Description : Byllis was an ancient city located in the region of Illyria. The remains of Byllis are situated north-east of Vlorë, 25 kilometers from the sea in Hekal, Fier County, Albania. Stephanus of Byzantium mentions a town called Byllis as a seaside city in Illyria and its foundation legend, according to which the city was built by Myrmidons under Neoptolemus, returning from the Trojan War. This legendary tradition is reflected also by numismatics. The city was located on the territory of the Illyrian tribe of Bylliones. The massive walls of Byllis were built before the end of the 4th century, and literary sources report them as an Illyrian rather than Epirote or Macedonian foundation. Later Byllis acquired the trappings of a Hellenistic town, and because the southernmost Illyrian tribes, including the Bylliones, were inclined to become bilingual, it was also a Greek-speaking city. On the other hand the citizens of Byllis were called Byllideis (Greek: Βυλλιδείς) Byllis received sacred Greek envoys, known as theoroi during the early 2nd century BC, which seems to indicate that it was a Greek city, or that its inhabitants had become Greek-speaking.
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