(Lekel) S Albania.
Mentioned by Ptolemy (3.14) as an inland city of Chaonia.
The site is defended by cliffs on two long sides and by
strong walls of ashlar masonry, strengthened with towers,
on two short sides; the circumference of the defensible
area was some 1700 m. The masonry and the use of
bonding cross-walls within the circuit wall date the site
to ca. 295-290 B.C., and it is likely that Pyrrhos founded
it and Antigonea at the same time. The site has great
strategic importance: it commanded the entry from the N
into the Drin valley and lay close to the mouth of the
Aous pass (Aoi Stena), leading towards Macedonia. The
two rivers join just N of Lekel.
N.G.L. Hammond in JRS
47ff, and 61 (1971) 114; id., Epirus
(1967) 212f, 699.