Orikum Archaeological Park: An Ancient Greek Harbor and Settlement in Albania
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Albania
- Primary era
- Classical
- Eras represented
- Classical, Medieval
- Civilizations
- Ancient Greek, Byzantine
- Site type
- City
On this page11 sections
History
Orikum Archaeological Park in Albania preserves the ancient Greek harbor and settlement of Oricum at the southern end of the Bay of Vlorë. The city stood on the Illyrian coast, at the foot of the Akrokeraunian Mountains, a range understood in antiquity as a natural boundary between Illyria and Epirus. Although the surrounding area had much earlier human activity, archaeological evidence places habitation at Oricum itself from the sixth century BC. The settlement later expanded according to a Greek urban model and became an important maritime center.
Early settlement and Greek development
Human activity in the wider region began long before the city was established. A rock shelter at Rrëza e Kanalit preserves evidence from the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic. In the Dukat hinterland, two Illyrian burial mounds were used from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. Objects from these graves show connections across the Adriatic and with the Aegean world, placing Oricum within a landscape shaped by long-distance contact.
A tradition recorded by Pseudo-Scymnus attributed Oricum’s foundation to Euboeans blown off course while returning from Troy. This story may imply an eighth-century BC origin, but excavated material begins only in the sixth century BC. During its early urban phase, Oricum maintained close connections with the Greek world and served as a place of exchange between foreign traders and Illyrian communities in the interior. Around the middle of the fifth century BC, the settlement grew according to the Greek urban model.
Oricum as a Greek city-state
In the Classical period, Oricum probably formed part of the territory, or peraia, of Korkyra. A peraia was land controlled by a city across a body of water. A fifth-century BC oracle tablet from Dodona records a question by a citizen of Oricum and refers to the surrounding territory. The fourth-century BC Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax identifies Oricum as a Greek polis within the territory of Amantia. A polis was an autonomous Greek city-state together with its associated territory.
By the beginning of the Hellenistic period, Oricum had acquired the status of a polis with territory of its own. A fourth-century BC inscription records a sympoliteia between Oricum and Korkyra, meaning a formal political association or union between communities. Pyrrhus of Epirus brought the city under Epirote control in the early third century BC. From the late third through the early first centuries BC, Oricum prospered and became one of the larger cities of northern Epirus. It issued its own coins from approximately 230 to 168 BC.
Roman control and military importance
Oricum was probably independent between 230 and 215 BC. After Rome’s victory in the First Illyrian War, a conflict through which Rome expanded its influence along the eastern Adriatic, the city entered the Roman protectorate in Illyricum in 228 BC. Illyricum was a Roman administrative and military region covering parts of the eastern Adriatic lands. Oricum’s harbor then gained military importance during Rome’s wars with the Illyrians and Macedon.
Philip V of Macedon briefly captured Oricum in 214 BC during a raid along the Illyrian coast. The city appealed to Rome, and Marcus Valerius Laevinus, a Roman naval commander, quickly recovered it. Control of Oricum would have given Macedon a useful naval base for an attack on Italy.
During the Roman civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, Oricum initially followed Pompey. Its governor, Lucius Torquatus, tried to defend the town with a garrison of Parthinians, but the Greek inhabitants refused to fight Caesar’s forces and opened the gates. Caesar took the city, spared Torquatus, and used Oricum as an important naval base. Caesar described the inhabitants as Greeks, reflecting their language and identity.
Under the Roman Empire, Oricum served as an important harbor in Epirus Nova, a Roman province in the western Balkans, within the wider province of Macedonia. Its importance later declined as nearby Aulona became more prominent. Herodes Atticus, a wealthy Roman Greek patron and senator of the second century AD, built a theater at Oricum. An earthquake later destroyed the theater. The city’s subsequent decline is also reflected in the limited later remains and its omission from the Tabula Peutingeriana, a Roman road map showing routes and settlements across the Roman world.
Byzantine and Ottoman-era names
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Oricum was known as Jericho. It formed a Byzantine province with Kanina and Aulon, called Provincia Jericho et Caninon. This province appears in the imperial charter granted to Venice by the Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos in 1198.
Under Ottoman rule, the harbor took the name Pashaliman, meaning “the Pasha’s harbour.” The name remains associated with the lagoon and the nearby Albanian naval base, reflecting the area’s continuing naval use from antiquity into the present. Orikum Archaeological Park is owned by the Government of Albania and is designated a Cultural Monument of Albania.
Religion and regional resources
Oricum had religious associations with Apollon Nomios, a pastoral aspect of Apollo linked with herds and the protection of livestock. Tradition connected a sanctuary at the site with altars of the Nymphs, female nature deities, and the Moirai, goddesses associated with fate. These altars were said to have been founded by Medea, the legendary sorceress of the Argonaut tradition. Aphrodite and Eros were also worshiped at Oricum, while an altar at the archaeological site is dedicated to Dionysus.
The city’s position made it a strategic maritime location, and its economy drew on the natural resources of the Akrokeraunian region. Timber supplied shipbuilding, while limestone from the Karaburun Peninsula was quarried and transported to Apollonia and Dyrrhachium from the Archaic period through the Roman imperial period.
Remains
Island harbor and urban layout
Oricum originally occupied an island separated from the edge of the Bay of Vlorë by a lagoon. The island later became connected to the mainland, and the ancient settlement covered approximately 5 hectares. Two channels on opposite sides of the island linked the lagoon with the bay. The harbor’s sheltered waters were deep enough to protect Caesar’s ships when he arrived during the civil war.
The site lies in the Dukat valley, at the foot of the Karaburun Peninsula and near the route toward the Llogara Pass. Mountains surround the territory to the west, south, and east, while the Dukat plain opens northward toward the bay. They protected the harbor from southerly and westerly winds and supplied water to the fertile hinterland. The Akrokeraunian Mountains also served as a navigation landmark. The Llogara Pass connected the valley with ancient Palaeste in Epirus, although its elevation above 1,000 meters made the crossing difficult.
Traces of walls surround parts of the city, and repairs to them date from the Byzantine period. The surviving urban remains are sparse, while a substantial part of the ancient settlement lies underwater. Submerged house outlines beneath the water indicate that the coastline around the harbor gradually became submerged.
Water installation and sacred places
A monumental fountain, or nymphaeum, measures approximately 10 meters in diameter. A nymphaeum was a monumental fountain or water installation, often associated with nymphs. The structure was formerly interpreted as a theater and also functioned as a cistern. Rainwater collection was essential to the city’s water supply because potable water did not come from nearby springs.
An unexcavated temple stands within the archaeological area. At some distance from it is an altar dedicated to Dionysus. Together, these remains provide physical evidence for the religious activity associated with the ancient settlement.
Quarrying, graves, and hinterland evidence
Limestone from the Karaburun Peninsula was extracted by cutting channels along three sides of large square blocks. The prepared stone was transported to Apollonia and Dyrrhachium between the Archaic and Roman imperial periods. This quarrying activity connected the resources of the peninsula with construction in other coastal cities.
Hellenistic graves built of brick have been found at Oricum and in neighboring regions. In the hinterland, local burial traditions also used brick-built tombs with decorative false archways, arch-like features that did not form true load-bearing arches.
The Dukat hinterland contains Middle Helladic objects, Aegean-type knives, probably locally made Minyan ware, and Naue II swords associated with twelfth-century BC Mycenaean culture. Imports from southern Italy date to approximately the eleventh or tenth century BC. These remains place the later city within a region that had participated in Adriatic, Aegean, Mycenaean, and southern Italian connections for centuries.
Marmiroi Church
Near the ancient city stands Marmiroi Church, a Byzantine building dating to the reign of Emperor Theodore I. Its main hall measures approximately 6 by 9 meters. A dome about 3 meters in diameter rests on four Roman arches, and fragments of Byzantine murals survive on the interior walls.
