Dimale or Dimallum (Illyrian: Διμάλη /Dimálē;[1]Ancient Greek: Διμάλη or Διμάλλον; Latin: Dimallum) was a town in southern Illyria in classical antiquity which was situated in the vicinity or within the territory of the Parthini, an Illyrian tribe. It was built on a hill of 450 m above sea level, in the hinterland of Apollonia, about 30 km from the eastern coast of the Adriatic. It is located in today Krotinë, Berat County, Albania.[2]
The first walls of Dimale were built around mid-4th century BC when the Illyrians went through a dynamic development founding their own cities. The urban settlement was built on an already existent Illyrian hilltop proto-urban area dating back to the previous century.[3] In the Hellenistic period (between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC) the town experienced its climax, during a phase marked by intense urban planning, including the construction of a new city wall and the building of several stoas, a temple, and a theater, showing a significant influence of the Ancient Greek culture on the local Illyrian inhabitants. Manufacturing and materials seem to witness an intense exchange with nearby Apollonia.[4]
The Illyrian toponym is attested in literary sources and epigraphic material, written as Διμάλη in Greek script and Dimallum in Latin script.[1]
The toponym belongs to the southeast Dalmatian onomastic area of Illyrian.[8] It is a compound of di + mal. The root mal – is reflected in many ancient Balkan (Illyrian or Thracian) toponyms such as Malontum, Maloventum, Malontina, Dacia Maluensis etc.[9][10] The Illyrian toponym Dimallum has been connected to Albaniandi-male, meaning "two mountains", with the Proto-Albanian form of the second component reconstructed as mol-no.[10] The Illyrian reconstruction of the first component has been rendered as *d(ṷ)i-, 'two'. Therefore Dimale must have meant '(settlement between) two mountains' in Illyrian.[1]
S o u t h e r n I l l y r i a i n t h e 3rd – 2nd c e n t u r i e s B C E
At Dimale an Illyrian pre-urban and proto-urban settlement of the 5th-4th centuries BC is confirmed by pottery found in the site.[11][12] However physical architectural remains of this period have not been preserved.[13] The Illyrian settlement seems to have included initially only a small inhabited area on the hill, which was fortified in the 4th century BC,[14][12] representing one of the proto-urban centres that were established in the hinterland of southern Illyria (today Albania), especially during the developed Iron Age. These proto-urban centres were fortified sites different to the small unwalled villages known as komai. The processes of the development of these proto-urban settlements are unclear to scholars, who also have not yet completely understood the role of these sites, whether they were hilltop shelters, towns or meeting centres of regional trading.[15]
The development and prosperity of the town occurred in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. During this period a new wall was built replacing the first fortification. The new wall comprised the whole hill of Dimale. The town made available sufficient financial resources to undertake a social and religious construction program. Several stoas, a temple, and a theater were built, showing a significant influence of the Ancient Greek culture on the local Illyrian inhabitants.[16] It has been indicated that the city was a centre of the Illyrian tribe of Parthini, and was belatedly Hellenized under the influence of Apollonia and the Epirote League.[17]
Roman period
Dimale appears in ancient sources of the Roman period that describes the wars involving the Roman Republic. During the Second Illyrian War in 219 BC, Demetrius of Pharos, after expelling all his opponents from Dimale, fortified the city against an imminent Roman attack and left to defend Pharos. In spite of the fortress of Dimale being considered impregnable, the Romans, under the command of L. Aemilius Paullus, captured the city in a seven-day siege with local Illyrian help. After Demetrius' complete defeat at Roman hands and ultimate flight to Macedonia, Dimale entered into a friendly relationship (amicitia) with Rome.[6] During the First Macedonian war, in 213 or 212 BC, Philip V of Macedon managed to take control of the city[18] but, after an unsuccessful Roman assault led by P. Sempronius Tuditanus in 205 BC, the city reverted to its previous status in the negotiations between Philip V and RomePhoenice (Treaty of Phoenice) the same year.[19]
The identification of the site of Krotinë with the ancient Illyrian city became possible thanks to the discovery of ancient tiles stamped with the word DIMALLITAN (Greek: ΔΙΜΑΛΛΙΤΑΝ).[20][21] The epigraphic material found at Dimale is mainly constituted by stamps on tiles datable between the 3rd and 2nd century BC, and by some stone inscriptions.[21] The inscriptions are written in northwest Doric Greek.[22] The name of the polis is written in the form Διμάλλας, Dimallas, while the name of the ethnicon is written in the genitive plural Διμαλλίταν, Dimallitan.[21]
Epigraphy in Dimale mentions a number of Greek offices[22] such as prytanis, grammateus and phylarchos as well as a single dedication to Phoebus.[23] The inscriptions bear both non-Greek onomastics and Greek onomastics with names typical of Epirus and the Corinthian colonies.[22] The city hosted a number of monuments, typical of the ancient Greek architectural style, such as a stoa.[22] The indication of the office of phylarchos, also attested at Epidamnos, would imply that the Illyrian city of Dimale adopted in Hellenistic times a system of phylai on the model of the nearby Corinthian poleis. Archaeological investigation suggests the economic and cultural influence of nearby Apollonia, however, in terms of institutional organization, the office of phylarchos at Dimale is hardly attributable to the Apollonian influence.[24] It is difficult to determine whether Dimale was the capital of a koinon or organized as a city-state. The inscriptions of the ethnicon depicted on coins do not provide a definitive answer. The proximity of the theater and the agora seems to be closer to the Illyrian-Epirote model rather than to the Greek city model. It can therefore be assumed that the theater was used as a place for political assemblies.[25]
^Stipčević 1974, p. 53: "Demetrus took refuge in the fortified town of Dimallum. The Illyrians had regarded Dimallum as impregnable, and this was precisely the reason why the Romans had decided to attack it.
^ abIllyés 1992, p. 220: "mal: "shore, bank, edge." Thracian toponym Malua, Dacia Maluensis, translated to Dacia Ripensis, also Illyrian Malontum, Dimallum, cf., Alb. Dimale, "two mountains." The ancient Albanian form is reconstructed as *mol-no; modern Alb. mal, "mountain," Romanian mal, "bank, mountain"."
^Dautaj 2009, p. 281: "Emërtimi qeramikë e pikturuar helenistike e Dimalit, në një farë mënyre, nënkupton vazhdimësinë e saj nga periudhat e mëparshme, konkretisht të qeramikës së pikturuar para dhe protourbane ilire, me të cilën ka mjaft dukuri e pika takimi, natyrisht me risi e novatorizëm në kushtet e zhvillimit të gjithanshëm të jetës urbane në periudhën helenistike."
^ abMuka & Heinzelmann 2012, p. 390: "Në përmbledhje të rezultateve të dy fushatave arkeologjike, krijohet një panoramë më e plotë rreth Dimalit: vendbanimi ilir duket të ketë qenë banuar fillimisht gjatë shek. V-IV p.e. sonë, në një sipërfaqe më të vogël, të përqendruar kryesisht në kodrën e akropolit, e cila u fortifikua në shek. IV p.e. sonë."
^Lasagni 2019, p. 65: "l'insediamento illirico venne fortificato nel IV sec. a.C.; nel periodo III-II sec. a.C. la città conobbe il suo floruit, accompagnato da un'intensa attività urbanistica: a questa fase risale, tra le altre cose, l'edificazione di una nuova cinta muraria e del teatro; lavorazioni e materiali sembrano testimoniare un intenso scambio con la vicina Apollonia."
^Muka & Heinzelmann 2012, p. 390: "Zhvillimi dhe begatia e qytetit shënohen gjatë shek. III-II p.Kr., periudhë gjatë së cilës fotifikimi i parë i akropolit braktiset dhe në vend të tij qyteti fortifikohet me një mur të ri, i cili përfshin tashmë gjithë kodrën e Dimalit. Gjatë kësaj periudhe, qyteti vuri në dispozicion burime të mjaftueshme financiare për të ndërmarrë një program ndërtimesh me karakter shoqëror dhe religjioz, përfshirë këtu ndërtimin e disa stoave, një tempulli dhe një teatri. Gjithë këto ndërtime dëshmojnë për një gjurmë të konsiderueshme që kultura helene ka lënë tek banorët vendas ilirë."
^Lasagni 2019, p. 65: "È da considerarsi del tutto superata l’ipotesi, avanzata da Hammond 1968, 14-15, che Dimalla fosse una polis di origine greca, fondata sotto Pirro con un contingente di coloni da Apollonia; cf. infatti Hatzopoulos 1997, 145, che indica piuttosto questa città come centro dell’ethnos illirico dei Parthini, senza alcuna origine greca, ma tardivamente ellenizzato grazie all’influenza di Apollonia e del koinon degli Epiroti."
^Wilkes 1992, p. 133: "The location of Dimale (or Dimallum), a settlement in the territory of the Parthini, at Krotinc west of Berat, depends on tiles stamped DIMALLITAN (in Greek)."
^ abcLasagni 2019, p. 64: "La città illirica di Dimalla (o Dimale), identificata nell’odierna Krotinë/Berat, a nordovest di Apollonia, ha restituito un insieme di documenti epigrafici costituito per la stragrande maggioranza di bolli su tegole databili tra III e II sec. a.C., e da alcune iscrizioni su pietra. Tra i primi, si segnalano in particolare una serie di bolli relativi ad ateliers pubblici, alcuni recanti il nome della polis, ancora nella forma dorica-nordoccidentale Διμάλλας, altri recante l’etnico al genitivo plurale Διμαλλίταν, indicazioni che l’editore, B. Dautaj, suggeriva di interpretare come afferenti rispettivamente alla sola polis di Dimalla, da una parte, e al koinon dei Dimallitai, dall’altra." p. 74: "si vedano, quali esempi significativi, la compresenza delle scritte ΔΙΜΑΛΛΙΤΑΝ e ΔΙΜΑΛΛΑ negli stampi su tegola da Dimalla"
^Lasagni 2019, p. 65: "L’indicazione della carica del phylarchos, che abbiamo visto essere attestata a Epidamnos, implicherebbe che la città illirica di Dimalla avesse adottato in età ellenistica un sistema di phylai – quali che fossero le loro precise funzioni e composizione – sul modello delle vicine poleis corinzie. L’influenza economica e culturale delle poleis hellenides dell’area, e in particolare di Apollonia, sembra emergere dalla stessa indagine archeologica; ma, sul piano istituzionale, sembra difficile credere che la figura del phylarchos possa essere esistita a Dimalla provenendo da tale matrice.
Fiedler, M.; Lahi, B.; Shehi, E.; Pánczél, S.-P.; Velo, K.; Döhner, Gregor (2021). "Ausgrabungen in der Kleinsiedlung Babunjë bei Apollonia (Albanien) Bericht zu den Kampagnen 2018–2019". Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung (RM). 127: 110–144.
Lasagni, Chiara (2019). Cresci Marrone, Giovannella; Culasso Gastaldi, Enrica (eds.). Le realtà locali nel mondo greco: Ricerche su poleis ed ethne della Grecia occidentale. Studi e testi di epigrafia. Edizioni dell'Orso. ISBN978-88-6274-962-6.
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