The
ancient city occupies a natural mound to the NW of the village of Petres,
in the region of Florina. Its total area reached 15-20 hectares and was protected
by a fortification wall built of poros stone. The enclosed area included houses,
and public buildings erected in a free layout, separated by streets, 2.5 m. wide.
The city was founded in the 3rd century B.C. by Antigonos Gonatas, it flourished
in the 2nd century B.C. and it ceased to exist in the 1st century B.C. It was
again inhabited in the Roman period, but it moved to a different site.
The archaeological evidence leads to the conclusion that the city
owed its development to its strategic position on the Egnatia Road and to its
commercial exchanges with other Greek cities. The excavations of the site revealed
useful information on the types of the private houses, which were continuously
used in north-west Macedonia as late as the 19th century.
Excavations on the site were begun in 1982 and are still in progress,
along with restoration and consolidation work of the ancient remains.
The most important monuments of the site are:
Groups of private houses belonging to two architectural types, the
two-storeyed type, Gamma-shaped in plan, with the entrance on the long side, and
the two-storeyed type with the entrance on the long axis, covered by a roofed
balcony. The storerooms and workshop areas are located on the ground-floor and
the upper storey is used for the everyday life activities. It includes the typical
rooms of the Greek house, such as the gynaikonitis (women's quarters) and the
andron (men's quarters), which were often carefully decorated with coloured stucco.
The finds of the excavations are now exhibited in the
Archaeological
Museum of Florina.
