Listed 70 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "SERRES Prefecture GREECE" .
EMMANOUIL PAPPAS (Municipality) SERRES
SERRES (Municipality) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
STRYMONIKO (Municipality) SERRES
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AMFIPOLIS (Ancient city) SERRES
Eth. Amphipolites, Amphipolites: Adj. Amphipolitanus (Just. xiv. sub
fin.). A town in Macedonia, situated upon an eminence on the left or eastern bank
of the Strymon, just below its egress from the lake Cercinitis, at the distance
of 25 stadia, or about three miles from the sea. (Thuc. iv. 102.) The Strymon
flowed almost round the town, whence its name Amphi-polis. Its position is one
of the most important in this part of Greece. It stands in a pass, which traverses
the mountains bordering the Strymonic gulf; and it commands the only easy communication
from the coast of that gulf into the great Macedonian plains. In its vicinity
were the gold and silver mines: of Mount Pangaeus, and large forests of ship-timber.
It was originally called Ennea Hodoi, or Nine-Ways (Ennea hodol), from the many
roads which met at this place; and it belonged to the Edonians, a Thracian people.
Aristagoras of Miletus first attempted to colonize it, but was cut off with his
followers by the Edonians, B.C. 497. (Thuc. l. c.; Herod. v. 126.) The next attempt
was made by the Athenians, with a body of 10,000 colonists, consisting of Athenian
citizens and allies; but they met with the same fate as Aristagoras, and were
all destroyed by the Thracians at Drabescus, B.C. 465. (Thuc. i. 100, iv. 102;
Herod. ix. 75.) So valuable, however, was the site, that the Athenians sent out
another colony in B.C. 437 under Agnon, the son of Nicias, who drove the Thracians
out of Nine-Ways, and founded the city, to which he gave the name of Amphipolis.
On three sides the city was defended by the Strymon; on the other side Agnon built
a wall across, extending from one part of the river to the other. South of the
town was a bridge, which formed the great means of communication between Macedonia
and Thrace. The following plan will illustrate the preceding account. (Thuc. iv.
102.)
Amphipolis soon became an important city, and was regarded by the
Athenians as the jewel of their empire. In B.C. 424 it surrendered to the Lacedaemonian
general Brasidas, without offering any resistance. The historian Thucydides, who
commanded the Athenian fleet off the coast, arrived in time from the island of
Thasos to save Eion, the port of Amphipolis, at the mouth of the Strymon, but
too late to prevent Amphipolis itself from falling into the hands of Brasidas.
(Thuc. iv. 103-107.) The loss of Amphipolis caused both indignation and alarm
at Athens, and led to the banishment of Thucydides. In B.C. 422 the Athenians
sent a large force, under the command of Cleon, to attempt the recovery of the
city. This expedition completely failed; the Athenians were defeated with considerable
loss, but Brasidas as well as Cleon fell in the battle. The operations of the
two commanders are detailed at length by Thucydides, and his account is illustrated
by the masterly narrative of Grote. (Thuc. v. 6-11; Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol.
vi. p. 634, seq.)
From this time Amphipolis continued independent of Athens. According
to the treaty made between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians in B.C. 421, it was
to have been restored to Athens; but its inhabitants refused to surrender to their
former masters, and the Lacedaemonians were unable to compel them to do so, even
if they had been so inclined. Amphipolis afterwards became closely allied with
Olynthus, and with the assistance of the latter was able to defeat the attempts
of the Athenians under Timotheus to reduce the place in B.C. 360. Philip, upon
his accession (359) declared Amphipolis a free city; but in the following year
(358) he took the place by assault, and annexed it permanently to his dominions.
It continued to belong to the Mace donians, till the conquest of their country
by the Romans in B.C. 168. The Romans made it a free city, and the capital of
the first of the four districts, into which they divided Macedonia. (Dem. in Aristocr.
p. 669; Diod. xvi. 3. 8; Liv. xlv. 29; Plin. iv. 10.)
The deity chiefly worshipped at Amphipolis appears to have been Artemis
Tauropolos or Brauronia (Diod. xviii. 4; Liv. xliv. 44), whose head frequently
appears on the coins of the city, and the ruins of whose temple in the first century
of the Christian era are mentioned in an epigram of Antipater of Thessalonica.
(Anth. Pal. vol. i. no. 705.) The most celebrated of the natives of Amphipolis
was the grammarian Zoilus.
Amphipolis was situated on the Via Egnatia. It has been usually stated,
on the authority of an anonymous Greek geographer, that it was called Chrysopolis
under the Byzantine empire; but Tafel has clearly shown, in the works cited below,
that this is a mistake, and that Chrysopolis and Amphipolis were two different
places. Tafel has also pointed out that in the middle ages Amphipolis was called
Popolia. Its site is now occupied by a village called Neokhorio, in Turkish Jeni-Keui,
or New-Town. There are still a few remains of the ancient town; and both Leake
and Cousinery found among them a curious Greek inscription, written in the Ionic
dialect, containing a sentence of banishment against two of their citizens, Philo
and Stratocles. The latter is the name of one of the two envoys sent from Amphipolis
to Athens to request the assistance of the latter against Philip, and he is therefore
probably the same person as the Stratocles mentioned in the inscription.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ARGILOS (Ancient city) SERRES
Argilus (Argilos: Eth. Argilios), a city of Macedonia in the district
Bisaltia, between Amphipolis and Bromiscus. It was founded by a colony from Andros.
(Thuc. iv. 103.) It appears from Herodotus (vii. 115) to have been a little to
the right of the route of the army of Xerxes, and must therefore have been situated
a little inland. Its territory must have been extended as far as the right bank
of the Strymon, since Cerdylium, the mountain immediately opposite Amphipolis,
belonged to Argilus. (Thuc. v. 6.) The Argilians readily joined Brasidas in B.C.
424, on account of their jealousy of the important city of Amphipolis, which the
Athenians had founded in their neighbourhood. (Thuc. iv. 103; comp. Steph. B.
s. v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. , p. 171.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
DRAVISKOS (Ancient city) SERRES
Drabeskos (Strab. vii. p. 331; Steph. B.). A place where the Athenian
colonists of Amphipolis were defeated by the Thracian Edoni. In the Peutinger
Table (Daravescus) it is marked 12 M. P. to the NW. of Philippi, a situation which
corresponds with the plain of Dhrama. The plain. of Drabescus is concealed from
Amphipolis by the meeting of the lower heights of Pangaeum with those which enclose
the plain to the NE. Through this: strait the ‘Anghista makes its way to the lake;
and thus there is a marked separation between the Strymonic plain and that which
contains Drabescus and Philippi.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
FAGRIS (Ancient city) SERRES
A fortress in the Pieric hollow, and the first place after
the passage of the Strymon. It is identified with the post station of Orfana,
on the great road from Greece to Constantinople, where Greek coins have been often
found, and, among other small productions of Hellenic art, oval sling bullets
of lead, or the glandes of which Lucan (vii. 512) speaks in his description of
the battle of Pharsalia. These are generally inscribed with Greek names in characters
of the best times, or with some emblem, such as a thunderbolt.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
GALIPSOS (Ancient city) SERRES
A colony of Thasos, on the coast of Thrace, which was taken by Brasidas
after the capture of Amphipolis (Thuc. iv. 107), and retaken by Cleon in the ensuing
year. (Thuc. v. 6.) Livy (xliv. 45) relates that Perseus, when flying from the
Romans, after the defeat at Pydna, sailed from the mouth of the Strymon to Galepsus
on the first day, and on the second to Samothrace, which renders it probable that
it was one of the most remarkable harbours of the intervening coast, which data
can only be reconciled at the harbour of Nefter, which is situated 2 hours to
the S. of Pravista, just within the Cape forming the W. entrance of the Gulf of
Kavala, where still remain the ruins of a Greek city, now known by the names of
Paleopoli, or Nefteropoli, or Dhefteropoli.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
GAZOROS (Ancient city) SERRES
Gazorus (Gasoros, Ptol. iii. 13. § 31; Gazoros, Steph. B.) A town of the Edoni
in Macedonia, and, probably, the same place as the Graepo of the Peutinger Table.
Gasorus, therefore, probably stood between Tragilus and Euporia, towards the NW.
end of Mons Pangaeus.
KERKINI (Mountain) SERRES
Cercine (Kerkine, Thuc. ii. 98; Kerketesion or Kerketesion, Ptol.
iii. 13. § 19: Karadagh), the uninhabited mountain chain which branched off from
Haemus in a SE. direction, and formed the water-shed to the streams which feed
the rivers Axius and Strymon. Sitalces, in his route from Thrace into Macedonia,
crossed this mountain, leaving the Paeonians on his right, and the Sinti and Maedi
on his left descending upon the Axius at Idomene.
MYRKINOS (Ancient city) SERRES
Murkinos, Murkinnos, Eth. Murkinios. A place belonging to the Edoni,
on the left bank of the Strymon, which was selected by Histiaeus of Miletus for
his settlement. It offered great advantages to settlers, as it contained an abundant
supply of timber for shipbuilding, as well as silver mines. (Herod. vii. 23.)
Aristagoras retired to this place, and, soon after landing, perished before some
Thracian town which he was besieging. (Herod v. 126; Thuc. iv. 102.) Afterwards,
it had fallen into the hands of the Edoni; but on the murder of Pittacus, chief
of that people, it surrendered to Brasidas. (Thuc. iv. 107.) The position of Myrcinus
was in the interior, to the N. of M. Pangaeus, not far from Amphipolis. (Leake,
North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 181.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SIRIS (Ancient city) SERRES
Sirae, Serrhae, Eth. Siropaioneis, Serres. A town of Macedonia, standing
in the widest part of the great Strymonic plain on the last slopes of the range
of mountains which bound it to the NE. Xerxes left a part of his sick here, when
retreating to the Hellespont (Herod. Herod. viii. 115.): and P. Aemilius Paulus,
after his victory at Pydna, received at this town, which is ascribed to Odorantice,
a deputation from Perseus, who had retired to Samothrace. (Liv. xlv. 4.) Little
is known of Serrhae, which was the usual form of the name in the 5th century (though
from two inscriptions found at Serres it appears that Sirrha, or Sirrhae, was
the more ancient orthography, and that which obtained at least until the division
of the empire), until the great spread of the Servian kingdom. Stephen Dushan
in the 14th century seized on this. large and flourishing city, and assumed the
imperial crown here, where he established a court on the Roman or Byzantine model,
with the title of Emperor of Romania, Sclavonia, and Albania. (Niceph. Greg. p.
467.) After his death a partition of his dominions took place. but the Greeks
have never. since been able to recover their former preponderance in the provinces
of the Strymonic valley. Sultan Murad took this town from the Servians, and when
Sigismund, king of Hungary, was about to invade the Ottoman dominions, Bayezid
(Bajazet Ilderim) summoned the Christian princes who were his vassals to his camp
at Serrhae, previous to his victory at Nicopolis, A.D. 1396. (J. von Hammer, Gesch.
des Osman. Reiches, vol. i. pp. 193, 246, 600.)
Besides the Macedonian inscriptions of the Roman empire found by Leake
(Inscr. 126) and Cousinery, the only other vestige of the ancient town is a piece
of Hellenic wall faced with large quadrangular blocks, but composed within of
small stones and mortar forming a mass of extreme solidity. Servian remains are
more common. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 200 - 210.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
STRYMONAS (River) SERRES
Strymon (Strumon, Ptol. iii. 13. § 18), the largest river of Macedonia,
after the Axius, and, before the time of Philip, the ancient boundary of that
country towards the E. It rises in Mount Scomius near Pantalia (the present Gustendil)
(Thuc. ii. 96), and, taking first an E. and then a SE. course, flows through the
whole of Macedonia. It then enters the lake of Prasias, or Cercinitis, and shortly
after its exit from it, near the town of Amphipolis, falls into the Strymonic
gulf. Pliny, with less correctness, places its sources in the Haemus (iv. 10.
s. 12). The importance of the Strymon is rather magnified in the ancient accounts
of it, from the circumstance of Amphipolis being seated near its mouth; and it
is navigable only a few miles from that town. Apollodorus (ii. 5. 10) has a legend
that Hercules rendered the upper course of the river shallow by casting stones
into it, it having been previously navigable much farther. Its banks were much
frequented by cranes (Juv. xiii. 167; Virg. Aen. x. 269; Mart. ix. 308). The Strymon
is frequently alluded to in the classics. (Comp. Hesiod. Theog. 339; Aesch. Suppl.
258, Agam. 192; Herod. vii. 75; Thuc. i. 200; Strab. vii. p. 323; Mela. ii. 2;
Liv. xliv. 44. &c. Its present name is Struma, but the Turks call it Karasu. (Comp.
Leake, North. Gr. iii. pp. 225, 465, &c.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
TRAGILOS (Ancient city) SERRES
Tragilos: Eth. Tragileus. A town of Macedonia, and doubtless the same
as the Bragilos or Dragilos found in Hierocles among the towns of the first or
consular Macedonia. In the Table there is a place Triulo marked as 10 miles from
Philippi. This is apparently a corruption of Traelio, since numerous coins have
been found near Amphipolis with the inscription TRAILION Leake conjectures with
much probability that the real name was Tragilus, and that in the local form of
the name the r may have been omitted, so that the TPAILION of the coin may represent
the Hellenic Tragilion.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
VERGI (Ancient city) SERRES
Berge: Eth. Bergaios. A town of Macedonia, lying inland from the mouth
of the Strymon (Scymnlus Ch. 654; Ptol. iii. 13. § 31) only known as the birthplace
of the writer Antiphanes, whose tales were so marvellous and incredible as to
give rise to a verb Bergaizein, in the sense of telling falsehoods. (Strab. i.
p. 47, ii. pp. 102, 104.) Leake places Berga near the modern Takhyno, upon the
shore of the Strymonic lake.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
VISSALTIA (Ancient area) SERRES
Bisaltia (Bisaltia), a district in Macedonia, extending from the river
Strymon and the lake Cercinitis, on the E., to Crestonica on the W. (Herod. vii.
115.) It is called Bisaltica by Livy (xlv. 29). The inhabitants, called Bisaltae
(Bisaltai), were a Thracian people. At the time of the invasion of Xerxes, B.C.
480, Bisaltia and Crestonica were governed by a Thracian prince, who was independent
of Macedonia (Herod. viii. 116); but before the commencement of the Peloponnesian
war, Bisaltia had been annexed to the Macedonian kingdom. (Thuc. ii. 99.) Some
of the Bisaltae settled in the peninsula of Mt. Athos. (Thuc. iv. 109.) The most
important town in Bisaltia was the Greek city of Argilus. In this district there
was a river Bisaltes (Bisaltes), which Leake conjectures to be the river which
joins the Strymon a little below the bridge of Neokhorio, or Amphipolis; while
Tafel supposes it to be the same as the Rechius of Procopius (de Aedif. iv. 3),
which discharges into the sea the waters of the lake Bolbe. (Leake, Northern Greece,
vol. iii. p. 228; Tafel, in Pauly's Realencycl. vol. i. p. 1115.) The annexed
coin, which is one of great antiquity, bears en the obverse the legend Bisaltikon.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AMFIPOLIS (Ancient city) SERRES
A town in Macedonia, on the eastern bank of the Strymon, about
three miles from the sea. The Strymon flowed almost round the town, nearly forming
a circle, whence its name Amphi-polis. It was originally called Ennea Hodoi, the
"Nine Ways," and belonged to the Edonians, a Thracian people. It was
colonized by the Athenians in B.C. 437, who drove the Edonians out of the place.
It was one of the most important of the Athenian possessions in the north of the
Aegaean Sea. Hence their indignation when it fell into the hands of Brasidas (B.C.
424), and of Philip (B.C. 358). The port of Amphipolis was Eion.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A spot in Thrace, near which the city of Amphipolis was founded. It appears to have derived its name, which means "the Nine Ways," from the number of roads which met here from different parts of Thrace and Macedon. It was here, according to Herodotus, that Xerxes and his army crossed the Strymon on bridges, after having offered a sacrifice of white horses to that river and buried alive nine youths and nine maidens.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
DRAVISKOS (Ancient city) SERRES
A town in the district Edonis in Macedonia, on the Strymon.
FAGRIS (Ancient city) SERRES
A town of the Pierians in Macedonia.
STRYMONAS (River) SERRES
Now Struma, called by the Turks Karasu; an important river in
Macedonia, forming the boundary between that country and Thrace down to the time
of Philip. It rose in Mount Scomius, flowed first south and then southeast, passed
through the lake Prasias, and, immediately south of Amphipolis, fell into a bay
of the Aegaean Sea, called after it Strymonicus Sinus.
NEA ZICHNI (Municipality) SERRES
SIDIROKASTRO (Municipality) SERRES
AGIOS IOANNIS (Village) SERRES
STRYMONAS (River) SERRES
A small hydro-biosphere which accommodates a substantial number of aquatic birds that live on the water's edge every year is Strymon's Delta, in Amfipolis. Unfortunately, it sustained a disastrous impact due to the construction of a petrochemical factor's erection, when the public opposition prevented the construction. However, it got damaged by the huge road works, that were constructed at the jundions in Nea Egnatia Motorway.
In the following WebPages you can find an interactive map with all the monuments and museums of the Prefecture, with relevant information and photos.
AMFIPOLIS (Ancient city) SERRES
The plague in the 6th century A.D. and the subsequent movements of the Slav populations led to a steady shrinking of the ancient Ampipolis, and this in the end brought about its demise as an urban centre. After the 9th century A.D. interest in the urban settlement shifts to the mouth of the Strymon river, where an extensive harbour town sprang up, known as Chrysoupolis, which continued into the 16th century.
In the ruins of Amphipolis on the north-west fringes of the hills beside the Strymon a small settlement developed, Marmarion, which served as a stop-over for travellers crossing the river by the ford that was known as the Marmarion Ford. Life at Chrysoupolis and Marmarion continued into the post-Byzantine and Ottoman periods.
MYRKINOS (Ancient city) SERRES
SERRES (Town) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
Titular metropolitan see in Macedonia,
more correctly Serrhae, is called Siris by Herodotus, Sirae by Titus Livius. The
city is in Eastern Macedonia,
about forty-three miles northeast of Salonica
in the plain of Strymon,
on the last outposts of the mountains which bound it on the north-east.
The city possessed great strategic importance under the Byzantine
Empire in the wars against the Serviani and Bulgars. It was captured by the latter
in 1206 and recaptured by the Emperor John Dukas in 1245. Later the Servian, Kral
Stephen Dushan, captured it in turn, was crowned there im 1345, established a
Court on the model of that of Byzantium, and married the daughter of Andronicus
II.
The city carries on a brisk trade in textile and agricultural products.
At first Serrae was a suffragan of Thessalonica,
remaining so probably until the eighth century, when Eastern Illyricum was removed
from Roman jurisdiction and attached to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
At the end of the next century it had become a metropolitan see without suffragans,
and such is still its status for the Greeks.
S. Petrides, ed.
Transcribed by: Joseph E. O'Connor
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
AMFIPOLIS (Ancient city) SERRES
City in the Edonian region, on the E bank of the river Strymon, about
4 km N of its estuary. The city was built on a level plateau dominating the surrounding
country, on the SW slope of the Pangaium range and at the point where the Strymon
makes a 180° curve before flowing into the Aegean. In 497 B.C. Histiaeus, the
tyrant of Miletos, and his son-in-law Aristagoras attempted to colonize the site,
but they were driven back by the Edonians (Hdt. 523124ff; 7114ff). A new attempt
by the Athenians to colonize the area in 465 B.C. ended in failure (Hdt. 9.75,
Thuc. 1.100, 4.102). In 437 B.C. Agnon, son of Nicias, succeeded in founding Amphipolis
on the site of the Nine Roads, as the area was formerly called, using as a base
the old Persian fortress at the mouth of the river Eion, which became a trading
port of the Athenians in 476 B.C., after its conquest by Kimon (Thuc. 4.102).
The Spartan general Brasidas, marching from Chalkidike in 424 B.C., easily conquered
the city because of its mixed population and treason on the part of its Argilian
colonists. The intervention of Thucydides, "general over Thrace", with
seven triremes, resulted in the rescue of only the Eion. The expedition of the
Athenian demagogue Kleon with strong forces in 422 B.C. did not succeed in breaking
off Amphipolis from the Lakedemonians. In the battle that ensued in front of the
walls, the generals Brasidas and Kleon were killed. Brasidas was buried within
the city walls and honored as a hero and founder with annual games and sacrifices
(Thuc. 5.6-11).
In spite of repeated efforts by the Athenians, Amphipolis remained
autonomous until 357 B.C., when it was conquered by King Philip II of Macedon.
During Alexander the Great's campaign to Asia in 334 B.C., the city was used as
a naval base, and his fleet gathered in the waters of the Strymon from its estuary
to Lake Cercinitis (Arr. Anab. 1, 2.3). Alexander the Great's three most celebrated
admirals, Nearchos, Androsthenes, and Laomedon, were natives of Amphipolis. During
the Hellenistic period it was a Macedonian city, a fortress, and one of the royal
mints where Philip II's famous gold staters were coined.
After the battle of Pydna (168 B.C.) Emilius Paulus conquered the
city. A council constituted of Romans and 10 select representatives of Hellenic
cities met there to decide on the fate of areas of the Macedonian kingdom. Macedonia
was divided into four districts, the merides, and Amphipolis was declared capital
of the first district (Plin. HN 4.38). Coins minted here in the period 168-146
B.C. carry the inscription MAKEDONON PROTES. The city's prosperity lasted through
Roman times, and the great Roman Via Egnatia passes through Amphipolis. It is
not known when the city was deserted, but it is probable that it was destroyed
during the Slavic incursions of the early 9th c. During Byzantine times the area
was known as Popolia.
During the Balkan wars of 1912-13 fragments of a large statue were
uncovered on the W bank of the Strymon near the present-day bridge. Excavation
of the site revealed foundations of a structure which carried a pyramid-shaped
base for a lion. The statue was reconstructed and reerected in 1936 on a contemporary
base built with ancient architectural material. The lion of Amphipolis belongs
to a large funeral monument, influenced by the architecture of the Ionian tumuli,
very probably that of Alexander the Great's admiral, Laomedon. It is dated from
the last quarter of the 4th c. B.C.
A large necropolis of Hellenistic times was excavated systematically
in the N of the city, as well as graves outside it, located singly and in groups.
A total of about 440 graves of various types (pit-shaped, tile-roofed, box-shaped,
sculptured underground) have been studied. Three "Macedonian" graves
built with stone-plinths of limestone and with arched roofs, found N and E of
the city, consist of an entrance, a death chamber, and often an antechamber. There
are built-in beds for the deceased. The beds of Macedonian grave I, which dates
from the second half of the 3d c. B.C., are decoratively painted with dionysiac
forms, animals, utensils, etc. Another box-shaped grave of Hellenistic times is
decorated with water birds flying among flower garlands.
The graves yielded terracotta figurines, pots, tombstones, and gold
jewelry fashioned into wreaths of oak or olive leaves, diadems, earrings, rings,
necklaces, and charms. The gravestones cover the period from the end of the 5th
c. B.C. to Roman Imperial times. They picture isolated forms: older men, suppers
for the dead, scenes of the reception of the dead, or scenes of everyday life.
Trial excavations have uncovered parts of habitations of the 4th
c. of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In a house of the Roman period a mosaic
floor depicts the Rape of Europa. On the edge of a deep ravine in the hill of
the present-day village, walls of a structure, in strict isodomic style, remain.
A dedicatory inscription identifies the building as the Temple of Clio. Of the
fortifications known from Thucydides' account (4.102, 103; 5.10), a large section
of the wall was found in the part of the city farthest W. On the crest of a line
of hills in the SE of the city, stone plinths of a long wall directed toward the
river are preserved, as are small sections of wall in the E and N section.
On the site of "Bezesteni" in the center of the city, the
stylobate of a large stoa of the Roman or Early Christian period was excavated
for a length of 53.50 m. Its marble columns (five Ionic and one Doric) come from
more ancient buildings. In the same region four Early Christian basilicas were
uncovered. Two of these, which were excavated in large part, have very beautiful
multicolored mosaic decorations. Mosaic floors depict rich geometric motifs, fountains,
pots, and plants as well as a large number of fish and various birds and animals,
both wild and tame. Neither the agora nor any of the large temples of the city
known from ancient sources have been uncovered.
D. Lazarides, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 85 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
DRAVISKOS (Ancient city) SERRES
A town in the district of the Edonoi, about 12 km N of Amphipolis
on the NE side of the Angites river plain. Here the Athenian colonists from Amphipolis
were besieged and massacred by the Thracians in 465 B.C. Though lacking ancient
remains, modern Sdravik now seems generally accepted as the location of Drabeskos,
while Daravescus of the Roman period is identified with Drama farther to the NE.
M. H. Mc Allister, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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