Oricum

Oricum (Ancient Greek: Ὤρικον, Ὤρικος or Ὠρικός; Latin: Oricum or Oricus; Albanian: Oriku or Orikum) was a harbor on the Illyrian coast that developed in an Ancient Greek polis at the south end of the Bay of Vlorë on the southern Adriatic coast. It was located at the foot of the Akrokeraunian Mountains, the natural border between ancient Epirus and Illyria. Oricum later became an important Roman city between the provinces of Epirus Vetus and Epirus Nova in Macedonia. It is now an archaeological park of Albania, near modern Orikum, Vlorë County. Oricum holds such a strategic geographical position that the area has been in continuous usage as a naval base from antiquity to the present-days.

It appears that the site of Oricum was uninhabited before the 6th century BC. In the early period contacts between the Greeks and the local Illyrians were evidently absent in the hinterland of the site. Early Greek sources describe Orikos as a harbor (Greek: λιμήν, limen). Findings from the proto-urban period in Orikos provide evidence of extensive contacts primarily with the Greek world. Like other ports of southern Illyria, the site of Orikos was a place of exchange of products and a meeting point between the outside world and the Illyrians located in the hinterland. In the Classical period Orikos was likely part of the peraia of Korkyra.

The polis of Orikos was founded as a southern Greek colony rather than an indigenous foundation. The settlement developed towards mid-5th century BC, and it was built on a Greek model. It is firstly identified as a Greek polis within the territory of Illyrian Amantia in the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax (mid-4th century BC). At the beginning of the Hellenistic period Oricum appears to have already acquired the status of polis with its own territory. Pyrrhus gained control of Oricum, incorporating it into the State of Epirus during his rule (early 3rd century BC). After the Roman victory against the Illyrians, in 228 BC Oricum became part of the Roman protectorate in Illyricum. During the Macedonian Wars Oricum was involved in the conflicts between Rome and Macedon in the Illyrian territory that Rome had aimed to protect and control periodically for thirty years, since the First Illyrian War.

Oricum experienced a phase of great prosperity in the period between the late 3rd and the early 1st centuries BC, much like other cities in northern Epirus at the time. In the Roman period Oricum was one of the principal harbors of the new province of Epirus Nova, in the province of Macedonia. During the conflicts of the Great Roman Civil War between Caesar and Pompey in Illyria, Oricum was one of the ports of the Illyrian coast that obeyed to Pompey. However it became the first one taken by Caesar, who used it as an important naval base in his military operations. The inhabitants of the city were described as Graeci ("Greeks") by Caesar. The city experienced a decline during the Roman imperial era, when the nearby port of Aulon (modern Vlorë) appears to have gained more prominence.