The citadel of Megalo Gardiki is located on the top of the hill Kastri, to the north of Ioanina city.
Some scholars identified the citadel to Passaron, a name refered in the ancient sources as the place where the Molossian kings gathered along with the representatives of the rest epirotic tribes, in order to give the mutual tribal vowes, in the name of Zeus.
The fortification encloses an area of some 10 hectares with a normal urban plan and orientation, and the buildings were built on small plateaus on the slopes, forming typical insulae.
The earliest habitation of the site is dated in the Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age (1,000 – 900 BC), while the fortified and organized city in the Hellenistic era, probably linked to the Molossian king Pyrrhus (late 4th – early 3rd c. BC). The fortification wall is 1,350 m long (nearly 3,50 m wide) and has two narrow gates.
During the Balkan Wars (early 20th c.) the Turks installed there strong concrete fortifications for heavy armory as well as trenches for the soldiers and three stone auxiliary buildings at the lower part of the hill.
The Citadel of Megalo Gardiki
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