The

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 p ...

city of Epidamnos or Epidamnus ( grc-gre, Ἐπίδαμνος), ( sq, Epidamni) later the Roman Dyrrachium (Δυρράχιον) ( sq, Dyrrahu) (modern

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the second most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is located on a flat plain along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast between the mouths of the ...

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 The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

), was founded in 627 BC in

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 ...

by a group of colonists from

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part ...

and Corcyra (modern Corfu). Rhodes, P.J. ''A History of the Classical Greek World 478-323 BC''. 2nd edition. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, p. 88.

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...

's ''

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

'' several times draws for examples on the internal government of Epidamnos, which was run as a tight oligarchy that appointed a ruling magistrate; tradesmen and craftsmen were excluded from power, until internal strife produced a more democratic government. The exiled oligarchs appealed to Corcyra while the democrats enlisted the help of Corinth, initiating a struggle between the two mother cities described by

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scient ...

as a cause of the Peloponnesian War. Individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden at Epidamnos: all traffic was through the authorized city agent or ''poletes''. In the fourth century BC the

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

was part of the kingdoms of

Cassander Cassander ( el, Κάσσανδρος ; c. 355 BC – 297 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 305 BC until 297 BC, and ''de facto'' ruler of southern Greece from 317 BC until his death. A son of Antipater and a contem ...

and Pyrrhus. The general vicinity of Epidamnus was called Epidamnia.

Dyrrhachium

In 229 BC, when the Romans seized the city the "-damnos" part of the name was inauspicious to Latin ears (it resembles the Latin word '' damnum'', meaning 'damage' or 'loss'), and its name, as it was refounded, became Dyrrhachium. Pausanias (6.x.8) says "the modern Roman city is not the ancient one, being at a short distance from it. The modern city is called Dyrrhachium from its founder." The name ''Dyrrachion'' is found on coins of the fifth century BC; in the Roman period ''Dyrrachium'' was more common. However, the city maintained a semi-autonomy and was turned into a Roman colony. Dyrrachium was the landing place for Roman passengers crossing the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including ...

from Brundisium, which made it a fairly busy way-station. Here commenced the

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a continu ...

, the Roman military road to

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region ...

that connected Roman Illyria with

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

and

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

. The city itself was part of

, more specifically Epirus Nova. In 48 BC

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

was based at Dyrrachium and beat off an attack by Julius Caesar. In AD 345 the city was levelled by an earthquake and rebuilt on its old foundations. In the 4th century AD, Dyrrachium was made the capital of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

of Epirus nova. Thus its

Archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

became the

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

of all dioceses in the province. The name "Epidamnos" was still used by the Byzantines, as for example in the 13th-century '' Synopsis Chronike'', referring to contemporary events.Synopsis Chronike, published by K. Sathas, Paris, 1894, p. 344 (pdf 594), line 31, and pdf pages 617, 684
/ref>

References

External links

Perseus site
several sources, including William Smith, ed., ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' (1854) {{coord, 41.3167, N, 19.4500, E, source:wikidata, display=title Roman sites in Albania Populated places established in the 7th century BC 627 BC establishments Hellenistic Albania Corinthian colonies Greek colonies in Illyria Illyrian Albania Durrës Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Albania

Dyrrhachium

See also

References

External links