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The present-day city of Servia is located in the Aliakmon River valley, on a rocky mound surrounded by deep ravines. The medieval walled town of the same name was located on the hill above modern Servia and, according to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, took its name from the Serbs who settled there in the 7th century with the permission of Emperor Heraclius.

Because of its strategic importance and location right at the crossroads between Western Macedonia and Thessaly, Servia was inhabited from antiquity, and had strong fortifications that protected the city against various hostile raids down the centuries.

Ruins of secular buildings have been unearthed within the castle walls, especially in the citadel area, as have sections of the Byzantine city cemetery on a hill to the east.

Important Byzantine and post-Byzantine ecclesiastical monuments still survive inside the fortified walls in the lower city, the most important being the Episcopal Basilica and the single-nave churches of Agios Theodoros (second half of the 11th century.), St. John the Baptist (late 14th century), and the Holy Apostles. Similarly, several small post-Byzantine churches and chapels survive outside the city walls.
 


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