The ancient name of the area of the prefecture of Florina is Lygistis or Lygos.
Lygchestida was named after the mythical hero Lygea or from the blood-sucking mammal Lyx - Lygos - Lygas. The most ancient cities of Florina were Heraklia (in the area of today's city of Florina), Kella (today's Kelli) and Vevi.
From the findings of the archaeological excavations, the area was already inhabited in the middle Neolithic Period (5800 - 5300 BC, while traces of human activity in the prefecture have so far been identified in the prehistoric settlements of Armenochori, Melitis, Agios Panteleimon, Agioi Anargyro and Variko.
During the Bronze Age (3100 - 1050 BC) and the Iron Age, the population increased in the Florina and Amyntaio basins.
Traces of the Early Bronze Age have been identified in the settlements: Ano Kleines, Skopos, Lofi, Niki, Palestra, Kladorachi, Perasma, Ag. Bartholomew, Valtonera.
Indications for the Late Bronze Age: Oksia - Mikrolimni, Trigono, Florina, Papagianni, Neochori, Petres.
Finds from the Iron Age: Stones, Aetos, Variko, Vegora, Limnohori, Farangi, Palestra, Ag. Panteleimonas.
The incomplete excavation evidence in Florina for the Classical Period is supplemented by the information coming from the written sources (Herodotus IX 137, Thucydides 4, 124 - 128, Strabo 7.326, Diodorus Sikeliotis 16.4) from which it is testified that in the 2nd half of 5th c. BC the area was ruled by the royal house of the Lygists whose mythical roots went back to Corinth.
Lygestis was an autonomous state with a dynastic house that was related to the Bacchiades of Corinth. The founder of the Lygist dynasty was Bromeros, father of Arrabeus and son of the mythical Aeropus.
The Royal House of the Lygists had Arrabeus as its first king, who was the father of the princess Eurydice, the mother of Philip II, King of Macedonia, as Strabo informs us. Eurydiki was M. Alexander's paternal grandmother.
In 391 BC, the Lygist king Argaeus dethroned the king Amyntas III and occupied the throne of Macedonia for a few years.
In 352 BC Philip II subjugates the region and annexes it to the Macedonian kingdom. He builds Heraklia Lyggestida which will be a fortress against the northern and western enemies of Macedonia.
In 336 BC, the Lygist princes Arrabios and Iromeni participate in the assassination of Philip II. M. Alexander puts them to death because they tried to claim the Macedonian throne.
Many from the region of Lygkistidos joined M. Alexander's army. The Lygistida order, i.e. the military group of the Lygistians, was famous.
In the battle of Granikos, the archer general Amyntas stands out, to whom M. Alexander will later offer the kingdom of Bactria. Other Libra officials of the same period were Leonnatos, Pelagon, Aeropos, Krateros.
In 148 BC, Macedonia submits to the Romans, becoming a pronincia romama (Roman Province) and Florina falls under the 4th Province of Upper Macedonia, while in 48 BC, Heraklia is set on fire by the Romans during the Roman civil war ( Caesar - Pompey), from the Roman general Domitius, a friend of Caesar.
During the Byzantine period, the region came under the Eastern State along with all of Greece and the Southern Balkan Peninsula, while ecclesiastical under the Pope of Rome. During the period when Justinian I was emperor, Lygestis was included in the 7th Toparchy of "Illyricum" and is referred to as "Herakleia Lakkou". The Episcopates of Moglen (Florina) and Prespa came under the Episcopate of Ahrida in 535 AD.
According to ecclesiastical tradition between 715 and 730 AD the deposed patriarch Kon/polis Germanos lived and died in the settlement of the Municipality of Prespa Ag. German, which today bears his name.
During the 10th AD fierce battles in the area (between Florina and Prespes) between the Tsar of the Bulgarians Samuel and the Emperor Basil II of Macedonia, who was also called Bulgaroktonos. Samuel founded a state with a capital, initially Prespa and then Achrid, he raided Southern Greece and moved the holy tabernacle of Agios Achillios (Bishop of Larissa) in 980 AD from Larissa to the homonymous islet in the small Prespa lake . In 1017, battle of the Byzantine troops under Vasilios II Bulgaroktonos against the Bulgarian troops under Tsar Samuel the Younger in the area of today's Skopou community.
Subsequently, in 1096, Florina and Prespes were occupied by the Normans of Bohemund, while in the 12th century "Moglenite battalion" is mentioned in the army of Emperor Alexios Komnenos.
In the 13th century, Florina came under the Despotate of Epirus. In 1259, a battle between the Byzantines and the Franks (the army of the empire of Nicaea with a Frankish coalition) in the area of Vorila Logou, which is located between the present villages of Papagianni, Tripotamos, Itia, Marina).
In the 14th century the Islamized Slavonic speakers of Illyria attest to the name Chlerina or Florinda for the region of Florina, while the historiographer Kandakouzinos the name Flerinon or Chlerinon.
In 1371, King Markos, son of Stefanos Dusan, and in 1385, Sultan Murat I took control of the area and the period of Turkish rule began until November 1912.
In the period of the Turkish rule, Florina is mentioned more than 35 - 40 times in documents (firmans) of sultans, viziers and toparchs with the name Filorina or Florina, written in Turkish and Greek.
At the end of the 17th century, the National Apostle Kosmas Aitolos visited the area. In 1700 AD, the charioteer Tsolakis or Meidanis was active in the area with a Christian military corps.
In 1822, small guerrilla armed forces operate in the area of Kaimaktsalan and Ostrovou and occupy the straits of Arnissa and Vora. Florina always had chariots, until 1821, in Kleidi, Vevi, Kelli, Pisoderi, Trivouno, etc. Florina also gave Friends. In the central square of Florina, the Turks hanged 9 candidates in 1821. In 1865, the "New Friendly Society" was founded in Florina with the Director of its schools as president, who prepared the revolution of 1878 which lasted 10 months. In 1881, Captain Naoumis kidnaps Kaimakamis of Florina and the event becomes a legend and songs. In 1897, Captain Kottas, the first Macedonian fighter, also called the "Eagle of the Korestians", formed a guerrilla force against the Turks and the Bulgarian Communists.
In 1904 Pavlos Melas arrives in the area of Florina Kastoria and the final phase of the armed Macedonian struggle begins.
On November 7, 1912, after 527 years of slavery, Florina was liberated by the Greek Army.
During the First World War, thousands of allied soldiers in Florina, of all races, creeds and colors, launched their victorious attack against the Bulgarians and on September 18, 1916, they recaptured Florina, which had been occupied by the enemy for a month.
During the Second World War, the allies celebrated the first victory of 1940 on the Florina front and especially in Prespa and Corestia. A ray of hope was not only the containment of the Italians on the border line, but on November 1, 1940, the heroic 33 S.P. of Florina with his first counter-attack, occupied a space of more than 10 km, liberating many Albanian-occupied Macedonian villages. On April 6, 1941, however, the Germans invaded and then occupied the area. During the German occupation, many villages were burned and many Florinians were executed by the Germans as retaliation. On November 1, 1944, ELAS liberated Florina. Then the civil war broke out (1947 - 1949) during which, on February 12, 1949, "The Battle of Florina" took place
Source: Municipality of Florina
http://www.cityoflorina.gr/