Foundation & Destruction Nikopolis & Northwestern Greece

The Greek city of Nikopolis was founded by Octavian (later known as the Emperor Augustus) after his victory in the naval battle of nearby Actium in 31 BC. The city was a result of a so-called synoecism, i.e., the inhabitants of numerous Greek cities in the region (Epirus, Acharnania and Aetolia) were forced to leave their former dwellings and establish themselves in the newly built city, which became the capital of the coastal region. Since 1987 a joint Greek-American archaeological and geological Nikopolis project has registered, conserved and restored monuments inside and outside the city and conducted a survey of Southern Epirus aiming at understanding the changing relationship between humans and landscape. The main issue has been the impact of the new metropolis in the region and to what extent the towns included in the synoecism were actually left uninhabited.