Paulus Aemilius, allowed Epirus to be ruthlessly pillaged. As Livy said, "the number of prisoners reached 150,000 and the ramparts of nearly 70 towns were razed to the ground".

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