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Durrës

 

 

 

Durrës is an interesting historik city with some of the most important Roman remains on the coast of the Adriatic, including the largest known Roman amphitheatre in the Balkans, an important museum, mosques, the summer palace of King Zog, a modern seaport and long stretches of sandy beach. The bay, one of the best anchorages in the Adriatic, and the strong defensive position of the city, based on the ridge that rises sharply from the centre of the medieval town, has ensured it a place in almost every important historical event in Albanian.

Durrës was known to the ancient Greek as Epidamnus. The name may be an adaption of a previous name by local Illyrian tribes. According to Thucydides, it was founded in 627 BC by colonists from Corfu. Corfu at this time was under the control of Corinth. In 435 BC conflict between the settlers and their Corinthian masters led athens to support the cause of Corfu, and so Epidamnus was peripherally involved in the causes of the Peloponnesian War (432-404 BC).

In 313 BC the city was seized by an Illyrian chieftain, Glaucias, and in 229, under its Illyrian name, Dyrrachium, entered into an alliance with Rome. It was used by the Romans as a bulwark against the Kings of Macedon, and became the terminus for the Via Egnatia**, and also of the link road running southwards to Greece via Apollonia and Butrint.

When the civil wars in Rome broke out at the end of the republican period, Pompey evacuated his forces from Italy in 49 BC and established himself at Dyrrachium.

Subsequently Dyrrachium became a prosperous trading and administrative centre; Cicero stayed there for a time in AD 58. In a letter he commented that the city had the advantages of being a civitas liberia, a free city, and that it was an 'admirabilis urbs' but that it was very crowded. The aqueduct was built between 117 and 138 AD by Emperor Hadrian, and repaired by Alexander Severus in AD 222. It was an early focus of the development of Christianity. As early as AD 58 Durrës was said to have 70 Christian families. It was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 345, and became part of the Eastern Empire in 395. In 449 it became an archbishopric but was sacked by Theodoric and the Ostrogoths in 478.

The Emperor Anastasius I(491-518), a citizen of the city, built a complex series of defensive walls, remains of which can still be see. In 518 another earthquake seriously damaged the city. They were successful in defending the town against attacks from the bulgars in the following centuries. They were perhaps the final glory of the ancient city. In th 6 th century Procopius wrote of Durrës :

"It is a town jutting from the land into the sea. It enjoys all the benefits the sea and land can give it. When you sail in from the Ionian(JON) Sea, a magnificent sight meets your eye".

In the 7 th century the acropolis was reconstructed. In the early 9 th century the city was a centre of Byzantine power in the Adriatic.

 

In 1392 the city returned to venedian rule. Important developments were made to the harbour and the city walls in this period. It was besieged by Mehmet the Conqueror and his Turkish army in 1466 but was not taken by them until 1501. As early as 1436, the Italian chronicler Ciriaco d'Ancona wrote that the walls were in ruins. A German knight, visitin in 1496, called it "a great but ruined city". The city did not prosper under its new conquerors, and declined in importance throughout the Ottoman period.In 1880 its population wasonly about 5000 people. it was then known by the Turkish name of Dratsch, or Montenegran Drac.

But its strategic position soon brought Durrës into prominence in the period of the Balkan Wars, when it was occupied by the Serbs in 1912-13. In the same year Esat Pasha Toptani led separatist movement opposing the Vlora government's authority and set up the Senate of Albania which was intended to replace it. Durrës then briefly became the capital of the country under Prince Wilhelm of Wied. Esat Pasha was surround in the city in December 1914, but was relieved by the Sebs in June 1915. Italian culture influence was growing in this period in Durrës, with the language widely spoken and several Italian schools being established. On December ot that year Italian troops arrived to cover the Serbian retreat from Belgrade, in 1916 it was made a submarine base by the Austrians and in October 1918 it was bombarded and taken by the Allies. Many Austro- Hungarian ships were sunk in the harbour.

The Provisional of government of Albania was established in durres between 1918 and March 1920. It ceased to be the capital after the Congress of Lushnja when Tirana was chosen as the new capital and the government of Prince Wilhelm of Wied moved there. In the inter-war period the city was a favourite residence for King Zog and benefited economically from the period of Italian annexation. At this time the population was about 6500 people, almost all Muslims. In Second World War it was an important port and miltarity centre for the Axis forces. The first modern harbour, built in 1927, was destroyed by the Germans in 1944. Durrës and the region was liberated on 14 November 1944.

 

In the communist period Durrës grew as an industrial centre, concentrating on food processng, light engineering and cigarette production, and the development of the port as the main terminal for Albanian trade.

Note :

***The Via Egnatia was one of the most important roads in the Roman Empire, running from ancient Dyrrachium, modern Durres, on the Adriatic coast, across Albania to Lake Ochrid(Ohrit), and then from Macedonia to Constantinople. This ancient trade and military route followed the Shkumbini river valley through central Albania, and although only a modest amount of the Roman surface remains, some paving can be seen from time to time. The modern road links Durres with the important industrial centre of Elbasan, then runs though some of the most beautiful and dramatic mountain scenery in the centre of the country.

 

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