627 BC to 229 BC

Illyrians and Greek colonies

The land of today's Albania was home to Illyrian peoples such as the Taulantii and the Ardiaei. Greeks from Corinth and Corcyra founded Epidamnos, now Durres, around 627 BC, and Apollonia soon after. In the third century BC King Agron and then Queen Teuta built a strong Illyrian kingdom on the coast, whose raids on Adriatic shipping alarmed Rome.