The city is mentioned in ancient sources asLissós (Ancient Greek: Λισσός) andLissus (Latin:Lissus,Lissum).[8] It is also attested innumismatic material. Theethnicon ΛΙΣΣΙΤΑΝLissitan is found on coin inscriptions of the Hellenistic era. It is considered a Greek toponym, deriving from the Greek λισσόςlissós, meaning 'smooth, smooth rock, gruff'.[9]
The ancient nameLissus evolved into its modern formLezhë (archaic:Lesh[8]) throughAlbanian sound changes.[10] InTurkish, the town is known asLeş orEşim and inItalian asAlessio. Lezhë is also known asAlise,Alexiensis,Eschenderari, orMrtav.[11]
The Iron Age fortification was built on the Mal i Shëlbuemit (413 m high,right), called laterAcrolissus; the proper city ofLissus was built on an adjacent hill (172 m high,left).[12]
Various swords (C and D type) unearthed in Lezhë are attributed to a free exchange pattern between the locals and the centres ofMycenaean Greece from the early Mycenaean period (1600-1450 BC).[13] The earliest human constructions have anIllyrian character and appear on the site from the LateBronze Age and EarlyIron Age.[14] The settlement with its fortifications was built on a 413-metre-high mountain, theMal i Shëlbuemit, from at least the 8th century BC,[15] and was located near the mouth of theDrin river.[16]
Lezhë Castle on the 172 m hill.Ruins of Hellenistic fortification walls built during the Illyrian urban period.
In antiquity the area was described as the territory of theIllyrii tribe (the "Illyrians proper";Ancient Greek:Ἰλλυριοί,Illyrioi;Latin:Illyrii orIllyrii propriae dicti;Albanian:ilirët).[17]
Diodorus ("Library", 15.1,c. 1st century BC) mentions thatDionysius of Syracuse founded a "city calledLissos" in the year 385 BC,[18] as part of a strategy by Dionysius to secure Syracusan trade routes along theAdriatic.[19] Diodorus calls it apolis.[20] Some modern scholars have interpreted that theSyracusan colony mentioned by Diodorus was established on the site of Lezhë, but more recently scholars think that it was in fact more likely established atIssa near the island ofPharos, not at Lissus (modern Lezhë) which was too distant for the events described by the ancient historian. Meanwhile, Issa is known from other evidence to be a Syracusan foundation.[21][22][23] Except Diodorus' account there is nothing to connect Lissos (the ancient site of Lezhë) with Syracuse, and according to historian Pierre Cabanes, even if Diodorus' account is accepted as accurate, it is very likely that this colony had a short life.[21]
The earliest of the fortification walls of the proto-urban settlement are of typical Illyrian construction and are dated to the late 4th century BC.[24] The transition from the Iron Age fortification of Acrolissus (on the 413 mShëlbuem mountain) to the proper Illyrian city of Lissus was continuous. The city was built on a lower hill (172 m) near the Iron Age fortification.[12] It was surrounded by ramparts that faced the low valley of the Drin river and the sea coast. Its function was to guard the route inland, to ensure defense against possible attacks from the sea, and to furnish a secure anchorage for the Illyrian ships.[16]
By the 3rd century BC, Lissus was one of the main cities of theIllyrian kingdom under theArdiaean andLabeatan dynasties.[6] In the 228 BC peace treaty with Rome, the Illyrian queenTeuta promised not to sail south of Lissus at the mouth of the Drin river with more than twolembi (Illyrian light ships), even those had to be unarmed.[25] But when Rome was engaged in a war against theCeltic peoples of thePo Valley in northernItaly about the years 225–222 BC, Illyrian commanderDemetrius detached theAtintani tribe from their alliance with Rome. Moreover, he sailed south of Lissus and engaged in piracy in violation of the 228 BC peace treaty. In the summer of 221 BC, tensions inGreece increased asMacedonia allied with theAchaean League against theAetolian League, and the Illyrians attacked in their typical manner. Demetrius andScerdilaidas sailed with 90lembi south of Lissus. When they failed an assault onPylos (westernPeloponnese), they separated their fleets and Scerdilaidas returned north with 40 ships, while Demetrius plundered theCyclades with 50 ships.[26]
In Roman times Lissus was located in a territory inhabited by theLabeatae, however ancient sources never relate it with this tribe. Taking in account archaeological and historical considerations, the city of Lissus should have been founded in a Labeatan context, but perhaps by the time of Teuta's fall in the end of the 3rd century BC, on a Greek model it was organized as apolis turning away from its ethnic context.[27] The dissociation from the ethnic to thepolis coincided withPhilip V of Macedon's conquest of a number of cities in Illyria.[28] In 211 BC, Philip V captured Acrolissus, thecitadel ofLissus, and Lissos surrendered to him,[29] becoming the Macedonian outlet to theAdriatic Sea.[21] The town was later recovered by the Illyrians. It was in Lissus thatPerseus of Macedon negotiated an alliance against Rome with the Illyrian kingGentius, and it was from Lissus that Gentius organized his army against the Romans. Lissus maintained a large degree of municipal autonomy under both Macedonian and Illyrian rule, as evidenced by the coins minted there.[30] During the reign ofGentius in the first half of the 2nd century BC, Lissus minted coins for the Illyrian ruler.[31] The city was of some importance in the Roman Civil War, being taken by Marc Antony[32] and then remaining loyal to Caesar. In Roman times, the city was part of the province ofEpirus Nova,[33]
During the reign ofJustinian I (527-565) the local fortress was possibly mentioned asAlistion in theSynecdemus of Hierocles.[34] At early 590s Lissus was captured by Slavic populations.[35]Byzantine control was re-established during the early 9th century.[36]
Albanian lordVladislav Jonima of theJonima family was acknowledged by the Pope as a ruler of a territory around Lezhë in 1319. He had the title ofCount of Dioclea and of the seaside Albania.[37] At the end of the 14th century, Albanian lordDhimitër Jonima was lord of a territory betweenMat and Lezhë.[38]
In the Middle Ages, Lezha (known in Italian as Alessio) frequently changed masters until the Venetians took possession of it in 1386. It still belonged to them when Skanderbeg died, but In 1478 it fell into the hands of Turks during thesiege of Shkodra, except for a short period (1501–1506) when it returned to Venetian domination.[11] Because it was under the Venetian control, it was chosen in 1444 byGjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg as a neutral place for the convention of Albanian nobles and lords of the area aiming at organizing their common defence against the Turks.[39]
Today Lezhë is a growing city. Its proximity to the port of Shëngjin as well as its location on the national road between the Montenegrin border to the North and Tirana to the South makes it an attractive location for industry and business.
There are urban buses throughout the city and international and national buses. Lezhe has a train station not far from the center. The line starts inDurrës and ends inShkodër. It is functional but not frequently.
The main highway in Lezhe isSH 1, connecting it withShkodër to the north and theDurrës-Kukës Highway (A1, intersection atMilot) to the south. The SH32 connects Lezhe withShëngjin on the coast.
From 2004 an excavation started around the ancient Acropolis of Lissos and the Skanderbeg Memorial, which revealed Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine buildings, tombs and other findings.[49]
^Bejko, Lorenc (2002)."Mycenaean Presence and Influence in Albania".Greek Influence Along the East Adriatic Coast. Kniževni Krug: 12.ISBN9789531631549. Retrieved4 April 2020.The variety of C and D type swords reported from central and northern Albania (Mat river valley, Lezhë, Shkodër), and their provenience from burial contexts, confirm the free exchange pattern with the Mycenaean centers of this part of the country, as in the early Mycenaean period.
^Shpuza 2014, pp. 106, 116, 118: "All the sites described above are situated in the Lowlands of Shkodra, in small hills, which create a protection system of all the area. A similar fortification can be found also at Akrolissos, [...] The chronological framework for the dating of such fortifications is the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age."
^Wilkes & Fischer-Hansen 2004, p. 325: "In 385 Dionysios of Syracuse assisted the Parians to establish a settlement on Pharos, having already sent a colony to the Adriatic and founded “a city called Lissos” (no. 82) (Diod. 15.13.4)." p.332: "Lissos was founded shortly before 385 by Dionysios I [...] on the steep slope of a hill, modern Lezha [...] a site already occupied by Illyrian settlers."
^Wilkes 1992, p. 115: "It has been proposed that it was this place [Issa] and not Lissus far to the south at the mouth of the Drin from which help came to the Greeks on Pharos, since Issa lies only 25 miles away."
^Wilkes & Fischer-Hansen 2004, p. 325: "The place from which Dionysios’ fleet came could be the later Illyrian fortress of Lissos (Lezhe) at the mouth of the river Drin in northern Albania, which has an impressive circuit of late Hellenistic masonry fortifications, but is more likely to be in fact the other Greek colony in the area, Issa (Vis) on the island of the same name and known from other evidence to be a Syracusan foundation."
^Plutarch (1920).Life of Antony. Loeb Classical Edition. p. 7.4.
^Epirus Vetus: The Archaeology of a Late Antique Province (Duckworth Archaeology) by William Bowden, 2003,ISBN0-7156-3116-0,2003, page 233, of Lissus in Epirus Nova
^Winnifrith, Tom (2002).Badlands, Borderlands: A History of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania. Duckworth. p. 75.ISBN978-0-7156-3201-7.Also for Justinian's reign there survives a catalogue of towns in the Empire, the Synecdemus of Hierocles." "In Epirus Nova we find Apollonia, Byllis, Amantia, Pulcheropolis (Berat), Aulon (Vlore), Lychnidus (Ohrid) and the unknown Alistion, possible the modern Lezhe, and Skepton
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