Lesh (Lezhë)

Rubrika e Diellit: Tingellime vendemrash Ilire/

Nga NELSON ÇABEJ/

 An ancient Illyrian city, known in antiquity as Lissos (Λίσσος)/Lissus. Now Lesh and Lezhë (the latter form evolved for avoiding being confounded with the Albanian word lesh ‘wool’). It was founded as an ancient Illyrian settlement of Early Iron from 8^th century BC¹. Three centuries later, in 385 BC, it became a Syracusan colony by Dionysios I ^2,3 .  Lissos came under the rule of the Illyrian  kingdom of ardaiei with their capital city Scodra by the second  half of the  3^rd century BC during the rule of Agron, Teuta and Gentius. After the Roman conquest of Illyria in the 2^nd century BC, Lissus became a Roman colony. Lissus  is mentioned again by Stephanus of Byzantium in the 6^th century as an Illyrian city with a separate fortified site known as Acrolissus “πόλλίς Ίλυρίας, και Άκρόλισσος”⁴. By the end of  the 14^th century it became  a possession of  the Republic of Venice. In 1467  there was convened the  League of Lesh organized by the Alnbanian national hero Georges Castriotis – Scanderbey. In western  late medieval sources the name appears mainly in the Italianized form Alessio. The  very rare form of the city name, Eschenderari, may be related to the Persian form of hero’s name , Eskander/Iskander.