Nicopolis

Nicopolis
(see map: Greece and the Aegean world) in Epirus, situated on the isthmus of the Preveza peninsula opposite Actium at the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf. It was founded by Octavian (see Augustus) on the site of his army encampment (specially revered, as at Alexander the Great's Cilician city of Nicopolis, founded after the battle of Issus in 333 BC, which provided the model for the city in Epirus). Nicopolis was not only a ‘victory city’ (the Greek name means this), honouring Octavian's defeat of Antony (Mark Antony) and Cleopatra in this region, but was also a synoecism of older cities (Strabo 10. 2. 2; Pausanias 5. 23. 3). It was settled soon after 31 BC, and dedicated, perhaps, in 29. A free city minting its own coinage, Nicopolis served as a regional...

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