Editing Butrint (section)

=== Ancient Roman period ===
[[File:Buthrotum,_provincial_AE,_27_BC-AD_14,_RPC_I_1394.2.jpg|thumb|Bronze coin minted at Buthrotum during the reign of Augustus (27 BC–14 AD). The ethnic legend BVTHR is inscribed on the reverse.<ref>[[Andrew Burnett|Andrew M. Burnett]], [[Michel Amandry]], [[Pere Pau Ripollès Alegre|Pere Pau Ripollès]], ''Roman provincial coinage. : Volume I, From the death of Caesar to the death of Vitellius 44 BC-AD 69'', London/Paris, 1992, n°1394.2.</ref>|alt=|left]]

In the next century, it became a part of a province of [[Macedonia (Roman province)|Macedonia]]. In 44&nbsp;BC, [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] designated ''Buthrotum'' as a [[Colonia (Roman)|colony]] to reward soldiers who had fought for him against [[Pompey]]. Local landholder [[Titus Pomponius Atticus]] objected to his correspondent [[Cicero]] who lobbied against the plan in the Senate. As a result, only small numbers of colonists were settled.

[[File:Butrint_Albania_10_baptistery.jpg|thumb|right|293px|Remains of the baptistery]]
In 31&nbsp;BC, [[Roman Emperor]] [[Augustus]] fresh from his victory over [[Mark Antony]] and Cleopatra at the [[battle of Actium]] renewed the plan to make ''Buthrotum'' a veterans' colony. New residents expanded the city and the construction included an [[Roman aqueduct|aqueduct]], a [[Roman bath]], houses, a forum complex and a [[nymphaeum]]. During that era the size of the town was doubled.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hodges|first1=Richard|last2=Bowden|first2=William|last3=Lako|first3=Kosta|author4=Richard Andrews|title=Byzantine Butrint: excavations and surveys 1994–1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3lpAAAAMAAJ&q=Roman+Butrint+was+more+than+twice+as+big+as+the+town+was+in+the+1st+century+BC|access-date=8 January 2011|year=2004|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-84217-158-5|page=54}}</ref> A number of new structures were built next to the existing ones especially around the theatre and the temple of Asklepeios.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cabanes |first1=P. |title=From Alexander Molossus to Pyrrhus: Political Developments |journal=Epirus, 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilization |date=1997 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UV1oAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Ekdotikē Athēnōn |isbn=9789602133712 |language=en |quote="At Bouthrotos, it is enough to compare the theatre, built of grey poros, with all the Roman structures surrounding it: the skene and the neighbouring buildings, the new sanctuary of Asklepios and the areas next to it}}</ref>

In the 3rd century AD, an [[earthquake]] destroyed a large part of the town, levelling buildings in the suburbs on the Vrina Plain and in the forum of the city centre. Excavations have revealed that city had already been in decline. However, the settlement survived into the late antique era, becoming a major port in the province of Old Epirus. The town of late antiquity included the grand ''Triconch Palace'', the house of a major local notable that was built around 425.