The Ancient Shore

Greek and Roman ground on the eastern side. What happens to a civic centre when the harbour that paid for it silts up, and why floors outlast walls.

• B.1ButrintA Greek then Roman then Venetian site on a channel between lake and sea, with each period building on the last and the water slowly taking it back.
• B.2ApolloniaA Corinthian colony inland of the coast, its harbour silted and gone, leaving a civic centre stranded in farmland.
• B.3The Durrës amphitheatreOne of the largest in the Balkans, built into a hillside and found under a modern city, with a chapel later set inside it.
• B.4Mosaic floorsWhat a floor mosaic tells you about a room's status, and why so many survive when the walls above them do not.