[3] The ancient city extended along a ridge comprising three hills bordering the south-east of modern Ierissos about 0.6 km (2,000 ft) from it.
In the 9th century the Byzantines recovered and reoccupied the peninsula, bringing in Hellenes and Armenians from Asia Minor.
[6] The Marble of Ladiava, an inscription from Ierissos, reports the presence of a large community of Roman merchants, 27 BCE–14 CE.
When the Byzantines returned they chose the Latin form of the word, Ericius, which became Erissos by palatalization of the "c." In 1430 Thessaloniki fell to Murad II, bringing Macedonia finally under the Ottoman Empire.
Subsequently, the city was augmented by the forced transplantation of Yuruk tribesmen from Anatolia, semi-nomads who kept sheep, practicing transhumance over the grasslands of Halkidiki, The region had been gradually deforested during the Byzantine era.
The Ottoman rulers left Halkidiki in the hands of the monastic communities of Athos, whom they encouraged and allowed to rule.
[7] Despite vigorous revolutionary activity in the Greek War of Independence of 1821, Macedonia, of which Halkidiki was a part, was forced to remain under the empire.
In the 1923 population exchange consequent on the border settlement with Greece, Ierissos received an influx of Anatolian Greeks.
[8] Unknown to the builders, the valley floor is the site of an ancient cemetery in use since before the founding of Akanthos, not abandoned until the 17th century CE.
Excavation and administration (archaeological services) are conducted by, and are under the authority of, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports through its departments.
These assignments supersede previous arrangements, which might be cited in literature and on the Internet, such as 16th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Thessaloniki, which is no more.
For example, when an earthquake caused an opening to appear in a tumulus at Derveni, suggesting the impending collapse of a structure underneath, the Ottomans assigned Makridi Bey (Bey is a Turkish title), ethnically an Ottoman Greek, Theodoros Makridis, who had been at Hattusas, to excavate it.
With the approval of the army, they took over all archaeology in Macedonia, collecting and storing ancient items, surveying sites, and doing preliminary excavation, with the assistance of other Greek soldiers.
Chalcidice has been occupied since the Palaeolithic, the beginning of human culture, which started at about 3.3 MYA (million years ago).
Thucydides[20] mentions that, on the way home from Troy, a contingent from Pellene in Achaea of the Peloponnesus, driven to Chalcidice by a storm, deciding to stay, founded Skione, according to the Skionians, he says.
According to other sources, Chalcidice was also occupied by tribes of Thrace and other people of unknown language driven from Macedon by the Macedonians moving in.
[24] The graves are not spectacular find sites, compared to the tombs of chieftains, or monumental architecture, or hidden treasures of precious metals.
Of the greatest value archaeologically is the pottery, of which the shape and decoration typically fall into known types providing relatively certain chronological sequences and connections with other parts of Greece, Asia and Europe.
[26] Plutarch, on the other hand, referred to it as a mixed colony of Andrians and local Chalcidians, which was founded on the "Coast of Drakontos", in place of a preexisting civilization.
The settlers sent an explorer each to see what had happened and, as they approached the city and realized it was empty, ran to be the first to take over the land for their fellow countrymen.
The Chalcidian was the fastest but the Andrian, seeing he was losing, stopped and threw his spear on the wall's gate, before his opponent arrived.
[27] Its growth during the Archaic period is reflected by the wide circulation of its currency, first minted around 530 BCE with the distinctive emblem of a lion killing a bull—perhaps linked to Herodotus’s account (vii.
125) that on the march of Xerxes from Acanthus to Therma, lions seized the camels which carried the provisions—at least 92 different types of coins have been found.
Its economic resources emanated from the mining and wood from the nearby forests, but also through agricultural and vegetable goods that were transported through the sizable harbor.
They declared one of his relatives who died in the area, named Artahei, a hero, and willingly took part in the expedition against Greece.
[28] In the initial phase of the establishment of the Chalcidice League, it was mainly smaller towns and cities in Macedonia that were enrolled.
[30] Under threat from the Chalcidians, Acanthus called in Sparta's help, which came in 382 BC when the Spartans and Acanthians captured and destroyed Olynthos and the alliance, at least temporarily.
Later it was incorporated to the region of Ouranoupolis, a new city that was founded by Alexarchos (Cassander's brother), in the isthmus, between the Strymoinan and the Singitic gulfs.
In Roman times is attested epigraphically the existence of a Roman community attracted mainly by the rich mines of this region [33] Around the start of the 1st century, Acanthus's renaming began, with its name translated into the Latin Ericius, from which was derived its Byzantine and modern name of Ierissos or Erissos.