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(Panormus or Panormus Limen), Spilesë (in Himarë/Himara), Gjipe (between
Dhërmi/Drimades and Vuno) and Jaliskari (in Dhërmi/Drimades), which were formed in that
period. List of ports is also given in the works of Hammond (1967: 125) and Winninfrith
(2002: 96), where among the already listed names they also mention the coastal plain
Grammata, situated close to Dhraleo, where signs of sailors, who found their shelter from the
storm on the sea, are recorded on its rocky crags.
The archaeologist Ilir Gjipali (2004: 60) is one of rare scholars defending the pro-Albanian
positions, who like the local historiographer Koçi dates trading relations between
Himarë/Himara and today’s Greek Islands in the period of late antiquity:
From the examination of the ceramics especially those coming from the archaic classic
and Hellenistic period is clearly seen the presents of the imported pottery which comes
mainly from important sites of Greece and Italy and also from Apolonia in Albania. In
these periods Himarë seem to have been a small inhabited centre but being in a
strategic position in the Ionian Coast had contact with important trade centres like the
Sopoti small town (Borshi) in the south [sic.] (ibid.).
Sinani is another author in the edited book published by the Albanian Academy of Sciences,
who defends the pro-Albanian or national position. He sets the trading relations with the
Greek Islands in the period of the Ottoman conquests, between 14 th and 16 th centuries. As
noted in one of previous subchapters – Different Views and Positions – Sinani sees the
strategic position of Himarë/Himara area as one of the main reasons for development of
trading relations with the neighbouring islands, which connected people from Himarë/Himara
with “the West” (Sinani 2004: 349). Prifti, another scholar from the Albanian Academy of
Science, sees besides trading also the Greek Ortodox Church and the Greek language in
schools as reasons for strengthening of Greek influence in Himarë/Himara area. Moreover,
Prifti sees the consolidation of the Greek language as a consequence of a decree of the
Ottoman authorities that did not allow the usage of Albanian language in schools.
The activity of the Patriarchies, of the church where the sermons were held in Greek,
and of the Greek schools, extended in the main towns and villages of South and
Central Albania was considered by the contemporaries as the main factor in the spread
of the Greek language in this region. Just after this period of the XIX century the
Greek language was introduced more widely in the villages of Himarë. This spread of
the Greek language was favoured because the Ottoman government had prohibited to
the Albanians the teaching and learning of the Albanian language, for the reason that
lacked the schools in Albania [sic.] (Prifti 2004: 188).
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