Lychnidos
An Illyrian city at the NE end of Lake Ochrid in Macedonia.
It first appears in history in Polybios' accounts of the wars between Rome and Macedonia. It was the W terminus in Macedonia of the Via Egnatia, one of the most important highways in the Roman Empire. The town was part of the province of Macedonia until the organization of the province of Epeiros under Diocletian and it became a part of Illyricum during the reign of Theodosius. The city was sacked in 479 by Theodoric and the Goths and was devastated by an earthquake in 514. It was represented by bishops at numerous ecclesiastical conferences in the 4th to 6th c.
Part of the ancient theater has been revealed near the E wall of the mediaeval citadel and parts of two Early Christian churches have been found, one of them below the Church of Saint Sophia. The mediaeval and modern town lies directly above the ancient site. The National Museum in Ochrid houses inscriptions, sculpture, and a variety of burial gifts from both early and late Roman graves found in the vicinity. Some of the more recent discoveries from the nearby necropolis of Trebeniita are also in the museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYV. Lahtov, Problem Trebeniške Kulture (1965) MPI.
J. WISEMAN