Gazoros or Gazorus (Greek: ) was a town mentioned by Ptolemy to be in the region of Edonis or OdomantikeClassical philology, Tomes 42-43 by JSTOR (Organization), University of Chicago Press. Journals Division,1947, page 94, and also by inscriptions of Hellenistic and Roman times.Dimitrios C. Samsaris, La vallée du Bas-Strymon á l’ époque impériale (Contribution épigraphique á la topographie, l’ onomastique, l’ histoire et aux cultes de la province romaine de Macédoine), Dodona 18 (1989), fasc. 1, p. 275-279, n. 111-117 = The Packard Humanities Institute (Samsaris, Bas-Strymon 111, # PH150750)The Packard Humanities Institute (Samsaris, Bas-Strymon 112, # PH150752)The Packard Humanities Institute (Samsaris, Bas-Strymon 113, # PH150753)The Packard Humanities Institute (Samsaris, Bas-Strymon 114, # PH150754)The Packard Humanities Institute (Samsaris, Bas-Strymon 115, # PH150755)The Packard Humanities Institute (Samsaris, Bas-Strymon 116, # PH150756)The Packard Humanities Institute (Samsaris, Bas-Strymon 117, # PH150757)
History Later in the 4th century BC, it was annexed to the Macedonian kingdom and made a polisSupplementum epigraphicum graecum [SEG], Τόμος 32 by H. W. Pleket, R. S. Stroud, page 187, inscriptions from this place which show that Gazoros was an independent polisAncient Greek Laws: A Sourcebook by Il Arnaoutoglou,1998, page 56 &Glossary under Philip II of Macedon or the Antigonids.An inventory of archaic and classical poleis, page 857 Artemis Gazoria or Gazoreitis was worshiped all over the region till Roman times.
In the imperial times, according to epigraphic evidences, Gazoros was a member of a federation of five cities ("Pentapolis") that had its seat in the ancient city of Sirra (today Serres). Dimitrios C. Samsaris, Historical Geography of Eastern Macedonia during the Antiquity (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1976 (Society for Macedonian Studies), p. 129-131. .
According to archeologist Wittek-de-Jong, Zichni became the new feudal center of the ancient Gazoros and it was a land ownership of the Byzantine aristocratc family of Angels, so Siderokastron was for the Komnenos family. Ruins of the medieval castle and village of Zichni are in the background hills of Gazoros.
Location Gazoros is located in GreeceBarrington atlas of the Greek and Roman world, Τόμοι 1-2, by Richard J. A. Talbert, 2000,, page 753 3 km to the east of the modern village with the same name,Macedonian institutions under the kings by Miltiadēs B. Hatzopoulos, page 51, at the site of ancient Gazoros, 3 km to the east of the modern village of that name on the hill of "Haghios Athanasios". Dimitrios C. Samsaris, Historical Geography of Eastern Macedonia during the Antiquity (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1976 (Society for Macedonian Studies), p. 130. . Dimitrios C. Samsaris, A history of Serres (in the Ancient and Roman times), Thessaloniki 1999, p. 73-74 (Website of Municipality of Serres) The modern town Gazoros is part of the municipality Nea Zichni, in the Serres regional unit of Central Macedonia.
See also List of settlements in the Serres regional unit
References