Editing Amphipolis (section)

===Final decline of the city===

The [[South Slavs#Population|Slavic invasions]] of the late 6th century gradually encroached on the back-country Amphipolitan lifestyle and led to the decline of the town, during which period its inhabitants retreated to the area around the acropolis. The ramparts were maintained to a certain extent, thanks to materials plundered from the monuments of the lower city, and the large unused cisterns of the upper city were occupied by small houses and the workshops of artisans. Around the middle of the 7th century, a further reduction of the inhabited area of the city was followed by an increase in the fortification of the town, with the construction of a new rampart with pentagonal towers cutting through the middle of the remaining monuments. The acropolis, the [[Thermae|Roman baths]], and especially the episcopal basilica were crossed by this wall.

The city was probably abandoned in the eighth century, as the last bishop was attested at the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] in 787. Its inhabitants probably moved to the neighbouring site of ancient Eion, port of Amphipolis, which had been rebuilt and refortified in the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]] under the name “[[Chrysopolis (Thrace)|Chrysopolis]]”. This small port continued to enjoy some prosperity, before being abandoned during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman period]]. The last recorded sign of activity in the region of Amphipolis was the construction of a fortified tower to the north in 1367 by the ''[[megas primikerios]]'' John and the ''[[stratopedarches]]'' Alexios to protect the land that they had given to the [[Pantokratoros monastery|monastery of Pantokrator]] on [[Mount Athos]].

[[File:Amphipolis frescoes.jpg|thumb|[[Fresco]] from a house (Hellenistic period).]]