Story
The story of Butrint
According to Virgil, this city was founded by the seer Helenus, a son of King Priam of Troy, who came west after Troy fell, and both Virgil and Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote that Aeneas himself stopped here. Butrint began as a centre of the Greek tribe of the Chaonians, on a hill above the Vivari Channel. By the 4th century BC it had a theatre, a sanctuary of Asclepius and an agora.
Look closely at the theatre stones: many of the inscriptions carved on them record the freeing of slaves. In 44 BC Caesar chose Butrint as a colony for his veterans, and after the battle of Actium Augustus renewed the plan; the town doubled in size, gaining an aqueduct, baths and a forum. Later it became a Byzantine bishopric, but after a major earthquake flooded most of the city it was abandoned in the Middle Ages.
Butrint became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and a National Park in 2000.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Sarandë & Butrint
- Forty Saints MonasteryThe Monastery of the Forty Saint Martyrs is a ruined Eastern Orthodox monastery overlooking the coastal city of Sarandë in southern Albania.
- KsamilKsamil is a village and a former municipality in the riviera of Southern Albania, and part of Butrint National Park. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality of Sarandë.
- Baptistery of ButrintThe Baptistery of Butrint, is an archeological site in Vlorë County, Albania and part of the Butrint National Park. Located in the archaeological site of Butrint, it is a late antique structure known for its well-preserved mosaic pavement.
- Archeological Museum of ButrintThe Archaeological Museum of Butrint was opened in 1938. It was reopened during the 1950s-1960s in the premises of the Venetian Acropolis Castle within the acropolis of the ancient city.
- Blue EyeThe Blue Eye is a water spring and natural phenomenon occurring in the village of Muzinë in Finiq municipality, southern Albania.
- Triangular Fortress of ButrintThe Venetian Triangular Castle is a castle near Butrint. The castle is located by the Channel of Vivari nearby Butrint National Park. In 1572, during the wars between Venice and the Ottomans, the acropolis of Butrint was abandoned.