Byllis

Byllis
Native names Bylis (Albanian) Βύλλις or Βουλλίς (Greek)
Detail of the late antique cathedral complex and the Adriatic sea in the distance.
Cultural Monument of Albania

Byllis

Bylis
Shown within Albania
Location	Hekal, Fier County
Type	city
History
Periods	Hellenistic, Roman, Late antique, Byzantine
Cultures	Illyrian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine
Site notes
Excavation dates	1978–1991, 2000-present
Archaeologists	Camillo Prashniker, Neritan Çeka, Skënder Muçaj, Jean-Pierre Sodini, Pascale Chevalier, Nicolas Beaudry
Ownership	Public
Website	http://www.byllis-al.com/index/index.php

Byllis (Template:Lang-grc) was an ancient city and capital of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, located in the region of Illyria. The remains of Byllis are situated north-east of Vlorë, 25 kilometers from the sea in Hekal, Mallakastër District, Albania.

Stephanus of Byzantium mentions Byllis as a seaside city (erroneously) in Illyria and its foundation legend, according to which the city was built by Myrmidons under Neoptolemus, returning from the Trojan War, a tradition confirmed by numismatics.

The Bylliones are first attested in the mid-4th century BC, asking the oracle of Dodona to which god they should sacrifice in order to ensure the safety of their possessions. The archaeological attestation of the city is possible as far back as the second half of the 4th century BC.

League of the Bylliones

The League (Koinon) of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones (Ancient Greek: Κοινόν Βυλλίων), which had been hellenized to a degree and was billingual, was a coalition of one or two poleis, as attested after 232 BC. The league was restricted to Byllis and Nikaea, and Byllis considered Nikaia as one of its demes. Nikaia was a member of the league, as a 2nd century BC inscription indicates. The only attestation of the city as polis is in the work of Stephanus of Byzantium in the 6th century AD.

Epirus in antiquity.

The city

Byllis, being a Greek-speaking city, on the borders of Illyria and Epirus, had it's own stadium and theatre during the Hellenistic era. The walls of Byllis were 2,200m long, enclosing 30 hectares of a plain atop a hill 524m above sea level. There were 6 gates in the city walls. The road coming from Apollonia passed through two of them, crossing Byllis in the direction of the narrows of gorges of the Vjosa river on the way to Macedonia or those of Antigonea in the direction of Epirus. In 2011 during a road reconstruction near the archaeological park found in the site a statue of the Hellenistic era, which may depict an Illyrian soldier or a war deity, was discovered.

During the 3rd century the city was conquered by Pyrrhus of Epirus The town received theoroi during the early 2nd century BC, indicator of the city's Hellenistic character.

Roman and Byzantine rule

Under the Roman Empire, Byllis became part of the province of Epirus Nova. Felix, Bishop of Apollonia and Byllis, was present at the First Council of Ephesus, in 431. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Eusebius subscribes simply as Bishop of Apollonia; on the other hand, Philocharis subscribes as Bishop of Byllis only in the letter of the bishops of Epirus Nova to the Byzantine Emperor Leo I in 458. The walls of Byllis carry more than four inscriptions with details regarding their construction by the engineer, as ordered by Emperor Justinian I (483-565).

In later years, Byllis retained only a titular bishop in the Roman Catholic church, whose title is often added to that of Apollonia among the suffragans of the archbishopric of Dyrrachium.

References

Bibliography

• Beaudry, Nicolas (2010). 'Një punishte për prodhimin e verës në Bylisi', Monumentet 28, pp. 41–50.
• Beaudry, Nicolas, Chevalier, Pascale, & Muçaj, Skënder (2010). 'Le quartier épiscopal, campagne 2009, Byllis (Albanie)', Bulletin du Centre d’études médiévales d’Auxerre 14, pp. 57–60.
• Beaudry, Nicolas, et al. (2003). 'Byllis (Albanie)', Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 126.2, pp. 659–684.
• Bowden, William (2003). Epirus Vetus: The Archaeology of a Late Antique Province. Duckworth. ISBN 0715631160. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Chevalier, Pascale, et al. (2003). 'Trois basiliques et un groupe épiscopal des Ve-VIe siècles réétudiés à Byllis (Albanie)', Hortus Artium Medie­valium 9, pp. 155–165.
• Ceka, Neritan, & Muçaj, Skënder (2005). Byllis, its history and monuments, Tirana.
• Chevalier, Pascale, et al. (2008). 'Byllis (Albanie), campagne 2007: le quartier épiscopal, la Basilique E et les carrières', Bulletin du Centre d’études médiévales d’Auxerre 13, pp. 73–76.
• Chevalier, Pascale, Beaudry, Nicolas, & Muçaj, Skënder (2009). 'Le quartier épiscopal, campagne 2008, Byllis (Albanie)', Bulletin du Centre d’études médiévales d’Auxerre 13, pp. 73–76.
• Haxhimihali, Marin (2004). 'Byllis et sa région à la lumière des sources écrites du VIe siècle', L'Illyrie méridionale et l'Épire dans l'Antiquité IV, Paris, pp. 463–466.
• Hansen, Mogens Herman; Nielsen, Thomas Heine (2004). An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford University Press. ISBN 198140991. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hatzopoulos, M. B.; Sakellariou, M.; Loukopoulou, L. D. (1997). Epirus, Four Thousand Years of Greek History and Civilization. Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 9602133775. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lewis, D. M.; Boardman, John (1994). The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC. ISBN 0521233488. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wilkes, John (1995). The Illyrians. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0631198075. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

See also

• List of ancient Cities in Illyria

External links

• Byllis Archaeological Park
• Illyria and Illyrians