Berat County: History
Archaeologists have found artifacts including silver women's earrings and bronze belt-buckles in Bronze Age tumuli in Pëllumbas, one of the villages of Berat. These items are similar to other artifacts found in northern Albania (Kukës and Mat), Kosovo (Gjilan) and northwestern Greece (Pogoni).
Antipatrea (Ancient Greek: Ἀντιπάτρεια) was an ancient Greek polis in Illyria, now Berat. It was founded by Cassander as Antipatreia, who named it after his father Antipater at 314 BC. An ancient Greek fortress and settlement are still visible today. Dassaretae tribe existed in the area, as early as the 6th century BC. It was captured by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. Livy (31.27.2) describes Antipatrea as a strongly fortified city in a narrow pass that the Romans sacked and burned. The city was composed of two fortifications on both banks of the Osum River.
Historical manuscripts such as the 6th century Codex Purpureus Beratinus, discovered in 1868, and the Codex Aureus, a 9th-century Greek language manuscript have revealed much about the history of the region and that Berat had a reputation for producing manuscripts; 76 of the 100 codes protected in the National Archives of Albania are from Berat, indicating its historical importance.
Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the town of Berat became part of the Byzantine Empire, when it was known as Pulcheriopolis. In the 600s and 700s, Slavs from the regions of Kastoria and Ohrid settled in southern Albania, in the area enclosed by the valleys of the Vjosa and the Shkumbin, including around Berat. The region became part of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 840s, during the reign of Khan Presian, and remained under Bulgarian rule until Bulgaria's conquest by the Byzantine Empire in 1018. During that time, Berat was restored and renamed Bělgrad (Бѣлградъ), i.e., 'White City', which is where its current name derives from. After the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, the region fell to Michael I Ducas, the ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, and then to the Second Bulgarian Empire under Ivan Asen II. …