Dimale

History

A R D I A E I D A R D A N I L A B E A T A E P E N E S T A E T A U L A N T I P A R T H I N I D A S S A R E T I BYLLIONES AMANTES Rhizon • • Meteon Doclea • Buthoe • Skodra • Ulkinion • • Lissos Scupi •Epidamnos-
Dyrrhachion •
• Lychnidos Royal •
Tombs
Apollonia • • Dimale Byllis • Amantia • Orikos • ◂◂◂
Skardon Kandavia
▴▴▴ ▴
Tomaros Ceraunia
▸▸▸ ▴
Meropus Tsangon
)( S o u t h e r n I l l y r i a
i n t h e 3rd – 2nd
c e n t u r i e s B C E

At Dimale an Illyrian pre-urban and proto-urban settlement of the 5th-4th centuries BC is confirmed by pottery found in the site. However physical architectural remains of this period have not been preserved. The Illyrian settlement seems to have included initially only a small inhabited area on the hill, which was fortified in the 4th century BC, representing one of the proto-urban centres that were established in the hinterland of southern Illyria (today Albania), especially during the developed Iron Age. These proto-urban centres were fortified sites different to the small unwalled villages known as komai. The processes of the development of these proto-urban settlements are unclear to scholars, who also have not yet completely understood the role of these sites, whether they were hilltop shelters, towns or meeting centres of regional trading.

The development and prosperity of the town occurred in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. During this period a new wall was built replacing the first fortification. The new wall comprised the whole hill of Dimale. The town made available sufficient financial resources to undertake a social and religious construction program. Several stoas, a temple, and a theater were built, showing a significant influence of the Ancient Greek culture on the local Illyrian inhabitants. It has been indicated that the city was a centre of the Illyrian tribe of Parthini, and was belatedly Hellenized under the influence of Apollonia and the Epirote League.

Roman period

Dimale appears in ancient sources of the Roman period that describes the wars involving the Roman Republic. During the Second Illyrian War in 219 BC, Demetrius of Pharos, after expelling all his opponents from Dimale, fortified the city against an imminent Roman attack and left to defend Pharos. In spite of the fortress of Dimale being considered impregnable, the Romans, under the command of L. Aemilius Paullus, captured the city in a seven-day siege with local Illyrian help. After Demetrius' complete defeat at Roman hands and ultimate flight to Macedonia, Dimale entered into a friendly relationship (amicitia) with Rome. During the First Macedonian War, in 213 or 212 BC, Philip V of Macedon managed to take control of the city but, after an unsuccessful Roman assault led by P. Sempronius Tuditanus in 205 BC, the city reverted to its previous status in the negotiations between Philip V and Rome Phoenice (Treaty of Phoenice) the same year.

Findings and organization

The identification of the site of Krotinë with the ancient Illyrian city became possible thanks to the discovery of ancient tiles stamped with the word DIMALLITAN (Greek: ΔΙΜΑΛΛΙΤΑΝ). The epigraphic material found at Dimale is mainly constituted by stamps on tiles datable between the 3rd and 2nd century BC, and by some stone inscriptions. The inscriptions are written in northwest Doric Greek. The name of the polis is written in the form Διμάλλας, Dimallas, while the name of the ethnicon is written in the genitive plural Διμαλλίταν, Dimallitan.

Epigraphy in Dimale mentions a number of Greek offices such as prytanis, grammateus and phylarchos as well as a single dedication to Phoebus. The inscriptions bear both non-Greek onomastics and Greek onomastics with names typical of Epirus and the Corinthian colonies. The city hosted a number of monuments, typical of the ancient Greek architectural style, such as a stoa. The indication of the office of phylarchos, also attested at Epidamnos, would imply that the Illyrian city of Dimale adopted in Hellenistic times a system of phylai on the model of the nearby Corinthian poleis. Archaeological investigation suggests the economic and cultural influence of nearby Apollonia, however, in terms of institutional organization, the office of phylarchos at Dimale is hardly attributable to the Apollonian influence. It is difficult to determine whether Dimale was the capital of a koinon or organized as a city-state. The inscriptions of the ethnicon depicted on coins do not provide a definitive answer. The proximity of the theater and the agora seems to be closer to the Illyrian-Epirote model rather than to the Greek city model. It can therefore be assumed that the theater was used as a place for political assemblies.