Excavations at Hadrianopolis (Albania)
The site of Hadrianopolis lies in the region of ancient Epirus originally inhabited by the tribe of
the Chaonians, the main cities of which included Buthrotos, Phoinike and Antigoneia. In the
Archaic period the area was under the influence of the Corinthian colony of Kerkyra. Later the
Chaonians were brought into the alliance with various Greek states and acquired the reputation of
being a warlike race. Polybius describes Phoinike as the best fortified and most impregnable site
of Epirus.
The Chaonians were among Rome’s allies in the 3rd Macedonian war (171-168 BC), which
marked the beginning of Roman hegemony in Greece. While 70 cities were destroyed in Epirus
and 150.000 peoples were reduced to slavery (Strabo), the Chaonians, profited from their
friendship with the Romans and took advantage of their strategic position. In the newly founded
province of Macedonia, settlements flourished in the valley of the river Drin, which became one
of the main accesses to the Via Egnatia from the South. Among these settlements was the city of
Hadrianopolis.
Chaonia enjoyed continuous prosperity during
the Roman period thanks to its central position
between East and West. As the empire split
(AD395) and Epirus found itself at the fringes of
the Eastern Roman Empire, it became the focus
of imperial intervention. Emperor Justinian
fortified several outposts throughout the region
and is known to have re-founded Hadrianopolis
as Justinianopolis.
The Settlement
The settlement of Hadrianopolis lies in the broadest section of the
valley of the river Drin, 14km south of Gjirokaster, near the
village of Sofratikë. It occupies a square area ca. 400 x 400m in
size. Geophysical surveys have revealed that within this perimeter
the city was planned following a regular grid pattern with streets
crossing each other at right angles.
The most prominent archaeological remains uncovered so far are
the theatre (known from 19th century travelers’ reports, and
excavated in the 70s) and a monumental public complex—
including a bath with hot and cold rooms—located to the north of
it. This was mostly brought to light by our team from the
University of Oxford in the last two years of excavations. Remote
sensing carried out by the University of Macerata has further
located
large
Hadrianopolis
peristyle
houses organized around
internal courtyards in the
central plots of the town. A necropolis, consisting of
stone-lined single graves, has been found to extend over a
significant area beyond the urban limits and is presently
under investigation. The buildings identified so far
mostly belong to the Roman imperial and late antique
periods. Pottery finds—and more recently structural
remains—have nevertheless shown that the site was
inhabited in the Hellenistic period.
The main phase of the settlement, which saw the
construction of the theatre and its adjacent buildings, can
be dated to the period of Hadrian (AD 117-138). The emperor might therefore have been
responsible for the promotion and embellishment of the city, within a larger attempt to organize
and exploit the fertile valley of the Drin. The site enjoyed continuous habitation until at least the
end of the 5th century AD, when the excavations reveal layers of destruction and a lack of
archaeological materials. According to Procopius, in the course of his reorganization of the
fortresses and fortified cities of the Balkans, Emperor Justinian (AD 527-565) “built the city of
Justinianopolis, which formerly was called Adrianopolis” (de Aed. IV 1, 36). Since any such
intervention has not been confirmed by the excavated remains, and the site is anyhow not
naturally defensible, it is assumed that this Justinianic re-foundation led to the transfer of the city
to a hillside location. Small scale habitation until the 7th century is still in evidence at the original
site.
The name of Drynopolis and its bishopric continued to be attested throughout the Byzantine and
mediaeval periods, and has left a permanent mark on the contemporary toponymy of the area.
The Surroundings
In antiquity, Hadrianopolis was the main urban centre of a densely populated area, which
extended along the valley of the river Drin. Extensive archaeological surveys have been carried
out both in the immediate surroundings of the ancient
city and further afield. Surveys in the extra-urban area
west of the settlement led to the identification of an
extensive necropolis. Subsequent excavations brought to
light six single inhumation graves. They all consist of
simple cist burials, stone-lined, covered with gabled lids.
The deceased all rest on their back, with arms crossed on
the chest, and are accompanied by a few modest objects.
This could be due to the low status of the occupants or to
the fact that the graves had been disturbed
before being investigated.
In the wider surroundings of the settlement surveys
brought to light a number of new archaeological sites.
These new sites, together with a few previously-known
settlements were all recorded in a scientific manner.
Information on each site - including photographs and
plans of the surveyed structures - fed a purpose-built
database . GPS technology was used in establishing each
site’s location and creating the baseline for a new
archaeological cartography of the entire valley of the
Drin.
Hellenistic settlements and habitation clusters seem to concentrate on the hills and the most
elevated areas. They dominate the valley from above and control accesses and routes through the
mountains and towards the sea. They are naturally well defensible and placed in strategic
locations within the region. A good example is that of the city of Antigoneia, founded by Pyrrhus
on an almost impregnable hill overlooking the settlements on the plain.
In the Roman period the focus of settlement shifts to the valley. Large and small centres are
located along the course of the river, and ultimately mark the route of a major Roman road of the
region, running parallel to the coast from south to north. The settlement at Hadrianopolis might
originally have been one of these centres located along the road. Probably by virtue of its
favourable location it became the main centre of the area in the Hadrianic period. In the late
antique period, while Hadrianopolis and all settlements along the valley are mostly abandoned,
habitation returns to the uplands. This was probably an immediate reaction to the invasions of
new populations from the north. The archaeological map of the Drin’s valley, where relevant
information for all archaeological remains of the region is recorded, will constitute an invaluable
tool which will facilitate the heritage management of the area by the Albanian authorities.
The monuments
The theatre at Hadrianopolis was built in the first half of the 2nd century AD, on the basis of the
archaeological finds and architectural features. It is therefore possible that its construction started
at the end of the reign of Emperor Hadrian.
Among the ancient authors, Dio Cassius reports that
the Emperor held an interest in buildings for
spectacles, although not many theatres of the ancient
world can be attributed with certainty to Hadrian.
The building technique in stones and concrete, the fact that the cavea is built on an artificial
structure and the structural connection between the cavea and the stage building, all belong to the
Roman building tradition. The plan of the orchestra and of the cavea- larger than the semicircle and the dimensions and shape of the stage building – narrow and almost detached from the cavea
- find parallels in theatres of Greek- Hellenistic tradition in the eastern part of the empire.
Elements from different architectural traditions, Greek and Roman, are mixed in the theatre of
Hadrianopolis, following a pattern attested in other theatres of the region. The building
underwent several modifications in its later history, and possibly was used in the Byzantine
period as an urban stronghold.
In front of the theatre, archaeological investigations have brought to light a large public building
with a long history.
On a site already in
use in the last two
centuries
BC,
complex
of
arranged
around
a
rooms
a
courtyard was built in
the 2nd century AD.
Two of these rooms
preserve
traces
of
suspensurae, the piers
of bricks that supported a suspended floor covering a cavity through which the hot air would flow
(hypocaust). They were hot rooms of a Roman bath complex . This building opened onto an open
area to the west, a large square in front of the theatre, possibly a porticus post scaenam. Thick
destruction and spoliation levels mark the later phases. Onto these levels new buildings were
constructed. In particular, at the turn of the 6th century, a large public building, perhaps a church ,
was placed in the open area in front of the theatre and the older adjacent baths underwent radical
changes. This suggests a reorganization of the urban centre.
Later destruction and abandonment levels seal this brief moment in the life of the site, on top of
which are to be found merely rural walls, perishable structures, and other transitory signs of life,
all dating around the 7th century.
The 2010 project
The funds generously awarded by the Roman Society were used towards the second
excavation campaign at Hadrianopolis (Albania) carried out by a team from Oxford University.
Both endeavours were part of an important collaborative project which involves the universities
of Macerata and Oxford, together with the Archaeological Institute of Tirana, under the joint
direction of Dr Roberto Perna (Macerata), Prof Dimiter Çondi (Tirana), and Milena Melfi
(Oxford). Such project provides us with the unique opportunity of participating in a long-term
collaborative fieldwork in a site which enjoyed continuous habitation from the Hellenistic to the
Roman period, and bears abundant testimonies to the Roman strategic and military activities in
the Adriatic and towards the Greek mainland in the last two centuries before Christ. The
excavation of the settlement later known as Hadrianopolis has the potential of making a valuable
contribution to the definition of the Roman intervention in Epiros at the time of the Illyrian and
Macedonian wars. At the same time, the project will bring to light the largely unknown later
phases of the Roman city, and clarify issues of settlement patterns, the relation with central
models, and communication networks in this largely unknown region of the eastern Roman
Empire.
The 2010 field-work campaign at Hadrianopolis lasted four weeks from 26/7/2010 to
15/8/2010. The team from Oxford University, consisted of 5 members (2 post-graduate students,
2 undergraduate students and myself). Excavations were mostly carried out in the sector of the
archaeological area, corresponding to a large public building—already identified in last year’s
investigation—and the surrounding open-air areas. This year’s work allowed us to define the
chronological phases and topographical development of the structures, as much as to understand
its role and position within the urban layout. Our team was able to bring to light and identify the
functioning and chronology of the impressive bathing establishment, situated at the heart of the
newly founded Hadrianic city, and forming a monumental complex with the contemporary
theatre. The building was later incorporated into a basilica, possibly at the time of the 6 th century
re-foundation of the city, under the name of Justinianopolis. Deeper trenches in the newly
identified open-air areas surrounding the baths also revealed Hellenistic layers of habitation (3 rd
to 1st cent.BC), and will contribute in clarifying the nature and aspect of the settlement in the
years preceding the arrival of Lucius Aemilius Paulus.
At the same time, and on the occasion of the restoration of the flooring of the orchestra of
the Roman theatre, smaller test trenches were opened under the removed floor slabs. These
revealed in great detail the construction techniques applied in building the theatre and confirmed
its Hadrianic date. The most important discovery consisted in the remains of earlier structures
under the Roman theatre. These are presently limited to a curved wall in ashlar blocks, and only
further investigations will reveal whether they belong to a Hellenistic predecessor of the
Hadrianic theatre, a building for public meetings (bouleterion?) or performances (theatre?)
All these new data confirmed that the Hadrianic—and later Justinianic—foundation certainly
occurred in an area previously inhabited, and possibly provided with monumental buildings
already at the time of the Macedonian wars. In the last two days of excavations, during the
cleaning and filling works carried out for the safety of the archaeological area, the discovery of
part of the foundations of a Hellenistic monument in ashlar masonry, with two columns in antis
on its front, enforces this reconstruction. Next year’s excavations will hopefully clarify the nature
of the Hellenistic settlement and its role within the topography and history of ancient Epirus,
especially in view of its advantageous position on the river crossing and within the territory of the
early colony of Butrint.
Beside the scientific results, both graduate and undergraduate students were successfully
trained in the latest archaeological and technological methodologies. Students of the University
of Oxford, Macerata and Gjirokaster enjoyed a scientific excavation with a full didactic
experience in mapping, recording and processing finds, as well as having the possibility of
participating in field and geophysical survey.