LOCALISATION OF THE FOUR ANCIENT SETTLEMENTS IN THE DISTRICT PARORBELIA, MENTIONED BY STRABO (BOOK 7. FR. 36), FOUNDED BY PHILIP II OF MACEDON IN THE 4TH CENTURY BC

Abstract: A fragment of the seventh book of Strabo’s work Geography contains too important information about the historical geography of the lands along the valley of the Strymon River. Among other information, reported by Strabo, this ancient author has also provided us with very valuable but extremely concise information about four ancient settlements located in the geographical area named Parorbelia. The four ancient settlements mentioned by Strabo in a series – Kallipolis, Orthopolis, Philippoupolis and Gareskos, located in the middle of the Parorbelia, in a valley that begins from the ancient settlement Eidomene, have provoked a number of scholarly debates. Many modern researchers have tried to search and suggest different possible locations for these four ancient settlements, but so far no reliable and lasting solution has been found on this issue due to the scarce information in the text of Strabo. The only point that all scholars agree is that this text of Strabo implicitly contains information about the colonisation activity of the Macedonian king Philip II around the middle of the 4th century BC, which is clearly suggested by the name of one of these settlements – Philippoupolis. Here, the author found the correct solution that in fact the Parorbelia area covered the lands both north and south of the ancient Mount Orbelos. The most plausible locations of the four ancient settlements mentioned by Strabo along with the ancient Mount Orbelos and the district Parorbelia are precisely found and presented on modern maps.