Ancient Nikopolis

Octavian beat Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, just across the strait from Preveza. Two years later, in 29 BC, he founded Nikopolis, the "City of Victory", on the peninsula just north of today's Preveza. The people of the surrounding cities were made to move there, including Kassope, Ambracia and Orraon. Within a few years the city had walls, a theatre, a stadium, a gymnasium, an odeon and an aqueduct. It covered about 180 hectares and had harbours on both the Ambracian Gulf and the Ionian Sea. From around AD 110 it was the capital of the Roman province of Epirus.

On the hill north of the city, where his own tent had stood, Octavian built a victory monument to Apollo, decorated with the bronze rams of captured warships. He also founded the Actian Games, held every four years in honour of Apollo. The Apostle Paul planned to spend the winter of AD 65–66 at Nikopolis, as he wrote in his Letter to Titus. Around AD 94 the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, expelled from Rome, set up his school there.

After raids in the late 5th century the city shrank, and new Byzantine walls enclosed only about a sixth of it. They were renewed under Justinian. Between about 460 and 575 a series of basilicas was built and covered with fine mosaic floors, among them those of Alkison and Doumetios. Inside the site you can see the Roman and Byzantine walls, the brick Nymphaeum that received the water of the Roman aqueduct, the Roman Odeon, villas and the basilicas. The Great Theatre and the stadium lie just to the north.

On 28 September 2026 the President of the Republic opened newly restored parts of the site, including rooms of the bishop's palace and basilica mosaics. Nikopolis is preparing a bid for UNESCO World Heritage status.