Ἐπίδαμνος: Difference between revisions

|wketx=The ancient Greek city of [[Epidamnos]] or [[Epidamnus]] (Greek: [[Ἐπίδαμνος]]), (Albanian: Epidamni) later the Roman [[Dyrrachium]] ([[Δυρράχιον]]) (Albanian: Dyrrahu) (modern Durrës, Albania), was founded in 627 BC in Illyria by a group of colonists from Corinth and Corcyra (modern Corfu). Aristotle's Politics several times draws for examples on the internal government of Epidamnos, which was run as a tight oligarchy that appointed a ruling magistrate; tradesmen and craftsmen were excluded from power, until internal strife produced a more democratic government. The exiled oligarchs appealed to Corcyra while the democrats enlisted the help of Corinth, initiating a struggle between the two mother cities described by Thucydides as a cause of the Peloponnesian War. Individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden at Epidamnos: all traffic was through the authorized city agent or poletes[citation needed]. In the fourth century BC the city-state was part of the kingdoms of Cassander and Pyrrhus. The general vicinity of Epidamnus was called Epidamnia.