(Liti)
The most important city of ancient Macedonia, known since the 5th c. BC, but with a much more ancient foundation. It extends to the Asari and Nebois Kula highlands, about 1 km SW. of today's Litis.
Early coinage (around 500 BC), reliefs, inscriptions and extensive cemeteries (from the third quarter of the 4th century BC to the 5th century AD) bear witness to the heyday of the city, of which no significant building remains have been found so far. Among the burial ensembles, the cluster of tombs (last quarter of the 4th century BC) found in the narrow passage of Derveni stands out. The rich gifts, most famously the famous krater with Dionysian scenes and the papyrus with the text of the Orphic theogony, are exhibited in the Museum of Thessaloniki.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou