The city is situated in a fertile plain at an elevation of about 70 metres (230 feet), some 24 kilometres (15 miles) northeast of the Strymon river and 69 km (43 mi) north-east of Thessaloniki, respectively.

[5] 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.

[7] These populations mainly engaged in agriculture and cattle-raising especially worshiped the Sun, the deified river Strymon and later the "Thracian horseman".

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, lit.

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.

[10] 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.).

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.

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).

Concerning the society, the main feature was its distinction in upper (rich) and lower (poor) social strata (honestiores and humiliores in Latin).

[19] The city's history was uneventful until the 10th century, being in the heartland of the Byzantine Greek world,[18] until it was pillaged and briefly occupied by the Bulgarians.

[18] In 1185, the environs of the city were pillaged by a Norman invasion, and in the Battle of Serres in 1195/6 the Byzantines were defeated by the rebellious Bulgarian ruler Ivan Asen I.

[18] According to George Akropolites, Kaloyan almost destroyed the city, reducing it from a sizeable urban centre to a small settlement clustered around the fortified citadel, while the lower town was protected by a weak stone wall.

[20] The city (Siroz in Turkish) and the surrounding region became a fief of Evrenos Beg, who brought in Yörük settlers from Sarukhan.

[20] Oral sources report that the terms of surrender guaranteed to the Greek population possession of its city quarters and churches, while the Turks were to settle outside the Byzantine walls, which were soon demolished to prevent any rebellion.

[19] Towards the end of the 15th century, the first Sephardi Jews arrived from Sicily and Spain,[19] and the Grand Vizier Koca Mustafa Pasha funded various public and charitable buildings in the city.

[19] The town is also described in some detail by the 17th-century Ottoman travellers Haji Khalifa and Evliya Çelebi, as well as the Capuchin friar Robert de Dreux.

[20][23] 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.

[23] In the late 19th century, the kaza of Serres had a total population of 83.499, consisting of 31.210 Muslims, 31.148 Greeks, 19.494 Bulgarians, 995 Jews, 5 Armenians and 647 foreign citizens, and ranked, along with Monastir and Salonica, as one of the most important towns in Macedonia.

[19][26] 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.

[19] As the National Schism erupted in Greece during the First World War, Serres was temporarily occupied by the Central Powers after King Constantine ordered the local garrison not to resist to a token force of the Imperial German Army; eventually the city was liberated in 1917 by Greek-French Entente forces under the Venizelos government.

According to the HNMS climate Atlas the Serres regional unit reaches an average annual sunshine close to 2.600 hours.

Late Ottoman author Omer Seyfeddin set his fictional work White Tulip (Beyaz Lale) describing events during the First Balkan War in the town.

One delicacy that is truly unique to the region is Akanés, which is a type of gourmet candy delight prepared according to a secret recipe since the beginning of the 20th century.

There is also a Department of Physical Education and Sport Science of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki that operates in the city of Serres, offering bachelor's and master's degrees.