Amphipolis

Amphipolis is an archeological site in Macedonia (Greece).

Understand

Amphipolis Lion

Amphipolis was an ancient Greek polis that existed as an urban settlement until late antiquity. It extends for several kilometers around the acropolis of the ancient city and was an important station on the Via Egnatia in Roman times. Today only the foundation walls are preserved.

Get in

• The closest airports are from Kavala and Thessaloniki.
• The place is on the Thessaloniki-Kavala motorway and has an exit nearby.
• The modern port of Amphipolis is silted up in the meantime, so that you cannot enter it with a sailboat. The closest anchorages are the port of Karyani or Stavros.

Get around

The excavation site is about 1 km from the museum in the village. A vehicle is required for the outlying attractions.

See

• 1 Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis. The museum is well equipped, interestingly designed and well worth a visit. (updated Mar 2021)
• Excavation site (acropolis). The remains of the buildings date from the early Christian and Byzantine periods. It has been proven that there are remains of buildings from the Roman period. It is likely that it was already built before the Roman era. As in many archaeological sites in this area, churches were built over earlier temples in order to remove the relics of the ancient belief in many gods (12 gods). So today you can essentially only see the foundations of old churches. The archaeological site is not very exciting and rather something for historians. (updated Mar 2021)

2 city wall - The wall surrounding the Acropolis at the time of the early Christian period is 1105 meters long and 1.65 to 2.75 metres wide; its height is between 0.50 and 1.15 meters.

3 Basilika Alfa

4 Antique water reservoir

5 Basilika Gamma

6 Basilika Delta

7 Early Christian Church

8 Basilika Betta

9 Gymnasium - The gymnasium was built at the end of the 4th century BC. Built in BC. It consists of common rooms, classrooms and training facilities for the athletes both indoors and outdoors. It is the only ancient gymnasium that has so far been found in northern Greece.

• 10 Roman house. It was built in the 3rd century. Its construction suggests that it was a public building. The previously uncovered part of the villa was built around an atrium, which was covered with rectangular marble slabs. The walls of the rooms were plastered and painted with colored geometric patterns. The found mosaics (partly on display in the museum) are of particular interest. (updated Mar 2021)
• 11 Marmari Tower. The tower was built in 1367 based on an inscription that is now in the Amfipolis Museum. It was built by high officials in Constantinople who owned land in the area. Later, before 1384, the tower was donated to the Pantokrator Monastery (on Mount Athos). (updated Mar 2021)
• 12 Amphipolis bridge. The wooden bridge connected the city with its port. The river Strymon was probably navigable at this time. It was built outside the city walls and was flooded during floods. (updated Mar 2021)
• 13 Amphipolis Lion. A beautiful and photogenic grave monument from the 4th century BC in honour of the Admiral Laomedon from the island of Lesbos (Mytilene). (updated Mar 2021)
• 14 Kasta tomb. Kasta Hill is 2.5 km northeast of the Acropolis. It is the largest tomb that has been found in Greece so far. The complex is surrounded by a 497-m-long and 3-m-high wall made of marble from the island of Thassos. The burial mound is approx. 30 m high, 250,000 m³ of sand were needed to fill it up. The grave is said to be built in the late 4th century BC. (updated Mar 2021)
• 15 Chandakas Tower. There is no information about the construction of the tower, but most likely it was built around the same time as the tower of Marmari, in the 14th century. (updated Mar 2021)
• 16 Tower of Efkarpia. The tower is not mentioned in Byzantine or other historical sources. It is known that a Proastion (settlement) existed in this area, which was granted to the Chilandar Monastery on Mount Athos by Emperor Andronicos II. Palaiologos in 1299. So this was most likely a monastery tower similar to the towers of Chlakidiki, the purpose of which was to protect and serve the various dependencies of the monasteries of Mount Athos. The type of construction and what little we know about the history of the area date the tower to around the mid-14th century. (updated Mar 2021)
• 17 Maro Tower. The ruins of a tower are in the village. The tower is known as the Tower of Maro or the Tower of Kyra-Maro. Maro was a princess of Greco-Serb origin who was born in 1418. At the age of 17 she married the Sultan of the Ottomans Murat II and became the foster mother of the next Sultan Muhamed II, the conqueror. She was very powerful and intervened in religious and political affairs many times. Towards the end of her life she withdrew here and lived in this tower. She had a large property (approved by the Sultan). When she died, her fortune was inherited by monasteries on Mount Athos. (updated Mar 2021)
• 18 Agia Marina Tower. The tower dates from the first half of the 14th century. On the same hill, below the tower, there is a chapel built into a rock in the immediate vicinity of the tower. The chapel is dedicated to Agia Marina. (updated Mar 2021)
• 19 Eion. It was an ancient port city on the left side of the mouth of the Strymon. Later it was a Byzantine port city that developed in the delta of the Strymonas River after the 10th century and became an important port. It is near Amfipolis on a lagoon that is full of flamingos in the fall. As a real Byzantine city, the place, now called Chrysopolis, was protected by a fortress, some remains of which are still preserved today. (updated Mar 2021)
• 20 Orfanio castle ruins. In the Classical Period, as well as in the Roman and Byzantine periods, Amfipolis was the urban center of the region of the Strymon River Delta. During the Ottoman occupation, the city gradually lost its importance and business activity shifted to Marmario, while military control was concentrated in the modern village of Orfanio, where a small fortress was built. This small fortress to protect the delta was likely built in the 18th century or maybe earlier. (updated Mar 2021)
• 21 Kariani castle ruins. A few scattered remains of a Byzantine fortress on a low hill among vineyards. The castle is first mentioned by the sources in the 11th century. It seems that the castle never housed a settlement. It was probably just a haven for the population. (updated Mar 2021)
• 22 Asprovalta castle ruins. The fortress was most likely a station on Via Egnatia called Pennana. The station must have been used long after the Romans, possibly long after the Ottoman conquest. (updated Mar 2021)

Do

• Bathing: On the beach of Orfrinio or Asprovalta
• Hiking: At the Pangaion Hills.

Buy

The best shopping opportunities are in Asprovalta. But you can also find the bare essentials in the village.

Eat

There are restaurants in the village of Amphipolis and a large selection in the seaside resorts on the coast.

Drink

There are cafes and kafeneios in the village. But it is nicer to go to one of the beach bars on the coast a few km away.

Sleep

The best accommodations can be found on the coast of Orfrinio or Asprovalta.

Go next

• Asprovalta - a beautiful and well-visited holiday destination
• Kavala - the most beautiful city in northern Greece with many sights
• Pangaion Hills - wonderful mountain landscape with many monasteries worth seeing

Routes through Amphipolis

Thessaloniki ← Asprovalta ←

W  E

→ Kavala → Alexandroupolis