[Lake of Butrint ] |
History:
The settlement of Lake
Butrint lies on the outlet of a small river,about 4km from the
sea.
The lake,streching about 8km from north to the south, and 3km east to
west, is navigable 5km from its outlet.
The Vivari channel to the
south is open to the sea. In Classical mythology, wat was known as
Buthrotum was supposed to
have been founded by settlers from Troy.
It was
referred to by Virgil
(Aeneid.Book 3 page 292-293):
'Soon were the
lofty peaks of Corcyra
lost to view; We(e.g. Aeneas and his companions) coasted along Epirus ,
and coming
to the Chaonian Harbour ,we drew near Buthrothum, that hillcity.'
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The ancient legend ,revived by Teucer of Cyzicus, claims that having arrived at this
site from Troy , Priam's
son Helenus sacrificed an ox to ensure his safe entry to Epirus.
The wounded
ox plunged into the sea , swam into a bay and then walked onto a beach
where it fell and died.
Helenus took this as an omen and he called the place Buthrotos, meaning 'the wounded ox'.
According
to Virgil , Helenus was already established there , married to
Andromache before Aeneas
arrived.
The events in the French classical tragedy Andromache , by Racine take place at
Butrint.
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In reality the area was certainly inhabited from the
earliest times. Excavation has revealed Neolithic settlement, based on fishing
probably similar to those of Maliq , near Kor�.
These
perceptions are likely to be reinforced by the very recent Neolithic
discoveries
(September 1992) of American
archaeologists in a cave between Butrint and Konispol , 21km
south, near the border with Greece.
After the
Neolithic era, the area was a major centre of Illyrian settlement. An Epirote tribe
called the Prassaiboi lived in the region.
A substancial city and fortress was established as early as the late 7C
BC.
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The top of the hill was circled by large blocks of
unhewn stone.This was followed by colonisation from Corfu in the 6C BC. The precise
extent of Greek and Illyrian influence in the foundation of the city is
an academically controversial matter.
The Greek
colony was under the ultimate control of Corinth and was mentioned by the Greek
geographer Hecataeus
in the 5C as an Illyrian Polis (Illyrian City).
In the 4C
BC the city was growing rapidly and the first promenade and temple were built . It soon became part
of the kongdom of Epirus
, and was governed by a Counsil of all free citizens, the ecclesia.
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It became an important Roman town after the conquest and the
break up of the Epirote League , and it was spared the destruction
meted out to most of the 70 other cities of Epirus.
In this
periode
, it increasingly overshadowed Phonike. In the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus it
was a naval station and grain
depot for Caesars army.
About 10 BC
the main aqueduct,
bringing water to the city from the Xara springs was built. The
aqueduct was about 3km long and is depicted on Roman coins dating from
the time of Augustus and
Nero.
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Butrint is mentioned frequently in the letters of Cicero , who, in a leter
to Atticus, compared
it with antium . In the 4C the city walls were rebuilt , which by then
enclosed a substancial town covering 11 hectares with a theatre, market
buildings and temples.
The
activity is thought to be linked
to the interest of the Emperor
Julian the Apostate in Epirus. Christianity was established at Butrint at very early
stage.
The first
bishop of the town was consecrated in 451, linked to that in Nikopolis,
and Christian buildings dating from the late 5C have been excavated.
The city successfully resisted
the Ostrogoths who
occupied Corfu in 551.
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[Relief of a Lion facing a Bull ] |
Urban settlement continued between late antiquity and
the conquest of Butrint by the Norman, Manfred of Sicily, in 1081. It is mentioned as
a city in the chronicles of George the Cipriot and later by Arsen of
Corfu (876-953).
The latter
praised the fertility of the soil, local fruit trees and the mussels of
the lake. In 1084 the town was plundered by Normans and partly burnt down.
About that
middle of the century
it was mentioned in the guide for medieval merchants written by the
Arab chronicler, Al Idriz,
as a prosperous small city with a market and many shops.
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In 1204 it became part of the Despotate of Epirus. A separate
fortress, away from the central acropolis , was built in this period.
Further
fortifications were built by Venetians,
who maintained an important naval station at the mouth of the river for
over three hunderd years. It was taken by the Turks and then by Ali Pasha Tepelena.
The latter
constructed a fort by the river estuary mouth. It was
occupied briefly by the French under the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1979, during
the Napoleonic wars<.
In the later Ottoman period , the city
was abandoned and vegetation covered the ruins.
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[Altar for Dionysos ] |
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