Butrint (Albanian) Boυθρωτόν (Greek) |
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Remains of the theatre
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Location | Ksamil, Vlorë County, Albania |
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Region | Chaonia |
Coordinates | 39°44′46″N 20°01′13″E / 39.74611°N 20.02028°ECoordinates: 39°44′46″N 20°01′13″E / 39.74611°N 20.02028°E |
Type | Settlement |
Site notes | |
Archaeologists |
Luigi Maria Ugolini Hasan Ceka |
Public access | yes |
Official name | Butrint |
Type | Cultural |
Criteria | iii |
Designated | 1992 (16th session) |
Reference no. | 570 |
Region | Europe and North America |
Extensions | 1999 |
Endangered | 1997–2005 |
Butrint National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Roman Theater in Butrint
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Location | Vlorë County, Albania |
Nearest city | Saranda |
Area | 9,424 hectares (23,290 acres) |
Established | 2005 |
Designated | 28 March 2003 |
Buthrotum (Albanian: Butrint; Latin: Buthrōtum; from Ancient Greek: Βουθρωτόν, Bouthrōtón) was an ancient Greek and later Roman city and bishopric in Epirus.
Inhabited since prehistoric times, Buthrotum was a city of the Greek tribe of the Chaonians, later a Roman colony and a bishopric. It entered into decline in Late Antiquity, before being abandoned during the Middle Ages after a major earthquake flooded most of the city. In modern times it is an archeological site in Vlorë County, Albania, some 14 kilometres south of Sarandë and close to the Greek border. It is located on a hill overlooking the Vivari Channel and is part of the Butrint National Park.
Bouthroton was originally a town within the Adriatic Balkan region of Epirus. It was one of the major centres of the Greek tribe of the Chaonians, with close contacts to the Corinthian colony of Corcyra (modern Corfu). According to the Roman writer Virgil, its legendary founder was the seer Helenus, a son of king Priam of Troy, who had moved West after the fall of Troy with Neoptolemus and his concubine Andromache. Both Virgil and the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus recorded that Aeneas visited Bouthroton after his own escape from the destruction of Troy.