Lezhë

Coordinates: 41°46′55″N 19°38′40″E / 41.78194°N 19.64444°E / 41.78194; 19.64444
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the city in Albania. For other uses, see Lezhë (disambiguation).
Lezhë
Municipality
Photomontage of Lezhë
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal Code
4500
Area Code(0)215
Websitelezha.gov.al

Lezhë (Albanian:

Republic of Albania and seat of Lezhë County and Lezhë Municipality. It is one of Albania's continuously inhabited cities,[2] with roughly 2,400 years of recorded history
.

One of the main strongholds of the

Albanian lords in the fight against the Ottoman Empire
.

Name

The city is mentioned in ancient sources as Lissós (Ancient Greek: Λισσός) and Lissus (Latin: Lissus, Lissum).[7] It is also attested in numismatic material. The ethnicon ΛΙΣΣΙΤΑΝ Lissitan is found on coin inscriptions of the Hellenistic era. It is considered a Greek toponym, deriving from the Greek λισσός'lissós, meaning 'smooth, smooth rock, gruff'.[8]

The ancient name Lissus evolved into its modern form Lezhë (archaic: Lesh[7]) through Albanian sound changes.[9] In Turkish, the town is known as Leş or Eşim and in Italian as Alessio. Lezhë is also known as Alise, Alexiensis, Eschenderari, or Mrtav.[10]

History

Early history

The Iron Age fortification was built on the Mal i Shëlbuemit (413 m high, right), called later Acrolissus; the proper city of Lissus was built on an adjacent hill (172 m high, left).[11]

From the early Mycenaean period (1600-1450 BC) a free exchange pattern is confirmed with the centres of

Drin river.[15]

Lezhë Castle on the 172 m hill.
Ruins of Hellenistic fortification walls built during the Illyrian urban period.

In antiquity the area was described as the territory of the

Latin: Illyrii or Illyrii propriae dicti).[16]

Issa near the island of Pharos, not at Lissus (modern Lezhë) which was too distant for the events described by the ancient historian. Meanwhile, Issa is known from other evidence to be a Syracusan foundation.[20][21][22] Except Diodorus' account there is nothing to connect Lissos with Syracuse, and according to Pierre Cabanes even if Diodorus' account is accepted as accurate, it is very likely that this colony had a short life.[20]

The earliest of the fortification walls of the proto-urban settlement are of typical Illyrian construction and are dated to the late 4th century BC.[23] The transition from the Iron Age fortification of Acrolissus (on the 413 m Shëlbuem mountain) to the proper Illyrian city of Lissus was continuous. The city was built on a lower hill (172 m) near the Iron Age fortification.[11] It was surrounded by ramparts that faced the low valley of the Drin river and the sea coast. Its function was to guard the route inland, to ensure defense against possible attacks from the sea, and to furnish a secure anchorage for the Illyrian ships.[15]

By the 3rd century BC, Lissus was one of the main cities of the

Macedonia allied with the Achaean League against the Aetolian League, and the Illyrians attacked in their typical manner. Demetrius and Scerdilaidas sailed with 90 lembi south of Lissus. When they failed an assault on Pylos (western Peloponnese), they separated their fleets and Scerdilaidas returned north with 40 ships, while Demetrius plundered the Cyclades with 50 ships.[25]

In Roman times Lissus was located in a territory inhabited by the

Adriatic Sea.[20] The town was later recovered by the Illyrians. It was in Lissus that Perseus of Macedon negotiated an alliance against Rome with the Illyrian king Gentius, and it was from Lissus that Gentius organized his army against the Romans. Lissus maintained a large degree of municipal autonomy under both Macedonian and Illyrian rule, as evidenced by the coins minted there.[29] During the reign of Gentius in the first half of the 2nd century BC, Lissus minted coins for the Illyrian ruler.[30] The city was of some importance in the Roman Civil War, being taken by Marc Antony [31] and then remaining loyal to Caesar. In Roman times, the city was part of the province of Epirus Nova,[32]

Middle ages

Selimie Mosque
.

During the reign of Justinian I (527-565) the local fortress was possibly mentioned as Alistion in the Synecdemus of Hierocles.[33] At early 590s Lissus was captured by Slavic populations.[34] Byzantine control was re-established during the early 9th century.[35]

Albanian lord Vladislav Jonima of the Jonima family was acknowledged by the Pope as a ruler of a territory around Lezhë in 1319. He had the title of Count of Dioclea and of the seaside Albania.[36] At the end of the 14th century, Albanian lord Dhimitër Jonima was lord of a territory between Mat and Lezhë.[37]

In the Middle Ages, Lezha (known in Italian as Alessio) frequently changed masters until the Venetians took possession of it in 1386. It still belonged to them when Skanderbeg died, but In 1478 it fell into the hands of Turks during the

siege of Shkodra, except for a short period (1501–1506) when it returned to Venetian domination.[10] Because it was under the Venetian control, it was chosen in 1444 by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg as a neutral place for the convention of Albanian nobles and lords of the area aiming at organizing their common defence against the Turks.[38]

Lezha was the site of the

Albanian princes in the fight against the Ottoman Empire
.

Skanderbeg was buried in the cathedral of Lezhë which was dedicated to

Selimie Mosque
.

Contemporary

Today Lezhë is a growing city. Its proximity to the port of Shëngjin as well as its location on the national road between the Montenegrin border to the North and Tirana to the South makes it an attractive location for industry and business.

Geography

View over Lezhë and the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast in the distance.

Balldren, Blinisht, Dajç, Kallmet, Kolsh, Shëngjin, Shënkoll, Ungrej, Zejmen with Lezhë constituting the municipal seat.[39][40][41] The municipality spans between the Plain of Zadrima in the north, the Pukë-Mirditë Highlands in the east, the mouth of the Mat River in the south and the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast in the west.[42] It covers 509.1 km2.[39][43]

Climate

As of the

hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) zone with an average annual temperature of 14.6 °C (58.3 °F).[44]

Climate data for Lezhë
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 10.1
(50.2) 		11.7
(53.1) 		15.0
(59.0) 		18.9
(66.0) 		23.9
(75.0) 		27.6
(81.7) 		31.0
(87.8) 		30.9
(87.6) 		27.2
(81.0) 		21.6
(70.9) 		16.1
(61.0) 		11.7
(53.1) 		20.5
(68.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 1.8
(35.2) 		3.0
(37.4) 		5.2
(41.4) 		8.8
(47.8) 		13.0
(55.4) 		14.7
(58.5) 		18.5
(65.3) 		18.2
(64.8) 		15.2
(59.4) 		10.9
(51.6) 		7.0
(44.6) 		4.2
(39.6) 		10.0
(50.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 165
(6.5) 		143
(5.6) 		129
(5.1) 		118
(4.6) 		87
(3.4) 		60
(2.4) 		36
(1.4) 		52
(2.0) 		104
(4.1) 		136
(5.4) 		191
(7.5) 		179
(7.0) 		1,400
(55)
Average rainy days 13 12 13 13 10 8 5 6 8 10 14 13 125
Average
relative humidity
(%) 		74 71 69 69 68 64 59 61 68 71 75 75 69
Mean monthly sunshine hours 130.2 130 173.6 201 269.7 306 362.7 322.4 258 207.7 138 117.8 2,617.1
Mean daily sunshine hours 4.2 4.6 5.6 6.7 8.7 10.2 11.7 10.4 8.6 6.7 4.6 3.8 7.2
Source: Weather2visit[45]

Infrastructure

There are urban buses throughout the city and international and national buses. Lezhe has a train station not far from the center. The line starts in Durrës and ends in Shkodër. It is functional but not frequently.

The main highway in Lezhe is

Milot) to the south. The SH32 connects Lezhe with Shëngjin
on the coast.

Demography

The population of the municipality of Lezhë at the 2011 census was 65,633,[a] of which 15,510 in the city proper.[46]

Culture

The

KS Besëlidhja Lezhë
. Although primarily concerned with football, KS Besëlidhja also participates in sports such as wrestling and beach volleyball.

From 2004 an excavation started around the ancient Acropolis of Lissos and the Skanderbeg Memorial, which revealed Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine buildings, tombs and other findings.[47]

Notable people

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The population of the municipality results from the sum of the administrative units in the former as of the 2011 Albanian census.[39]

References

  1. ^ "Kryetari i Bashkisë" (in Albanian). Bashkia Lezhë. Archived from the original on 3 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  2. ^ Sedlar 2013, p. 111.
  3. ^ Waterfield 2014, p. 49.
  4. ^ Stylianou 1998, p. 194.
  5. ^ a b c Shehi 2015, p. 34.
  6. ^ Cabanes 2008, p. 177; Shehi 2015, p. 34
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot 1934, p. 915: "Lissus".
  8. ^ Lippert & Matzinger 2021, p. 132.
  9. ^ Katičić 1976, p. 186.
  10. ^ a b Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Alessio (Lissus, Alexiensis)"
  11. ^ a b Shpuza 2014, p. 118; Shehi 2015, p. 34
  12. ISBN 9789531631549
    . Retrieved 4 April 2020. The variety of C and D type swords reported from central and northern Albania (Mat river valley, Lezhë, Shkodër), and their provenience from burial contexts, confirm the free exchange pattern with the Mycenaean centers of this part of the country, as in the early Mycenaean period.
  13. ^ Shpuza 2014, pp. 106, 116, 118: "All the sites described above are situated in the Lowlands of Shkodra, in small hills, which create a protection system of all the area. A similar fortification can be found also at Akrolissos, [...] The chronological framework for the dating of such fortifications is the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age."
  14. ^ Elsie 2010, p. 272.
  15. ^ a b Wilkes 1992, p. 135; Cabanes 2008, p. 177
  16. ^ Matijašić 2011, p. 299; Boardman & Sollberger 1982, pp. 628–629
  17. ^ Wilkes & Fischer-Hansen 2004, p. 325: "In 385 Dionysios of Syracuse assisted the Parians to establish a settlement on Pharos, having already sent a colony to the Adriatic and founded “a city called Lissos” (no. 82) (Diod. 15.13.4)." p.332: "Lissos was founded shortly before 385 by Dionysios I [...] on the steep slope of a hill, modern Lezha [...] a site already occupied by Illyrian settlers."
  18. ^ Evans, A., Destani, B., Ancient Illyria, an archeological exploration. IB Tauris, 2007. p. 276.
  19. ^ Wilkes & Fischer-Hansen 2004, p. 332.
  20. ^ a b c Cabanes 2008, p. 177.
  21. ^ Wilkes 1992, p. 115: "It has been proposed that it was this place [Issa] and not Lissus far to the south at the mouth of the Drin from which help came to the Greeks on Pharos, since Issa lies only 25 miles away."
  22. ^ Wilkes & Fischer-Hansen 2004, p. 325: "The place from which Dionysios’ fleet came could be the later Illyrian fortress of Lissos (Lezhe) at the mouth of the river Drin in northern Albania, which has an impressive circuit of late Hellenistic masonry fortifications, but is more likely to be in fact the other Greek colony in the area, Issa (Vis) on the island of the same name and known from other evidence to be a Syracusan foundation."
  23. ^ Wilkes 1992, p. 135; Cabanes 2008, p. 177; Stylianou 1998, p. 194; Shehi 2015, p. 34
  24. ^ Wilkes 1992, pp. 161–162; Errington 1989, pp. 89–90
  25. ^ Wilkes 1992, pp. 162–163; Errington 1989, pp. 91–92
  26. ^ Papadopoulos 2016, p. 382.
  27. ^ Shpuza 2017, p. 43.
  28. ^ Polybius 8.13-14
  29. ISBN 9781845111670
    .
  30. ^ Shpuza 2014, p. 122.
  31. ^ Plutarch (1920). Life of Antony. Loeb Classical Edition. p. 7.4.
  32. ISBN 0-7156-3116-0
    ,2003, page 233, of Lissus in Epirus Nova
  33. ISBN 978-0-7156-3201-7
    . Also for Justinian's reign there survives a catalogue of towns in the Empire, the Synecdemus of Hierocles." "In Epirus Nova we find Apollonia, Byllis, Amantia, Pulcheropolis (Berat), Aulon (Vlore), Lychnidus (Ohrid) and the unknown Alistion, possible the modern Lezhe, and Skepton
  34. ISBN 978-1-5017-2940-9
    .
  35. ISBN 978-90-04-39519-0
    . The fortress in Lezhe farther to the north along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, was reoccupied in the early 9th century
  36. ISBN 3-486-56569--9
    , Vladislav Jonima, als Zupan, später als „Graf von Dioclea und Küstenalbanien"
  37. ISBN 99927-1-622-3
    p. 267
  38. ^ Schmitt Jens O.(2009) Skanderbeg, Der neue Alexander auf dem Balkan, Verlag Friedrich Pustet, pp. 55,56
  39. ^ a b c "Pasaporta e Bashkisë Lezhë" (in Albanian). Porta Vendore. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  40. ^ "A new Urban–Rural Classification of Albanian Population" (PDF). Instituti i Statistikës (INSTAT). May 2014. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  41. ^ "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). pp. 6373–6374. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  42. ^ "Strategjia Territoriale Bashkia Lezhë" (PDF) (in Albanian). Bashkia Lezhë. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  43. ^ "Bashkia Lezhë" (in Albanian). Albanian Association of Municipalities (AAM). Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  44. ^ "Climate: Lezhë". Climate-Data. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  45. ^ "Lezhë monthly weather averages". weather2visit. Retrieved 23 February 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  46. ^ Nurja, Ines. "Censusi i popullsisë dhe banesave/ Population and Housing Census–Lezhë (2011)" (PDF). Tirana: Institute of Statistics (INSTAT). p. 84. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  47. ^ Karl-Franzens Universitat, Lissus excavation report 2004. Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

External links
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