Place · city

Durrës

Also known as Dyrrhachium, Epidamnos, Durazzo, Epidamnus, Dyrrachium

Durrës is a port city on the Adriatic coast of Albania, founded around 627 BCE by Greek colonists from Corinth and Corcyra under the name Epidamnos. The Romans called it Dyrrhachium and made it the starting point of the Via Egnatia to Thessalonica and Constantinople. Contested by Byzantines, Normans, Venetians and Ottomans, it served as Albania's capital from 1914 to 1920 and is now its second city.

Durrës
Image: Attila Terbócs · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 profiles

First Bulgarian EmpireDeclineKingdom of NaplesGovernance

Mentioned in 9 state histories

CorcyraTaulantiiDardanian KingdomKingdom of Albania (medieval)Zeta under the BalšićiPrincipality of Albania (medieval)Provisional Government of AlbaniaRepublic of Central AlbaniaPrincipality of Albania

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Durrës. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/durres
MLA
“Durrës.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/durres. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Durrës.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/durres.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Durrës’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/durres (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻