Crossed by the Devoll, the mountain pass was formed through the millennia by the excavating process of the flow of this river.

[2] In classical antiquity the name of the mountain pass was recorded as Tsangon,[3][4] which was traditionally a border area between Macedon and Illyria, being part of an important east-west communication route.

[7] This mountain pass controlled one of the only two main west-east routes between Illyria and Macedonia.

The northern route was already controlled by Macedon after Philip II's founding of Herakleia.

[8] The Tsangon Pass was likely used by Roman consul Sulpicius Galba to reach Macedonia from Illyria during the 199 BC military operations he undertook in the Second Macedonian War.