Epidamnos

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) in cooperation with the local Illyrian Taulantii. 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. 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.