Αncient Theatre of Cassope
Kassope is built on a spacious plateau at an altitude of approximately 550 m on the southern slopes of the Zalongo mountain range, on a naturally fortified and strategic location. The natural balcony of the prefecture of Preveza, offers a unique view of the Ionian, the Amvrakikos Gulf, Lefkada and the Akarnanian coasts.
Kassope was established before the middle of the 4th century BC. (340 BC) and it flourished in the late 3rd century BC. At that time, its population is estimated to have numbered between 8,000 and 10,000 inhabitants.
Kassope is a perfect example of an integrated urban city of the Epirot tribes of the 4th century BC. In the course of its construction, the Hippodamian urban planning system was applied. The city had an effective drainage system discharging waste into the conduit between the houses, and from there into a larger network channeling it outside the south and west walls. The waste was swept away to the surrounding fields by the rainwater. Kassope gained economic power through trade, livestock farming and the products of the fertile Acheron plain. It minted its own coinage depicting Jupiter and an eagle on a thunderbolt. The city had a civic Agora, the Prytaneion, two theaters, a guesthouse, and temples dedicated to Aphrodite and Zeus the Savior.
Around 220 BC, the city joined the Aetolian League. Its prosperity lasted until 168 BC. In 167 BC it was destroyed by the Romans under the leadership of Aemilius Pavlos and it was finally abandoned with the compulsory coexistence of populations in Nikopolis, at the end of the 1st century BC.
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