Inscriptions from Upper Macedonia

Abstract

Upper Macedonia is the upland country which lies at the back of Mount Bermius as regards Macedonia properly so-called, which is the Campagna between the hills and the sea at the head of the Gulf of Salonica. Beyond the hills Olympus, Bermius, and their continuation northward, lies Upper Macedonia about the valleys of the Haliakmon and Erigon and round the lakes of Ochrida, Presba and Kastoria. This was the fourth region of Macedonia according to the Roman division after the defeat of Perseus at Pydna in 168. This region according to Livy included Eordaia, Lynkestis, Pelagonia, Stymphalis (sic), Elimiotis and Atintania. The country to-day falls naturally by its geographical features into several divisions and these correspond, as far as our information goes, with the ancient districts. Going westwards from Edessa along the line of the Via Egnatia, near the lakes, of which Lake Ostrovo is the chief, the traveller first reaches some hilly country which forms the watershed between the valleys of the Erigon and Haliakmon. To the north in the valley of the Erigon is a long, narrow plain stretching from Fiorina past Monastir to just beyond Krushevo and Prilep. The northern part of this plain is itself separated from the rest by a low range of hills about the villages of Tsepik and Topoltsani.