Foundation In 29 BC, 2 years after his victory in the naval
battle of Actium,
Octavian founded a new city which he called Nicopolis (the City of Victory), located on the southernmost promontory of Epirus, and across the mouth of the harbour from the ancient town of
Actium. This foundation echoed a tradition dating back to
Alexander the Great, and more recently illustrated by
Pompey, founder of
Nicopolis in Little Armenia (63 BC). Symbolically, the new city represented one example of his successful unification of the Roman Empire under one administration. Geographically, it constituted a major transportation and communications link between the eastern and western halves of the
Mediterranean. Economically, it served to reorganise and revitalise the region, which had never recovered from its destruction by
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus in the
Third Macedonian War (171–167 BC), or the further destruction under
Sulla in 87–86 BC. It also established an important commercial centre and port at this strategic position on the Mediterranean sea routes. On a hill north of Nicopolis where his own tent had been pitched, and north of the present village of Smyrtoula, Octavian also built a monument and sanctuary to Apollo, considered his patron god, and trophies to two other gods, Neptune and Mars for their contribution to its victory. This monument was adorned with the rams of captured galleys. In further celebration of his victory he instituted the quadrennial
Actian games in honour of Apollo Actius. In 27 BC, Octavian implemented an Empire-wide administrative reform. The new
polis was considered capital of the territories of southern Epirus including
Ambracia, most of Akarnania, and western
Aetolia. Many inhabitants of the surrounding areas –
Kassopaia, Ambracia, parts of Acarnania (including
Leukas,
Palairos,
Amphilochian Argos,
Calydon, and
Lysimachia) and western Aetolia – were forced to relocate to the new city. Among other things, it obtained the right to send five representatives to the
Amphictyonic Council. As a city in a senatorial province, Nicopolis began minting its own copper coins (until 268). During the first five years or so of the city's foundation, local authorities supervised the construction of the city walls, the majority of the public buildings, including the
theatre,
stadium,
gymnasium,
odeion, and the aqueduct. The city's western gate was connected by a road to the Ionian harbour
Komaros. The city eventually occupied a site of around 375 acres. Although the exact legal status of Nicopolis is the subject of some dispute, unlike other Roman foundations in Greece contemporary with Nicopolis such as
Patras,
Philippi and, also in Epirus,
Buthrotum and
Epidamnus, the city was not, or was not only, a Roman
colony (implying that Roman military veterans also settled there) but also a free city (
civitas libera Nicopolitana) i.e. a
polis (Greek city), free and autonomous, having the characteristics of
civitas libera and
civitas foederata, linked to Rome by a treaty (
foedus). of Nicopolis"
1st century Thus provided with considerable assets by its founder, the new city developed rapidly in Roman times; Augustus adorned it with monuments financed by the spoils of war, but it also owes much to the patronage of
Herod the Great. The two ports, one on the Amvrakikos Gulf, probably
Vathy, and one at Komaros on the Ionian Sea (Fig. 4), ensured the commercial development of the city which was built on the Roman orthogonal grid distinguished by its considerable size (about 180 ha).
Germanicus, nephew and adopted son of Augustus, visited the city en route to Syria and celebrated his second consulship there in 18 AD. In 30–31, the Roman consul
Poppaeus Sabinus visited Nicopolis. In the winter of 65–66, the Apostle
Paul decided to spend the winter at Nicopolis and in his
Epistle to Titus 3:12 invited his co-worker
Titus to join him there from Crete. Apparently a Christian community existed in the city. In 66, in the wake of a terror campaign and financial constraints in Rome, Emperor
Nero made a more modest trip to Greece in lieu of a planned great journey to the east. He visited Nicopolis during his tour of Greece to take part in the Actian games and was crowned winner of the chariot race, as is indicated on coins minted in Nicopolis in his honor. Around 94 Emperor
Domitian expelled philosophers from Rome, including the prominent
Stoic philosopher
Epictetus of Hierapolis, who went to Nicopolis and founded his own school. In the reign of
Trajan the school's students included
Arrian, whose notes preserved the teachings of Epictetus into the modern age. Epictetus died in Nicopolis around AD 135.
2nd century Around 110, under Emperor
Trajan, the Roman government carved out parts of
Macedonia and
Achaia to make a separate province of Epirus. It had been decided that the territory needed a stricter government to yield higher revenues. The new province included Acarnania to the south as far as the
Achelous, but not
Apollonia to the north, plus the Ionian Islands –
Corfu,
Leukas,
Ithaca,
Cephalonia, and
Zacynthus. It was governed by a
procurator Augusti headquartered at Nicopolis, together with other special
procuratores, including a
procurator of the purple fisheries, whose sphere of office, however, extended to Achaea and Thessaly. This administrative set up appears to have remained intact through the reforms of Emperor
Septimius Severus (193–211) and up until Emperor
Diocletian (284–305). In 128, Emperor
Hadrian visited Nicopolis with his wife
Vibia Sabina during his second voyage to the East (128–134). The imperial couple were received with the highest honours: small altars in the city attest to the worship of Hadrian and Sabina, respectively assimilated to Zeus Dodonaios, the most important deity of Epirus, and Artemis Kelkaia, a manifestation of the goddess unknown outside Nicopolis. Hadrian took advantage of his stay to build a temple to his late protégé,
Antinous. Around this time the city's western gate was constructed, several hundred metres north of the south gate, becoming the main gate of Nicopolis. Around 180, the next mention of Nicopolis in Church history concerns a bishop of Rome,
Pope Eleutherius, who reigned from around 174–189. He was born in Nicopolis, according to the
Liber Pontificalis, and served as a
deacon in
Rome. During his term in office as Bishop of Rome, the Church was involved in the
Montanist controversy. Around 193–198, Emperor Septimius Severus, based in Syria, campaigned in
Mesopotamia, with indirect consequences for Achaea and Epirus: to help pay for these campaigns, Severus apparently required several cities to mint special coins, including Nicopolis,
Patrae,
Epidaurus, Apollonia,
Thuria,
Plautilla, and the Thessalian
koinon.
Later Roman and Byzantine period The late third century was a time of troubles for the whole Empire: the city was attacked by the
Goths and
Heruli, but managed to avoid looting thanks to makeshift fortifications. In 268, the Goths launched a combined land-sea invasion against the Roman Empire, assisted by Heruli sailors and other tribesmen. Their naval forces ravaged
Byzantium and
Chrysopolis, though the imperial fleet successfully counter-attacked on the
Propontis. Meanwhile, the land forces overran
Thrace and continued into Achaea as far south as
Sparta; the invading Goths and Heruli sacked
Athens, crossed the isthmus, sacked and burned the lower part of Corinth, and advanced to
Argos and Sparta, ravaging the countryside along the way and burning the two cities. Here imperial land and sea forces counter-attacked, and the invaders wandered their way through
Boeotia, Acarnania, Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace on their way back to
Moesia. In Epirus, while the inhabitants of Nicopolis made hasty repairs to fortifications and managed to avert the danger, the leaders of Corfu organised their own army, crossed over into Epirus and defeated the Goths on land. The Roman army chased the Goths and their allies and defeated them at
Naissus. It seems that the city then lost much of its importance and reputation by becoming only a provincial centre. In 293, as part of Diocletian's reforms, the province of Epirus became known as
Epirus Vetus (including Adrianopolis,
Phoenice,
Onchesmos, and
Buthrotum as the most northerly major cities, and Acarnania and the islands of Corfu, Ithaca, and probably Leucas to the south). The capital was Nicopolis. Meanwhile, the territory of northern Epirus (including, Apollonia, Byllis and Amantia on its southern borders) became known as
Epirus Nova, with the capital at
Dyrrachium. Both provinces, along with Macedonia, Thessaly and Achaea, were included in the diocese of Moesia, which also included four provinces in the northwestern Balkans. The islands of Cephalonia, Zacynthus, and Cythera were included in the province of Achaea. Both Epirus Vetus and Epirus Nova were governed by a
praeses. Writing around 300, one Arnobius of Numidia mentioned the existence of
Christian communities in Achaea, Macedonia, and Epirus. In about 330, the first great recorded Church historian
Eusebius of Caesarea mentions that bishops from Epirus attended the
first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325. This implies that bishoprics and an episcopal administrative system had been set up some time before 325. Until the time of
Constantine, it is supposed that the bishopric of Nicopolis came under the jurisdiction of the metropolitan of Corinth, but with the administrative reforms under Emperor Diocletian and Constantine (306–337), Nicopolis itself became the metropolitan city of Epirus Vetus. Eusebius also mentions that
Origen of Alexandria went to Nicopolis in the first half of the third century and discovered a rare Greek translation of the Old Testament. In 327, Emperor Constantine split the diocese of Moesia into Dacia and Macedonia. The two provinces of Epirus, along with the provinces of Macedonia, Thessaly, and Achaia, became part of the diocese of Macedonia (capital Thessalonica). In 343, in the Acts of the
Council of Sardica, we have the first mention by name of a bishop of Nicopolis, one Isidoros. In 361, newly appointed Consul and rhetorician
Claudius Mamertinus delivered a panegyric to the young Emperor
Julian (360–363), mentioning heavy taxation in
Dalmatia and Epirus. He emphasised the destruction of some of the most important monuments while congratulating the Emperor for his restoration work.
Christian Nicopolis Based on the record of Julian's close ties with certain leading men from Epirus involved in the Empire-wide cultural circuit led by
Libanius and
Themistius, it appears that Christianity was not widespread in Epirus in the mid-4th century (and as part of his pagan policy, Julian reactivated support of the Actian games), but after his death it spread far and wide in the region, judging from legislation issued by
Valentinian in 371 and 372, trying to offset some negative effects of its rapid spread, and the fact that there is no written record of the bishops of the cities of Epirus until the 5th century, except for the bishop of Nicopolis in 343. The Acts of the
Council of Constantinople in 381, as well as of the
Third (431) and
Fourth (451) Ecumenical Councils, recognized the see of Thessalonica as holding sixth place in the Church administrative hierarchy, after the five patriarchs. Among the sees of
Illyricum, Thessalonica held the first position in the hierarchy, followed by Corinth and Nicopolis. In 431, the Acts of the
Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus list the bishops of Epirus, including metropolitan Bishop Donatus of Nicopolis (c. 425–432). Atticus Bishop of Nicopolis was an attendee at
Council of Chalcedon. The majority of the bishops from Epirus and Illyricum and other representatives upheld the Orthodox theological position of the Bishop
Celestine I of Rome (422–432) and Bishop
Cyril of Alexandria against the
Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius. During this time, Bishop Donatus of Nicopolis maintained a correspondence with Bishop Cyril of Alexandria concerning
Nestorianism. In 451, six Epirote bishops attended the
Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon, including Bishop Atticus of Nicopolis. All these bishops without exception signed the Council's decisions in favor of the Orthodox position of
Dyophysitism, also backed by the bishop of Rome. In 457-458 the bishops of Epirus then held a provincial synod to ratify the validity of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. We have a list of as many as nine bishops signing a letter written by Bishop Eugenius of Nicopolis to
Pope Leo I of Rome. This was also the time of Bishop
Diadochos of Photiki (c. 450–458), a saint and Father of the Church. Not only was he the bishop of what was the capital of a wider district called
Thesprotia, he was also the author of important theological treatises, three of which are extant. In combination with the notice of the correspondence between the bishop of Nicopolis and the bishop of Alexandria mentioned previously, from the writings of Diadochos we can infer that learned texts, along with amphorae, traveled between the eastern Mediterranean and Epirus in the 5th century. Diadochos’ texts also show us that both theoretical and practical ideas about theology and the organization of monastic life also spread from the eastern Mediterranean to Epirus. In fact, a reference in one of Diadochos’ own writings suggests he was also the
hegumen of a monastery in Photiki and that Epirus in the 450s at least had both
anchoretic and
coenobitic monastic communities. From around 460, a series of six basilicas were built, beginning with the five-aisled metropolitan basilica B. Artisans decorated many of the basilicas with high-quality mosaics, developing their own workshop, and operating until the 550s. Their influence extended to the rest of Epirus and perhaps further afield in eastern Illyricum. Basilica B was the largest of the Nicopolis basilicas and probably served as the metropolitan bishop's main church. An inscription informs us that Bishop Alcison (491-516) sponsored some additions to the southern annex of Basilica B, possibly around 500. In 474, Emperor
Zeno initiated peace negotiations with the
Vandals. But during the negotiations, in order to strengthen their position, the Vandals again devastated the coast of Greece during which they captured Nicopolis and took prisoners who had to be ransomed to secure their release. Evidently the walls of Nicopolis built in the time of Augustus were not for defensive purposes, or at least were not functioning in 474, since the Vandals took the city apparently without being equipped with siege tools, while they failed to take the walled city of
Taenarum. If this is so, the walls of Nicopolis attributed to Justinian, enclosing only one-sixth of the city founded by Augustus, were erected not before 474. In any case, the Nicopolis walls, probably of the 480s-510s period (like those of Dyrrachium), were made of bricks, mortar, and rubble. This raid and prisoner-taking probably had a devastating effect on the infrastructure of Nicopolis and the mentality of its citizens, affecting the city's social and economic life. It is probably directly related to the reduction of the city's population to one-sixth of what it had been, confining it to the north-east section, the area where the citadel stood, and fortifying it with thick walls to provide better defence. Around 500, as mentioned, Bishop Alcison (491–516), an opponent of the
Monophysite policy of
Emperor Anastasius, supervised the addition of annexes to the five-aisled metropolitan basilica B, which has taken his name. Around 515, the three-aisled basilica Δ, with fragments of floor mosaics, was built. In 516, all eight bishops of Vetus Epirus held a synod and elected Ioannes as successor to the martyred Bishop Alcison. Bishop Ioannes sent a deacon, Rufinus, with a letter to
Pope Hormisdas, reaffirming their steadfastness in the Orthodox faith. The synod appears to be the seventh local episcopal synod for Epirus Vetus. In 551, King
Totila of the
Ostrogoths, in response to reports of a Byzantine military build-up in the eastern side of the Adriatic, sent a 300-strong fleet to Corfu. The Ostrogoths sacked it and nearby islands. They also sacked the area around Dodoni inland and Nicopolis, and captured several Byzantine ships on their way to bring supplies to Narses. Around 555, according to
Procopius, Emperor
Justinian renovated the fortifications of Nicopolis, as part of his huge program involving the renewal of city fortifications and the erection of new defences. Construction of the three-aisled Basilica Α, decorated with an extensive series of extant floor mosaics. was begun. Bishop Dumetius I also made some additions (the
pastophoria) to Basilica B, and the three-aisled basilica Ε, near the southern harbor Magaronas, was built. Around 575, the three-aisled basilica Γ was built and Basilica Α was completed under Bishop Dumetius II. In 587, the
Avars allied with
Slavic tribes invaded Thrace, Macedonia and Achaua, including Thessaly, Attica, Euboia, and Peloponnesos, as well as Epirus Vetus, where the invasion seems to have reached as far as Euroea, but not Cassope and Nicopolis. In 625,
Pope Honorius I sent a letter to Metropolitan Hypatius of Nicopolis referring to the difficult travel conditions that prevented the bishop from reaching Rome.
Middle Ages to present The province of Epirus Vetus, of which Nicopolis was the capital, was part of the western patriarchate as arranged by
Justinian I and was directly subject to the jurisdiction of the pope; but, about 732,
Leo the Isaurian made it subject to the patriarch of
Constantinople because of the pope's resistance to the emperor's
iconoclastic policy. The last known bishop of Nicopolis was Anastasius, who attended the
Ecumenical Council of 787. Soon afterwards, owing to the decadence into which Nicopolis fell, the metropolitan see was transferred to
Naupactus, which subsequently figured as such in the
Notitiae episcopatuum. In the course of the
Middle Ages Nicopolis was supplanted by the town of
Preveza. In 1798 French Revolutionary troops, stationed in Preveza by
Napoleon, dug into the graves and ruins of ancient Nicopolis and looted various treasures. These were later taken by the troops of
Ali Pasha, who
defeated the French and their Greek allies. Various battles fought in this area, the latest in 1912, when it was captured by the Greek army during the
First Balkan War, have been named "
Battle of Nicopolis" rather than "Battle of Preveza". ==Archaeology==