It was founded by Eretrians of Evia, initially perhaps as a trading post during the First Colonization (13th - 12th century BC) and in the 8th century BC as a regular colony. In 348 BC it was destroyed by the Macedonians, but continued to be inhabited in Roman times. It was famous for its "Mendaion wine", the worship of Dionysus and a special breed of donkeys, the "Mendaion onus". The ruins of the ancient city are spread over a hill plateau (Xefoto), south of Kalandra. At the top (Vigla) is the acropolis with a section of wall and storage pits that contained various objects, mainly vases, from the 13th to the 7th century BC. Many of the proto-geometric findings (11th - 10th centuries BC) show similarities with analogues from Lefkandi in Evia. Houses were excavated on the slopes of the hill (between 8th - 6th centuries BC). Next to the sea was the so-called "proasteion", where a road and remains of houses from the 6th and 5th centuries BC were discovered. Many graves of the coastal archaic cemetery (7th - 6th centuries BC) were also investigated with important finds of local written pottery (in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki).
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou