Oricum

The ancient city of Oricum is rather unusual amongst Albanian National Parks as it lies within the confines of the Naval base at Pasha Liman south of Vlora. Special permission is necessary to visit this site.

The city is set in a fine location on a small hill overlooking the bay of Vlora to the north and a sheltered lagoon to the south. Oricum was a Euboean Greek colony founded in the 7th century BC, an unusual rival to the Corinthian Greeks who were responsible for most of the other colonial settlements on the Albanian seaboard. It exploited the good soils of the Dukat plain to the south, the waters of the bay and the quarries of the nearby Karabarun peninsula.

The city was used as a base by Roman armies during the wars against Macedonia, but Oricum’s most notable moment came during the civil war between Caesar and Pompey in the 1st century BC. Used as a base by the Pompeian’s it was the first city captured by Caesar during his invasion of the Balkans. He provides a dramatic account of the fighting that occurred around the harbour of the city.

The city was used as a base by Roman armies during the wars against Macedonia, but Oricum’s most notable moment came during the civil war between Caesar and Pompey in the 1st century BC. Used as a base by the Pompeian’s it was the first city captured by Caesar during his invasion of the Balkans. He provides a dramatic account of the fighting that occurred around the harbour of the city.

The city appears to have survived into the Roman period, and was refortified in the Byzantine period as one of the principal strongholds of the Byzantine Empire on the Adriatic coast, then being renamed Jericho.