Cestria or Kestria (), also known as Ilium or Ilion (Ἴλιον), or Troja (Τροΐα), was a town in
ancient Epirus. Its district was called Cestrine or Kestrine (Κεστρίνη) and Kestrinia (Κεστρινία), and was located in
Chaonia
Chaonia or Chaon ( or Χάων) was the name of the northwestern part of Epirus, the homeland of the Epirote Greek tribe of the Chaonians. It was one of the three main areas of ethnic division of Epirus, the other being Molossia and Thesprot ...
, separated from
Thesprotia by the river
Thyamis. It is said to have received its name from
Cestrinus, son of
Helenus and
Andromache
In Greek mythology, Andromache (; , ) was the wife of Hector, daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled. The name means "man battler", "fighter of men" or "m ...
, having been previously called Cammania or Kammania (Καμμανία). The principal town of the district was Cestria, but its more usual name appears to have been Ilium or Troja, in memory of the Trojan colony of Helenus. In the neighbourhood are those fertile pastures, which were celebrated in ancient times for the Cestrinic oxen. The inhabitants of the district were called Κεστρηνοί by the poet
Rhianus.
The city is located near the modern
Filiates,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
.
References
Populated places in ancient Epirus
Former populated places in the Balkans
Chaonia
{{Albania-geo-stub