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same author about Himara
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Their region lay on the edge of the Greek world and was far from peaceful; for many centuries, it remained a [[frontier]] area contested with the Illyrian peoples to the north.<ref>{{harvnb|Hammond|1967|p=473ff}}.</ref> According to Šašel Kos, at the time of Pseudo-Scylax, Chaonians as well as all the peoples to the north and to the south of Chaonia were living in villages, while Greece began at the Greek polis of [[Ambracia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Šašel Kos|2005|p=276: "The author of the Periplus distinguished between the Illyrian peoples, barbarians, to the north of Chaonia, i.e. the Bulini [...], while others, i.e. the Chaones, [...], whom he did not identify in terms of their ethnicity, inhabited the regions to the south. All of these peoples, those to the north and to the south of Chaonia, were living in villages, while Greece began at the Greek polis of Ambracia (c . 33)."}}</ref> However, Šašel Kos, also stated that both northern and southern Epirus was part of the Greek world.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kos |first1=Sasel |title=Ethnic Manipulations with Ancient Veneti and Illyrians |journal=Portolan Adriatico |date=2007 |page=14 |url=http://iza.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/Sasel_Kos_Portolano_Adriatico_2007.pdf |access-date=8 November 2021 |quote=On the other hand however, however, the Epirote peoples and tribes are known to have been settled in northern Greece and in southern Albania. If the Illyrians are regarded as ancestors of the modern nation of the Albanians, what about the Epirotes? There is hardly any doubt that northern Epirus (in present-day Albania) and southern Epirus (in present-day Greece) were part of the Greek world, but possessing their own ethnic identity. Nonetheless their existence as a dependent people was denied by some of the Albanian scholars. However, there is no basis for such a thesis, as the two peoples are well distinguished by the classical writers. According to Strabo, the Ceraunian Mountains should be regarded as the frontier between the two, the boundary further extending along the ling connecting these mountains with the mines of Damastium in the region of the Dassaretes near Lake Lychnidus... Strabo's outline of their territories has been generally accepted (Cabanes 2003)... If on the one hand Thucydides regarded the Epirote Chaones... all as 'barbarians' , they were even often viewed as the most ancient Hellenic peoples, so to say the cradle of Greece.}}</ref>
As already known by [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]] in the 6th century BC,{{sfn|Stocker|2009|p=832}} Pseudo-Scylax notes that the Greek city of [[Oricum]], located within the territory of Illyrian [[Amantia]],{{sfn|Hernandez|2017|pp=257–258}} marked the northernmost border of Chaonia (and therefore of Epirus).{{sfn|Hernandez|2017|pp=257–258}}{{sfn|Stocker|2009|p=832}} [[Ptolemy]] locates Oricum in Chaonia. Oricum on the foot of the Ceraunian Mountains is placed in a border area between the Epirotes, more specifically the Chaones who were located south of the Acroceraunians mountains, and the Illyrians whose southernmost territory was at the foot of this mountain. This placement caused misunderstandings among ancient authors about Oricum's location in Illyria or Epirus.{{sfn|Shpuza|2022|p=553}} However, from a geographical perspective the territory of Epirus hardly goes beyond the Ceraunian Mountains, which represent a natural border that is difficult to cross. Available data indicate that Orikos became part of state of [[Epirus (ancient state)|Epirus]] only during the Kingdom of [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]] (early 3rd century BC).{{sfn|Shpuza|2022|p=553}} Also [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] and [[Strabo]] define the natural border of Chaonia at the Akrokeraunian Mountains.{{sfn|Çipa|2020|p=216}} Although most of the the time various mountain ranges such as the Acroceraunians were marked as border areas they frequently turned to meeting places of various groups instead of border zones.<ref>{{harvnb|Dausse|2015|p=27|ps=: Pour les zones de montagnes, nous pouvons citer les monts Acrocérauniens49 qui pourraient marquer le passage entre la partie chaone de l’Épire et l’Illyrie. Mais la plupart du temps, la montagne est le lieu de vie de nombreuses populations de la Grèce du Nord. À ce titre, elle constitue plus un lieu de rencontre50 qu’une barrière}}</ref> Chaonian winter pastures stretched from Konispol south to the Gulf of Vlorë to the north.{{sfn|Suha|2021|p=24}} [[Shushica River]] set a clear boundary between Chaonians and [[Amantes (tribe)|Amantes]], whose centre and boundary fortification that separated them from Chaonia was placed in present-day Cerja on the right side of Shushica.{{sfn|Çipa|2020|p=216}} In the Hellenistic period [[Borsh]]i was the northwestern-most stronghold of the fortification system of Chaonia, of which Phoinike served as its centre, controlling a crucial road that connected Chaonia and southern Illyria.{{sfn|Çipa|2020|p=216}} Moreover, [[Himara]] on the north of Borsh was yet another settlement on the Chaonian coast.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Çipa |first1=Kriledjan |title=The Antic City of Borsh |url=https://revistia.com/files/articles/ejms_v3_i4_18/Cipa.pdf |access-date=24 April 2023 |quote=similar cities of the Kaonia coast, as Butrinti and Himara}}</ref>
The [[Drino]] valley was one of the areas occupied and controlled by the tribe of the Chaonians. The geopolitical importance of the Drino valley, which represented a key land route between Illyria and northern Greece, probably explains the reasons of the independence and notability of the Chaonians in classical antiquity.{{sfn|Melfi|Piccinini|2012|pp=37, 39, 40}}
The settlement of Oricum was located on the border region between Epirus and Illyria.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=S. |last1=Shpuza |first2=K. |last2=Cipa |title=Prospections archéologiques sur le territoire d'Orikos |journal=SLSA Jahresbericht – Rapport Annuel – Annual Report 2020 |year=2021 |url=https://www.academia.edu/61035765|page= 114 |quote= Politiquement, le territoire d’Orikos se situait à la frontière entre l’Épire et l’Illyrie (fig. 3), le col de Llogara étant le seul point de passage terrestre entre ces deux régions. }}</ref>
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