It rises imposingly on a rocky hill, 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, surrounded by the Buna and Drin rivers.

Although there have been several legends about the etymology of the name Rozafa, scholars have linked it with Resafa, the place where Saint Sergius died.

After his defeat, Gentius sent two prominent tribal leaders, Teuticus and Bellus, as envoys to negotiate with the Roman commander.

The Roman army marched north of Scutari Lake where, at Meteon, they captured Gentius' wife queen Etuta, his brother Caravantius, his sons Scerdilaidas and Pleuratus along with leading Illyrians.

[6] The fall of the Illyrian kingdom in 168 BC[7] is transmitted by Livy in a ceremonial manner of the triumph of Anicius in Rome: In a few days, both on land and sea did he defeat the brave Illyrian tribe, who had relied on their knowledge of their own territory and fortifications.Within the castle there are the ruins of a 13th-century Venetian Catholic church, considered by scholars as the St. Stephen's Cathedral, which after the siege of Shkodër in the 15th century, when the Ottoman Empire captured the city, was transformed into the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque.

A famous widespread legend about human sacrifice and immurement with the aim of building a facility is traditionally orally transmitted by Albanians and connected with the construction of the Rozafa Castle.

May my son become a great hero, ruler of the world.A well known version of the legend is the Serbian epic poem called The Building of Skadar (Зидање Скадра, Zidanje Skadra) published by Vuk Karadžić in 1815, after he recorded a folk song sung by a Herzegovinian storyteller named Old Rashko.

This is manifested by the native milkweeds flow when their stalks are broken, and limestone stalactites found within the original Illyrian gateway.

Limestone deposits are scraped off by local women, and by mixing them with water they obtain a medicine to drink or apply to their breasts in order to increase their milk supply, and so that they can infuse their babies with the character and patriotism of Rozafa, the legendary immured woman.