In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. Illyrians spoke the Illyrian language, an Indo-European language, which in ancient times perhaps also had speakers in some parts of Southern Italy.
Vlorë is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foothills of the Ceraunian Mountains along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Coasts. It experiences a Mediterranean climate, which is affected by the Ceraunian Mountains and the proximity to the Mediterranean Sea.
Vlorë County is one of the 12 counties of the Republic of Albania with the capital in Vlorë. The county spans 2,706 square kilometres (1,045 sq mi) and has a total population of 187,675 people as of 2021. It borders the counties of Fier and Gjirokastër, as well as the Adriatic and Ionian Sea.
Apollonia was an Ancient Greek trade colony which developed into an independent polis, and later a Roman city in southern Illyria in classical antiquity. 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, close to the village of Pojan, in Albania.
Byllis or Bullis or Boullis (Βουλλίς) was an ancient city and the chief settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the city was either part of Illyria or Epirus. In Roman times it was included within Epirus Nova, in the province of Macedonia. The remains of Byllis are situated north-east of Vlorë, 25 kilometers from the sea in Hekal, Fier County, Albania. Byllis was designated as an archaeological park on 7 April 2003 by the government of Albania.
Amantia was an ancient city and the main settlement of the Amantes, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the city was either part of Illyria or Epirus. In Roman times it was included within Epirus Nova, in the province of Macedonia. The site has been identified with the village of Ploçë, Vlorë County, Albania. Amantia was designated as an archaeological park on 7 April 2003 by the government of Albania.
The Ardiaei were an Illyrian people who resided in the territory of present-day Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia between the Adriatic coast on the south, Konjic on the north, along the Neretva river and its right bank on the west, and extending to Lake Shkodra to the southeast. From the 3rd century BC to 168 BC the capital cities of the Ardiaean State were Rhizon and Scodra.
The Parthini, Partini or Partheni were an Illyrian tribe that lived in the inlands of southern Illyria. They likely were located in the Shkumbin valley controlling the important route between the Adriatic Sea and Macedonia, which corresponded to the Via Egnatia of Roman times. Consequently, their neighbours to the west were the Taulantii and to the east the Dassaretii in the region of Lychnidus.
Oricum was a harbor on the Illyrian coast that developed in a Greek polis and later became an important Roman port at the south end of the Bay of Vlorë on the southern Adriatic coast. Since 6th century B.C. as well during Hellenistic times it was located in the transboundary area between Epirus and Illyria, and later on the borders of Epirus Vetus and Epirus Nova in Macedonia and Illyricum. It is now an archaeological park of Albania, near modern Orikum, Vlorë County. Oricum holds such a strategic geographical position that the area has been in continuous usage as a naval base from antiquity to the present-days.
The Illyrian Kingdom is the name of a country that existed on the Western part of the Balkan Peninsula in ancient times and represented an alliance of Illyrian tribes.
Olympe was an ancient city located in the territory of the Amantes, between northern Epirus and southern Illyria in classical antiquity. It is located in modern day Mavrovë, Vlorë County, Albania.
The Ceraunian Mountains, also commonly Akroceraunian Mountains, are a coastal mountain range in southwestern Albania, within the county of Vlorë. The range rises on the northeastern bank of the Ionian Sea. It extends for approximately 100 km (62 mi) in a southeast-northwest direction near Sarandë along the Albanian Riviera nearby to Orikum. Geologically, the Karaburun Peninsula belongs to the mountain range, forming the eastern Akroceraunian Mountains. The mountains are about 24 km (15 mi) long and about 4–7 km (2.5–4.3 mi) wide.
Atintanes or Atintanians was an ancient tribe that dwelled in the borderlands between Epirus and Illyria, in an inland region which was called Atintania. They have been described as either an Epirote tribe that belonged to the northwestern Greek group, or as an Illyrian tribe. They were occasionally subordinate to the Molossians.
The Bay of Vlorë is a large bay of the Adriatic Sea situated along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast on the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Europe. It opens to the sea in the northwest and is largely surrounded by the lagoon of Narta in the north, the city of Vlorë in the northeast, the mountains of the Ceraunians in the east and southeast, and the peninsula of Karaburun in the southwest and west.
Palasë also Paljasa, is a village in Himarë municipality, Vlorë County, southern Albania. It is located near the Llogara National Park and next to the Ionian coast on the Albanian Riviera.
Bardylis II was an Illyrian king, and presumably the son of Cleitus, and grandson of Bardylis. He was the father of Bircenna, wife of Pyrrhus of Epirus. Bardylis II is the only attested Illyrian king after Glaucias' death. He may have succeeded Glaucias on the throne as the grandson of Bardylis I, or alternatively he may have reigned independently after his father Cleitus somewhere in Dassaretia, in an area located nearer the Macedonian border. At that time Bardylis II was evidently the most powerful king in Illyria who could unite the largest number of Illyrian tribes under his rule.
The Amantes were an ancient tribe located in the inland area of the Bay of Vlora north of the Ceraunian Mountains and south of Apollonia, in southern Illyria near the boundary with Epirus, nowadays modern Albania. A site of their location has been identified with the archaeological settlement of Amantia, placed above the river Vjosë/Aoos. Amantia is considered to have been their main settlement. The Amantes also inhabited in the area of an ancient sanctuary of the eternal fire called Nymphaion.
The Balaites were an ancient tribe in southern Illyria, modern-day Albania. The tribe is known from a number of Greek inscriptions, otherwise unmentioned among ancient written sources.
Illyrology or Illyrian studies is interdisiplinary academic field which focuses on scientific study of Illyria and Illyrians as a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of ancient history and archaeology. A practitioner of the discipline is called Illyrologist. His duty is to investigate the range of ancient Illyrian history, culture, art, language, heraldry, numizmatic, mythology, economics, ethics, etc. from c. 1000 BC up to the end of Roman rule around the 5th century.
