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167-594: Himarë ( Albanian definite form : Himara ; Greek : Χιμάρα , Chimara or Χειμάρρα, Cheimarra ) is a municipality and region in Vlorë County , southern Albania . The municipality has a total area of 571.94 km (220.83 sq mi) and consists of the administrative units of Himarë, Horë-Vranisht and Lukovë . It lies between the Ceraunian Mountains and the Albanian Ionian Sea Coast and

334-503: A "temple" or "shrine"), since monasticism was unknown to the ancient Athenians and their ekklesía had been a popular assembly . The secular historians eschewed the history of the Christian church. Ecclesiastical history was left to a separate genre after Eusebius . However, Cameron has argued convincingly that Procopius's works reflect the tensions between the classical and Christian models of history in 6th-century Constantinople. This

501-669: A Latinis, Grecis et Sclauis ita quod in nullo se intelligunt cum aliis nationibus. (Namely, the above-mentioned Albanians have a language that is different from the languages of Latins, Greeks and Slavs, so that they do not understand each other at all.) The oldest attested document written in Albanian dates to 1462, while the first audio recording in the language was made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna . However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian

668-592: A boycott by part of the Greek minority, Mangalakova (2004) describes the ethnic composition of the territory of the former municipality of Himarë as predominantly Greek. Karl Kaser states that the Greek population comprised a majority or at least an important part of the population of Himarë. According to Martin Urban (1938) only three out of eight villages in Himarë were inhabited by a population of Albanian origin (Pilur, Vuno, Kudhes) with

835-879: A common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family. The first written mention of Albanian was in 1284 in a witness testimony from the Republic of Ragusa , while a letter written by Dominican Friar Gulielmus Adea in 1332 mentions the Albanians using the Latin alphabet in their writings. The oldest surviving attestation of modern Albanian is from 1462. The two main Albanian dialect groups (or varieties ), Gheg and Tosk , are primarily distinguished by phonological differences and are mutually intelligible in their standard varieties, with Gheg spoken to

1002-561: A common period of prehistoric coexistence of several Indo-European dialects in the Balkans prior to 2000 BC. To this group would belong Albanian, Ancient Greek , Armenian , Phrygian , fragmentary attested languages such as Macedonian , Thracian , or Illyrian , and the relatively well-attested Messapic in Southern Italy. The common features of this group appear at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels, presumably resulting from

1169-774: A demographic census conducted in the Kaza of Himara, showed that it was inhabited by 12,000 people. During the First Balkan War , on 18 November 1912, the town revolted under the Greek Gendarmerie officer and Himarë native Spyros Spyromilios and expelled the Ottoman forces in order to join Greece . In March 1914, the " Protocol of Corfu " was signed, which established the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus , of which Himarë formed

1336-597: A deteriorated spiritual state with pressures from the Ottomans and the Greek Orthodox bishops. As noted by Catalano they: "were making of God's house a house of traffic, of affairs and of sacrilegious trade". He opened a school in the Himarë region, raised in the village of Dhërmi, where more than eighty students, both Christian and Muslim, were registered from the adjacent villages. Apart from preaching Catalano also taught new farming techniques and other professions to locals. He

1503-539: A former decision for the seizure of properties belonging to members of the local Greek minority. According to diplomatic sources, this decision came as a result of stern warning by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Moreover, Omonoia appealed to Greece to defend the legal rights of the local Greek population and to avoid seizure of their properties. Albanian language Albanian ( endonym : shqip [ʃcip] , gjuha shqipe [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ] , or arbërisht [aɾbəˈɾiʃt] )

1670-472: A large amount (or the majority) of their sea environment lexicon. A similar phenomenon could be observed with agricultural terms. While the words for 'arable land', 'wheat', 'cereals', 'vineyard', 'yoke', 'harvesting', 'cattle breeding', etc. are native, the words for 'ploughing', 'farm' and 'farmer', agricultural practices, and some harvesting tools are foreign. This, again, points to intense contact with other languages and people, rather than providing evidence of

1837-415: A lawyer ( rhetor ). He evidently knew Latin , as was natural for a man with legal training. In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor Justinian   I , he became the legal adviser ( adsessor ) for Belisarius , a general whom Justinian made his chief military commander in a great attempt to restore control over the lost western provinces of the empire. Procopius was with Belisarius on

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2004-487: A major by the name of Atanasio Gjika and a lieutenant called Costantino Kasneci, as well as multiple cadets. Apart from these Kapedana, the villages in the Himarë region did not have unique leaders, but rather a council made up of the heads of the local tribes or brotherhoods known as primates in relevant documents. The Albanians in southern Albania and northern Greece were not divided in fis like northern and central Albanians, but in fara' or gjeri ("common thing"). Among

2171-619: A nahiye, an administrative division, of the Sanjak of Albania . It became a symbol of resistance to the Ottomans but suffered from an almost continuous state of warfare. Himariots participated in Skanderbeg 's resistance against the Ottoman Empire. During Skanderbeg's rebellion and the rule of Gjergj Arianiti , Himarë was within the domains of the Principality of Arianiti between 1443 and 1462. In

2338-475: A number of isoglosses with Albanian. Other linguists linked the Albanian language with Latin , Greek and Armenian , while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European. In current scholarship there is evidence that Albanian is closely related to Greek and Armenian, while the fact that it is a satem language is less significant. Armenian Greek Phrygian (extinct) Messapic (extinct) Gheg Tosk Messapic

2505-881: A part, though the Autonomous Republic itself formally remained part of the newly formed Albanian state. However, in the Panepirotic assembly in Delvinë, that aimed at the ratifications of the terms of the Protocol by the Northern Epirote representatives, the delegates of Himarë abstained, insisting that only union with Greece would be a viable solution. During the First World War , Himarë was under Greek administration (October 1914-September 1916) and then occupied by Italy . The Italians used Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war to build

2672-401: A portrayal of Justinian and Theodora as caricatural villains. The Buildings ( Ancient Greek : Περὶ Κτισμάτων , Perì Ktismáton ; Latin : De Aedificiis , "On Buildings") is a panegyric on Justinian's public works projects throughout the empire. The first book may date to before the collapse of the first dome of Hagia Sophia in 557, but some scholars think that it is possible that

2839-535: A possible linguistic homeland (also known as a Urheimat ). The centre of Albanian settlement remained the Mat River. In 1079, the Albanians were recorded farther south in the valley of the Shkumbin River. The Shkumbin, a 181 km long river that lies near the old Via Egnatia , is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division for Albanian, Tosk and Gheg . The characteristics of Tosk and Gheg in

3006-459: A road running through Himarë, which greatly reduced the region's isolation. Spiro Jorgo Koleka , a native of Vuno and a local leader of the Albanian national movement, opposed the annexation by foreign powers of Himarë area and the wider region around Vlora. To that effect Koleka was an organiser of the Vlora War , where other local Himariots participated. In 1921 the region came under the control of

3173-740: A series of measures aiming at Albanisation , and demanding the same privileges they enjoyed prior to incorporation to Albania. Other uprisings followed in 1927 and 1932, both suppressed by the government of king Zog of Albania . Later, Himarë was again occupied by the Italians as part of the Italian invasion in Albania. During the Greco-Italian War , the 3rd Infantry Division of the Greek Army entered Himarë, on 22 December 1940, after victorious fighting against

3340-442: A sharply different attitude towards Justinian. He is presented as an idealised Christian emperor who built churches for the glory of God and defenses for the safety of his subjects. He is depicted showing particular concern for the water supply, building new aqueducts and restoring those that had fallen into disuse. Theodora, who was dead when this panegyric was written, is mentioned only briefly, but Procopius's praise of her beauty

3507-580: A single Greek line of descent, regardless how old it was. Himara became the most notable centre of the 'Epirote Society' created in 1906 under Spyros Spyromilios that sought the establishment of a network between the Greek state and the Orthodox communities of Epirus. In 1913, the French journalist Rene Puaux was impressed by the strong Greek feeling of the Himariots. During the last year of Ottoman rule in Albania,

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3674-910: A strong sense of identity and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of Tosk Albanian called Arbëresh . In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 250,000 Albanian speakers. It is primarily spoken on the East Coast of the United States, in cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as in parts of the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and Connecticut. In Argentina, there are nearly 40,000 Albanian speakers , mostly in Buenos Aires. Approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in Turkey , with more than 500,000 recognizing their ancestry, language and culture . There are other estimates, however, that place

3841-431: A unique local Greek dialect that preserves many archaic features no longer found in standard Modern Greek . This dialect has small variations in the way it is spoken in every town, especially in the accent. Elements of Slavic influence are limited compared to the neighboring Albanian idioms, as well as the other variants of the Greek language spoken in southeast Albania and Nartë region. Greek schools were operating until

4008-473: A vandalistic act of desecration and a violation of church property and it also triggered diplomatic protests from Greece. This is the second demolition of the church, the first having taken place during the era of the People's Republic of Albania , but at the time the church was rebuilt by the local Orthodox Church after the restoration of Democracy in the country (1991). The Albanian government has promised to rebuild

4175-409: A weak man completely emasculated by his wife, Antonina, who is portrayed in very similar terms to Theodora. They are both said to be former actresses and close friends. Procopius claimed Antonina worked as an agent for Theodora against Belisarius, and had an ongoing affair with Belisarius' godson, Theodosius. Justinian and Theodora are portrayed as the antithesis of "good" rulers, with each representing

4342-402: Is a $ 1,000 fine for declaring an ethnicity other than what was written down on someone's birth certificate. As a result, the census was boycotted by parts of the Greek community. In 2005, after years of unanswered demands, Prime Minister Berisha authorized the opening of a Greek-language school in Himarë partially funded by the Greek government. On 26 August 2015, Albanian government demolished

4509-659: Is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece, making it one of the commonly spoken languages in the country after Greek. Albanian is the third most common mother tongue among foreign residents in Italy . This is due to a substantial Albanian immigration to Italy. Italy has a historical Albanian minority of about 500,000, scattered across southern Italy, known as Arbëreshë . Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout Germany , Switzerland and Austria . These are mainly immigrants from Kosovo who migrated during

4676-645: Is also spoken in Greece and by the Albanian diaspora , which is generally concentrated in the Americas , Europe and Oceania . Albanian is estimated to have as many as 7.5 million native speakers. Albanian and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Albanian in antiquity is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for obvious geographic and historical reasons, or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo-European language that

4843-583: Is an Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . It is the native language of the Albanian people . Standard Albanian is the official language of Albania and Kosovo , and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro , as well as a recognized minority language of Italy , Croatia , Romania and Serbia . It

5010-417: Is bilingual in Greek and Albanian. The town of Himarë and the villages of Dhërmi and Palasa, which together account for the bulk of the population of the region, are primarily populated by a Greek population. The villages of Iljas, Lukovë , Kudhës, Pilur and Vuno are inhabited by an Albanian population, while Qeparo is inhabited by both ethnic Albanians and Greeks. In the 2011 census, 83% of the inhabitants of

5177-592: Is considered the closest language to Albanian, grouped in a common branch titled Illyric in Hyllested & Joseph (2022). Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping – which is often called "Balkan IE" – with Armenian. The hypothesis of the " Balkan Indo-European " continuum posits

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5344-485: Is even claimed that he was possessed by demonic spirits or was himself a demon: And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night, men who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about, and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian's head vanished, while

5511-662: Is explicitly mentioned in a letter attested from 1332, and the first preserved books, including both those in Gheg and in Tosk, share orthographic features that indicate that some form of common literary language had developed. By the Late Middle Ages , during the period of Humanism and the European Renaissance , the term lingua epirotica ' Epirotan language ' was preferred in the intellectual, literary, and clerical circles of

5678-413: Is fulsome. Due to the panegyrical nature of Procopius's Buildings , historians have discovered several discrepancies between claims made by Procopius and accounts in other primary sources. A prime example is Procopius's starting the reign of Justinian in 518, which was actually the start of the reign of his uncle and predecessor Justin I . By treating the uncle's reign as part of his nephew's, Procopius

5845-544: Is part of the Albanian Riviera . The traditionally perceived borders of the Himarë region gradually shrank during the Ottoman period, being reduced to the town of Himarë and the villages of the coastline (Bregdet in Albanian), generally including only Palasë , Dhërmi , Pilur , Kudhës , Vuno , Iljas and Qeparo . The coastal region of Himarë is predominantly populated by an ethnic Greek community. The local population

6012-579: Is spoken in North-western Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by the Arvanites in southern Greece. In addition, Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë people, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily and Calabria . These settlements originated from the (Arvanites) communities probably of Peloponnese known as Morea in

6179-482: Is spoken in the south, and Gheg spoken in the north. Standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect. The Shkumbin River is the rough dividing line between the two dialects. Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg and Southern Gheg. It is primarily spoken in northern Albania, Kosovo , and throughout Montenegro and northwestern North Macedonia . One fairly divergent dialect

6346-422: Is supported by Whitby 's analysis of Procopius's depiction of the capital and its cathedral in comparison to contemporary pagan panegyrics. Procopius can be seen as depicting Justinian as essentially God's vicegerent , making the case for buildings being a primarily religious panegyric. Procopius indicates that he planned to write an ecclesiastical history himself and, if he had, he would probably have followed

6513-560: Is the Upper Reka dialect , which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia , the Arbanasi dialect . Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects, including Northern Tosk (the most numerous in speakers), Labërisht , Cham , Arvanitika , and Arbëresh . Tosk is spoken in southern Albania, southwestern North Macedonia and northern and southern Greece. Cham Albanian

6680-399: Is the most probable. Although Albanian shares lexical isoglosses with Greek , Germanic , and to a lesser extent Balto-Slavic , the vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct. In 1995, Taylor, Ringe , and Warnow used quantitative linguistic techniques that appeared to obtain an Albanian subgrouping with Germanic, a result which the authors had already reasonably downplayed. Indeed,

6847-554: Is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro . Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia , Italy , Romania and in Serbia . Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece , specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece. It

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7014-649: The illustres . Should this information be correct, Procopius would have had a seat in Constantinople's senate , which was restricted to the illustres under Justinian. He also wrote that under Justinian's reign in 560, a major Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built on the site of the Temple Mount . It is not certain when Procopius died. Many historians—including Howard-Johnson , Cameron , and Geoffrey Greatrex—date his death to 554, but there

7181-664: The Acroceraunian School in 1770. Among those who identify as Greeks in Himarë there is near equal proficiency with Albanian. This may be explained by mixed marriages with Albanian elements on the part of the ancestors of the Himarë Greeks, and as the result of the Hellenization of the local Albanian population via policies encouraged by the Greek Orthodox Church up until the time of Albania's founding, accentuated by

7348-426: The Arbëreshë dialect is still spoken. After the death of Skanderbeg, successive waves of Albanians from regions such as Himarë moved to Italy, and often settled in depopulated places; they are known as Arbëreshë . The first school in the region opened in 1627, where lessons were held in the Greek language. The following years (until 1633) Greek-language schools opened also in the villages of Dhërmi and Palasa. During

7515-458: The Congress of Dibra decided that Albanian schools would finally be allowed. Albanian is an isolate within the Indo-European language family; no other language has been conclusively linked to its branch . The only other languages that are the sole surviving members of a branch of Indo-European are Armenian and Greek. The Albanian language is part of the Indo-European language family and

7682-539: The Fascist Italian forces deployed in the region. The town briefly came under Greek control until the German invasion in 1941 . In 2015 the government merged Himarë with the municipalities Horë-Vranisht and Lukovë . The seat of the municipality is the town Himarë . Himarë is composed of three former municipalities which now serve as administrative divisions of the post-2011 municipality: Himarë, Vranisht and Lukovë. In

7849-751: The Gothic siege of Rome that lasted a year and nine days, ending in mid-March 538. He witnessed Belisarius's entry into the Gothic capital, Ravenna , in 540. Both the Wars and the Secret History suggest that his relationship with Belisarius cooled thereafter. When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with a renewal of the war with the Goths , now led by the able king Totila , Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius's staff. As magister militum , Belisarius

8016-558: The Italian campaigns by Belisarius and others against the Ostrogoths . Procopius includes accounts of the 1st and 2nd sieges of Naples and the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd sieges of Rome . He also includes an account of the rise of the Franks (see Arborychoi ). The last book describes the eunuch Narses 's successful conclusion of the Italian campaign and includes some coverage of campaigns along

8183-619: The Janissary of Muhammad Ali Pasha , an Albanian who became Wāli , and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan . In addition to the dynasty that he established, a large part of the former Egyptian and Sudanese aristocracy was of Albanian origin. In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world. Albanian is also spoken by Albanian diaspora communities residing in Australia and New Zealand . The Albanian language has two distinct dialects, Tosk which

8350-773: The Korçë District , Kamnik in Kolonja , Kolsh in the Kukës District , Rashtan in Librazhd , and Nezir in the Mat District . As in other parts of Europe, these PreIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans probably influenced pre-Proto-Albanian ,

8517-704: The League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (present day Bitola ), which decided on which alphabet to use, and what the standardised spelling would be for standard Albanian. This is how the literary language remains. The alphabet is the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ⟨ ë ⟩ , ⟨ ç ⟩ , and ten digraphs : dh , th , xh , gj , nj , ng , ll , rr , zh and sh . According to Robert Elsie : The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 were an age of astounding orthographic diversity in Albania. In this period,

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8684-455: The Russian and French Army, joined the revolutionary forces in today southern Greece, where they played a significant role in the struggle. Many Himariots also joined the revolutionary movement in Greece via Greek commities formed in the Ionian Islands. In 1854, during the Crimean War , a major local rebellion broke out , with Himarë being one of the first towns that joined it. Although the newly founded Greek state tried tacitly to support it,

8851-438: The Secret History was written in 550 and remained unpublished during Procopius' lifetime. The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor Justinian   I . Procopius was the author of a history in eight books on the wars prosecuted by Justinian, a panegyric on the emperor's public works projects throughout the empire, and a book known as the Secret History that claims to report

9018-476: The Secret History would not be proof that Procopius hated Justinian or Theodora. Researcher Anthony Kaldellis suggests that the Secret History is a tale of the dangers of "the rule of women". Procopius's perspective was that women's vices vanquished men's virtuous leadership. For Procopius, it was not that women could not lead an empire, but only women demonstrating masculine virtues were suitable as leaders. Rather than Theodora's true possession of strength, it

9185-489: The Topkapi palace museum in Istanbul . The most famous military corps of the Kingdom of Naples that consisted of Greeks, the Reggimento Real Macedone was initially formed (1735) by Himariots, but after 1739 accepted also Greek fighters from different areas. At the turn of the 18th century various Himariot Albanian captains had their own military troops in the Kingdom of Naples, and they occasionally returned to their homeland in order to recruit new military troops. During

9352-530: The 14th century, but they failed to cite specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the " formula e pagëzimit " (Baptismal formula), Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spertit Senit . ("I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ") recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some New Testament verses from that period. The linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger (University of Vienna) assert that

9519-528: The 18th century to the town of Himarë and six villages. In 1567, Himariots are counted among Albanians that could be rallied against the Ottoman, as they, together with other Albanians, had caused great damage to the Ottomans since 1537. In one occasion, in 1577, the villages of the bishopric of Himarë appealed to the Pope for arms and supplies promising to fight the Ottomans. They also promised to transfer their religious allegiance to Rome, provided that they would retain their Eastern Orthodox liturgical customs;

9686-407: The 1920s. During the struggle for the re-establishment of Greek education in the area (1934-1936) even the Albanian-speaking villages asked for the reopening of Greek schools, however their demand was rejected by the Albanian government. In the spring of 2006, a private Greek-language school opened in the town of Himarë, at the precise location where the Orthodox missionary Cosmas the Aetolian founded

9853-410: The 1990s. In Switzerland , the Albanian language is the sixth most spoken language with 176,293 native speakers. Albanian became an official language in North Macedonia on 15 January 2019. There are large numbers of Albanian speakers in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Canada . Some of the first ethnic Albanians to arrive in the United States were the Arbëreshë. The Arbëreshë have

10020-467: The 2011 census, the three - then independent municipalities - had a total combined population of ~7,800. Lukovë had 2,916 permanent inhabitants, Himarë 2,822 and Vranisht 2,080. Comparatively, the 2015 Albanian Civil Registry offices, which list all Albanian citizens including those who live abroad, put the population of the municipality at 27,049 people. The Himarë municipality has the second lowest population density in Albania after Dropull . The majority of

10187-453: The Albanian and Germanic branches share a relatively moderate number of lexical cognates. Many shared grammatical elements or features of these two branches do not corroborate the lexical isoglosses. Albanian also shares lexical linguistic affinity with Latin and Romance languages. Sharing linguistic features unique to the languages of the Balkans , Albanian also forms a part of the Balkan linguistic area or sprachbund . The place and

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10354-426: The Albanian language was on 14 July 1284 in Ragusa in modern Croatia ( Dubrovnik ) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying on the mountain in the Albanian language" ( Latin : Audivi unam vocem, clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca ). The Albanian language is also mentioned in the Descriptio Europae Orientalis dated in 1308: Habent enim Albani prefati linguam distinctam

10521-435: The Albanian language was put to writing in at least ten different alphabets – most certainly a record for European languages. ... the diverse forms in which this old Balkan language was recorded, from the earliest documents to the beginning of the twentieth century ... consist of adaptations of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets and (what is even more interesting) a number of locally invented writing systems. Most of

10688-453: The Albanian state. The Himarë question in 1921, regarding the rights of "Himariots" and their villages Dhërmi, Vuno, Himarë, Piluri, Kudhës and Qeparo, was supervised by Albanian government representative Spiro Jorgo Koleka. The government concluded that Albanian was obligatory in school, as the official language, while Greek was free to be taught as a second language, as desired by the people. The locals rose in revolt, in 1924, protesting against

10855-473: The Christians of the region had joined in rebellion against the Ottomans. In 1720, the villages of Himarë, Palasa, Ilias, Vuno, Pilur and Qeparo refused to submit to the Pasha of Delvina. In 1759–1760, local leaders sent three letters to the government of the Russian Empire , stating that the population of Himarë was Orthodox Christian, Albanian-speaking (with the educated speaking Greek and the nobility Italian) and willing to join an anti-Ottoman uprising, provided

11022-572: The DP-led alliance 4 seats. In the 2013 governmental elections, the region of Himarë voted 48.3% for the Socialist Party and 25.5% for the Unity of Human Rights party. In the 2015, the elections were held under the new administrative division which includes Himarë, Vranisht and Lukovë. Goro won with 55.6% (14 councillors) of the total vote, Dhionisios Alfred Beleri (PBDNJ) 27.34% (4 councillors), Vladimir Kumi (independent candidate) 10.08%, Lefteri Prifti (backed by PD) 6.98% (3 councillors). In 2019, PD backed by PBDNJ and other smaller parties abstained from

11189-422: The Himariots after declaring their enclave part of his emerging semi-independent state, by financing various public works and churches. A church he built near Himarë, opposite of the Porto Palermo (Panormos) Castle is the largest and most magnificent in the region and still stands today as a major tourist attraction. Ali Pasha's rule over Himarë lasted about 20 years until it was abruptly terminated by his murder at

11356-428: The Himariots claimed that they were once ruled by leaders such as Alexander the Great , Pyrrhus of Epirus and Skanderbeg , personalities with which the Himariotes formed identitarian historical memory; as they later did with the figure of Spyros Spyromilios. The most cited figure with which the Himariots proud themselves through their past is Skanderbeg. The Himarë region was one example where Christian Albanians during

11523-419: The Himarë region appealed to Pope Gregory XIII for arms and supplies against the Ottomans. They promised to switch allegiance from the Orthodox to the Roman Catholic Church, and recognize Philip II of Spain as their sovereign. They asked to retain their Orthodox liturgical customs 'since the majority of the population is Greek and does not understand the Frankish language'. From 1577 to 1765 the population accepted

11690-515: The Islamized Himariots located in the same province, who were portrayed as adversaries of Himarë. The Orthodox - Albanian communities of the Himariots and Souliotes were often in conflict with Ali Pasha of Yanina . In 1797, Ali Pasha , the Muslim Albanian ruler of the de facto independent Pashalik of Yanina , led a raid on the town of Himarë because they supported his enemy, the Souliotes , and more than 6,000 civilians were slaughtered. Two years later, Ali Pasha tried to create good relations with

11857-449: The Latin bishop of Chimara renounced his office and his Catholic faith and submitted to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Himarë was later ruled by Serbian Empire between 1342 and 1372. In 1372 Himarë, together with Vlora, Kanina and Berat region was given as a dowry to Balša II due to his marriage with the daughter of John Komnenos Asen . After the death of Balša II, his widow and his daughter (who married Mrkša Žarković ) managed to keep

12024-510: The Middle Ages. Among them the Arvanites call themselves Arbëror and sometime Arbëresh. The Arbëresh dialect is closely related to the Arvanites dialect with more Italian vocabulary absorbed during different periods of time. The Albanian language has been written using many alphabets since the earliest records from the 15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to

12191-499: The Muslim Albanian communities. Vranisht had a total resident population of 2,080 in the 2011 census. 83% declared themselves as Albanians and the rest didn't provide a reply. More than 75% of the population declared no religion, while 22.6% are Muslims. Vranisht is largely part of the region of Kurvelesh . Lukovë had a total resident population of 2,916 in the 2011 census. 55.8% declared themselves as Albanians, 7.3% as Greeks and

12358-440: The Ottoman period could carry arms and have a rather independent life. In the second half of the 16th century, Himarë was one of the cities of southern Albania that maintained the pre-Ottoman Christian character. It did not have a single Muslim family. By the end of the century, an Italian author states that the Himariots are peoples of Albania who speak Albanian and adhere to the Greek Orthodox rite. The Ottomans managed to register

12525-456: The Ottoman period, judicial authority in Himarë and the surrounding villages was exercised by community courts also known as "councils of elders", that consisted exclusively of laymen. Their decisions was subject to the sanction of the local Orthodox bishop who belonged to the metropolis of Ioannina. In 1632 Albanian schools were founded in Himarë by Neophytos Rodinos . In 1661, both the Muslims and

12692-453: The Ottoman period, the people of Himarë established close links to the Italian city states, especially Naples and the powerful Republic of Venice , which controlled Corfu and the other Ionian Islands, and later with Austro-Hungary . In 1743, Albanian families from Piqeras , Lukovë , Klikursi, Shën Vasil and Nivica-Bubar migrated to Italy and founded the village Villa Badessa in Abruzzo , where

12859-549: The Ottomans. The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent personally mounted an expedition in 1537 that destroyed or captured many surrounding villages but did not manage to subdue the area. The Ottomans found it necessary to compromise with the inhabitants by giving them a series of privileges: local self-government, the right to bear arms, exemption from taxes, the right to sail under their own flag into any Ottoman port and to provide military service in time of war. However, despite

13026-456: The Ottomans. The Albanian rebellion in Himarë was led by Konstantin Muzaka with aid from Krokodeilos Kladas . The uprising failed, but the Himariots rose up again in 1488, and between 1494 and 1509, destabilizing Ottoman control but failing to liberate their territory. In 1501, Himarë was governed by its own elders, and the traditional meeting place of the region was in the locality of Spille, near

13193-683: The Pope as the religious head of the community and identified with the Roman Catholic Church . The success of the Roman Catholic missionaries among the Eastern-rite Albanians in Himarë led to the region becoming a refuge for Orthodox prelates that had converted. Himariotes thus largely adhered to Christian faith, although individual conversions to Islam were recorded from the early 16th century. One of them, Ajaz Pasha , became Grand Vizier and

13360-474: The Russian Empire. When they communicated in Italian, they used a translator, but signed in Greek, with Greek conferments of their names. Their preference of writing in Greek was conscious and not imposed by any conditions or a secretariat. At that time (1730-1750) after extensive Islamization the term "Albanians" in local literature referred to the inhabitants of nearby Kurvelesh province, or as an identifier of

13527-511: The Russians would support a liberation movement of the Greece. The Himariots did revolt in 1767, laying siege to Delvinë and Vlorë , but were eventually defeated by Ottoman reinforcements from nearby regions. This defeat resulted in large numbers fleeing to Apulia and Corfu , where many were recruited as Albanian contingents for the Russian fleet. The Italian missionary Giuseppe Schiro, who visited

13694-698: The Shkumbin river since the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period, straddling the Jireček Line . Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in Greece (the Arvanites and some communities in Epirus , Western Macedonia and Western Thrace ), Croatia (the Arbanasi ), Italy (the Arbëreshë ) as well as in Romania , Turkey and Ukraine . The Malsia e Madhe Gheg Albanian and two varieties of

13861-412: The Tosk dialect, Arvanitika in Greece and Arbëresh in southern Italy, have preserved archaic elements of the language. Ethnic Albanians constitute a large diaspora , with many having long assimilated in different cultures and communities. Consequently, Albanian-speakers do not correspond to the total ethnic Albanian population, as many ethnic Albanians may identify as Albanian but are unable to speak

14028-512: The Wars") is his most important work, although less well known than the Secret History . The first seven books seem to have been largely completed by 545 and may have been published as a set. They were, however, updated to mid-century before publication, with the latest mentioned event occurring in early 551. The eighth and final book brought the history to 553. The first two books—often known as The Persian War ( Latin : De Bello Persico )—deal with

14195-441: The ancestor idiom of Albanian. The extent of this linguistic impact cannot be determined with precision due to the uncertain position of Albanian among Paleo-Balkan languages and their scarce attestation. Some loanwords, however, have been proposed, such as shegë ' pomegranate ' or lëpjetë ' orach '; compare Pre-Greek λάπαθον , lápathon ' monk's rhubarb '. Procopius of Caesarea Apart from his own writings,

14362-634: The capture of Carthage , and remained in Africa with Belisarius's successor Solomon the Eunuch when Belisarius returned east to the capital. Procopius recorded a few of the extreme weather events of 535–536 , although these were presented as a backdrop to Byzantine military activities, such as a mutiny in and around Carthage . He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and experienced

14529-515: The church after archaeological excavations have taken place. The demolition of the religious monument also triggered strong reactions from the European Commission . On the other hand, the vast majority of people in Himarë, who call themselves "Horiani" ( Greek : Χωριανοί ), meaning locals in the local Greek dialect, are bilingual in both Albanian and Greek . In the town of Himarë as well as in nearby villages of Dhërmi and Palasa mainly speak

14696-411: The church of St. Athanasios at Dhërmi . The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned this action. In October 2017 the Albanian authorities proceeded with the demolition of properties belonging to Greek minority members. Due to this development the local inhabitants publicly protested while a large number of Albanian policemen were dispatched to Himarë. In March 2019 the Albanian authorities withdrew

14863-562: The coastal area. He has called his legal issues "politically motivated". His political narrative at the time have been described as " inflammatory nationalist rhetoric to galvanize his power base". In the 2011 elections, a PS-backed coalition fielded Jorgo against him. Goro won 41.97% of the total vote, Bollano 39.25%, Savo Prifti (backed by the right-wing Democratic Party of Albania ) 14.93%, Dhimitri Llazari (backed by MEGA, another Greek community party) 3.84%. The PS-backed alliance won 7 councillor seats, PBDNJ in coalition with MEGA won 6 seats and

15030-561: The conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in Mesopotamia , Syria , Armenia , Lazica , and Iberia (present-day Georgia ). It details the campaigns of the Sassanid shah Kavadh   I , the 532 'Nika' revolt , the war by Kavadh's successor Khosrau   I in 540, his destruction of Antioch and deportation of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, and the great plague that devastated

15197-451: The contact between the various languages. The concept of this linguistic group is explained as a kind of language league of the Bronze Age (a specific areal-linguistics phenomenon), although it also consisted of languages that were related to each other. A common prestage posterior to PIE comprising Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, is considered as a possible scenario. In this light, due to

15364-777: The cultural orientation and knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian writers. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the Latin script . Both dialects had also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic script , Cyrillic , and some local alphabets ( Elbasan , Vithkuqi , Todhri , Veso Bey, Jan Vellara and others, see original Albanian alphabets ). More specifically,

15531-423: The death of Justinian for fear he would be tortured and killed by the emperor (or even by general Belisarius) if the emperor (or the general) learned about what Procopius wrote (his scathing criticism of the emperor, of his wife, of Belisarius, of the general's wife, Antonina: calling the former "demons in human form" and the latter incompetent and treacherous) in this later history. However, most scholars believe that

15698-507: The destruction of government property but his conviction was overturned. On 12 August 2010, ethnic tensions soared after the ethnic Greek shopkeeper Aristotelis Goumas was killed when his motorcycle was hit by a car driven by three Albanian youths with whom Goumas allegedly had an altercation when they demanded that he must not speak Greek to them in his store. Outraged locals blocked the main highway between Vlore and Saranda and demanded reform and increased local Himariote representation in

15865-414: The differences in cultural norms among Christians and Muslims. Albanian is the state language, while Greek is the language of high culture, religion, and the state language of an economically powerful neighbor where many Himariotes now earn their living. The Greek language went through a difficult period between 1946 and 1990, when the Greek population of Himarë could not study in its native language, religion

16032-511: The early 19th century according to Greek scholar and secretary to Ali Pasha Athanasios Psalidas , three villages of the area were considered Greek, while he also stated that there were also some Orthodox Albanian villages in the region. In general, the allegiances of the locals were in a narrow sense to their respective clans (the "phatriae") and areas, and in a broader sense to their Orthodox religion and cultural heritage. The later factors indicate closer links with their Greek co-religionists than to

16199-647: The eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general Mundus repressed with a massacre in the Hippodrome there. In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa , took part in

16366-505: The elections. Goro was re-elected without opposition and PS 63.79% of the total vote for councillor seats, while former mayor Bollano who ran as an independent candidate for a seat in the municipal council got 64 votes in total and wasn't elected. In the local elections of May 15, 2023, Greek minority candidate Dhionisios Alfred Beleri won by a slender margin. Beleri got arrested two days earlier on charges of vote-buying raising diplomatic tensions between Albania and Greece. Beleri's appeal in

16533-463: The empire from 542. The Persian War also covers the early career of Procopius's patron Belisarius in some detail. The Wars ’ next two books—known as The Vandal War or Vandalic War ( Latin : De Bello Vandalico )—cover Belisarius's successful campaign against the Vandal kingdom that had occupied Rome's provinces in northwest Africa for the last century. The final four books—known as The Gothic War ( Latin : De Bello Gothico )—cover

16700-646: The empire's eastern borders as well. The Wars proved influential on later Byzantine historiography. In the 570s Agathias wrote Histories , a continuation of Procopius's work in a similar style. Procopius's now famous Anecdota , also known as Secret History ( Ancient Greek : Ἀπόκρυφη Ἱστορία , Apókryphe Historía ; Latin : Historia Arcana ), was discovered centuries later at the Vatican Library in Rome and published in Lyon by Niccolò Alamanni in 1623. Its existence

16867-416: The eyes of many scholars, the Secret History reveals an author who had become deeply disillusioned with Emperor Justinian, his wife Theodora , the general Belisarius , and his wife Antonina . The work claims to expose the secret springs of their public actions, as well as the private lives of the emperor and his entourage. Justinian is portrayed as cruel, venal, prodigal, and incompetent. In one passage, it

17034-455: The first literary records of Albanian date from the 16th century. The oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari , or "missal", was written in 1555 by Gjon Buzuku , a Roman Catholic cleric. In 1635, Frang Bardhi wrote the first Latin–Albanian dictionary. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in Pdhanë . One of the earliest Albanian dictionaries

17201-408: The former municipality of Horë-Vranisht declared themselves as Albanians, while the rest failed to provide a reply. In the former Lukovë municipality, the population is predominantly Albanian (94%) with a small Greek minority (6%). The Himarë region is a strip approximately 20 km long by 5 km wide, covering a total of 132.13 km, and bounded by the 2000-metre-high Ceraunian mountains to

17368-411: The hands of the Ottoman agents. Himarë subsequently reverted to its status quo ante of an enclave surrounded by Ottoman territory. To emphasize the region's special status, the terms that the Himariots had reached with Suleiman the Magnificent were inscribed on bronze tablets at the request of their leaders, who wanted to record the agreement on a durable medium. These tablets are preserved to this day in

17535-650: The hereditary holders of this position in Himarë, while the Gjika family held the title in Qeparo and the Kasneci family in Vuno. Sopot also had its own Kapedan but lost the privilege prior to the other three aforementioned villages, as was observed when Neapolitan documents relating to the king's recruitments in the region during the end of the 18th century only mentioned a lieutenant and future captain called Giovanni Spiro (Spiromilio), alongside

17702-456: The husband of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka . Following Goro's arrest and resignation, Blerina Bala was elected as caretaker mayor by the Himara council amid protests at the municipality building in support of the jailed Beleri, who is currently challenging his conviction for electoral fraud. Bala will remain in office as caretaker for as long as is needed to hold new elections in

17869-534: The language. Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on Tosk . The language is spoken by approximately 6 million people in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, Kosovo , North Macedonia , Serbia , Montenegro and Greece . However, due to old communities in Italy and the large Albanian diaspora , the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in Southern Europe and numbers approximately 7.5 million. The Albanian language

18036-593: The larger number of possible shared innovations between Greek and Armenian, it appears reasonable to assume, at least tentatively, that Albanian was the first Balkan IE language to branch off. This split and the following ones were perhaps very close in time, allowing only a narrow time frame for shared innovations. Albanian represents one of the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund . Glottolog and Ethnologue recognize four Albanian languages. They are classified as follows: The first attested written mention of

18203-465: The latter alphabets have now been forgotten and are unknown, even to the Albanians themselves. Albanian constitutes one of the eleven major branches of the Indo-European language family , within which it occupies an independent position. In 1854, Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language by the philologist Franz Bopp . Albanian was formerly compared by a few Indo-European linguists with Germanic and Balto-Slavic , all of which share

18370-474: The letter concludes with "From Himarra, i.e. Epiros of the Arvanids [Albanians], on July 12th 1577". The term "Albanian" was used by the Himariots, both as an identifier of local Himariotes, and as an identifier of "otherness" (as for example in letters from 1532 and 1578), which has led some to suggest that it indicated that Himariots consisted of both Albanians and non-Albanians. In various letters to European rulers

18537-454: The lineages was that of Himarë. In 1532, Denis Possot , who travelled through the region, described Albania as divided into three parts: one ruled by the Ottomans, one ruled by the Venetians and the other ruled by the Albanians themselves. He included the Himarë region, which still included all of Labëria , among those ruled by the Albanians. He added that it could field 20,000 warriors against

18704-459: The local police force. The incident was condemned by both the Greek and Albanian governments, and three suspects were charged for the incident. The census of 2011 included ethnicity for the first time, a long-standing demand of the Greek minority in Albania and of international organizations. However, Greek minority representatives found unacceptable article 20 of the Census law, according to which there

18871-547: The main source for Procopius's life is an entry in the Suda , a Byzantine Greek encyclopaedia written sometime after 975 which discusses his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in the province of Palaestina Prima . He would have received a conventional upper class education in the Greek classics and rhetoric , perhaps at the famous school at Gaza . He may have attended law school, possibly at Berytus (present-day Beirut ) or Constantinople (now Istanbul ), and became

19038-559: The middle of June 2023 to have his pre-trial detention lifted was rejected. This turn provoked reactions from the Greek Foreign Ministry. In March 2024, Himara's acting mayor Jorgo Goro was arrested, along with four others, on charges of corruption and abuse of office by order of the Special Anti-Corruption Structure , following accusations made by Beleri. His criminal activities are connected with Artan Gaçi,

19205-419: The more titillating (and dubious) revelations in the Secret History is Procopius's account of Theodora's thespian accomplishments: Often, even in the theatre, in the sight of all the people, she removed her costume and stood nude in their midst, except for a girdle about the groin: not that she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the audience, but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked on

19372-558: The municipality, which will be possible after the final court decision in Beleri's case. While the situation of the Greek minority in Albania has improved since the fall of communism, ethnic tensions in Himarë remain. During the 1994 trial of the Omonoia members, an organization that represents the Greek minority in Albania, three local Greeks were arrested and beaten by the Albanian police after they were found in possession of leaflets calling for

19539-429: The names for fish and for agricultural activities (such as ploughing ) are borrowed from other languages. A deeper analysis of the vocabulary, however, shows that could be a consequence of a prolonged Latin domination of the coastal and plain areas of the country, rather than evidence of the original environment in which the Albanian language was formed. For example, the word for 'fish' is borrowed from Latin, but not

19706-451: The north and Tosk spoken to the south of the Shkumbin river . Their characteristics in the treatment of both native words and loanwords provide evidence that the split into the northern and the southern dialects occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD), and most likely not later than the 6th century AD, hence possibly occupying roughly their present area divided by

19873-457: The northeast and the Ionian Sea to the southwest. There are long white sandy beaches and the few hills close to the sea are terraced and planted with olive and citrus trees. The traditionally perceived borders of the Himarë region gradually shrank during the Ottoman period, being reduced only to the town of Himarë and the villages on the coastline ( Bregdet in Albanian). In antiquity the region

20040-509: The number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million. However, the vast majority of this population is assimilated and no longer possesses fluency in the Albanian language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in Istanbul to this day. Egypt also lays claim to about 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of

20207-412: The only surviving representative of its own branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . Although it is still uncertain which ancient mentioned language of the Balkans it continues, or where in the region its speakers lived. In general, there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, whether Illyrian , Thracian , or Dacian . Among these possibilities, Illyrian

20374-458: The opposite side of emotional spectrum. Justinian was of "approachable and kindly" temperament, even while ordering property confiscations or people's destruction. Conversely, Theodora was described as irrational and driven by her anger, often by minor affronts. Procopius is believed to be aligned with many of the senatorial ranks that disagreed with Justinian and Theodora's tax policies and property confiscations ( Secret History 12.12-14). On

20541-436: The other hand, it has been argued that Procopius prepared the Secret History as an exaggerated document out of fear that a conspiracy might overthrow Justinian's regime, which—as a kind of court historian—might be reckoned to include him. The unpublished manuscript would then have been a kind of insurance, which could be offered to the new ruler as a way to avoid execution or exile after the coup. If this hypothesis were correct,

20708-464: The period of Ali Pasha's rule in the late 18th century Dimo Staphanopoli, a Corsican Greek of the French army, was particularly active in spreading revolutionary ideas and was found in areas receptive to the concept of Greek liberation, such as Himarë. When the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830) broke out, the people of Himarë rose in revolt. The local uprising failed, but many Himariots, veterans of

20875-410: The population for taxation purposes in 1583. Kristo Frashëri describes the list as having predominantly Albanian anthroponymy. The town of Himarë had 130 households and 7 orphans, where the most common names and surnames were Dhima/Dhimo , Gjon , Kont/Kond , Gjin , Gjoka ; the village of Dhërmi had 50 households and 3 orphans, where most common anthroponyms were Gjin , Dhima/Dhimo , Kond , Todor ;

21042-459: The population has left to live in Greece or large cities in Albania. The population of the former Himarë municipality was 2,822 in the 2011 census. 60.38% declared themselves as Albanians, 24.56% as Greeks and 14.00% preferred not to declare any ethnicity at all. 70.5% of the population declared themselves Christian Orthodox, 16.6% as Muslims, 2.7% as Catholics and ~10% declared no religious affiliation. The census results were disputed and affected by

21209-464: The possession of the region up to 1417 when the Ottomans captured Vlora. At the Battle of Kosovo of 1389, contemporary Greek authors list among participants Northern Albanians, those of Himarë, Epirus and the coast. Though in 14th century Byzantine control in Himarë was lost, the local bishop remained under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1431 Himarë became

21376-479: The privileges, the Himariots revolted during the following conflicts: Ottoman–Venetian War (1537–40) , Albanian revolt of 1566–1571 , Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–73) , Morean War (1684–99), Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–18) and the Russo-Turkish wars of the 18th century. On the other hand, Ottoman reprisals depopulated the area and led to forced Islamizations which finally limited the area's Christian population by

21543-444: The rebellion was suppressed by Ottoman forces after a few months. The Himariots were continuously held suspicious of supporting the expansionist plans of Greece in the region, especially during the era of the Albanian national awakening . The leader of Albanian independence, Eqrem Vlora , wrote at the turn of the 19th century that among Himariots there were only 3,000 who had always been Greek-speaking. According to him, they were of

21710-499: The region apparently died out during the 12th century, the last time it is recorded (in a Byzantine tax collection document). In 1278, Nicephorus of Epirus surrendered to the Angevins the ports of Himarë, Sopot and Butrint. As a result, Charles of Anjou controlled the Ionian coast from Himarë to Butrint. It must have returned to Byzantine rule in 1281 after the battle of Berat. In c. 1360

21877-686: The region it became the frequent target of various attackers including the Goths , Avars , Slavs , Bulgars , Saracens and Normans . Himarë is mentioned in Procopius of Caesarea 's Buildings (544) as Chimaeriae , being part of Old Epirus and that a new fortress was built in its location. In 614, the Slavic tribe of the Baiounetai invaded the area and controlled a region from Himarë to Margariti called " Vagenetia ". A local diocese of Cheimara ( Greek : Χειμάρα )

22044-434: The region, wrote during the same period (1722) that the settlements of Himarë (town) , Dhërmi , and Palasë were ethnically Greek, while the rest ethnically Albanian. They all wrote in the Greek dialect of the region in their "in-group" communication, mixed with Albanian, Turkish, Italian and some Arabic words. They used Greek in their correspondence with the Pope and other representatives of western countries, as well as with

22211-519: The release of the arrested Omonoia leaders. In 2008, a number of protests took place with the locals demanding land ownership and autonomy for the region. The house of former mayor of Himarë, Vasil Bollano , has been the target of a bomb attack twice, in 2004 and again in May 2010. In 2009 the ethnic Greek mayor of Himarë ordered the removal of several road signs because they were not written in Greek, but only in Albanian and English. A local court convicted him for

22378-467: The rest being of Greek. From 1989 to 2011, about 3/4 of its population, left the Himarë region. Today the town of Himarë and the settlements of Dhërmi and Palasë, which account for the bulk of the region's population, are inhabited by Greeks, while Pilur, Kudhës, Vuno and Ilias are populated by an Orthodox Albanian population. The village of Qeparo is inhabited by both Greeks (upper neighbourhood) and an Orthodox Albanian population (lower neighbourhood). In

22545-498: The rest didn't provide a reply. ~37% are Muslims, 30.9% are Christian Orthodox, 3.40% are Catholics, 0.6% Bektashi and the rest of the population declared no religious affiliation. In a demographic investigation by Leonidas Kallivretakis in the late 20th century, the population of Lukovë commune and all its villages, 54% were Albanian Christians, 40% were Albanian Muslims and 6% were Greek Christians. The inhabitants of Himarë are predominantly Orthodox Christians. In 1577, 38 chieftains of

22712-511: The rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it. Similarly, the Theodora of the Secret History is a garish portrait of vulgarity and insatiable lust juxtaposed with cold-blooded self-interest, shrewishness, and envious and fearful mean-spiritedness. Among

22879-650: The rule of the Molossian Aeacid dynasty , which included King Pyrrhus of Epirus . When the region was conquered by the Roman Republic in the 2nd century BCE, its settlements were badly damaged and some were destroyed by the Roman General Aemilius Paulus . Himarë and the rest of the southern Balkans passed into the hands of the Byzantine Empire following the fall of Rome, but like the rest of

23046-465: The rules of that genre. As far as known, however, such an ecclesiastical history was never written. Some historians have criticized Propocius's description of some barbarians, for example, he dehumanized the unfamiliar Moors as "not even properly human". This was however, inline with Byzantine ethnographic practice in late antiquity. A number of historical novels based on Procopius's works (along with other sources) have been written. Count Belisarius

23213-415: The scandals that Procopius could not include in his officially sanctioned history for fear of angering the emperor, his wife, Belisarius, and the general's wife. Consequently publication was delayed until all of them were dead to avoid retaliation. Procopius's Wars or History of the Wars ( Ancient Greek : Ὑπὲρ τῶν Πολέμων Λόγοι , Hypèr tōn Polémon Lógoi , "Words on the Wars"; Latin : De Bellis , "On

23380-576: The school of late antique historians who continued the traditions of the Second Sophistic . They wrote in Attic Greek . Their models were Herodotus , Polybius and in particular Thucydides . Their subject matter was secular history. They avoided vocabulary unknown to Attic Greek and inserted an explanation when they had to use contemporary words. Thus Procopius includes glosses of monks ("the most temperate of Christians") and churches (as equivalent to

23547-409: The social order of men standing over women. In Averil Cameron's view, Procopius is more aptly described as a reporter rather than a historian, providing a black-and-white description of events, rather than a deeper analysis of the causes and motives. Cameron argues that his intense political focus and exaggeration of the imperial couple's vices prevent a balanced and holistic perspective, resulting in

23714-426: The stage, without at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered thus with a ribbon, she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat. Furthermore, Secret History portrays Belisarius as

23881-570: The summer of 1473 the chieftain John Vlasis, with a small unit from nearby Corfu and with native Himariot support, took control of the entire coastal region from Sagiada to Himarë, but when the ongoing Ottoman-Venetian war ended (1479) the region was again under Ottoman control. In 1481, one year after the Ottomans had landed in Otranto in southern Italy , the Himariots joined the forces of Gjon Kastrioti II (son of Skanderbeg ) in his uprising against

24048-478: The time that the Albanian language was formed are uncertain. The American linguist Eric Hamp has said that during an unknown chronological period a pre-Albanian population (termed as "Albanoid" by Hamp) inhabited areas stretching from Poland to the southwestern Balkans. Further analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region rather than on a plain or seacoast. The words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, but

24215-503: The time, and used as a synonym for the Albanian language. Published in Rome in 1635, by the Albanian bishop and writer Frang Bardhi, the first dictionary of the Albanian language was titled Latin : Dictionarium latino-epiroticum ' Latin-Epirotan dictionary ' . During the five-century period of the Ottoman presence in Albania , the language was not officially recognised until 1909, when

24382-633: The total vote, Dhimitri Llazari backed by a PD-led coalition 27.62%, Aleks Tato (PS-led coalition) 20.15% and Kosta Andruco 3.07%. At that time, the possibility of victory by the Greek minority Unity for Human Rights Party in the municipal elections in the past triggered nationalist rhetoric, both at the local and even national level, and heightened tensions in the town. During his tenure, Bollano and his aides were accused of handing building permits on their property by locals of Himarë. Since then he has been charged with abuse of power and falsification of administrative documents related to illegal building permits in

24549-480: The traditional view that the split between Gheg and Tosk was in part caused by the phenomenon of nasalization; Elements of Slavic influence in the lexicon are also evident in the local Albanian idiom. Jorgo Goro backed by an electoral alliance led by the Socialist Party of Albania is the mayor of Himarë since 2011 when he defeated Vasil Bollano ( PBDNJ ). Bollano had won the 2007 local elections. He won 49.16% of

24716-458: The treatment of the native words and loanwords from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migrations to the Balkans , which means that in that period (the 5th to 6th centuries AD), Albanians were occupying nearly the same area around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the Jireček Line . References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from

24883-402: The village of Qeparo ; the region at this time consisted of 7 villages - Qeparo, Himarë, Vuno, Sopot (which was divided into two, Shën Vasija and Nivicë Bubari), Dhërmi , Palasë and Kudhës -Perivoli. Certain villages enjoyed more privileges than others, as they were provided with Kapedana - hereditary leaders with military roles, particularly regarding recruitment. The Spiromilio family were

25050-417: The village of Palasë had 95 households, where the most common anthroponyms were Dhima/Dhimo , Jorgo , Pali , Andrea , Nika/Niko . Oliver J. Schmitt notes that in the 16th century Ottoman registers the anthroponyms of Himarë includes not only Albanian, Greek, Orthodox but also Slavic baptismal names . Albanians organized an uprising again in the region of Himarë on 1596 against the Ottoman Empire. During

25217-421: The word for 'gills' which is native. Indigenous are also the words for 'ship', 'raft', 'navigation', 'sea shelves' and a few names of fish kinds, but not the words for 'sail', 'row' and 'harbor'; objects pertaining to navigation itself and a large part of sea fauna. This rather shows that Proto-Albanians were pushed away from coastal areas in early times (probably after the Latin conquest of the region) and thus lost

25384-458: The work postdates the building of the bridge over the Sangarius in the late 550s. Historians consider Buildings to be an incomplete work due to evidence of the surviving version being a draft with two possible redactions. Buildings was likely written at Justinian's behest, and it is doubtful that its sentiments expressed are sincere. It tells us nothing further about Belisarius, and it takes

25551-473: The writers from northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750–1850 period. These attempts intensified after

25718-513: The Οracle of Dodona , dated to the first half of the 4th century BCE and written in the Doric Greek dialect, has the inscription "περὶ τᾶς οἰκήσιος τᾶς ἐγ Χεμαρίων πότερον αὐτεῖ οἰκέωντι;" , which translates as "regarding the settlement by the inhabitants of Himarë, [they submit the question] should (or can) they settle here?". In classical antiquity , Himarë was part of the Kingdom of Epirus under

25885-483: Was Justinian's lack of it that created the impression of strength in her. According to researcher Averil Cameron, the definition of "feminine" behavior in the sixth century would be described as "intriguing" and "interfering". She argues Procopius's intent in including her speech during the Nika riots in the Wars may be to demonstrate that Theodora does not stay in her appropriate role. At his core, Procopius wanted to preserve

26052-523: Was able to credit Justinian with buildings erected or begun under Justin's administration. Such works include renovation of the walls of Edessa after its 525 flood and consecration of several churches in the region. Similarly, Procopius falsely credits Justinian for the extensive refortification of the cities of Tomis and Histria in Scythia Minor . This had actually been carried out under Anastasius I , who reigned before Justin. Procopius belongs to

26219-414: Was already known from the Suda , which referred to it as Procopius's "unpublished works" containing "comedy" and "invective" of Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius and Antonina. The Secret History covers roughly the same years as the first seven books of The History of the Wars and appears to have been written after they were published. Current consensus generally dates it to 550, or less commonly 558. In

26386-470: Was an "illustrious man" ( Latin : vir illustris ; Ancient Greek : ἰλλούστριος , illoústrios ); being his adsessor , Procopius must therefore have had at least the rank of a "visible man" ( vir spectabilis ). He thus belonged to the mid-ranking group of the senatorial order ( ordo senatorius ). However, the Suda , which is usually well-informed in such matters, also describes Procopius himself as one of

26553-410: Was an urban prefect of Constantinople ( praefectus urbi Constantinopolitanae ) who was called Procopius in 562. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect. In fact, some scholars have argued that Procopius died at least a few years after 565 as he unequivocally states in the beginning of his Secret History that he planned to publish it after

26720-409: Was closely related to Illyrian and Messapic . The Indo-European subfamily that gave rise to Albanian is called Albanoid in reference to a specific ethnolinguistically pertinent and historically compact language group. Whether descendants or sisters of what was called ' Illyrian ' by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic , on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in

26887-461: Was formed as noted in a Byzantine Taktikon of the late 10th century (972-976) under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan bishopric of Nicopolis . It is unclear when Albanians and Himarë Greeks arrived in the Himarë region and when contacts between the two groups began. Nevertheless, contacts between them probably started in the 13th and 14th centuries. The use of the name " Chaonia " in reference to

27054-712: Was inhabited by the Greek tribe of the Chaonians . The Chaonians were one of the three principal Greek-speaking tribes of Epirus, along with the Thesprotians and the Molossians . The town of Himarë is believed to have been founded as Chimaira (Χίμαιρα) by the Chaonians as a trading outpost on the Chaonian shore. However, another theory suggests that it comes from Greek χείμαρρος ( cheimarros ), meaning "torrent". An oracular lamella from

27221-453: Was particularly careful in teaching and preaching in the Albanian language, since he considered it to be the most effective method to counter the diffusion of Islam. In August 2015 Albanian police demolished the renovated Orthodox church of Saint Athanasius in Dhermi, as local authorities weeks earlier declared it an "illegal construction". The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania declared it

27388-544: Was prohibited, and relations with Greece were severed. The surrounding towns of Ilias, Vuno, Qeparo, Kudhës and Pilur mainly speak the Lab Albanian dialect , a subdialect of Tosk Albanian . A conservative phonological trait of Lab is the lack of palatalization, making residents speak "shkjip", not "shqip" (as in Arbëresh ). The purported discovery of nasal vowels in the Himarë region and the neighboring Kurvelesh region challenged

27555-432: Was sent by the Ottoman Sultan to put down the 1537 revolt of Himariotes. Even so, crypto-Christianity appeared, particularly in the villages of Fterre, Corraj, and Vuno. Under the request of Himariots to the Pope of Rome, a Basilian mission to Albania took place. Among the missionaries were Nico Catalano and monk Filoteo Zassi, an Arbëreshë . They departed by the end of January 1693 and first stayed in Dhërmi, where they found

27722-451: Was written by poet and novelist Robert Graves in 1938. Procopius himself appears as a minor character in Felix Dahn 's A Struggle for Rome and in L. Sprague de Camp 's alternate history novel Lest Darkness Fall . The novel's main character, archaeologist Martin Padway, derives most of his knowledge of historical events from the Secret History . The narrator in Herman Melville 's novel Moby-Dick cites Procopius's description of

27889-453: Was written in 1693; it was the Italian manuscript Pratichae Schrivaneschae authored by the Montenegrin sea captain Julije Balović and includes a multilingual dictionary of hundreds of the most frequently used words in everyday life in Italian, Slavic, Greek, Albanian, and Turkish . Pre-Indo-European (PreIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PreIE sites existed in Maliq , Vashtëmi , Burimas , Barç , Dërsnik in

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