Listed 14 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "VLORE Town ALBANIA" .
EKATOMBEDON (Ancient city) ALBANIA
Hecatompedum (Hekartompedon, Ptol. iii. 14. § 7), a town in the interior
of Chaonia in Epeirus; probably situated in the vale of the Sukha, above Libokhovo.
(Leake, Travels in Northern, Greece, vol. iv. p. 120.)
ORIKON (Ancient city) ALBANIA
Oricum, Oricus (Orikos, Hecat. Fr. 75 ap. Steph. B. s. v.; Herod.
ix. 92; Scyl. p. 10; Polyb. vii. 19; Scymn. 440; Eust. ad Dion. 321; Orikon, Ptol.
iii. 14. § 2; Pomp. Mela, ii. 3. § 12; Plin. iii. 26), a town and harbour of Illyricum,
not far from Apollonia and the mouth of the Aous. Legend ascribes its foundation
to the Euboeans on their return from Troy (Scymn. l. c.); and Apollonius (Argon.
iv. 1216) speaks of the arrival of a party of Colchians at this port; and thus
Pliny (l. c.) calls it a Colchian colony. Oricum is known in history as a haven
frequented by the Romans in their communications with Greece, from its being very
conveniently situated for the passage from Brundusium and Hydruntum. B.C. 214,
the town was taken by Philip V. of Macedonia; but it afterwards fell into the
hands of the Romans and M. Valerius Laevinus, who commanded at Brundusium, with
a single legion and a small fleet. (Liv. xxiv. 40.) After the campaign of B.C.
167, Aemilius Paulus embarked his victorious troops from Oricum for Italy. (Plut.
Aemil. Paul. 29.) Caesar, after he had disembarked his troops at PALAESTE (Lucan
iv.460; comp. Caes. B.C. iii. 6, where the reading Pharsalus or Pharsalia, is
a mistake or corruption of the MSS.), or the sheltered beach of Palasa, surrounded
by the dangerous promontories of the Ceraunian mountains, within one day of his
landing marched to Oricum, where a squadron of the Pompeian fleet was stationed.
(Caes. B.C. iii. 11; Appian, B.C. ii. 54.) The Oricii declared their unwillingness
to resist the Roman consul; and Torquatus, the governor, delivered up the keys
of the fortress to Caesar. The small fleet in which he had brought his forces
over was laid up at Oricum, where the harbour was blocked up by sinking a vessel
at its mouth. Cnaeus, the son of Pompeius, made a spirited attack on this strong.
hold, and, cutting out four of the vessels, burnt the rest. (Caes. B.C. iii. 40.)
It continued as an important haven on the Adriatic. (Hor. Carm. iii. 7. 5; Propert.
Eleg. i. 8, 20; Lucan iii.187.) The [p. 493] name of its harbour was PANORMUS
(Panormos, Strab. vii. p. 316), now Porto Raguseo; while the CELYDNUS (Keludnos,
Ptol. iii. 13. § § 2, 5) is identified with the river of Dlukadhes. It would seem
from Virgil (Aen. x. 136) that Oricum was famous for its turpentine, while Nicander
(Ther. 516) alludes to its boxwood. The town was restored by the munificence of
Herodes Atticus. (Philostr. Her. Att. 5.) To the f. of the mouth of the river
of Dukhades is a succession of lagoons, in the midst of which lies Oricum, on
the desert site now called Erikho, occupied (in 1818) only by two or three huts
among the vestiges of an aqueduct. (Smytb, Mediterranean, p. 46.) The present
name (Iericho, Anna Comn. xiii. p. 389) is accented on the last syllable, as in
the ancient word, and E substituted for O by a common dialectic change. (Pouqueville,
Voyage, vol. i. p. 2,64; Leake, North. Greece, vol. i. pp. 36, 90.) A coin of
Oricus has for type a head of Apollo. (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 167.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Orikon) or Oricus (Orikos). An important Greek town on the coast of Illyria, near the Ceraunian Mountains and the frontiers of Epirus. It was said to have been founded by the Euboeans who were here cast ashore on their return from the Trojan War.
AVLON (Ancient port) ALBANIA
The site is on a low ridge on the coast at the N end of the Gulf of
Valona. Inland is a large lagoon which is joined to the sea on the N of the site
by a channel (aulon); after this channel Bylliace vzas renamed Aulon, the predecessor
of the modern Valona. The site is separated now from the hinterland by a waste
of sandy dunes, but in Roman times it was the terminal port of the Via Egnatia
which ran from the Adriatic coast to Constantinople. Remains of walls survive
on the ridge, along the shore and in the sea where there was once a built quay.
N.G.L. Hammond, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
EKATOMBEDON (Ancient city) ALBANIA
Mentioned by Ptolemy (3.14) as an inland city of Chaonia. The site
is defended by cliffs on two long sides and by strong walls of ashlar masonry,
strengthened with towers, on two short sides; the circumference of the defensible
area was some 1700 m. The masonry and the use of bonding cross-walls within the
circuit wall date the site to ca. 295-290 B.C., and it is likely that Pyrrhos
founded it and Antigonea at the same time. The site has great strategic importance:
it commanded the entry from the N into the Drin valley and lay close to the mouth
of the Aous pass (Aoi Stena), leading towards Macedonia. The two rivers join just
N of Lekel.
N.G.L. Hammond, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ORIKON (Ancient city) ALBANIA
At the head of the Gulf of Valona. The site is a low rocky outcrop
on the coast, approached from the E by a swampy strip of shore and having on the
W an open channel that connects the sea and a lagoon inland of the outcrop; the
channel and the lagoon afforded small ships an excellent harbor, which was improved
by a stone-built quay, still visible under water. Foundations of a circuit wall
with towers can be traced in rock-cuttings, a small theater or odeum has been
excavated, and there are remains of a road from the harbor to the Roman road which
ran S inland of the Ceraunian peninsula. Inscriptions from the area- show that
the Dioscuri, Aphrodite, and Eros were worshiped. Though the fortified area was
small, Orikon was an important port of call on the coasting route and acted as
a market for the hinterland of the Gulf; it issued coinage in the Hellenistic
period. Julius Caesar described the place (BCiv. 3.llf).
N.G.L. Hammond, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
VYLIS (Ancient city) ALBANIA
Identified by a Latin inscription cut in rock. It lies on the right
bank of the lower Aous on the hill of Gradisht, which is fortified with a circuit
wall ca. 2000 m long. The remains of two theaters are visible as well as remains
of the agora and a gymnasium; another fortification wall separates the higher
part of the site. A limestone statue of a comic actor from Byllis is in the Museum
at Valona; funerary reliefs have been found, and a rock-niche contains a dedication
to Dionysos. The remains are of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and the main
Roman road up the Aous valley passed below the site. The city was the capital
of the Bylliones, who issued money.
N.G.L. Hammond, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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