Durazzo

Durazzo (in Turkish Dratsch; Slav Druz; the Greek Epidamnus and Roman Dyrrhachiunt), a port of Albania, on the Adriatic, 50 miles S. of Scutari. The port is silting up, and the fortifications are in ruins. A Corcyrean colony at Epidamnus brought about the Peloponnesian war by getting into conflict with their parent city in 426 B.C. In Roman times the town was an important stage on the road to Greece, and is associated with the history of Caesar and Pompey. In 1081 it was the scene of hostilities between Robert Guiscard and Alexander Comnenus. Only a few fragments of the ancient city remain.