Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "LISSOS Ancient city ILLYRIA" .
LISSOS (Ancient city) ILLYRIA
Issus (Lissos, Strab. vii. p. 316; Ptol. ii. 16. § 5; Steph. B.; Hierocles;
Peut. Tab.), a town of Illyricum, at the mouth of the river Drilo. Dionysius the
elder, in his schemes for establishing settlements among the Illyrian tribes,
founded Lissus. (Diod. xv. 13.) It was afterwards in the hands of the Illyrians,
who, after they had been defeated by the Romans, retained this port, beyond which
their vessels were not allowed to sail. (Polyb. ii. 12.) B.C. 211, Philip of Macedon,
having surprised the citadel Acrolissus, compelled the town to surrender. (Polyb.
viii. 15.) Gentius, the Illyrian king, collected his forces here for the war against
Rome. (Liv. xliv. 30.) A body of Roman citizens was stationed there by Caesar
(B.C. iii. 26 - 29) to defend the town; and Pliny (iii. 26), who says that it
was 100 M.P. from Epidaurus, describes it as oppidum civium Romanorum. Constantine
Porphyrogeneta (de Adm. Imp. c. 30) calls it Helissos, and it now bears the name
of Lesch. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 477; Schafarik, Slav. Alt. vol.
ii. p. 275.)
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
An important Illyrian city on the left bank of the Drin where it enters the marshy coastal plain of the Adriatic Sea. The site is a steep-sided high hill, overlooking the river. There are remains of prehistoric and later settlements on the hill, but the extensive fortifications date from the late 4th c. B.C., the styles of the masonry being polygonal and trapezoidal. Later repairs and additions were made in the 1st c. s.c.; Caesar (BCiv 3.29.1) mentions them, and an inscription preserves the names of the magistrates who were in charge of the work. The acropolis on the hilltop is defended by a circuit wall; the lower town, extending down to the bank of the river, was itself fortified by a circuit wall appended to that of the acropolis. Dionysius of Syracuse and later Philip V of Macedon laid claim to the city (D.S. 15.13.4 and 15.14.2; Polyb. 8.15). In antiquity the main bed of the Drin lay farther N and Lissos itself was a port of some consequence because it gave access not only to the hinterland but to the route via the White Drin into the Central Balkan area. Lissos issued coinage.
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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