Olympe

Olympe

Ολύμπη Olimp
Location in Albania
Location	Mavrovë, Vlorë County, Albania
Region	Epirus or Illyria
Coordinates	Coordinates: 40°24′32″N 19°35′28″E / 40.40889°N 19.59111°E / 40.40889; 19.59111
Type	Settlement
History
Periods	Iron Age Classical Hellenistic Roman
Cultures	Illyrian Greek Roman
Site notes
Ownership	Government of Albania

Olympe (Ancient Greek: Ολύμπη) (Albanian: Olimpi) was an ancient city located in the territory of the Amantes, between southern Illyria and Epirus in classical antiquity. It is located in modern day Mavrovë, Vlorë County, Albania.^[1][2]

History[]

Adriatic
Sea

Strait of
Otranto

Sason  •
Island

• Margëlliç

Byllis
•

• Nikaia

Aulon •

Kaninë •

Olympe •

Amantia •

Bay of
Vlorë

Akrokeraunia

Orikos •

Palaeste •

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Shushicë

Shushicë

Shushicë

Ceraunian
Mountains

Chimera •

Panormos •

Borsh •

Ionian
Sea

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

The settlement at Olympe was fortified between the late 5th century BC and the early 4th century BC.^[1]

Taking into account archaeological and historical considerations, the city of Olympe should have been founded in the ethnic context of the Amantes, but later it was organized as a proper polis turning away from its ethnic context.^[2][3] The dissociation from the ethnic to the polis coincided with Philip V of Macedon's conquest of a number of cities in Illyria.^[2]

In the Hellenistic period there is evidence for the polis status of Olympe, and Stephanus of Byzantium (fl. 6th century AD) recorded Olympe as a "polis of Illyria" (πόλις Ίλλυρίας). During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC Olympe minted bronze coins bearing the inscription ΟΛΥΜΠΑΣΤΑΝ (OLYMPASTAN), and the city-ethnic was probably ’Ολυμπαστάς (Olympastas). A late 3rd century BC dedication to Zeus Megistos mentions a politarches, a grammateus and the synarchontes.^[1]

See also[]

• List of settlements in Illyria
• List of cities in ancient Epirus

References[]

Sources[]

• Cabanes, Pierre (2011). "Disa çështje mbi Amantët / Interrogations sur les Amantes". Iliria. 35: 75–98. doi:10.3406/iliri.2011.1100.
• Hansen, Mogens Herman; Nielsen, Thomas Heine (2004). An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198140991.
• Shpuza, Saimir (2017). Dyczek, Piotr (ed.). "Scodra and the Labeates. Cities, rural fortifications and territorial defense in the Hellenistic period". Novensia. Warszawa: Ośrodek Badań nad Antykiem Europy Południowo-Wschodniej. 28: 41–64. ISBN 978-83-946222-5-1. ISSN 0860-5777.