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Apollonia, Albania, 400 AD

Apollonia, Albania, 400 AD

Existence: Around 1000 Years, From 600 BC til 400 AD
Belonged to: Greece, Rome
Abandoned: Natural Disaster

Apollonia was an Ancient Greek trade colony which developed into an independent city state, and later a Roman city, in southern Illyria. It was located on the right bank of the Aoös/Vjosë river, approximately 10 km from the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. Its ruins are situated in the county of Fier, present-day Albania.

Apollonia was founded around 600 BC by Ancient Greek colonists from Corinth as a trading settlement after an invitation by local Illyrians. Apollonia gradually gained political independence from Corinth and was organized as a polis under an oligarchic system. According to Aristotle, In Apollonia's oligarchy, a small Greek elite class largely descended from the original colonists ruled over a largely local Illyrian population.

Apollonia in Illyria developed to become one of the most important urban centres in the wider region and played a major role as a trade gateway to the central Balkans. Apollonia became 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 the Via Egnatia leading east to Thessaloniki and Byzantium in Thrace. It had its own mint, stamping coins showing a cow suckling her calf on the obverse and a double stellate pattern on the reverse, which have been found as far away as the basin of the Danube.

Apollonia continued to experience significant growth of its population, increase in urbanisation and in large-scale trade networks.[54] It is estimated that at its peak the city had about 60,000 inhabitants. Apollonia was located on a strategic position as a river-port and dominated over a vast plain that stretches c. 10 km in length. The city grew rich on the slave trade and local agriculture, as well as its large harbour, said to have been able to hold a hundred ships at a time.

Apollonia flourished in the Roman period. In 229 BC, it came under the control of the Roman Republic, to which it was firmly loyal. From the 2nd century BC it became an important military staging ground for the Roman armies. It was home to a renowned school of philosophy, acquiring fame as a cultural center, and by the end of the Republican period it became a major center of Greek learning. The reputation of Apollonia attracted many brilliant students from different parts of the empire, including Augustus, the first Roman emperor.

The decline of Apollonia began in the 3rd century AD, when an earthquake changed the path of the Aoös River, causing the harbour to silt up and the inland area to become a malaria-ridden swamp. The city became increasingly uninhabitable as the inland swamp expanded, and the nearby settlement of Avlona (modern-day Vlorë) became dominant. Apollonia has not been inhabited since its 4th century AD abandonment.