Apollonia (Illyria)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Monument of AgonothetesCoordinates:4043N1928EApollonia(AncientGreek: or ,Apollonia kat' EpidamnonorApollonia pros Epidamnon) was anancient Greekcity inIllyria,[1]located on the right bank of theAousriver (modern-dayVjos). Its ruins are situated in theFierregion, near the village of Pojani, in modern-dayAlbania. Apollonia was founded in588 BCEbyGreekcolonists fromCorfuandCorinth,[2]on a site initially occupied byIllyrian tribes[3]and was perhaps the most important of the several classical towns known asApollonia. Apollonia flourished in the Roman period and was home to a renowned school of philosophy, but began to decline in the 3rd century AD when its harbor started silting up as a result of an earthquake. It was abandoned by the end ofLate Antiquity.Contents[hide] 1History 2Discovery and excavation results 3Episcopal see 4See also 5Gallery 6References 6.1Citations 6.2Sources 7External linksHistory[edit]

Apollonia in antiquity.The site of Apollonia lay on the territory of theTaulantii, a cluster of Illyrian tribes that remained closely involved with the settlement for centuries and lived alongside the Greek colonists.[4]The city was said to have originally been namedGylakeiaafter its founder, Gylax,[5]but the name was later changed to honor the godApollo.It is mentioned byStraboin hisGeographicaas "an exceedingly well-governed city".[6]Aristotleconsidered Apollonia an important[5]example of anoligarchicsystem, as the descendants of the Greek colonists controlled the city and prevailed over a largeserfpopulation of mostly Illyrian origin. The city grew rich on theslave tradeand local agriculture, as well as its large harbour, said to have been able to hold a hundred ships at a time. The city also benefited from the local supply of asphalt[7][8]which was a valuable commodity in ancient times, for example for caulking ships. The remains of a late sixth-century temple, located just outside the city, were reported in 2006; it is only the fifth known stone temple found in present-day Albania.[9]

Temple ruins (Monument of Agonothetes) in Apollonia.Apollonia, likeDyrrachiumfurther north, was an important port on the Illyrian coast as the most convenient link between Brundusium and northern Greece, and as one of the western starting points of theVia Egnatialeading east toThessalonikiandByzantiuminThrace. It had its own mint, stamping coins showing a cow suckling her calf on the obverse and a double stellate pattern on the reverse,[10]which have been found as far away as the basin of theDanube.The city was for a time included among the dominions ofPyrrhus of Epirus. In 229 BC, it came under the control of theRoman Republic, to which it was firmly loyal; it was rewarded in 168 BC with booty seized fromGentius, the defeated king of Illyria. In 148 BC, Apollonia became part of theRoman province of Macedonia, specifically ofEpirus Nova.[11]In theRoman Civil WarbetweenPompeyandJulius Caesar, it supported the latter, but fell toMarcus Iunius Brutusin 48 BC. The later Roman emperorAugustusstudied in Apollonia in 44 BC under the tutelage of Athenodorus of Tarsus; it was there that he received news of Caesar's murder.Apollonia flourished under Roman rule and was noted byCiceroin hisPhilippicsasmagna urbs et gravis, a great and important city.Christianitywas established in the city at an early stage, and bishops from Apollonia were present during theFirst Council of Ephesus(431) and theCouncil of Chalcedon(451). Its decline, however, began in the 3rd century AD, when an earthquake changed the path of theAoos, causing the harbour to silt up and the inland area to become amalaria-ridden swamp. The city became increasingly uninhabitable as the inland swamp expanded, and the nearby settlement ofAvlona(modern-dayVlor) became dominant. By the end of antiquity, the city was largely depopulated, hosting only a small Christian community. This community (which probably is part of the site of the old city) built on a nearby hill the church of theDormition of the Theotokos, (Albanian:Shn Mri), part of theArdenica Monastery.Discovery and excavation results[edit]The city seems to have sunk with the rise of Vlora. It was "rediscovered" by European classicists in the 18th century, though it was not until theAustrianoccupation of 19161918 that the site was investigated by archaeologists. Their work was continued by a French team between 19241938. Parts of the site were damaged during theSecond World War. After the war, an Albanian team undertook further work from 1948 onwards, although much of the site remains unexcavated to this day. Some of the team's archeological discoveries are on display within the monastery, known as theMuseum of Apollonia(opened in 1958) and other artifacts from Apollonia are in the capitalTirana. Unfortunately, during the anarchy that followed the collapse of thecommunistregime in 1990, the archeological collection was plundered and the museum was temporarily closed. The ruins were also frequently dug up by plunderers for relics to be sold to collectors abroad.In December 2011, a new museum opened, under the directorship of Marin Haxhimihali.[12]It replaced an older museum dating from 1985, and was funded byUNESCO'sMDG-FJoint Programme Culture and Heritage for Social and Economic Development.

Kapital of Monument of AgonothetesIn August 2010, a French-Albanian team of archaeologists unearthed a bust of a Roman soldier, 50 years after the discoveries of other full body statues in the 1958-1960 period expeditions, led by Albanian scholar Selim Islami andRussianProfessor Blavatski.[13]A German-Albanian team has been working on the Hellenistic theatre at Albania, throwing light on the development of Greek theatres and also local variants[14]Episcopal see[edit]One of the participants in theCouncil of Ephesusin 431 was a Felix who signed once as Bishop of Apollonia andByllis, at another time as Bishop of Apollonia. Some assume that the two towns formed a single episcopal see, others suppose he was, strictly speaking, Bishop only of Apollonia, but was temporarily in charge also of Byllis during a vacancy of that see. One of the participants at a council held in Constantinople in 448 signed asPaulus Episcopus Apolloniada al. Apolloniatarum, civitatis sanctae ecclesiae, but it is uncertain whether he was associated with this Apollonia. At theCouncil of Chalcedonin 451, Eusebius subscribed simply as Bishop of Apollonia. In the letter of the bishops ofEpirus Novato the Byzantine EmperorLeo Iin 458, Philocharis subscribes as Bishop of what the manuscripts call "Vallidus", and which editors think should be corrected to "Byllis". Whether Philocharis is to be considered Bishop also of Apollonia depends on the interpretation of the position of Felix in 431.[15][16][17]TheAnnuario Pontificiolists Apollonia as atitular see, thus recognizing that it was once a residentialdiocese, asuffraganof the archbishopric ofDyrrachium.[18]It grants no such recognition to Byllis.[19]See also[edit] List of ancient cities in Illyria Tourism in AlbaniaGallery[edit] Odeon Theater of Apollonia. Church of Saint Mary in Apollonia.