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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