Phoinike (Albania)

Starting from 2021 the archaeological mission continues as part of the research activities of the Department of Cultural Heritage - DBC. For updates, see the new webpage (Italian version).

Archaeological mission coordinator/director

Giuseppe Lepore

Period of activity

2016-2021

Overview

The city of Phoinike is located in ancient Caonia, a region of northern Epirus, 8 km from today's city of Saranda. The discovery of the site is due to the Italian Archaeological Mission led by the archaeologist Luigi Maria Ugolini in 1926: ancient sources recognize the role of great centrality of this city especially in the Hellenistic period (between the III and II century BC), at interior of a territory divided between several koina (Caoni, Molossi, Tesproti). Right here in 205 BC the peace treaty between the Roman Republic and Philip V of Macedonia was signed.The new excavations of the University of Bologna have highlighted the urban structure of a city that lives continuously from the late classical age to the 16th century. A.D. The sectors best known so far are:

• the eastern area of ​​the hill, home to the oldest urban settlement;
• the Hellenistic agora, located in the center of the hill and the result of an expansion of the city towards the west during the III - II century. B.C. Here, in the Justinian era, a large Basilica with its functional annexes will be inserted;
• a terraced housing district located further west and the so-called "House of the Two Peristyles", a luxurious residence organized on two courtyards;
• the theater area, open to the south with an extraordinary view of the Butrint plain;
• the walls surrounding the entire hill;
• the necropolises, which are arranged in the plain below, along the main roads leading to the city.

The Project, which has always had important didactic values ​​and which has provided constant attention to the themes of restoration and conservation, will focus on the following research lines in the coming years:

• study of urban development, from its origins to the abandonment of the city;
• study of the forms of living and domestic architecture of the Hellenistic, Roman and medieval ages;
• study of material culture and production and economic aspects;
• study of public areas and monumental annexes;
• study of the funerary aspects and physical anthropology of the dead, from the Hellenistic age to the Middle Ages.