Apollonia is one of Albania's great archaeological treasures: the ruins of a Greco-Roman city that, at its height, was a major commercial, political and cultural centre on the Adriatic. Founded by Greek settlers in the 6th century BC and dedicated to the god Apollo, it flourished first as a Greek polis and later as a prosperous Roman city, famous for its schools of rhetoric and philosophy, which attracted students from all over the Mediterranean.
Today the site spreads across olive-covered hills overlooking the countryside, and offers an evocative walk among monuments that speak of that splendour: the elegant 'Monument of the Agonothetes', the odeon, the triumphal arch, the walls, the temple and the remains of the agora and the stoas. In the middle of the park, a 13th-century Orthodox monastery, built with stones from the ancient city, now houses the site museum.
This guide covers what to see in Apollonia, how much admission costs, how to get there from Fier, Berat or Vlorë (important, since there's no direct bus) and why this city played a part in the history of Rome, including its link with the future emperor Augustus. A must-stop for anyone who wants to add some classical archaeology to their trip through Albania, away from the crowds.
Apollonia was founded around 588 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Corcyra, on Illyrian territory, and dedicated to the god Apollo. It prospered as a Greek polis and, under Rome, became a free allied city, famous for its schools of rhetoric and philosophy; the young Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) was studying here when news reached him of Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. A change in the course of the Aoos river, which silted up its harbour, together with earthquakes, led to its decline in the late Roman period. Afterwards it shrank to a small settlement with a Byzantine monastery. We tell its full story on our dedicated page.
Read the full history ↓Two World Heritage stone towns and ancient Apollonia: the Ottoman and classical heart of Albania, among Byzantine icons and fortified tower houses.
Read the history of The historic south (Berat, Gjirokastra) →If you only have one day, take a guided tour on the first one: it sets up the rest of your trip and saves you a lot of walking. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 8 activities in Berat. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Have a look below: tap any of them to see them all.
They depart from Berat, 41 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Apollonia was born of the great wave of colonisation that spread across the Greek world. Around 588 BC, settlers from Corinth and from its colony Corcyra (present-day Corfu) founded the city on the Adriatic coast, in the territory of the Illyrian tribes who lived in this part of the Balkans. They named it in honour of Apollo, one of the most revered gods of the Greek pantheon, and chose a strategic spot: a group of hills near the mouth of the river Aoos (today's Vjosa), with a good harbour and access to trade routes both by sea and into the Illyrian interior.
The new colony prospered quickly. Its wealth came from trade, since it was a meeting point between the Greek world and the peoples of the interior. According to ancient sources, it also came from local resources such as the region's bitumen (natural asphalt). Apollonia minted its own coins, built walls, temples, theatres and public buildings, and became one of the most important and prosperous cities on the whole eastern Adriatic coast.
Like many Greek colonies, Apollonia had a mixed character: people of Greek origin lived alongside the local Illyrian population and mixed with them. It was a polis with Greek-style institutions and, at the same time, a frontier city between two worlds. That role as a bridge between Greek civilisation and the Balkan interior would shape its whole history, and it goes some way to explaining both its wealth and its importance.
Apollonia reached its peak under Roman rule. As Rome expanded into the Balkans at the expense of the Kingdom of Macedon and the Illyrian peoples, Apollonia sided with the rising power and was rewarded with the status of a free and allied city. Its position became even more strategic. Together with nearby Dyrrachium (Durrës), Apollonia was one of the starting points of the Via Egnatia, the great road that linked the Adriatic with the East, and one of the gateways to the Balkans for anyone arriving from Italy.
Under Rome the city became rich and famous, above all as a centre of culture. Apollonia was known throughout the Mediterranean for its schools of rhetoric and philosophy, so much so that wealthy Roman families sent their sons there to finish their education. Cicero himself, in his writings, described Apollonia as a great and important city. That intellectual prestige made the Adriatic colony one of the leading places to study in the ancient world.
Many of the monuments you can visit today date from this golden age: the so-called Monument of the Agonothetes, the odeon, the stoas, the triumphal arch and the long city walls. Apollonia was a populous city, with thousands of inhabitants, grand public buildings and a lively cultural life. Its name was linked to wisdom and a good education, a reputation that carried to Rome and across the Mediterranean.
The most famous episode in Apollonia's history ties it directly to the birth of the Roman Empire. In 44 BC, a young man of just eighteen named Gaius Octavius was in Apollonia. He was Julius Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir, and he was finishing his training in rhetoric and receiving military instruction while he waited to join the campaigns Caesar was planning in the East. The city of learning was the ideal place to educate a young member of the Roman elite.
It was there, in Apollonia, that Octavius received the news that would change his life and the history of Rome: Julius Caesar had been murdered by a group of senators on the Ides of March, 44 BC. On the advice of those close to him, the young man decided not to stay safely in the Greek city. Instead he crossed to Italy to claim Caesar's political inheritance and his name. After years of civil war, that journey would produce the man who became Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.
This link with the future Augustus gave Apollonia extra prestige, and the emperor kept up a certain favour towards the city where he had studied. The episode was recorded by ancient historians, and it makes this Adriatic colony the setting for one of the founding moments of the Roman Empire: it was in Apollonia that the young Octavius received the news that launched him into the centre of history.
Apollonia's decline came not from war or conquest but from nature itself. Over the centuries, the river Aoos changed its course and carried more and more sediment. The harbour gradually silted up and the sea pulled back, leaving the city's port a swampy, unhealthy marsh. Without its outlet to the sea, Apollonia lost the basis of its commercial wealth. On top of that came the earthquakes that often strike the region and damaged its buildings. The city slowly declined during the late Roman period.
By the end of Antiquity, Apollonia was a shadow of what it had been. People gradually moved away and the great city was left empty, although the site kept some religious importance: it was a bishop's seat in the early Christian and Byzantine periods. In time the old classical city was abandoned and its stones were taken for new buildings, a fate shared by so many ancient cities.
In the 13th century, the Orthodox Monastery of St Mary (Shën Mëri) was built over part of the old site, largely with materials taken from classical Apollonia: ancient columns, building blocks and inscriptions set into the monastery walls. This Byzantine monastery, with its church and cloister, became the heart of the site over the following centuries. Today it is a beautiful medieval monument and also houses the site's museum.
Modern interest in Apollonia began in the late 19th century and grew above all in the 20th, when archaeologists started to study and excavate the site. A French archaeological mission worked there in the early decades of the 20th century and uncovered monuments and objects. Many of these, however, met mixed fates in the upheaval of the two world wars. Later, under the communist regime, Albanian archaeologists continued the excavations and studied the ancient city systematically.
Today Apollonia is a protected archaeological park and one of the most important in Albania. Visitors walk among olive groves and hills through the remains of what was once one of the great cities of the ancient Adriatic. They can see the Monument of the Agonothetes with its elegant colonnade, the odeon, the theatre, the walls, the triumphal arch and the sacred area, as well as the medieval monastery that houses the museum. The site is part of the network of archaeological parks Albania has developed to showcase its rich classical heritage.
Apollonia offers something rare: a first-class classical site, tied to nothing less than the origins of the Roman Empire, in a quiet rural setting without the crowds of other Mediterranean sites. Strolling through its ruins, picturing the schools where the future Augustus studied and looking at the monastery built from the stones of the ancient city takes you through more than two and a half thousand years of history, in one of Albania's most evocative corners.
