A visit to Peqin, ancient Clodiana

The town of Peqin in Elbasan County, Central Albania, lies along the ancient Via Egnatia, the famous Roman road that stretched all the way from the Adriatic to Byzantium. I live in Durrës, one of the starting points of the Via Egnatia, and I have visited many towns and sites along its route in Greece and Albania, so Peqin had been on my list for a while. It is thought that the town originated as a ‘mutatio’ (changing station) on the section of the Via Egnatia between Apollonia and Scampa (modern Elbasan) and is identified with Clodiana or Clodianis in the Itinerarium Antonini and the Tabula Peutingeriana. The Itinerarium Burdigalense also includes the station as ‘mansio Coladiana’. The identification with Peqin rests on the distances recorded in the itineraries, the tradition that the town’s castle is built on the site of the changing station, and the visible remains of the Roman road. 

The stones of the road can be seen clearly 

Luckily for me, my friend Dorian Disha (a licensed guide) knows all the right people, and he had arranged for me to meet with Mr Alban Cela, from the cultural heritage section of the Municipality, and local historian Mr Genc Gripshi who has written a history of the town (details below). Thanks to them, I learned much more about the town and the area. We started out tour by heading to the edge of town to see a section of the Via Egnatia. The road runs east out of the town from just beyond the cemetery and the stone surface is visible, to a greater and lesser extent, for about 80 metres. 

 In fact this part of the Via Egnatia is still in use as a local road and it was amazing to be driving along looking at the stone surface of the Roman road through the front window of the car. We stopped the car and got out at a small Ottoman bridge. It was wonderful to walk along the ancient surface and to imagine all of the people who had passed along this route over the millennia. Of course I had to get down to feel the stones under my hands.  We also visited a second bridge, 3 kilometres further along the road. Though the remains of this stone bridge go back to Roman times, they have now been incorporated into the modern bridge (though they are visible underneath it). Unfortunately, the area is now used for fly-tipping and is in a pitiful state. 

The small Ottoman bridge 

The castle of Peqin castle is believed to stand on the site of the Roman station, but the remains we see now date to the Ottoman period. The circuit of the castle wall is complete, although the walls are not standing to their original height, and there are well-preserved polygonal towers at the corners and the entrance. The interior of the castle still has the steps to the parapet along the walls and the remains of some of the magazines can be seen. 

Polygonal tower

There is a description of the castle in the ‘Seyahatname’ or Travel Book of the Turkish writer Evliya Çelebi who travelled through Peqin in the mid 17th century. Çelebi noted that the walls were the equivalent of about twelve metres in height and also gives us useful information about the garrison in the fortress: “Within resides the Dizdar [castle warden], along with 70 soldiers. There are five cannons in the castle, and ten small houses roofed with tiles. There is also a small mosque with no minaret.” 

From the castle it is only a few steps to Peqin’s main square which is dominated by the beautiful historic mosque, known as the mosque of Abdurrahman Pasha or the ‘Clock Mosque’ due to the clock tower attached to the building. 

The mosque was originally built by Abdurrahman Abdi Pasha ‘the Albanian’ (1616–1686) who was born in the village of Çopani near Peqin. Abdi Pasha had a very distinguished career in the Ottoman army and as a governor of several provinces until his last post in Buda. He died heroically defending the city when it was laid siege to by the Holy League. Abdurrahman was the last governor – the capture of the city ended the Ottoman occupation of Budin. 

Abdurrahman Pasha had the mosque built in 1666 but it was later destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 1820s by one of his descendants, Cafer Sadık Pasha.  It is a very elegant building, the front courtyard has nicely proportioned arches on columns, and the entrance has a blind triple arch over the doorway. The minaret and dome are reconstructed, as they were destroyed in 1970 during the Communist period’s ‘cultural revolution’. It has been sympathetically restored and looked beautiful in the spring sunshine on my visit. 

Thanks are due to Genc Gripshi for his generosity in sharing so much of his research about the history of the town and its surroundings, to Alban Cela, and to Dorian Disha for arranging my visit to Peqin. 

Further Reading 

Gripshi, G., Historia e Peqinit, Reklama, Tirana 2014 

Fasolo, M., La via Egnatia I, Da Apollonia e Dyrrachium ad Herakleia Lynkestidos, Roma 2003 

http://akt.gov.al/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/VIA-%E2%80%9CEGNATIA%E2%80%9D-compressed.pdf 

How to get there 

Peqin is off the SH7 on the way from Rrogozhine to Elbasan going east. Take the exit at the first sign to Peqin and the road will take you all the way to the main square. For the stretch of the Via Egnatia, this is the continuation of the road on which the cemetery is located. 

If you want a ‘Via Egnatia’ day trip, Peqin could be combined with a visit to the remains of the mutatio at Ad Quintum, as well as Mansio Scampa (Elbasan). Contact Dorian Disha for this or for any other trip or tour – he is a licensed guide and I have no hesitation in recommending him. If you would like to travel with Dorian he can be contacted on +355 69 8228244 or via email doriandisha76@gmail.com.