Ancient Elina

ANCIENT ELINA(DIMOKASTRO)

Ancient Elina – Dimokastro
The ancient village can be found to the west of Perdika upon a limestone mount, which ends up in the sea.
The village, surrounded by a wall, extends from the eastern tip of the mountain to the sea. The wal surrounds the settlement from the eastern and western side, while walls, only at the fordable spots protects the southern side.
The more ancient walls have quite a smooth surface at the top of the hill, with an incline towards the west, and 7 or 8 rectangular towers reinforce them. The two ends of the walls form the main gate of the eastern side.
An ancient road from the plain led to the gate. Another gate in the southwestern corner led towards the sea. In front of the gete an 8 mm marking of the road can be defined.
The 2 castles communicated with each other through a tower right of the west tower of the transversal walls. This wall was also useful as a marking to their higher settlement. The dates of these walls, based on their shape, cannot be defined.

A few of the roof tiles from the settlement dating to the 4th century BC, the remains of a building datng back to the 4th century BC at Panagia, objects from an ancient grave dating back to the 4th century BC, which was found east of the village, as well as a copper coin from Corfu (400-3 – BC) indicate the existence of the village and the probability of the construction of the walls in the 4th century.

Within the north walls, exactly above the port the foundations of a lime built wall with irregular stone are preserved. It is 2 metres thick, probably from Roman times. There are also a few rectangular buildings, Hellenic and newer, whose direction would not be irrelevant to the port. From the area of the whole settlement it is identified as Elina, the capital of the Eline, the biggest settlement in the area, with a population of about 4000-6000. The only subsequent remains, probably Roman, is a section of a chalk built wall which has been preserved, about 60 m long. From this area a Roman coin has been found from the 4th century BC.