Cassandreia

Cassandreia, also called Kassandreia, was an ancient Greek city in the region of Chalkidiki (Halkidiki) in northern Greece. It occupied a strategic position on the Pallene peninsula, at the head of the Thermaic Gulf, a site that later gave its name to the western Halkidiki peninsula known today as Kassandra. The city was founded by Cassander, one of the diadochi who succeeded Alexander the Great, around 316 BCE, as part of his efforts to secure Macedonian authority on the peninsula.

In the Hellenistic period Cassandreia grew into a fortified port city that controlled coastal routes and served as a center of administration and commerce for the region. The city issued its own coins and maintained institutions typical of a polis, reflecting its political autonomy under Macedonian influence and subsequent Roman suzerainty. The coastal position also made it an important point of contact between Greece and the wider Mediterranean world.

Archaeological remains attest to its fortifications, gates, and harbor works, with finds spanning from the Hellenistic to late antique periods. The city appears to have declined in late antiquity, as did many coastal settlements in the area, and was eventually abandoned.

Today, the site lies within the modern Chalkidiki region, and the name Kassandreia is echoed in the geography of the western Halkidiki peninsula, whose name is traditionally linked to Cassander. Cassandreia is remembered as a notable example of a Hellenistic urban center that shaped the coastal dynamics of its time.