Looking for borders and gates of Molossia and specifying a typology of the fortifications : the contribution of archaeological sources.

International audienceMolossia covers a very extensive geographical area. It is the largest part of Epirus, measuring 100 km from north to south and 70 km from east to west. It means that Molossia is three times bigger than Chaonia and five times bigger than Thesprotia. Despite the efforts and recent works of the Greek Archaeological Services, the inner and mountainous region of Epirus still feels like a forgotten area. Althought most of the fortifications of Molossia are still “without name and history” (Alfred Gilliéron), it is possible to find specific data and define space organization models. For the western part of Molossia, fortifications often look like fortresses defending strategic points, important roads coming from Chaonia for instance. In others cases, searching for borders doesn’t work, especially when it comes to the eastern part of Molossia. In this area, fortifications are not impressive and have others functions. They can be places on the transhumance routes or centers of small ethnè. This space organization is more suited to mountain people, who adopted the ethnè as their political system. Comparing with Chaonia et Thesprotia allows a better understanding of the space organization of the inner part of Epirus