Nikaia (Illyria)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theater, in the background the village of Klos and the hill of Byllis

Nikaia ( Greek Νίκαια ) was an ancient city ​​in southern Illyria , today's southern Albania . The remains are near the village of Klos in the Mallakastra region on a hill ( 353  m above sea level ) high above the Vjosa valley . However, various authors explain that there is no clear evidence that the Klos complex is the old Nikaia.

history

A first demonstrable settlement of the hill near Klos goes back to the second half of the 6th century BC. BC back. Ceramic finds indicate the presence of Illyrians .

Nikaia developed from the middle of the 5th century BC. To the city with fortification. Around 100 years later, Byllis , which was newly established on a hill just under two kilometers further north, took over regional dominance: the spacious and higher hill of Byllis offered more space for development. Nikaia, however, remained an important place, where important buildings continued to be erected and whose residents had the self-image of a polis . But Nikaia was part of the Koinon of the Byllionen, the Illyrian tribe around Byllis. Like Byllis, Nikaia also experienced in the 3rd century BC An upswing and population growth.

Large, as yet hardly explored areas in the southeast of the city

Finds and inscriptions indicate a sizable city that traded supraregionally. The location above the Vjosatal on the other side of the river from Amantia made it possible to control the trade routes from the Adriatic coast near Apollonia to Epirus and Macedonia .

The ethnic structure of the byllions has not been clarified. The protourban roots and first fortifications point to Illyrians. The name Nikaia, on the other hand, is Greek . Over time, however, Greek became more and more popular. Even early chiseled inscriptions were all written in Greek. The majority of the names mentioned in Byllis and Nikaia are Northern Greek (Alexandros, Andriskos, Archelaos, Kebbas, Maketa, Machatas, Nikanor, Peukolaos, Phalakros, Philotas, Drimakos and Alexommas) . Only a few Illyrian names were found, including many dignitaries. Other dignitaries with Greek names had parents with Illyrian names. Hatzopoulos speaks of mixed tribes and bilingual inhabitants.

The oldest mention of Nikaias goes to an inscription in the Amphiareion of Oropos from the 1st century BC. BC back. Also Stephanus of Byzantium mentioned Nikaia. A "Byllione from Nikaia" is included in the lists of victorious competitors.

In 167 BC After the Third Macedonian War , the Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus attacked the Koinon of Byllis on their way back and also destroyed Nikaia. As a result, Nikaia - in contrast to Byllis - must have lost all meaning.

Carl Patsch visited toilets in 1900, Camillo Praschniker documented the facility during the First World War . In a 1969 publication, Louis Robert hypothesized that the settlement near Klos could be ancient Nikaia. In the 1970s, Nikaia was studied by archaeologists.

The western edge of the ancient city is still inhabited today. Ancient stones served as a foundation or building material for numerous houses in the village.

City layout

The theater

The city covered an area of ​​18 hectares on the top of a hill. The city ​​wall is around 1850 meters long, had three towers and one or two entrances. It comes from the second half of the 5th century BC. And was in a second phase around the middle of the 4th century BC. Chr. Expanded again. This makes it one of the oldest Illyrian city fortifications. It has been preserved for a long time.

At the highest point of the hill was the agora with an adjoining stoa . A theater with 700 to 1000 seats was dug into the rock on the slope northwest of the agora. Both agora and theater were established in the 3rd century BC. Erected in BC, the stoa is a little younger. Significant inscriptions from the second half of the 3rd century BC were found on a wall of the theater, the so-called analemma . Found. There are also traces of a stadium with spectator stands on one side of the agora .

Inscriptions also indicate the construction of a high school in Nikaia.

Terraces were laid out with retaining walls on the rest of the town . Individual houses were excavated here. The hill of Klos has no springs: water had to be brought in from outside or collected in times of war.

Remarks

  1. ↑ In addition to the settlement near Klos, there are other archaeological sites in the region that are even a bit older: Gurëzeza near the village of Cakran  and Margëlliç near Patos and belonged to the Byllioten area (Neritan Ceka, Skënder Muçaj, p. 8).

literature

  • Neritan Ceka , Skënder Muçaj: Byllis. Its history and monuments . Migjeni, Tirana 2005, ISBN 99943-672-7-7 , Klos (Nikaia), p. 85-89 .
  • Muzafer Korkuti , Apollon Baçe, Neritan Ceka: Carte archéologique de l'Albanie . Ed .: Pierre Cabanes. Klosi & Benzenberg, Tirana 2008, ISBN 978-99956-667-2-9 , Klos (Nikaia?), P. 175-178 .
  • Bashkim Lahi: Toilets . In: Christian Zindel, Andreas Lippert, Bashkim Lahi, Machiel Kiel (eds.): Albania. An archeology and art guide from the Stone Age to the 19th century . Böhlau, Vienna 2018, ISBN 978-3-205-20723-8 , pp. 322-324 .

Web links

Commons : Nikaia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Military map 1: 50,000 K-34-124-B. 2nd edition, Tirana 1990.
  2. ^ Carte archéologique de l'Albanie . Pp. 175 and 178.
  3. ↑ Neritan Ceka : The Illyrians to the Albanians . Migjeni, Tirana 2005, ISBN 99943-672-2-6 , p. 65 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e Carte archéologique de l'Albanie . P. 175.
  5. ↑ a b c d Carte archéologique de l'Albanie . P. 177.
  6. ↑ a b c d Bashkim Lahi, p. 322.
  7. ↑ Oliver Gilkes: Albania - an Archaeological Guide . IBTauris, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-78076-069-8 , Byllis, pp. 132 .
  8. ↑ Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians to the Albanians . Migjeni, Tirana 2005, ISBN 99943-672-2-6 , p. 88 f .
  9. ↑ a b Neritan Ceka, Skënder Muçaj, p. 87.
  10. ↑ a b Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians and the ancient world . In: Arne Eggebrecht (Ed.): Albania. Treasures from the land of the Skipetars . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1988, p. 77 (exhibition catalog).
  11. ↑ a b c d e Miltiades B. Hatzopoulos: The Boundaries of Hellenism in Epirus during Antiquity . In: MB Sakellariou (Ed.): Epirus, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization . Ekdotike Athenon, Athens 1997, ISBN 960-213-377-5 , p. 144 .
  12. ^ A b Neritan Ceka: The Illyrians to the Albanians . Migjeni, Tirana 2005, ISBN 99943-672-2-6 , p. 255 .
  13. ↑ Neritan Ceka, Skënder Muçaj, p. 10.
  14. ^ Carte archéologique de l'Albanie . P. 178.
  15. ^ Heinz Gstrein : Walter travel guide to Albania . Walter-Verlag, Olten 1989, ISBN 3-530-29602-3 , pp. 286 .
  16. ↑ Neritan Ceka, Skënder Muçaj, p. 86.
  17. ↑ Bashkim Lahi, p. 322 f.
  18. ↑ Bashkim Lahi, p. 323 f.
  19. ↑ Neritan Ceka, Skënder Muçaj, p. 89.

Coordinates: 40 ° 32 '  N , 19 ° 45'  E