Roman Sites in Albania: Explore Ancient Cities, Council Buildings and Mosaics

Roman sites in Albania include civic buildings at Apollonia, rebuilt theatres in older hilltop cities and decorated rooms from the transition to Christian worship. Many of these places developed before Roman rule. Their remains combine earlier Greek or Illyrian street plans and defences with Roman construction, followed in some cases by extensive late antique rebuilding.

This collection follows those changes through individual structures: a council-house portico, a theatre stage, mosaic-paved houses and a baptistery supplied through an older bathing installation. The examples concentrate on the southern part of the country, from Apollonia near the coast to the hills above the Vjosa and the Butrint lagoon.

Primary Function
Type
Era
Popularity
Rating
Display limit reached
Calculating…

For details on how to use the maps, which sites are included, how popularity and ratings are determined, and how sites are classified, see the help page.

On this page5 sections

Apollonia’s council house and odeon

At Apollonia, the Monument of the Agonothetes marks the entrance to a Roman-period council building. Its six-column Corinthian portico and pediment were reconstructed in the twentieth century. An inscription names the donor and explains that the building commemorated his brother; both men had held the office responsible for organising public contests. The stepped approach led from the public square into a meeting hall.

Nearby, the odeon provided a smaller, roofed setting for performances and speeches. Its thirteen rows of seating faced an interior once lined with marble, within a brick-walled building. This structure has also undergone modern reconstruction. Together, the two buildings distinguish the spaces used for civic meetings and performances within the same public district.

Apollonia also preserves evidence of domestic decoration. Excavated Roman houses had mosaic pavements with geometric and mythological subjects, including Achilles and Penthesilea. Some floors are covered for conservation, so the site article’s account of the houses includes evidence that is not continuously exposed. Bathing rooms with underfloor heating add the practical arrangements behind these decorated interiors.

Phoenice: a theatre rebuilt under Roman rule

Phoenice, near modern Finiq, spread across a hilltop, terraces and the plain below. Its theatre occupied the southern hillside, where successive building campaigns enlarged and altered an earlier Greek performance space. A Roman rebuilding in the second century AD changed the theatre again.

The excavated stage area includes large pedestals with impressions marking the feet of statues. These belonged to the display of deities or emperors around the performance building. The theatre’s history should be read alongside the settlement’s changing extent: Roman occupation reached beyond the older hilltop centre onto the surrounding plain, rather than replacing it with a wholly new town on a regular grid.

Bylis: public buildings and late antique churches

Bylis occupies a steep hill above the Vjosa valley. Its early walls and regular urban plan predate Roman rule, as do the origins of its theatre and public square. Roman work rebuilt the theatre, a portico and sections of the enclosure; mosaic-floored houses accommodated residents of the Roman colony.

Later churches changed the organisation of the town. The cathedral and its associated buildings occupied an area comparable to the earlier agora, shifting the concentration of public architecture towards an episcopal complex. Subsequent sixth-century defensive rebuilding under Justinian is recorded by inscriptions in the walls. These are separate building phases: the early city enclosure, Roman alterations and later Christian buildings should not all be assigned to the same period.

Butrint’s baptistery and reused water installations

The Baptistery of Butrint adds a more concentrated example of late antique adaptation. A circular baptismal room was inserted into a rectangular space associated with an older Roman bathing complex. Two rings of columns once supported its wooden roof, surrounding a cross-shaped font with steps into the basin.

The older hot room contained a cistern supplying cold water, while a separate furnace heated water that passed underground towards the font. The baptismal installation therefore reused and adapted an existing system of rooms and water storage. Around the font, a surviving mosaic pavement forms seven concentric bands, following the circular arrangement of the columns.

Explore the collection

Explore sites on the map or in the grid. Map icons reflect each site’s primary function, helping you identify different kinds of places at a glance. Narrow the results by primary function, site type or era, with additional filters for popularity and rating. Select a map marker to view the site’s details and open its article, or open the article from its grid entry.

Scroll to Top