Apollonia was founded by Greek colonists on the Illyrian coast, on a site that commanded both a fertile plain and access to the sea. Under Roman rule it became a place of some standing, a point of arrival for travellers crossing from Italy and a stop on the route inland; the young Octavian, later the emperor Augustus, was studying there when news reached him of Caesar's assassination. The excavated area spreads across open hillsides scattered with olive trees. Its emblem is the restored facade of the monument of the Agonothetes, a two-storey colonnade that stands alone against the sky, close to the remains of an odeon, a library, porticoes, houses and long stretches of city wall. The site was never entirely abandoned. On the hilltop stands the monastery of Saint Mary, a medieval Orthodox foundation whose church and cloister now house the archaeological museum, so that Greek, Roman and Byzantine layers can be read within a few hundred metres. Filmed in 4K, with aerial views that show how the ancient plan sits in the landscape, the programme suits both archaeological strands and slots on the lesser-known heritage of the Balkans.
