(Potidea or Cassandria)
It was founded around 600 BC. by Corinthian settlers. In 429 BC, after a two-year siege, the Athenians captured it and installed clerics. In 356 BC it was deserted by King Philip II and only in 316/5 BC. it was refounded by Cassander, under the name Kassandrea. In the 1st century BC many Roman veterans settled in its area and it was declared a "colony". Of the excavation findings so far, two buildings with three construction phases (5th, first half of 4th century BC and early Roman times) that were rather of a religious character are important. Remains of the Hellenistic wall are preserved, as well as buildings from the Hellenistic and Roman times at the Malta site, south of Nea Potidea. At the site of Petriotika, south of today's Potidea, a single-chamber Macedonian tomb with marble beds decorated with Dionysian themes was discovered (exhibited in the Thessaloniki Museum). In the isthmus connecting the peninsula of Kassandra with Halkidiki, a canal (1,250 m long, 40 m wide, 8 m deep) was opened, perhaps by Kassandros, to facilitate navigation. In the early Byzantine period, Kassandria, in the place of ancient Potidea, was the seat of a bishopric. In 539/40 it was sacked by the Huns. Justinian I (527 - 565) built a cross-shaped wall on the Kassandra isthmus. . In the early Byzantine period, Kassandria, in the place of ancient Potidea, was the seat of a bishopric. In 539/40 it was sacked by the Huns. Justinian I (527 - 565) built a cross-shaped wall on the Kassandra isthmus. . In the early Byzantine period, Kassandria, in the place of ancient Potidea, was the seat of a bishopric. In 539/40 it was sacked by the Huns. Justinian I (527 - 565) built a cross-shaped wall on the Kassandra isthmus. .
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou