Oinoussa (Greek: Οινούσσα) is a village in Serres regional unit of Central Macedonia, Greece, located 7 km east of the city of Serres. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Serres. It has a population of 524 inhabitants and until 1928 was named “Dervesiani”.

History

edit

Antiquity

edit

South of Oinoussa, on the hill of "Prophet Elias", was revealed the necropolis of a Roman settlement,[1] where three inscriptions had been found (two of them in Latin).[2] Also, northeast from Eptamyloi and about 2 km north of Oinoussa, on the steep rocky hill of “Phaneromeni”, the place of another fortified Roman settlement was located.[3] At the top of the same hill, an ancient rural sanctuary of "Hero Avlonitis" (Greek: Ήρως Αυλωνίτης) had previously been discovered.[4] It is the "Thracian Horseman" (or "Hero") that received this adjective from the toponym "Avlon" (= gorge, ravine) in which its sanctuary was located. So it is concluded that the ancient settlement here was probably called "Avlon" (Greek: Αυλών). This view is reinforced by the earlier name of the settlement "Dervesiani", which is inherited from the Indo-European root "derven" meaning a narrow passage (= Avlon).[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ [1] D. C. Samsaris, A History of Serres (in the Ancient and Roman Times) (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1999, p. 163 (Website of Municipality of Serres)
  2. ^ D. C. Samsaris, La vallée du Bas-Strymon á l’ époque impériale (Contribution épigraphique á la topographie, l’ onomastique, l’ histoire et aux cultes de la province romaine de Macédoine), Dodona 18(1989),1, p. 266-8, n. 97-99
  3. ^ [2] D. C. Samsaris, A History of Serres (in the Ancient and Roman Times) (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1999, p. 163-164 (Website of Municipality of Serres)
  4. ^ D. C. Samsaris, Le culte du Cavalier thrace dans la vallée du Bas-Strymon à l’ époque romaine (Recherches pour la localisation de ses sanctuaries), Dritter Internationaler Thrakologischer Kongress (2-6 Juni 1980, Wien), II, Sofia 1984, p. 284-289 -- D. C. Samsaris, Surveys in the history, topography and cults of the Roman provinces of Macedonia and Thrace (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1984, p. 43, 52 - 54 --[3] D. C. Samsaris, A History of Serres (in the Ancient and Roman Times) (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1999, p. 249-250 (Website of Municipality of Serres)
  5. ^ [4] D. C. Samsaris, A History of Serres, p. 163-164 (Website of Municipality of Serres)

41°06′09″N 23°37′35″E / 41.10250°N 23.62639°E / 41.10250; 23.62639