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By:
Seb Bytyçi
- April 5, 2026 11:00 am
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The epic is not just a relic of the past, but an active part of the way Albanians understand themselves even today. Therefore, the Battle of Salona and its 1490th anniversary cannot be seen only as an event of Roman or Byzantine history, but as a moment that may have entered the memory of the people and lived for centuries in the form of songs about Muji and Omer.
The Songs of the Kreshniks are not simply legends, but narratives that preserve in a coded manner real events from late antiquity, especially from the 6th century. One of these events is the Battle of Salona in 536, a major battle of the Gothic Wars, where the Illyrian general Mundi (Mundus) lost his life along with his son Muriqi (Mauricius).
The Albanian epic is not just a cultural legacy of the past nor just an object of study for folklorists. It is a living phenomenon that has directly influenced the way Albanians have understood themselves, their history, and their place in the world. In this sense, the epic should be seen not only as literature, but as an important element in the process of ethnogenesis, ethnic survival, and later in the construction of modern nationalism and of the Albanian and Kosovo states themselves.
When we study the Albanian epic, especially the Mujovian Cycle, we see that it was not born in a vacuum. It is the product of a long historical period, connected to late antiquity, the fall of the Roman Empire, barbarian migrations, climatic crises, plagues and the great social changes that occurred in the Balkans in the 5th and 6th centuries. These events have not been preserved in chronicles written by the Albanians of that time, but seem to have been preserved in another form: in collective memory, in myth, in song and in epic narrative.
Therefore, when we read the songs of Muji, Halil, Omer or Gjergj Elez Ali, we should not see them only as fantastic tales of heroes with supernatural powers, but as poetically transformed memories of real historical events. In this sense, the epic can be read as a kind of folk archive of the early history of the Albanians, where the epic characters often have parallels with historical figures of late antiquity, especially with generals and military leaders of Illyria in the service of the Eastern Roman Empire. Muji is based on the Illyrian general Mundus, commander of the Roman army in Illyria during the 6th century, who fell in battle together with his son Muriqi, an event that may have also inspired the song about the death of Omer. Halil is associated with another general, Calluc (Calixtus), who died in clashes with the Gepids. Zuku Bajraktari represents Belisarius, one of Justinian's most famous generals, while Basho Jona derives from General Joannes, a real-life figure of the Gothic Wars.
This does not mean that the epic is history in the classical sense of the word, but that it contains historical, mythological and cultural layers that together create a narrative about the origin and survival of a people. In this narrative, conflict plays an important role: the conflict with the foreigner, the invader, the monster, heavy taxes, injustice. These conflicts symbolically represent the confrontation of a small mountain community with large empires, with migrations of peoples and with great historical changes.
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The epic among the indigenous population of Illyricum before the Slavic invasions
In this context, I propose using the concept of ethnicity to explain this phenomenon. Before modern nationalism existed, before the idea of the nation-state existed, there was a sense of ethnic belonging, an awareness that “we” are a group separate from “them”. This awareness was not yet nationalism in the modern sense, but was an early form of it, a proto-nationalism, based on language, customs, common memory and shared myths. The Albanian epic has played an important role precisely in cultivating and preserving this ethnic awareness.
For centuries, Albanians had no state, no educational institutions in their own language, no history written in a continuous manner. In these conditions, epic song, lute, and rhapsody became cultural institutions in their own right. They preserved historical memory, moral norms, and the concepts of honor, loyalty, hospitality, and justice. In this way, the epic was not just entertainment, but a form of education and a mechanism of cultural survival.
With the rise of modern nationalism in the 19th century, this epic legacy took on a new role. It became a source of inspiration for national romantic literature and for the nation’s ideologists. In the Albanian case, works like Gjergj Fishta’s “Lahuta e Malcië” took the spirit of the epic and transformed it into a conscious nationalist project, with the aim of building a national consciousness and an Albanian state. So, here we see a transition from ethnicity, as an early ethnic consciousness, to modern nationalism, as a political project for state-building.
This process did not only happen in Albania, but in a different form it is also happening in Kosovo. Here too, the epic is being used as part of cultural identity and as a means of international affirmation, especially through efforts to include the Epic of the Kreshniks in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List. This is not only a cultural issue, but also a political and symbolic issue, because it is related to international recognition, legitimacy and state identity.
At the same time, it must be acknowledged that epics and myths are not used by only one side. Other nationalisms in the Balkans, especially the Serbian one, have also used the epic and myth of Kosovo to build their political and territorial narratives. Therefore, the epic is not only a cultural but also a political field, where symbolic battles for history, identity and territory take place.
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Illyrian statesmen hidden behind the characters of the Albanian epic
However, it is important to understand that the connection between epic and nationalism is not always the same. In some cases, as among peoples who have built expansionist states, epic has been used to justify expansion and domination over others. In other cases, as among Albanians, epic has had more of a protective function, to preserve identity, language, and memory in conditions of statelessness and external pressure.
In the end, what we can say is that the Albanian epic has been one of the factors that has helped the transition from a stateless ethnic community to a nation with political consciousness and aspiration for a state. It has served as a founding myth, as a source of meaning, and as a grand narrative of the origins, suffering, and resilience of the Albanians. In this sense, the epic is not just a relic of the past, but an active part of the way Albanians understand themselves even today.
Therefore, I see the Battle of Salona and its 1490th anniversary not only as an event of Roman or Byzantine history, but as a moment that may have entered the memory of the people and lived for centuries in the form of songs about Muji and Omer. In this sense, the Albanian epic is not just literature, but an archive of historical memory, a living link between late antiquity and today's Albanian identity.
© KOHA Daily
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