Dolichi

On a hill four kilometres west of the modern village of Dolichi, in the Larissa prefecture, lie the ruins of an ancient city that flourished from the Hellenistic period into the Early Byzantine era. This is Kastri of Dolichi, believed to be the ancient Dolichi itself, one of the three settlements of the Perraivian Tripolis alongside Azoros and Pythion. The identification was confirmed by the discovery, reused in the walls of a later Christian basilica, of a statue base inscribed with the words "the city of Dolichaion". The city was certainly active by the third century BC and continued through Roman times. Though absent from Byzantine written records, its importance in the Early Byzantine period is clear from the remains of three substantial basilicas. The settlement, spread between two hilltops on a northwest-southeast axis, covered at least 12,000 square metres. A fortification wall of 562 metres perimeter, with a tower and associated buildings, has been traced on the acropolis, though excavation has concentrated on the churches. The city was likely abandoned by 610 AD, during the Slavic incursions that emptied many mainland Greek towns.