ΚΕΣΤΡΙΑ ΤHΣ ΧΑΟΝIΑΣ: appunti sulla geografia e storia di una regione di frontiera

ΚΕΣΤΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΧΑΟΝIΑΣ: Some Considerations on the Geography and on the History of a Frontier Region.

This paper has been conceived in the context of the activities of the Joint Archaeological Mission of Sapienza University of Rome and the Albanian Institute of Archaeology in Çuka e Ajoit (Albania), and is aimed at providing a general overview and assessment on the historical geography of the Cestrine region, where Çuka e Ajtoit is located. The analysis of the written sources underlines the importance of the connection to the Trojan myth, that have determined in more than one case the toponymy of the area. This context is strictly related to the genealogical constructions that Chaonian, Thesprotian and Molossian élites have adopted since at least the 5th Cent. BCE. Possible connections to the Anatolian area have been hypothesized, yet archaeology still lacks to provide any support to them.