Byllis or Bullis or Boullis (Βουλλίς) was an ancient city and the chief settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the city was either part of Illyria or Epirus. In Roman times it was included within Epirus Nova, in the province of Macedonia. The remains of Byllis are situated north-east of Vlorë, 25 kilometers from the sea in Hekal, Fier County, Albania. Byllis was designated as an archaeological park on 7 April 2003 by the government of Albania.
Ruins of Bylis
Image of the ancient site of Byllis and the river Vjosa in the distance.
Remains of the Basilica
Episcopal building
The Bylliones were an Illyrian tribe that lived near the Adriatic coast of southern Illyria, on the lower valley of the Vjosa river, in the hinterland of Apollonia. The Bylliones were firstly attested in epigraphic material from the oracle of Dodona dating back to the 4th century BC, and their koinon was firstly attested in a 3rd-century BC inscription from the same oracle. Their territory was trapezoidal on the right side of the rivers Luftinje and Vjosa, extending in the west to the Mallakastra mountains. The chief city of their koinon was Byllis. Another important centre of their koinon was Klos, an earlier Illyrian settlement later called Nikaia, as an inscription attests. The Bylliones also inhabited in the area of an ancient sanctuary of the eternal fire called Nymphaion.
Byllis, the chief city and one of the two centres of the koinon of the Bylliones.
View towards the Vjosa valley from Byllis.
Comic actor playing the role of a slave seated on the altar of Dionysus, 2nd half of the 3rd century BC, from the theatre of Byllis. National Museum of Archaeology, Albania.