Antigonia (Chaonia)

Antigonia, also spelled Antigonea or Antigoneia, was an ancient Greek city in Chaonia in Epirus and the chief inland city of the Chaonians. Its ruins lie just south of the village of Saraqinisht in Gjirokaster County, Albania, and the area has been declared a National Archaeological Park. It stood about 600 metres above sea level on a nearly impregnable hill overlooking the Drino valley and controlling the routes to the mountains and the sea. It was founded in the 3rd century BC, perhaps by Antigonus II Gonatas but more probably by Pyrrhus of Epirus, who may have named it for his wife Antigone. Having sided with Macedon, it was burned by order of the consul Aemilius Paullus in 167 BC and never rebuilt. Its walls encircle the hill, and the centre followed an orthogonal Hippodamian plan; an early Christian triconch church with a mosaic floor was later built there. Dhimosten Budina identified and excavated the site.