Torone
Torone is an ancient city located on the western coast of Sithonia, part of the Chalcidice peninsula in northern Greece. This historically significant site boasts a natural harbor known as Porto Koufo and has been inhabited since the early first millennium BC. Originally settled by colonists from Chalcis in Euboea, Torone played a pivotal role in regional history, notably collaborating with Persian forces during their invasion of Greece in 480 BC. Following the Persian defeat, it became a member of the Delian League, aligning with Athens, and experienced a tumultuous history marked by conflicts, including its capture by Spartan general Brasidas in 423 BC. Over the centuries, Torone transitioned through various political entities, including the Chalcidian Confederacy and later Roman control, flourishing during Roman and early Christian times. Archaeological findings, such as fortifications and residential structures, provide insights into its historical significance and daily life during these eras, including evidence of both pagan and Christian burials, alongside the discovery of early Christian basilicas. Today, Torone remains a point of interest for those exploring the rich tapestry of ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
Subject Terms
Torone
A city on the west coast of Sithonia, the middle of the three peninsulas of Chalcidice (Macedonia, northern Greece)
Situated on the northern slope of a rocky promontory, Torone possessed a good harbor (Porto Koufo) to the southeast of the cape, balanced by the Toronean bay to the northwest. After habitation—revealed by cremation and less numerous inhumation burials—since the early first millennium BC, the place was settled by colonists from Chalcis in Euboea before 650, and was the most important foundation of the Chalcidians in these waters.
When the Persians entered Greece in 480, Torone collaborated with the invaders, but after their defeat became a member of the Delian League under the leadership of Athens. In the Peloponnesian War the city was taken by the Spartan general Brasidas in 423, but recaptured in the following year by Cleon, who transported seven hundred of its male population to Athens and sold the women and children into slavery. Before the end of the same century Torone became a member of the Chalcidian Confederacy under Olynthus, but succumbed to Philip II of Macedonia, through treason, in 348. In 169, during the Third Macedonian War between the Romans and Perseus, Eumenes II of Pergamum and Prusias II Cynegus of Bithynia tried to seize the town from the Macedonians without success, but it fell to the Romans in 167. When they abolished the Macedonian kingdom and instituted four puppet Republics, Torone served as the harbor for one of these districts. In Roman and early Christian times it continued to flourish.
Recent studies of its fortification system have thrown interesting light on Thucydides' account of the operations during the Peloponnesian War. During the fourth century an impressive new circuit was constructed, probably after the capture of Torone by Philip II. A number of spacious houses have also been uncovered. One of these dwellings consisted of five units, including a long fore-court, and possessed a tiled roof. Another, containing fine pottery, ceased to be occupied at about the time of the Peloponnesian War. Late Roman burials are both pagan and Christian, and five early Christian basilicas have been located.