Amantia
Amantia or Abantia was an ancient Greek polis in Epirus. It occupied an important defensive position above the Aoos river valley to the east, and on the road to the coast and the Bay of Aulon, in Vlorë County of the modern-day Albania. A Greek temple, the Aphrodite temple, a theatre, and a stadium have also been found in the city. The name for an inhabitant was Amantieus.History
According to Pausanias, the settlement was founded by Locrians from nearby Thronium and Abantes from Euboea. Stephanus Byzantius similarly attributes the foundation to Euboean Abantes "returning from the Trojan war". Hesychius states that it was an Epirote settlement. One foundation legend had Elpenor, who actually dies at Troy, acting as a nostos and leading the colonists. Their political leaders had titles like prytanis and grammateus. The town was surrounded with a walled enclosure roughly 2,100m long. A large fort was built with two gates and two defensive towers in the north.
Its name was mentioned for the first time in the 4th century BC. It is situated on the slope of a high hill and had only its acropolis fortified. By the 3rd century BC, the town was strengthened economically and minted its own coins. The tribe itself was called Amantes.
The town became part of the Roman province of Epirus Novus. Eulalius, one of the Eastern bishops at the Council of Sardica who refused to recognize its right to revoke the condemnation of Athanasius of Alexandria and withdrew in a body to Philippopolis, was probably bishop of this town, but some think he was bishop of Amasea.
No longer a residential bishopric, Amantia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.
