Phoenice

Phoenice or Phoenike () was an ancient Greek city in Epirus and capital of the Chaonians. It is located high on an almost impregnable hill commanding the fertile valley below and near the modern town of the same name, Finiq, in southern Albania. It was the wealthiest city in Epirus and had the strongest walls until the Roman conquest. It was the location of the Treaty of Phoenice which ended the First Macedonian War. The city is part of an archaeological park.

==Toponym== The toponym is ultimately of non-Indo-European origin, as with all names with an -īk suffix in IE languages. There were at least 16 toponyms throughout the Ancient Greek world sharing the root Phoinik-; from Epirus to Lycia. In ancient Greek, φοῖνιξ (phoenix) may have acquired different meanings. They include "dark red or "brown-red", which could have referred to geographical features of particular rivers and mountains. As a name it may have referred to groups which entered the Aegean sea via the southern Anatolian coastline.