Thronion (Illyria)

Ancient city

Thronion (Ancient Greek: Θρόνιον) was an Ancient Greek city on the Illyrian coast, in the Bay of Vlorë on the southern Adriatic Sea. Traditionally founded as a Locrian–Euboean colony on the fringes of the territory of the Amantes, Thronion was located in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains, the natural boundary between ancient Epirus and Illyria. Thronion was conquered by nearby Apollonia around 450 BCE.

Thronion has been identified with the site of Triport northwest of present-day Vlorë, Albania, where a large fortified port-town that was inhabited from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century AD is found now partially submerged. Alternatively the site of Kaninë has been proposed, but it features only a small hilltop fortification dating at the earliest to the 4th–3rd centuries BCE and being of typical Illyrian construction.

## Name[edit]

### Attestation[edit]

The city was attested by Ancient Greek epigraphy as Θρόνιον, inscribed on an official inquiry of the oracle of Dodona,[1] as well as on a monument erected by Apolloniates in Olympia.[2] The latter was found by archaeologist Emil Kunze, but it was already documented by ancient geographer Pausanias (2nd century CE), who mentioned Thronion as a Locrian–Euboean colony.[2]

### Etymology[edit]

The city bears the same name as Thronion, the chief city of the Locrians.[3]

## Location[edit]

Adriatic
Sea

Strait of
Otranto

Sason •
Island

• Margëlliç

Lofkënd •

Byllis

• Nikaia

• Triport

Vlorë •

Kaninë •

Olympe •

Amantia •

Matohasanaj •

Bay of
Vlorë

Akrokeraunia

Orikos •

Palaeste •

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Shushicë

Shushicë

Shushicë

Dukat

Llogara

Cerje •

Ceraunian
Mountains

Chimera •

Panormos •

Borsh •

Ionian
Sea

Ancient sites in the Lower Aoös/Vjosë,
Bay of Vlorë and Ceraunian Mts.

Pausanias places Thronion in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains and on the fringes of Abantis, which was the Hellenistic Greek interpretation of Amantia,[4] the latter being attested by Pseudo-Scylax (mid-4th century BCE) who located it in southern Illyria, corresponding to the hinterland of the Bay of Vlorë.[5] The interpretation of the toponym Amantia as Abantia besides mythological stories has been rationalized as a part of a colonization from Euboea.[3]

The data from Pausanias and the Apollonian conquest of the city around 450 BC support the placement of the Euboean colony of Thronion on the coastal site of Triport located northwest of Vlorë and in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains.[6] On this site a large fortified port-town that was inhabited from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century AD is found, now partially submerged.[7] Alternatively the site of Kaninë has been proposed,[8] but on this site there is only a small hilltop fortification dating at the earliest to the 4th–3rd centuries BCE that is of typical Illyrian construction.[9]

## History[edit]

Thronion was traditionally founded as a Locrian–Euboean colony on the Illyrian coast.[10] The city claimed descent from the Nostoi, the legendary heroes returning from Troy.[11]

Around 450 a war was fought between Apollonia and Thronion. Apolloniates won and conquered Thronion, and the conquerors were satisfied obtaining the fringes of the territory of the Amantes. The conquest of Triport-Thronion gave the Apolloniates control over the lower valley of the Shushicë river, a tributary of the Aoös, and consolidated their control over the sanctuary of Nymphaion and the area of the bitumen mines of present-day Selenicë, located in the area east of the confluence of the Shushicë into the Aoös.[2]

## Economy[edit]

The wealth of Thronion may have derived in part from control of the bitumen mines around present-day Selenica, until the Apollonian conquest of the city around 450 BCE.[12]

## See also[edit]

* List of settlements in Illyria
* List of ancient Greek cities
* List of cities in ancient Epirus

## References[edit]

1. ^ Chapinal-Heras 2021, p. 182.
2. ^ a b c Bereti, Quantin & Cabanes 2011, p. 11.
3. ^ a b Dominguez-Monedero 2014, p. 197.
4. ^ Stocker 2009, p. 228; Dominguez-Monedero 2014, p. 197; Bereti, Quantin & Cabanes 2011, p. 11.
5. ^ Jaupaj 2019, pp. 87–88.
6. ^ Bereti, Quantin & Cabanes 2011, p. 11; Cabanes 2011, p. 76; Cabanes 2008, p. 171
7. ^ Volpe et al. 2014, p. 300.
8. ^ Zindel et al. 2018, pp. 346.
9. ^ Zindel et al. 2018, pp. 320.
10. ^ Bejko et al. 2015, p. 4; Wilkes & Fischer-Hansen 2004, p. 322.
11. ^ Papadopoulos 2016, p. 440; Bejko et al. 2015, p. 4; Wilkes & Fischer-Hansen 2004, p. 322.
12. ^ Stocker 2009, p. 298.

## Bibliography[edit]

* Bejko, Lorenc; Morris, Sarah; Papadopoulos, John; Schepartz, Lynne (2015). The Excavation of the Prehistoric Burial Tumulus at Lofkend, Albania. ISD LLC. ISBN 978-1938770524.
* Bereti, Vasil; Quantin, François; Cabanes, Pierre (2011). "Histoire et épigraphie dans la région de Vlora (Albanie)". REA. 113 (1).
* Cabanes, Pierre (2008). "Greek Colonisation in the Adriatic". In Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. (ed.). Greek Colonisation: An Account of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas. Vol. 2\. Brill. pp. 155–186. ISBN 9789047442448.
* Cabanes, Pierre (2011). "Disa çështje mbi Amantët / Interrogations sur les Amantes". Iliria. 35: 75–98. doi:10.3406/iliri.2011.1100.
* Chapinal-Heras, Diego (2021). Experiencing Dodona: The Development of the Epirote Sanctuary from Archaic to Hellenistic Times. Berlin and Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-072759-3.
* Dominguez-Monedero, Adolfo J. (2014). "Eubeos y locrios entre el Jónico y el Adriático". L. Breglia, A. Moleti (Eds.) Hespería. Tradizioni, rotte, paesaggi. Tekmeria, 16. Paestum. Pandemos. 2014. P. 189-210. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
* Jaupaj, Lavdosh (2019). Etudes des interactions culturelles en aire Illyro-épirote du VII au III siècle av. J.-C (Thesis). Université de Lyon; Instituti i Arkeologjisë (Albanie).
* Papadopoulos, John (2016). "Komai, Colonies and Cities in Epirus and Southern Albania: The Failure of the Polis and the Rise of Urbanism on the Fringes of the Greek World". In Molloy, Barry P.C. (ed.). Of Odysseys and Oddities: Scales and Modes of Interaction Between Prehistoric Aegean Societies and their Neighbours. Oxbow Books. pp. 435–460. ISBN 978-1-78570-232-7.
* Stocker, Sharon R. (2009). Illyrian Apollonia: Toward a New Ktisis and Developmental History of the Colony.
* Volpe, Giuliano; Disantarosa, Giacomo; Leone, Danilo; Turchiano, Maria (2014). "Porti, approdi e itinerari dell'Albania meridionale dall'Antichità al Medioevo. Il 'Progetto Liburna'". Ricerche Archeologiche in Albania. Aracne: 287–326. doi:10.4399/978885487245516. ISBN 978-88-548-7245-5.
* Wilkes, J. J.; Fischer-Hansen, Tobias (2004). "The Adriatic". In Mogens Herman Hansen; Thomas Heine Nielsen (eds.). An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford University Press. pp. 321–337. ISBN 0-19-814099-1.
* Zindel, Christian; Lippert, Andreas; Lahi, Bashkim; Kiel, Machiel (2018). Albanien: Ein Archäologie- und Kunstführer von der Steinzeit bis ins 19. Jahrhundert (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 9783205200109.

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