Phoenice

Start with the wind. Up here on the ridge it comes steadily across the open hilltop, carrying the smell of dry grass, wild thyme, and warm limestone. Under your feet the ground is uneven, a mix of pale rock, loose earth, and the worn edges of old walls. Below you a wide green plain spreads out towards the sea. You are standing on the remains of Phoenice, once one of the most important cities in this corner of the ancient world.

Phoenice sits on a long hill above the modern village of Finiq, a short drive inland from Sarandë. Today the site is quiet. You may share it with a few goats, a shepherd, or an archaeologist working with a trowel. But more than two thousand years ago this hilltop was crowded with houses, temples, cisterns, and public buildings. It was a capital city, and its people could see enemies coming from a long way off.

The city belonged to the Chaonians, one of the main tribes of Epirus. Epirus was the mountainous region that today crosses the border between southern Albania and northwestern Greece. The Chaonians were Greek-speaking, and they were proud of their land. Phoenice became their political centre. The Greek historian Polybius, writing in the second century before Christ, called it the strongest and wealthiest city in Epirus. When you look at this position, it is easy to understand why.

The name itself is a small puzzle. Phoenice sounds like the Greek word for Phoenicia, and some people have connected it to Phoenician traders. Others link it to the word for a palm tree, or to the reddish colour of the soil. No single explanation is certain. So when you hear a confident story about the name, treat it as one theory among several. The hill keeps that secret, at least for now.

Wealth attracts attention. In 230 BC, raiders from the Illyrian kingdom to the north, sent during the reign of Queen Teuta, attacked Phoenice. According to Polybius, Gallic mercenaries hired to defend the city opened the way to the attackers. The city fell. Polybius told this story as a warning about trusting hired soldiers. For the people who lived here, it was a hard lesson about how quickly a strong place could be lost.

Now here is something most visitors do not know. A small hilltop city in southern Albania appears in the history of Rome. In 205 BC, Rome and King Philip the Fifth of Macedon signed a peace agreement here. Historians call it the Peace of Phoenice. It ended what is known as the First Macedonian War. Rome and Macedon would fight again later, but for a moment the great powers of the Mediterranean made their deal on this ridge.

As you walk, look closely at the foundations. Much of what survives is low walling — lines of cut stone that show where rooms, streets, and terraces once stood. Some blocks are large and carefully fitted, typical of the Hellenistic period, the centuries after Alexander the Great when Greek culture spread across a wide area. Other walls are rougher and later. Together they show many generations of building, repair, and rebuilding on the same ground.

One of the most interesting discoveries here is the theatre. It was cut into the slope of the hill, so the audience sat on the natural curve of the land. From the seats, spectators would have looked out across the plain while they watched plays, speeches, or public gatherings. Stand near it for a moment. Try to imagine the sound of a voice carrying across the stone, and the wide sky above an open-air crowd.

Water was always a serious problem on a dry hilltop. The people of Phoenice solved it with cisterns, large underground tanks that collected rainwater. You can find traces of these cut into the rock across the site. They were essential in summer and even more essential during a siege. A city can have strong walls, but without water it cannot hold out. These quiet hollows in the ground were part of what made Phoenice so strong.

Archaeology here has a long story of its own. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Italian archaeologist Luigi Maria Ugolini carried out excavations at Phoenice. He also worked at nearby Butrint. Much later, starting around the year 2000, a joint Albanian and Italian team returned to study the site again. Their work continues to uncover houses, tombs, and new details about daily life. In other words, the city is still being discovered.

Phoenice did not end with the Greeks. Under Roman rule it remained an inhabited town, and in late antiquity it became a Christian centre with its own bishop. Remains of a church have been found on the hill. So the same ground served pagan temples, Roman citizens, and early Christian worshippers. Each period left its own layer. Walking across the site, you are moving through several worlds stacked on top of each other.

Now turn towards the view. On a clear day you can follow the plain towards the coast. To the west lies the lagoon near Butrint, and beyond it the sea. On the horizon you may see the long shape of the Greek island of Corfu. This view explains a lot. From here, the Chaonians could watch roads, valleys, and the approach from the water. Power in the ancient world often began with simply seeing far.

Take a final moment before you leave. Listen to the wind moving through the grass and the stones. Notice the warm light on the pale rock and the shadows inside the old foundations. Once this was a capital where treaties were signed and armies arrived. Today it is mostly silence, open sky, and the plain below. As you walk back down the hill, look over your shoulder once more. The ridge still holds its place above the valley, just as it always has.