At the nearby Aoos Narrows, a Macedonian army barred the way to Epirus and, in 196 BC, a decisive battle, the Battle of the Aous took place between a Roman army commanded by Consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus and the Macedonians commanded by Philip V. After an attempt of a truce and an inconclusive battle, the Roman army was led by a shepherd to a point where the Macedonians could be attacked and the Romans won the battle.
The Byzantines built a defensive tower which was successively developed during the Ottoman Empire epoch in the 15th century and by Ali Pasha in the early 19th century.
The Young Turk revolutionaries met in Tepelenë in February 1909, in an attempt to persuade Albanian nationalists to join them.
In 1920, an earthquake destroyed the town which was completely rebuilt afterwards: local tradition says that if Tepelenë exceeds 100 buildings then it will be destroyed. In the same year, 400 Italian soldiers surrendered to the Albanians, during the Battle of Vlora.
On 7 April 1939 Italian forces landed in Albania and took control of the country and Tepelenë. After the failed Italian offensive on Greece in October 1940. In this time, the Albanian troops deserted the front of the order of their commander, Colonel Prenk Pervizi. Colonel protested and told the Italian command that the Albanians were not cannon fodder. Colonel Pervizi with other officers and Albanian troops were transferred and isolated in the mountains of northern Albania. Italians suffered a great defeat that debitarono the "betrayal" of the Albanian troops. This fact was the first sign of revolt against the Italian occupation.
Greek forces counter-attacked and advanced toward Tepelenë in a general offensive on Vlorë. Despite several attacks and assistance from the British Royal Air Force, the Italians managed to hold the town and in late April 1941, following the German invasion of Yugoslavia, the Greek army was forced to withdraw.
The local
