Nova Roma

“Culture in 1 minute” / Episode 6

Durres was “almost” declared the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Some medieval writings dating between the 14th and 16th centuries report the desire of Emperor Constantine the Great to transfer the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Dyrrah.

According to some pilgrims of the medieval period, Constantine forwarded his wish and began to make some major investments in Durres, such as the construction of a wall and some monuments.
But the project failed. Firstly because the new capital had to be closer to the Asian possessions and secondly, because of the geological composition of the land of Durres, which did not allow the development of agriculture.

Emperor Constantine the Great decided to build the new capital on an existing city, erected there by the Greeks, sometime in the middle of the 7th century b.c. and which at that time was known as Byzantium, but he gave it its name, namely Constantinople.

It is no coincidence that Durres was called by the Ottoman chroniclers a “second Constantinople” of the Balkans and today the surrounding walls of the city look like two drops of water with those of Constantinople.
For more follow the video posted at the top.

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Producer and narrator: Geri Emiri
Historical information: Dorian Hatibi
Video production: Arlind Veshti

This series of informative videos is being developed with the support of the Media for All project, funded by the Government of the United Kingdom. The opinions and opinions expressed in the video belong to the authors and do not necessarily coincide with the attitudes of the donor

Photo at the top: Excerpts from the published video.
Reference: Noel Malcolm: Rebels, belivers, survivors – Studies in the history of the albanians. Oxford University Press. 2020.