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.'
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.
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 Korçe.
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.
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.
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 Caesar´s 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.
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.
[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.
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
