Elbasan

Elbasan (ˌɛlbəˈsɑːn ˈɛlbaˈsan; Elbasani ˈɛlbaˈsani) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central Albania. The Albanian name is derived from the Ottoman Turkish il-basan ("the fortress"). Elbasan is also the Aromanian name of the city. According to Saliaj the name in antiquity Scampa is derived from the word Shkamba ("The Rock or Cliff") in Albanian. Comparing with the name of the river of Elbasan, Shkumbini ("Scampini in Antiquity"). In August 2010 archaeologists discovered two Illyrian graves near the walls of the castle of Elbasan. In the second century BC, a trading post called Mansio Scampa near the site of modern Elbasan developed close to a junction of two branches of an important Roman road, the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic coast with Byzantium. It was one of the most important routes of the Roman Empire. By the third or fourth century AD, this place had grown into a real city protected by a substantial Roman fortress with towers; the fort covered around 300 square meters. This city appears on late antique itineraries like the Tabula Peutingeriana and Itinerarium Burdigalense as Scampis or Hiscampis. It took part in the spread of Christianity along the Via, and had a bishop, cathedral and basilicas as early as the fifth century. As a town in a wide river valley it was vulnerable to attacks once the legions were withdrawn but Emperor Justinian made an effort to improve the fortifications. The city survived attacks by the Bulgars and Ostrogoths and was mentioned in the work of Procopius of Cæsarea. Ruins of a Paleochristian basilica, built in the 5th or 6th century AD, were found in Bezistan area. The site seems to have been abandoned until the Ottoman army built a military camp there, followed by urban reconstruction under Sultan Mehmet II in 1466. Mehmet constructed a massive four-sided castle with a deep moat and three gates.