Antiquity Although the earliest mention of Serres (as
Siris) is dating in the 5th century BC (Herodotus), the city was founded long before the
Trojan War, probably at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The ancient city was built on a high and steep hill (known as "Koulas") just north of Serres. It held a strategic position, since it controlled a land road that followed the valley of the river
Strymon from the shores of
Strymonian Gulf to the Danubian countries. The most ancient known inhabitants of the area were the
Bryges (
Phrygians) and Strymonians. Afterwards were the
Paeonian tribes of the
Siropaiones (since 1100 BC) and
Odomantes (from the early 5th century BC until the end of antiquity). These populations mainly engaged in agriculture and cattle-raising especially worshiped the Sun, the deified river
Strymon and later the "
Thracian horseman". The ancient city of
Serraepolis was founded in
Cilicia by Siropaiones exiled from Serres.
Roman era During the
Roman period (168 BC – 315 AD) the city is mentioned in sources under the name
Sirra (Σίρρα) and in inscriptions as
Sirraion polis (Σιρραίων πόλις, ). It was an important city of the
Roman province of Macedonia, with the status of a
civitas stipendaria. It flourished especially during the imperial period thanks to the
Pax Romana. Then, during the
great crisis of the Roman Empire (235–284 AD), the city declined and only in the times of
Diocletian, with its reforms (
Tetrarchic system), returned to prosperity. As regards the urban structure it featured, like all Greek cities, a market (
agora), parliament (
bouleuterion), theater, gymnasium and temples. As we know from epigraphic evidence, the local government was also based on the known Greek institutions, which were the parliament (
boule), the citizen body (
demos) and the
archons (
politarchai,
agoranomoi,
gymnasiarchai, high priests etc.). It was also the seat of a federation of five cities ("
Pentapolis") and actively participated in the provincial life and organization of the Macedonians; while many residents, mostly members of the local aristocracy, had received the right of
Roman citizenship and were promoted to senior provincial dignities. As a city-state (
polis), apart from the usual Greek institutions, Sirra also had its own territory (
chora), which roughly coincided with the area of the modern
province of Serres. The organization of its territory was based on villages (
komai, sing.
kome), whose many sites have been found in various places near modern villages, such as
Lefkonas,
Oreini,
Ano Vrontou,
Neo Souli,
Agio Pnevma,
Chryso,
Paralimnio etc. Within the limits of its territory have also discovered traces of marble quarries and iron mines, which indicate systematic exploitation of the existing mineral wealth in the imperial period (1st to 3rd century AD).In terms of population, except the most numerous Greek element, are recognized some population substrates even from prehistoric times. Concerning the society, the main feature was its distinction in upper (rich) and lower (poor) social strata (
honestiores and humiliores in Latin). Finally, concerning the cults of the residents, except the known
panhellenic cults (
Dionysus,
Zeus,
Dioscuri,
Apollo,
Asclepius,
Artemis and
Isis), are evidenced and some local and Thracian cults as the
Thracian horseman (or "Hero"). Many inscriptions of Roman (imperial) times have been found in the city (and to the early 1960s in the surrounding area). From these inscriptions (almost all written in Greek and only three in
Latin), the eight are votive or honorific and all other on epitaph reliefs or steles.
Middle Ages The first attested bishop of the city is recorded as participating in the
Second Council of Ephesus in 449. , the old metropolis of the town In Emperor
Nikephoros I rebuilt the town and installed a strong garrison against the Slavic tribes of the Balkans. The city's history was uneventful until the 10th century, being in the heartland of the Byzantine Greek world, The city (Siroz in Turkish) and the surrounding region became a fief of
Evrenos Beg, who brought in
Yörük settlers from
Sarukhan. In the aftermath of the Christian victory at the
Battle of Lepanto in 1571, Turkish reprisals were directed at the Greek population, who had risen in revolt. Much information on the town's history in the years 1598–1642 is given by the chronicle of the priest Synadinos, a former merchant who became a priest. At the end of the 18th century, Serres was a cotton-producing area, exporting 50,000 balls of cotton to
Germany,
France,
Venice and
Livorno. The metropolitan bishop Gabriel founded in 1735 the Greek School of Serres, which he directed until 1745. The school was maintained by donations from wealthy Greek merchants, among them Ioannes Constas from
Vienna with 10,800
florins and the banker and tragic leader of the
Greek War of Independence in Macedonia
Emmanouil Pappas, who donated 1,000 Turkish silver coins.
Minas Minoides taught philosophy and grammar in 1815–19. The school operated also in the period of the Greek War of Independence under Argyrios Paparizou from
Siatista. A great fire in 1849 destroyed most of the city's 31 surviving churches. The development of railways, highways and sea transport by steamship diminished the importance of the annual fairs for which the city was famous, and commercial activity declined in the late 19th century. In 1943, Serres'
Jewish population was deported by the
Gestapo to the
Treblinka death camp and exterminated. There was a significant resistance movement in the city during the occupation, led by the left-wing
National Liberation Front (EAM). In the postwar years, the city's population grew substantially, and there was also a significant rise in the standard of living. The long-serving conservative Greek Prime Minister
Constantine Karamanlis (in office from 1955 to 1963 and again from 1974 to 1980) was a native of Serres, and as a result its people could count on the support of the central Greek government in
Athens. However, the villages in the plains around the city were not so lucky; the low prices of agricultural products led many people of these villages to emigrate, mostly to the
United States and
West Germany. , the Mayor of Serres is Petros Angelidis (independent, formerly a member of
PASOK). ==Municipality==