Byllis

History

Classical period

Byllis was founded on the territory of the Illyrian community of the Bylliones around 350 BC, on an already existent proto-urban area dating back to the previous century. Initially it was one of the several fortified Illyrian hilltops that controlled the high hills of the region of Mallakastër. The area was on the edge of the sphere of influence by Apollonia and Epidamnos, as well as of Epirus. The foundation of the Illyrian city in the 4th century on the northern edge of the Vjosa valley is probably connected with the presence of bitumen mines near Selenica, which were located on the opposite edge of the valley.

Mid-4th century BC fortification walls were built with isodomic ashlar layers. The walls were 2.25 km long and 3.5 m wide, enclosing an area of 30 hectares around a steep hill. In the sanctuary of Dodona a 4th-century BC inscription on a lead foil provides the earliest known attestation of the Bylliones, asking to which deity they should sacrifice in order to ensure the safety of their possessions.

Hellenistic period

The city experienced a notable development in the Hellenistic period, representing the chief settlement of the Illyrian koinon of the Bylliones, of which several hilltop centers are found in the lower valley of the Vjosa river. The archaeological remains confirm that in Hellenistic times Byllis was a cultural and political centre of the region. The creation of Hellenistic cities such as Byllis in the territory of southern Albania has been attributed to the successors of Alexander the Great and Pyrrhus of Epirus.

In 314 the territorial community of Byllis was occupied by Cassander of Macedon. After two years it was under the rule of the Illyrian king Glaukias of the Taulantii, who drove out the Macedonians from the region. Afterwards the area was occupied by Pyrrhus of Epirus and his son Alexander II of Epirus. In 270 BC the Illyrian king Mytilos established control over the hinterland of Apollonia. Nevertheless the life of Byllis proceeded without much alteration.

Local inscriptions begin in the middle of the 4th century BC and are related to a polis-like organization. They are exclusively in Greek, as are institutions, the titles of the officials and other parts of the organization of the settlement. Those inscriptions reveal typical features of the north-western Greek dialect. Archaeological explorations have not yet found a sanctuary or temple in the city of Byllis, however, a series of inscriptions show the adoption of the Ancient Greek cults of Zeus, Hera, Dionysius and Artemis. Among the typical Ancient Greek cults found in Byllis are those of Zeus Tropaios, Hera Teleia, Poseidon, Parthenos.

Ancient sources and epigraphic material provide evidence that the territory of the Bylliones included, close to the bitumen mines, a fire sanctuary with an oracle, named Nymphaion in ancient Greek historiography, which was located on the border with nearby Apollonia. The nymphaeum also appears as a fire symbol engraved on coins of Byllis minted in the 3rd-2nd century BC. A relief found near Byllis also shows the nymphs and a cloth wrapped around this fire, a scene that is repeated only with the nymphs depicted on a 1st-century BC silver coin of Apollonia, suggesting an admixture of local traditions and religions with the forms and practices brought by Greek colonists at Apollonia. Under Greek influence the local Illyrian spontaneous and naturalistic cult started its canonization.

The corpus of the names in Hellenistic epigraphic material mainly belong to the northern Greek onomastic area (e.g. Alexander, Andriscus, Archelaus, Kebbas, Maketa, Machatas, Nikanor, Peukolaos, Phalakros, Philotas, Drimakos and Alexommas) while a few names belong to Illyrian onomastics (e.g. Preuratos, Triteutas, Trasos). In the second half of the 20th century historians Fanoula Papazoglu and N.G.L. Hammond have asserted that Byllis was an Ancient Greek foundation on the territory of the Illyrian Bylliones, and Miltiades Hatzopoulos (1997) has asserted that it was the northernmost Greek city of non-colonial foundation in the region. In the 21st century scholars consider Byllis as an Illyrian city that later acquired the trappings of a Hellenistic town, becoming very much organized on a Greek model.

Because the southernmost Illyrian tribes, including the Bylliones, were inclined to become bilingual, it was also a Greek-speaking city. Byllis received ancient Greek sacred envoys (theoroi) from Delphi, during the early 2nd century BC. Only cities that were considered Greek were eligible to receive theoroi, which indicates that by this time Byllis was considered a Greek city or that its inhabitants had become Greek-speaking. The time duration that passed before Illyrian cities were documented on a list of theorodokoi clarifies that acculturation did take place in southern Illyria, however it indicates that the process was gradual.

In the Hellenistic era (3rd century BC) a stadium, a theatre, an agora, two stoas, a cistern and a peristyle temple were built in the city. 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 Antigonia 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.

The Illyrian koinon of the Bylliones, which had been hellenized to a degree and was bilingual, 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.

During the Roman-Illyrian war in 169/168 BC the Bylliones took part on the Roman side against the Illyrian king Gentius. However, subsequently Byllis allied with the Molossians and Macedonians against the Romans, leading to its sacking and destruction by the Roman army.

Roman and Byzantine period

Under the Roman Empire, Byllis became part of the province of Epirus Nova. Its name often occurs at the time of the Great Roman Civil War.

After a long decline, the city rose again in 30 BC as a Roman colony, which is attested by epigraphic material and by Pliny the Elder, who called it Colonia Bullidensis. Its territory is called Bylliake (Βυλλιακή) by Strabo. The walls of Byllis carry more than four inscriptions written in Greek with details regarding their construction by the engineer Victorinus, as ordered by Emperor Justinian I (483-565).

During the early Christian period Byllis remained an important settlement in Epirus Nova though it was reduced in size. A significant number of basilica churches have been unearthed which contained mosaic floors and various carvings. Two of those basilicas had possibly diaconicon chambers attached, while a baptistery was established at basilica B.

Association with see of Apollonia

One of the participants in the Council of Ephesus in 431 was a Felix who signed once as Bishop of Apollonia and Byllis, 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. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Eusebius subscribes simply as Bishop of Apollonia. In the letter of the bishops of Epirus Nova to the Byzantine Emperor Leo I in 458, Philocharis subscribed 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.

The Annuario Pontificio lists Apollonia as a titular see, thus recognizing that it was once a residential diocese, a suffragan of the archbishopric of Dyrrachium. It grants no such recognition to Byllis.