Byllis

Situated at the end of a surfaced road from the town of Ballsh, Byllis occupies one of the most impressive positions of any National Park in Albania. It lies on a long, flat-topped hill high above the Vijosa river valley with spectacular views towards Vlora, Apollonia and the sea. First occupied in the 5th century BC the inhabitants seem to have migrated from the nearby city of Nikeia (modern Klos) to this more suitable site.

Byllis was the major centre of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones and the city was provided with a whole series of monuments and buildings in the Hellenistic fashion. A circuit of stone walls encircles the city and within were an agora with stoas and a large theatre, a stadium, gymnasium and a regular street grid with houses.

The city continued to be occupied into the Roman period and late antiquity. At this late date it was dramatically changed in line with other late-antique urban centres. A new set of walls was constructed from spolia taken from the earlier monuments, dramatically reducing the walled area on the south-western side of the old city. These 6th-century walls are among the most impressive late antique monuments to be seen in Albania.

The new city was dominated by its churches and up till now five early Christian basilicas have been excavated, all with fine mosaic pavements and elaborate carved stone furniture. Smaller and rougher stone building, typical of the era, were erected in and around the ruins of earlier buildings. Byllis seems to have been abandoned by the 8th century AD and the settlement moved some kilometres to the north to the site of Ballsh.

Recently Byllis has become a pilgrimage centre as many people now visit to see the tomb of the Bektashi Dervish Baba Azez.