The Abandonment of Butrint: From Venetian Enclave to Ottoman Backwater

Butrint's abandonment after the Ottoman sack of 1537 was not due to immediate depopulation but rather a gradual decline exacerbated by environmental adversities, including malaria and emergent wetlands. The site remained economically active and strategically important to Corfu despite being resettled. This study analyzes excavated Venetian houses and later burials at the Roman forum to argue that Butrint's final abandonment was influenced by plague, border-zone dynamics, and state decay, rather than immediate post-sack abandonment. The research focuses on the period from A.D. 1386 to 1928, before archaeological excavations began.

Hernandez. (2019). The Abandonment of Butrint: From Venetian Enclave to Ottoman Backwater. Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 88(2), 365. https://doi.org/10.2972/hesperia.88.2.0365