Editing Epidamnos (section)

== Roman period (3rd century BC – 4th century AD) ==
Epidamnos was seized by the Romans in 229 BC during their first campaign against Illyrian forces, the first [[Illyrian Wars|Illyrian War]], however, the city managed to maintain semi-autonomy and turned into a roman colony. Due to its strategic location along the Adriatic, Rome transformed the city into an important transit point, renaming it '''Dyrrachium''' to avoid the negative connotations of "Epidamnos" (which resembled the Latin word ''[[wiktionary:damnum|damnum]]'', meaning "loss"). Despite this, the name Dyrrachion had already been used on local coins as early as the 5th century BC, due to the fact that in the Roman period, ''Dyrrachium'' was more common. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (6.x.8) says ''"the modern [[Ancient Roman|Roman]] city is not the ancient one, being at a short distance from it. The modern city is called Dyrrhachium from its founder."''

Dyrrachium played a crucial role as the main port for Roman travelers crossing the [[Ionian Sea]] from [[Brundisium]] (modern Brindisi) in Italy. It served as the starting point of the [[Via Egnatia]], the major military and trade route connecting Roman Illyria with Macedonia and [[Thrace]], leading to key cities such as [[Thessalonica (theme)|Thessalonica]] and [[Byzantium]] (later [[Constantinople]]).

In 48 BC, Dyrrachium became a battleground during the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey. Pompey successfully defended the city but failed to capitalize on his advantage, leading to his decisive defeat at Pharsalus. Under the Roman Empire, the city remained an important administrative center, and in AD 345, a devastating earthquake led to its reconstruction on its old foundations.