This richly illustrated volume discusses the histories of the port city of Butrint, and its intimate connection to the wider conditions of the Adriatic. In so doing it is a reading, and re-reading, of the site that adds significantly to the study of Mediterranean urban history over the longue durée . Firstly, the book proposes a new paradigm for the development-history of Butrint - based on discussions of the latest archaeological, historical and landscape studies from approximately 20 new excavations and surveys, together covering a temporal arch from prehistory to the early modern period. Secondly, it examines how the perception of the city influenced the archaeological methodology of 20th-century studies of the site, where iteration and reversal were often being applied in equal measure. In this it asks important questions on the management of heritage sites and the contemporary role of archaeological practise.
Inge Lyse Hansen is Adjunct Professor of Art History at John Cabot University and specialises in the visual and material culture of the Roman world. She has published on portraiture, funerary art and the use of role models and patronage and has edited several archaeological volumes. Richard Hodges is Scientific Director of the Butrint Foundation, a leading medieval archaeologist and the author of more than 20 books. Sarah Leppard has led or participated in more than 15 excavations in eight countries and has managed major excavations at Butrint.
1. Excavating away the ‘poison’: the topographic history of Butrint, ancient Buthrotum (Richard Hodges)
2. Landscape and environmental change: new perspectives (David Bescoby)
3. Butrint and the Pavllas River Valley in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (Sarah Lima)
4. The acropolis of Butrint reassessed (Simon Greenslade, Sarah Leppard and Matthew Logue)
5. The aqueduct of Butrint (Andrew Wilson)
Appendix: The Roman Bridge of Butrint (Sarah Leppard)
6. Roman sculpture from Butrint: a review of recent finds (Inge Lyse Hansen)
7. The Vrina Plain settlement between the 1st-13th centuries (Simon Greenslade)
8. Two Roman mausolea on the Vrina Plain (Oliver J. Gilkes, Valbona Hysa and Dhimetër Çondi with a contribution by Inge Lyse Hansen)
9. The western cemetery: archaeological survey of Roman tombs along the Vivari Channel (David R. Hernandez and John Mitchell)
10. The Great Basilica: a reassessment (Nevila Molla)
11. The medieval church and cemetery at the Well of Junia Rufina (Alessandro Sebastiani, Dawn Gooney, John Mitchell, Pagona Papadopoulou, Paul Reynolds, Emanuele Vaccaro and Joanita Vroom)
12. The Western Defences (Solinda Kamani)
Appendix: The glass from Tower 1 in the Western Defences (Sarah Jennings and Karen Stark)
13Material boundaries: the city walls at Butrint (Nevila Molla, Francesca Paris and Francesco Venturini)
14Late Venetian Butrint: 16-18th centuries (Siriol Davies)
15The Castle of Ali Pasha at Butrint (José C. Carvajal and Ana Palanco)
16Archaeologists as placemakers: making the Butrint National Park (Richard Hodges)
