Styra
Dryopic city mentioned in the Iliad. Near the village of Nea Styra, in the area of the Venetian castle of Larmena, an acropolis with remains of fortifications from the classical and Hellenistic times. Traces of an ancient pier from the port of the city, to the W. below the hill. Adjacent ruins of an Ionic temple. At the Niborio site, a quarry and tombs with sarcophagi. In Pyrgos, an ancient tower with classic blocks in second use is preserved. Interesting are the so-called "dragon houses" of the area. The three best preserved form a single P-shaped ensemble and are located in a valley, E. of the village, on the lowest peak of Mount Kliosi. They are built in a rectangular or almost square plan, with gray limestone blocks and covered with an exhorbital arch. Various interpretations have been proposed for their use, such as that they served as shepherds' dwellings, as defensive outposts or that they were mountain places of worship. Their similarities with similar buildings on the Carian peninsula of Halicarnassus (Etrim / Theangela, Alazeutin Kalesi) make it more likely that these are sanctuaries, without excluding their function as storage areas, and that they were built by Carians who worked in the quarries of the area in the late Hellenistic period times or the Roman period (1st century BC - 1st century AD).
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou