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106-581: It appears that the site of Oricum was uninhabited before the 6th century BC. In the early period contacts between the Greeks and the local Illyrians were evidently absent in the hinterland of the site. Early Greek sources describe Orikos as a harbor ( Greek : λιμήν , limen ). Findings from the proto-urban period in Orikos provide evidence of extensive contacts primarily with the Greek world. Like other ports of southern Illyria,

212-512: A Locrian – Euboean colony and calls it a πόλισμα polisma . Pausanias reported that the sculptor of the Apollonian monument was the Athenian Lykios, son of Myron . If correct, this information would provide a further clue to the chronological dating of the monument, since Lykios has been probably active in the 440s and 430s. The city bears the same name as Thronion , the chief city of

318-464: A Euboean presence in the area of Orikos dating back to the 8th century BC, but on the other hand the archaeological material found so far in the region does not precede the 6th century BC. Various other events described in Greek mythology are associated to Oricum; Geryon was said to have pastured his cattle in the area around Oricum, while Helenus stopped at Oricum. 3rd century B.C. author Apollonius of Rhodes mentions in his work Argonautica that

424-561: A Greek model. It is firstly identified as a Greek polis within the territory of Illyrian Amantia in the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax (mid-4th century BC). At the beginning of the Hellenistic period Oricum appears to have already acquired the status of polis with its own territory. Pyrrhus gained control of Oricum, incorporating it into the State of Epirus during his rule (early 3rd century BC). After

530-570: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

636-556: A citizen of Orikos. The inscription mentions the chôra of Orikos. Based on inquiries from Oricum to Dodona it has been suggested that in Oricum some dialectal variations of the local northwest Greek dialect might have existed as in the rest of northern Epirus. In c. 450 BC the nearby polis of Apollonia was expanded towards the south after the victory it achieved against Thronium in the Bay of Aulon . This may indicate Apollonia's incursion into

742-552: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

848-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

954-531: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

1060-527: A geographical perspective, the territory of Epirus hardly goes beyond the Ceraunian Mountains, which represent a natural border that is difficult to cross. Available data indicate that Orikos became part of state of Epirus only during the Kingdom of Pyrrhus of Epirus (early 3rd century BC). The territory of Orikos is delimited by high mountains on its western, southern and eastern sides: Maja e Çikës in

1166-516: A lagoon, which was sufficiently deep to have allowed the sheltering of Caesar's ships during his arrival in the port. Two channels placed on the sides of the island connect the lagoon with the Bay. The Acroceraunian Mountains protect the area from the winds that come from the south and from the west. Oricum has a very fertile hinterland. The mountains surrounding the Dukat valley continuously supply it with water, and

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1272-472: A part of a colonization of the area from Euboea, which so far has not yet been proven by modern research. Thronion most likely was located on the southern border of the chora of nearby Apollonia , which expanded its territorial control to the south after conquering Thronion around 450 BCE. The data from Pausanias and the Apollonian conquest of the city support the placement of the Euboean colony of Thronion on

1378-616: A sanctuary of Apollon Nomios was located at Oricum which included altars of the Nymphs and the Moirai founded by Medea . Aphrodite and Eros were also worshiped. From around 230 to 168 BC the city issued its own coins with the Greek legend ΩΡΙΚΙΩΝ ('of the Oricians'). A monumental fountain ( nymphaeum ), previously thought to be a theatre, was also used as a cistern with diameter of 10 m (33 ft). No drinkable water springs were nearby so

1484-481: A transfer of the ancient city has occurred from the site of Triport to the site of modern Vlorë. Admitting that Triport corresponds to Thronion, conquered by Apollonia in the 5th century BC, Apollonia's territory was close to Orikos , which would explain Orikos' probable imitation of an Apollonian coin type, intended to facilitate trade. The shores of the Bay of Vlorë on the Illyrian coast, which are characterised by

1590-508: A very thick forest covers the Llogara pass. There was a significant number of rural settlements in the hinteland of the ancient city. Strabo mentions that Oricum owned a seaport, Panormos . In another passage he mentions Panormos as a large harbor at the centre of the Ceraunian Mountains, which has tentatively been identified with present-day Porto Palermo on the Ionian coast . The area of Oricum

1696-766: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

1802-742: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

1908-474: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

2014-474: Is found now partially submerged. The city was attested by Ancient Greek epigraphy as Θρόνιον (Thronion), inscribed on a monument erected by Apolloniates in Olympia , as well as on an official inquiry of the oracle of Dodona . The Apollonian monument at Olympia was found by archaeologist Emil Kunze , but it was already documented by ancient geographer Pausanias (2nd century CE), who mentioned Thronion as

2120-581: Is identified as a λιμήν ( limen harbor in Greek) in his description of the coast of Epirus. Hecataeus also states that Oricum is located on the northern edge of the Acroceraunian which marks the border of Epirus. In the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax (4th century BC) Orikos is identified for the first time as a Greek polis ('Ελληνίς πόλις) located within the territory of Amantia , the latter being regarded as an Illyrian city. According to Pseudo-Scylax Oricum marked

2226-407: Is mentioned by Virgil and Sextus Propertius . Later Oricum "became more of a civilian settlement, and the few remains which can be seen today date from the 1st century BC or later. 2nd century senator Herodes Atticus built a theater at Oricum however it was later destroyed by an earthquake. Herodes stayed there for a time period probably as part of his exile. The city experienced a decline during

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2332-510: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

2438-592: Is separated from the Ionian coast by the Ceraunian Mountains, and connected to it only by the difficult Llogara Pass at over 1000 meters of altitude. Rather than conjecturing a phase in which Oricum might have extended its area of regional influence as far as Porto Palermo wresting it from the Chaonians and the city of Chimara , it is much more likely that Strabo uses the term Panormos ( lit. "safe landing place") to define, in two different passages two distinct ports: one of

2544-795: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Thronion (Illyria) Thronion ( Ancient Greek : Θρόνιον )

2650-518: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

2756-758: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

2862-630: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

2968-509: The Acroceraunia , and he provides a vivid description of its surrender in Book 3 of his De Bello Civili : But as soon as Caesar had landed his troops, he set off the same day for Oricum: when he arrived there, Lucius Torquatus, who was governor of the town by Pompey's appointment, and had a garrison of Parthinians in it, endeavored to shut the gates and defend the town, and ordered the Greeks to man

3074-501: The Amantes and Nikaia of the Bylliones , where polygonal walls and cyclopean ramparts were built around mid-5th century BCE. Territorial modifications apparently took place in this sector during the 4th century BCE, with a withdrawal of Apollonia onto its previous domain. The wealth of Thronion may have derived in part from control of the bitumen mines around present-day Selenica , until

3180-795: The Bay of Vlorë , to Euboean legendary heroes returning from the Trojan War. The same legend linked to the nostoi is taken up by Pausanias (2nd century CE) about the region of Thronion, a city which was to have been founded by a group of Locrians and Abantes – the Homeric designation of the Euboeans – during their return from the Trojan conflict. The Euboean presence in the Adriatic, asserted by ancient literature but so far not corroborated by archaeological material, remains very problematic. Only more in-depth research in

3286-486: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

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3392-510: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

3498-821: The Iron Age have been found in Dukat, in the hinterland of Oricum. Exchanges with the other side of the Adriatic and the Aegean World are found in the area. The architectural similarity with the tumulus of Torre Santa Sabina in Brindisi , Apulia , provides evidence of communication and interaction between the two shores of the Adriatic. The earlier graves offered a variety of Middle Helladic findings, Aegean type knives and Minyan ware probably of local manufacture. Naue II type swords, typical of 12th century Mycenaean Greek culture found through Albania and Greece were also unearthed. Around

3604-647: The Locrians . Pausanias places Thronion in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains and on the fringes of Abantis , which was the Hellenistic Greek interpretation of Amantia , the latter being attested by Pseudo-Scylax (mid-4th century BCE) who located it in southern Illyria, corresponding to the hinterland of the Bay of Vlorë . The interpretation of the toponym Amantia as Abantia besides mythological stories has been rationalized by ancient authors as

3710-568: The Provincia Jericho et Caninon , it appears in the imperial chrysobull granted to Venice in 1198 by Alexios III Angelos . During the Ottoman Empire the harbor of Oricum was renamed Pashaliman , 'the Pasha's harbour', and the lagoon still bears this name, as does the nearby Albanian navy base . The periegesis of Pseudo-Scymnus ( c. 100 BC) reported the tradition according to which

3816-558: The Roman imperial era. In that period the nearby port of Aulona appears to have gained more prominence. The restoration of the city by Herodes Atticus and the omission of the name of the city in the Tabula Peutingeriana , unlike that of Aulona which is recorded, provide evidence of its decline. In the 11th–12th centuries, Oricum, now known as Jericho ( Greek : Ἱεριχὼ ), formed a Byzantine province along with Kanina and Aulon . As

3922-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

4028-401: The 11th–10th centuries BC the first imports from southern Italy appear in the Dukat plain. In the early historical period the findings from the hinterland of Oricum reveal no contacts between the Greeks and the local Illyrian population. Despite the absence of archaeological evidence, Euboeans and Phoenicians might have established trade routes along the eastern shores of the Adriatic (including

4134-465: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

4240-506: The 8th–6th century BC to establish new settlements. Little is known about the exact status of the port and the origins of the city's urbanisation. Orikos, like Epidamnos , could have served as a stopover for merchant ships coming from Corinth and heading towards the Po delta and the port of Spina , where many Corinthian vases from the 6th century BC are found. Findings from the proto-urban period provide evidence of extensive contacts primarily with

4346-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

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4452-502: The Greek colonial associations of the Bay of Aulon (i.e. the area called Abantis ), and the barbarians of the hinterland. Before 460 BCE a war was fought between Apollonia and Thronion. Apolloniates won and conquered Thronion, and the conquerors were satisfied obtaining the fringes of the territory of the Amantes . By conquering Thronion, the Apolloniates had achieved two goals: they had substantially enlarged their territory towards

4558-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

4664-491: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

4770-520: The Greek towns in Illyria serving as a base during Rome's wars with the Illyrians and with Macedonia (which occupied it for a time). In 214 Philip V of Macedonia raided the Illyrian coast with 120 lembs , briefly taking Oricum and besieging Apollonia . Oricum asked Rome protection against Philip, and the city was quickly recovered by Roman propraetor of the fleet Marcus Valerius Laevinus . Laevinus crossed

4876-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

4982-486: The Greek world. As in the ports of Apollonia and Dyrrachion, Korkyrean merchants certainly conducted trade activities in the port of Orikos, as evidenced by the presence of Korkyrean coins from the 5th–4th centuries BC. The ports of southern Illyria were places of exchange of products and a meeting point between the outside world and the Illyrians located in the hinterland of the coastal cities. The settlement developed towards

5088-661: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

5194-635: The Illyrian hinterland and had also acquired a profitable source of money. It gave the Apolloniates control over the lower valley of the Shushicë river, a tributary of the Aoös (modern Vjosa), and consolidated their control over the sanctuary of Nymphaion and the area of the bitumen mines of present-day Selenicë , located to the east of the confluence of the Shushicë into the Aoös. Through that expansion Apollonia benefitted from

5300-635: The Roman victory against the Illyrians, in 228 BC Oricum became part of the Roman protectorate in Illyricum. During the Macedonian Wars Oricum was involved in the conflicts between Rome and Macedon in the Illyrian territory that Rome had aimed to protect and control periodically for thirty years, since the First Illyrian War . Oricum experienced a phase of great prosperity in the period between

5406-435: The Roman protectorate which comprised the territories of the ports of Orikos, Apollonia and Dyrrhachium. During the civil war between Caesar and Pompey in Illyria, Lissus , Dyrrhachium , Apollonia and Orikos obeyed Pompey. Pompey's mastery of the ports of the Illyrian coast forced Caesar to land at Palaeste , south of the Acroceraunian mountains. Oricum was the first city taken by Julius Caesar after his arrival on

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5512-458: The Roman victory in the First Illyrian War , Illyrian Queen Teuta was forced to retreat to the Bay of Kotor , and in 228 BC the Romans imposed a protectorate on the islands of Issa and Corcyra , as well as on the cities of Epidamnos , Apollonia and Oricum. The protectorate area corresponded to the usage of the Roman concept of Illyricum . It had military importance under Roman rule, being among

5618-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

5724-708: The ancient Palaeste in Epirus to the south of the Karaburun Peninsula in open sea. However the Llogara Pass is difficult to cross, as highlighted also by Caesar in the De Bello Civili describing his military operations in the area during the Great Roman Civil War in winter 48 BC. Oricum was not a very favorable harbor, because it was located far from the main sea and land routes. The city based its economy on

5830-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

5936-427: The best harbors, had already been occupied in early times, as implied by the fact that Corinthians settled the site of Apollonia (around 600 BCE) and not the shores of the Bay. During the Greek colonisation the coastal area of the Bay was settled by Archaic Greek colonists, who traditionally founded Orikos , Thronion and Aulon on those shores. The hinterland of the bay was inhabited by Illyrians . Thronion

6042-427: The city and its territory most probably because Oricum was surrounded by mountains and due to the friendly relation towards its neighbors: the Chaonians, Apollonia and the Amantes. Hellenistic brick-structured graves were largely found in Apollonia , Amantia and Oricum in southern Illyria, as well as in parts of Chaonia , specifically in Phoenice . These type of graves appeared for the first time in Apollonia around

6148-409: The city had to collect rain water. Below, there is also an as yet unexcavated temple, and at a certain distance lies an altar that is dedicated to Dionysus . A large portion of the city found is still underwater, as a helicopter ride can show the outlines of houses underwater, indicating that the coast around the port of Oricum had slowly submerged into the sea. Traces of walls have been found around

6254-512: The city was founded by Euboeans on the Illyrian coast, blown off their route on their return home from Troy by strong winds. It remains uncertain whether the myth of the foundation reported in the periegesis is to be considered as historically relevant or whether it is merely an attempt to attribute a glorious Homeric past to the city aiming to justify a Greek presence on the Illyrian coast. The first hypothesis can be supported by some other elements in literary traditions, seeming to witness to

6360-412: The city, evidence shows that it was repaired during Byzantine times. About the supreme official of Oricum publications by local archaeologists state that it was either the prytanis or the strategos ; the prytanis is an institution of Epirote origin, while the title of strategos reveals influence from nearby Corfu. Near the city can be found the Marmiroi Church . This is a church of dating back to

6466-476: The coastal site of Triport located northwest of Vlorë and in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains . On this site a large fortified port-town that was inhabited from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century CE is found, now partially submerged. The site of Triport has been also identified with ancient Aulon , which appeared in historial sources starting form the 2nd century CE. Those identifications are not in contradiction with each other. It has been suggested that

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6572-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

6678-407: The eastern point of the narrowest stretch of the sea – the Strait of Otranto – which connects the Iapygian promontory in southeastern Italy with Albania. From pre-colonial times until the Hellenistic period the Strait of Otranto was the main east-west sea route, which, with a distance of around 72 km, required about twelve hours of navigation with very favorable wind. In Roman times, a shift to

6784-429: The end of Illyria and the beginning of Chaonia and Epirus a fact already known from the 6th century B.C by Hecataeus. Also according to Pseudo-Scymnus in the 2nd century BC the end of the Illyrian land was around Oricum in the Bay of Vlorë . Pseudo-Scymnus as well as Lucian attribute to Oricum a Greek foundation. Ptolemy locates Oricum in Chaonia. Similarly Flavius Philostratus in the 2nd century AD states that Oricum

6890-448: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

6996-425: The exploitation of new fertile lands. With the spoils of Thronion, the Apolloniates erected a monument at Olympia celebrating their victory and conquest. This turn may have also been the result of Apollonia's increasing power towards nearby Epirote lands. After the Apollonian conquest of Thronion, the region experienced the development of indigenous proto-urban settlements into urban settlements, like Amantia of

7102-447: The field will be able to provide more precise answers about what appears to have been more pre-colonial contact than permanent settlement. The populations of the area developed colonial myths which linked them to the legendary heroes returning from the Trojan War. Thronion claimed descent from Greek heroes. Based on this tradition the founding colonists named the settlement Thronion after the Locrian city located in Euboia and its region

7208-422: The first one taken by Caesar, who used it as an important naval base in his military operations. The inhabitants of the city were described as Graeci ("Greeks") by Caesar. The city experienced a decline during the Roman imperial era, when the nearby port of Aulon (modern Vlorë ) appears to have gained more prominence. Oricum, placed at the end of the Karaburun Peninsula (ancient Akrokeraunia ), constitutes

7314-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

7420-437: The harbors of the Bay of Vlorë placed along the south-eastern coast of the Acroceraunian/ Karaburun promontory that directly pertained to Oricum, and Porto Palermo on the Ionian coast. Orikos was originally on an island, but already in ancient times it became connected to the mainland; it covered an area of 5 hectares (12 acres), but archaeological remains are scarce. The establishment of trading posts on small offshore islands

7526-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

7632-409: The last two centuries of the Hellenistic era compared to those of the coast of southern Epirus that witnessed depressed economies. The city ethnonym of Orikos is attested in a 3rd century BC Korkyrian decree and a 3rd century BC oracle inquiry from Orikos as well as on coins of the city dating to the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. The city seems to have been completely independent in the period 230–215 BC. After

7738-463: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

7844-412: The late 3rd and the early 1st centuries BC, much like other cities in northern Epirus at the time. In the Roman period Oricum was one of the principal harbors of the new province of Epirus Nova, in the province of Macedonia . During the conflicts of the Great Roman Civil War between Caesar and Pompey in Illyria, Oricum was one of the ports of the Illyrian coast that obeyed to Pompey. However it became

7950-590: The link to the northern routes, while the routes to Korkyra and to the southeastern destinations, such as the Ambracian Gulf , were granted by Panormos , a harbor located in the middle of the Ceraunian Mountains . Orikos is located on the large valley of Dukat , at the foot of the Karaburun Peninsula and on the road leading to the Llogara Pass . This mountain pass connects the valley of Dukat in Illyria with

8056-621: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

8162-564: The middle of the 5th century BC, and it was built on a Greek model. The first account that described it as a Greek polis was provided around the mid-4th century BC by Pseudo-Skylax . In the Classical period Orikos was likely part of the peraia of Korkyra , which was mentioned by Thucydides . A 5th century BC oracular tablet in Dodona written in the Corinthian alphabet contains the inquity of

8268-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

8374-497: The natural resources of the Acroceraunians: timber for ships and limestone from the quarries of the peninsula. The solid limestone was cut into large square blocks by digging channels on three sides. From the archaic period until Roman imperial times the limestone was transported to Apollonia and Dyrrhachium Orikos is firstly mentioned in ancient sources by Hecataeus of Miletus and Herodotus ( fl. 6th century BC), where it

8480-528: The north took place, using the Brundisium - Dyrrachium route, which was considered safer, although being longer. The Akrokeraunian Mountains have served as a navigation landmark for the ships. From Italy the navigators could have turned left towards Illyria or right towards Epirus and beyond towards the Aegean Sea; from the south they could have continued straight towards Illyria, or turned left towards Italy; from

8586-515: The north, they could have continued straight towards Epirus and beyond the Aegean, or turned right towards Italy. The usage as navigation landmark instead of stopping points of the Akrokeraunian Mountains is due to the fact that, except for a few small bays, its topography does not feature large harbors. The closest ports are those of Oricum, Aulona and Triport to the north, and Panormos to

8692-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

8798-521: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

8904-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

9010-589: The region of Chaonia as well as the annexation of barbarian territory on the left bank of the Aous, as far south as Oricum. From epigraphic material it can be inferred that at the beginning of the Hellenistic period Oricum had already acquired the status of polis with its own territory. A tablet dating to the third quarter of the 4th century BC reports that Orikos and Kerkyra have made an alliance ( sympoliteia ). During his rule (early 3rd century BC) Pyrrhus of Epirus gained control of Oricum. No fortifications are found in

9116-521: The reign of the Byzantine emperor Theodore I . It has a small 6 by 9 meters (20 by 30 ft) main hall and a dome approximately 3 meters (9.8 ft) in diameter that is supported by four Roman arches. The inner walls feature fragments of typical Byzantine murals. [1] Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

9222-523: The sea to Illyria, intervening immediately because in Philip V's hands, Oricum and Apollonia would have been good naval bases for a Macedonian attack upon Italy. After Philip V's defeat against the Romans, the Illyrian territory was divided into two parts: the independent kingdom of Pleuratus which comprised the northern territory of the Ardiaei with Scodra and Lissus , Dassaretia with Pelion , Lychnidus ; and

9328-453: The second half of the 4th century BC, and began to spread widely in the areas of Amantia and Oricum around the second half of the 3rd century BC. In the hinterland of Oricum another type of grave appeared, brick-structured graves with false archways. The building characteristics of the graves indicate that Oricum had developed a local tradition in burial architecture. Oricum became among the largest cities in northern Epirus that prospered during

9434-432: The site of Oricum) following the same networks that had been traversed previously during the Mycenaean period. It is not known whether Orikos was originally a Euboean colony on the Illyrian coast as reported in ancient literature. As a Euboean foundation it would date back to about the mid 8th century BC, probably established as an Eretrian emporium , or as a harbor by Eretrian refugees from Kerkyra after this island

9540-451: The site of Orikos was a place of exchange of products and a meeting point between the outside world and the Illyrians located in the hinterland. In the Classical period Orikos was likely part of the peraia of Korkyra . The polis of Orikos was founded as a southern Greek colony rather than an indigenous foundation. The settlement developed towards mid-5th century BC, and it was built on

9646-411: The south of the territory of Apollonia and in front of the Acroceraunian Mountains , the natural boundary between ancient Epirus and Illyria . Thronion was conquered by nearby Apollonia before 460 BCE. Thronion has been identified with the site of Triport northwest of present-day Vlorë , Albania , where a large fortified port-town that was inhabited from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century CE

9752-416: The south. But in classical antiquity these port towns have always been overshadowed by the more prominent port of Apollonia . Admitting that Triport corresponds to Thronion , which was conquered by Apollonia around mid-5th century BC, Apollonia's territory was close to Orikos, which would explain Orikos' probable imitation of an Apollonian coin type, intended to facilitate trade. The harbor at Orikos ensured

9858-568: The southeast; the Lungara massif in the east that stretches north towards Kaninë and Drashovicë near Vlorë ; Rrëza e Kanalit and the Karaburun peninsula in the southwest. Those mountains form the triangular shape of the Dukat plain. The region is opened in the north towards the Bay of Vlorë on the Adriatic Sea . The site of Oricum forms an island that is separated from the edge of the Bay of Vlorë by

9964-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

10070-467: The walls, and to take arms. But as they refused to fight against the power of the Roman people, and as the citizens made a spontaneous attempt to admit Caesar, despairing of any assistance, he threw open the gates, and surrendered himself and the town to Caesar, and was preserved safe from injury by him. (III:12) Caesar also calls the inhabitants of Oricum " Graeci ", no doubt due to the fact that they spoke Greek. Orician terebinth ( "Oricia terebintho" )

10176-562: Was a common practice by Eretrian colonists from Euboia. Eretrian presence in Oricum would indicate that at that time the Corinthians were not interested in the Illyrian mainland. The earliest traces of human life in the area of Oricum (rock shelter at Rrëza e Kanalit) belong to the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic . Two Illyrian tumuli used in a period spanning from the Bronze Age to

10282-568: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

10388-549: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

10494-546: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

10600-411: Was an Ancient Greek city on the Illyrian coast, in the Bay of Vlorë on the southern Adriatic Sea . Although the earliest contacts appear to have been more pre-colonial activity rather than permanent settlement, an ancient, still archaeologically unproven tradition claims that the city was founded as a Locrian – Euboean colony on the fringes of the territory of the Amantes . Thronion was located to

10706-450: Was conquered by the Corinthians , although the latter hypothesis is less likely. Archaeological evidence has shown that the site of Oricum was not inhabited before the 6th century BC, however the lack of artifactual confirmation does not necessary mean that the Euboean seafarers did not reach these parts at an earlier era. The site appears to possess all the characteristics of places that were typically chosen by Greek expedition movements of

10812-602: Was located in Epirus. Placed on the foot of the Ceraunian Mountains, in a broader context Oricum is located in a border zone between the Epirotes, more specifically the Chaones located south of the Acroceraunians mountains, and the Illyrians whose southernmost territory is located at the foot of this mountain. Being on that geographic border caused misunderstandings among ancient authors about Oricum's location in Illyria or Epirus. From

10918-557: Was named Abantis after the name used for Euboea by Homer. It was probably nearby Apollonia , which identified itself with the Trojan side, that initiated the interpretation of the conflict between Trojans and Greeks, in contrapposition to the people of Thronion, the Greek Abantes , which were assimilated by homonymy to the local Amantes . Pausanias' data have been compared with the information provided by an Apollonian commemorative monument, suggesting an "oppositional ethnicity" between

11024-462: Was traditionally supposed to be founded as a Locrian – Euboean colony on the Illyrian coast. According to part of the ancient literary tradition, the Euboeans were the first colonizers of the Adriatic Sea . Plutarch (1st–2nd centuries CE) alludes to an Euboean presence in Korkyra , and Pseudo-Scymnus (2nd century BCE) attributes the founding of Orikos , on the Illyrian coast at the southern end of

11130-566: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

11236-653: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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