As mentioned before, the Via
Egnatia (see: Via
Egnatia, a road to remember) was built by the Romans in the 2ndcentury AD and was the main road between Byzantium andRome Illyria , the road came from Ohrid (FYROM) in the
east, and then ran through Elbasan
from where one arm connected directly to Dyrrhachion (Dürres). Another one diverged to Apolloniaand Antipatrea
(Berat) to end also in Dyrrhachion
on the Adriatic coast where ships ferried people and goods to Brundisium
(Brindisi
As early as 627 BC the first colonists from Corinth and Corfu founded the city of
Epidamnos
Obviously, the envious Romans had their mind
set on this prosperous city and after a fierce fight with the Illyrians in 229
BC they took possession of the city, which they renamed Dyrrhachium, modern Dürres.
Dyrrhachium was the site of a battle during Caesar’s Civil War on 10 July 48 BC. He
faced Pompey who came out victorious,
although not for long. The decisive battle of the Civil War was fought at Pharsalus in Central Greece
on 9 August of that same year. This battle eventually led to the assassination
of Pompey on 3 September 48 BC.
Another waste of lives in history …
Emperor Augustus turned the city into a colony for
his veterans after the Battle of Actium,
proclaiming it to be a free town. By the fourth century Dyrrhachium, became the
capital of the Roman Province of Epirus 12 meters and were wide enough for four
horsemen to ride abreast on them. Remaining portions of the wall from the fifth
century are still in place but have lost most of their strength and were first
reshaped by the Byzantine Emperor Anastasios I after the catastrophic
earthquake of 345 AD. He defended the city with three rows of walls guarded by consecutive
fortification towers every 60-65
meters . During later occupations, the walls were modified
several times. Dyrrhachium did not escape the repeated attacks by the Huns,
but in Byzantine times the city gained importance as a major link with western
Europe once again.
[Click here to watch all the pictures of Dürres]