{{Short description|Ancient Greek city in Epirus}} thumb|right|300px|View of the site of Kassope thumb|300px|Street in Kassope and view to the south|right
'''Kassope''' or ''Cassope'' ({{langx|grc|Κασσώπη}} - ''Kassōpē'', also Κασσωπία - ''Kassōpia'' and Κασσιόπη - ''Kassiopē''<ref name=DGRG>{{Cite DGRG|title=Cassope|url=|first=|last=|volume=1|pages=560-561}}</ref>) was an ancient Greek city<ref name=Hansen>An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen, 2005, page 346</ref> in Epirus.
Kassope occupies a remote site on a high platform overlooking the sea, the Ambracian Gulf and the fertile lands to the south. The slopes of Mount Zalongo, where the Dance of Zalongo took place, are found to the north.
It is considered one of the best remaining examples of a city built on a rectilinear street grid of a Hippodamian plan in Greece.<ref name=GB>Guide Bleu, ''Greece''. Hachette Livre, 2000. p. 627.</ref>
==History== The first settlements on the site are from the Paleolithic. However the city of Kassope was founded in the middle of the 4th century BC<ref name=GB/> as the capital of the Kassopaeans, a sub-tribe of the Thesprotians. It belonged to the Aetolian League.<ref name=GB/> Cassope or Cassopia is mentioned in the war carried on by Cassander against Alcetas II of Epirus, in 312 BC.<ref>{{Cite Diodorus|19.88}}</ref> The city flourished in the 3rd century BC, when large public buildings were built. Kassope also minted its own coins.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Franke |first1=Peter Robert |title=Die antiken Münzen von Epirus 1: Poleis, Stämme, und epirotischer Bund bis 27. v. Chr. |date=1961 |publisher=Steiner |location=Wiesbaden}}</ref>
Massively damaged by Roman forces in 168-167 BC,<ref name=odysseus>[http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2633 Cassope page] of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture</ref> Kassope was abandoned in 31 B.C. when the remaining inhabitants resettled to Nikopolis, the region's new capital.<ref name=GB/>
==Archaeology== The ruins of Kassope were visited and described by William Martin Leake in the early 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leake |first1=William Martin |title=Travels in Northern Greece |date=1835 |publisher=J. Rodwell |location=London |volume=1 |pages=244–253 |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsinnorthe01leak/page/244/}}</ref> Extensive excavations were performed by a Greek team under Sotiris Dakaris in 1952 and 1955, and in 1977-1983 by a team from the University of Ioannina together with the German Archaeological Institute,<ref name=odysseus/> co-led by Dakaris, Wolfram Hoepfner, Konstantina Gravani, and Ernst-Ludwig Schwandner. The visible remains include Cyclopean walls, an agora, a theatre, civic buildings, and private houses.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoepfner |first1=W. |last2=Schwandner |first2=E.-L. |title=Haus und Stadt in klassischen Griechenland |date=1986 |location=Munich |pages=75–140}}</ref>
==See also== *List of cities in ancient Epirus
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * https://web.archive.org/web/20160611190950/http://www.gtp.gr/TDirectoryDetails.asp?ID=14713
{{Authority control}} {{Coord|39|08|43|N|20|40|32|E|display=title|region:GR-PV_type:landmark_source:dewiki}}
Category:Populated places established in the 4th century BC Category:Cities in ancient Epirus Category:Populated places in ancient Epirus Category:Former populated places in Greece Category:Archaeological sites in Epirus (region)