Dimale or Dimallum (
Illyrian: Διμάλη /Dimálē/ ;
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
: Διμάλη or Διμάλλον;
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
: ''Dimallum'') was a town in southern
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...
in classical antiquity which was situated in the vicinity or within the territory of the
Parthini, an
Illyrian tribe. It was built on a hill of 450 m above sea level, in the hinterland of
Apollonia, about 30 km from the eastern coast of the
Adriatic
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...
. It is located in today
Krotinë
Krotinë is a village in the former municipality of Cukalat in Berat County, Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. I ...
,
Berat County
Berat County (; sq, Qarku Berat, italic=unset), officially the County of Berat ( sq, Qarku i Beratit, italic=unset), is a county in the Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the ninth largest by area and the ninth most populous of ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...
.
The Illyrian settlement was fortified in the 4th century BC. In the
Hellenistic period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
(between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC) the town experienced its climax, during a phase marked by intense urban planning, including the construction of a new
city wall
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
and the building of several
stoa
A stoa (; plural, stoas,"stoa", ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd Ed., 1989 stoai, or stoae ), in ancient Greek architecture, is a covered walkway or portico, commonly for public use. Early stoas were open at the entrance with columns, usuall ...
s, a
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
, and a
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...
, showing a significant influence of the
Ancient Greek culture
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cul ...
on the local Illyrian inhabitants. Manufacturing and materials seem to witness an intense exchange with nearby Apollonia.
The fortified town of Dimale was regarded as impenetrable by Illyrians. It was involved in the
Second Roman-Illyrian War
The Illyro-Roman Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom. In the ''First Illyrian War'', which lasted from 229 BC to 228 BC, Rome's concern was that the trade across the Adriatic Sea increased after the ...
and the
First Roman-Macedonian War.
Name
The Illyrian toponym is attested in literary sources and epigraphic material, written as Διμάλη in
Greek script
The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as w ...
and ''Dimallum'' in
Latin script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern ...
.
The toponym belongs to the southeast Dalmatian onomastic area of
Illyrian. It is a compound of ''di'' + ''mal''. The root ''mal'' – is reflected in many
ancient Balkan (Illyrian or
Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...
) toponyms such as ''Malontum'', ''Maloventum'', ''Malontina'', ''Dacia Maluensis'' etc.
The Illyrian toponym ''Dimallum'' has been connected to
Albanian ''di-male'', meaning "two mountains", with the
Proto-Albanian
The Proto-Albanian language is the unattested language from which Albanian later developed. Albanian evolved from an ancient Paleo-Balkan language, traditionally thought to be Illyrian, or otherwise a totally unattested Balkan Indo-European ...
form of the second component reconstructed as ''mol-no''.
[ The Illyrian reconstruction of the first component has been rendered as ''*d(ṷ)i-'', 'two'. Therefore ''Dimale'' must have meant '(settlement between) two mountains' in Illyrian.
]
History
At Dimale an Illyrian pre-urban and proto-urban settlement of the 5th-4th centuries BC is confirmed by pottery found in the site. However physical architectural remains of this period have not been preserved. The Illyrian settlement seems to have included initially only a small inhabited area on the hill, which was fortified in the 4th century BC, representing one of the proto-urban centres that were established in the hinterland of southern Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...
(today Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...
), especially during the developed Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
. These proto-urban centres were fortified sites different to the small unwalled villages known as ''komai''. The processes of the development of these proto-urban settlements are unclear to scholars, who also have not yet completely understood the role of these sites, whether they were hilltop shelters, towns or meeting centres of regional trading.
The development and prosperity of the town occurred in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. During this period a new wall was built replacing the first fortification. The new wall comprised the whole hill of Dimale. The town made available sufficient financial resources to undertake a social and religious construction program. Several stoa
A stoa (; plural, stoas,"stoa", ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd Ed., 1989 stoai, or stoae ), in ancient Greek architecture, is a covered walkway or portico, commonly for public use. Early stoas were open at the entrance with columns, usuall ...
s, a temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
, and a theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...
were built, showing a significant influence of the Ancient Greek culture
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cul ...
on the local Illyrian inhabitants.
The hypothesis proposed by N.G.L. Hammond, according to which Dimale was possibly founded by King Pyrrhus of Epirus
Pyrrhus (; grc-gre, Πύρρος ; 319/318–272 BC) was a Greek king and statesman of the Hellenistic period.Plutarch. '' Parallel Lives'',Pyrrhus... He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he be ...
, or by settlers from the nearby Greek colony of Apollonia, is considered completely outdated by recent studies. According to M. B. Hatzopoulos, the non-Greek name of the city, the lack of any Greek founding legends associated with it and the mixed (colonial Greek, Greek from Epirus, non-Greek) onomastics of its inhabitants, suggest that Dimale had not a Greek character from the beginning, being originally a settlement of the Illyrian Parthini, which was Hellenized under the influence of the Epirote state and Apollonia. Although the city is frequently linked with the Parthini in various ancient sources, it was never explicitly stated to be a city of that tribe.
Roman period
Dimale appears in ancient sources of the Roman period that describes the wars involving the Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
. During the Second Illyrian War in 219 BC, Demetrius of Pharos
Demetrius of Pharos (also Pharus) ( grc, Δημήτριος ἐκ Φάρου and Δημήτριος ὁ Φάριος) was a ruler of Pharos involved in the First Illyrian War, after which he ruled a portion of the Illyrian Adriatic coast on behalf ...
, after expelling all his opponents from Dimale, fortified the city against an imminent Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
attack and left to defend Pharos
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria (; Ancient Greek: ὁ Φάρος τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας, contemporary Koine ), was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, during the re ...
. In spite of the fortress of Dimale being considered impregnable, the Romans, under the command of L. Aemilius Paullus, captured the city in a seven-day siege with local Illyrian help. After Demetrius' complete defeat at Roman hands and ultimate flight to Macedonia, Dimale entered into a friendly relationship ('' amicitia'') with Rome. During the First Macedonian war, in 213 or 212 BC, Philip V of Macedon
Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king ( Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon a ...
managed to take control of the city but, after an unsuccessful Roman assault led by P. Sempronius Tuditanus in 205 BC, the city reverted to its previous status in the negotiations between Philip V and Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
Phoenice
Phoenice or Phoenike ( el, Φοινίκη) was an ancient Greek city in Epirus and capital of the Chaonians.: "To the north the Chaonians had expelled the Corcyraeans from their holdings on the mainland and built fortifications at Buthrotum, K ...
( Treaty of Phoenice) the same year.
Findings and organization
The identification of the site of Krotinë
Krotinë is a village in the former municipality of Cukalat in Berat County, Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. I ...
with the ancient Illyrian city became possible thanks to the discovery of ancient tiles
Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wa ...
stamped with the word ''DIMALLITAN'' (Greek: ΔΙΜΑΛΛΙΤΑΝ). The epigraphic material found at Dimale is mainly constituted by stamps on tiles datable between the 3rd and 2nd century BC, and by some stone inscriptions. The name of the ''polis'' is written in the Northwest Doric form Διμάλλας, ''Dimallas'', while the name of the ''ethnicon'' is written in the genitive plural Διμαλλίταν, ''Dimallitan''.[
Epigraphy in Dimale mentions a number of Greek offices] such as prytanis, grammateus and phylarchos as well as a single dedication to Phoebus
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
. The city hosted a number of monuments, typical of the ancient Greek architectural style, such as a stoa
A stoa (; plural, stoas,"stoa", ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd Ed., 1989 stoai, or stoae ), in ancient Greek architecture, is a covered walkway or portico, commonly for public use. Early stoas were open at the entrance with columns, usuall ...
.
The indication of the office of ''phylarchos'', also attested at Epidamnos, would imply that the Illyrian city of Dimale adopted in Hellenistic times a system of ''phylai'' on the model of the nearby Corinthian poleis. Archaeological investigation suggests the economic and cultural influence of nearby Apollonia, however, in terms of institutional organization, the office of ''phylarchos'' at Dimale is hardly attributable to the Apollonian influence. It is difficult to determine whether Dimale was the capital of a ''koinon'' or organized as a city-state. The inscriptions of the ''ethnicon'' depicted on coins do not provide a definitive answer. The proximity of the theater and the agora seems to be closer to the Illyrian-Epirote model rather than to the Greek city model. It can therefore be assumed that the theater was used as a place for political assemblies.
See also
*List of ancient cities in Illyria
This is a list of settlements in Illyria founded by Illyrians (southern Illyrians, Dardanians, Pannonians), Liburni, Ancient Greeks and the Roman Empire. A number of cities in Illyria and later Illyricum were built on the sites or close to the ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
Polybius, Histories, 3.18 - Demetrius Fortifies Dimale
Polybius, Histories, 7.9 - Treaty Between Hannibal and King Philip V of Macedon
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, 29.12
{{Illyrians
Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Albania
Archaeology of Illyria
Buildings and structures in Berat County
Cities in ancient Illyria
Former populated places in Albania
Former populated places in the Balkans
Illyrian Albania
Hellenistic Albania
Tourist attractions in Berat County