Ancient Orraon
Hill west of Ammotopos, reached via Kastri (Gorgomylos), about 56 km / 1 hour from Preveza
Photo: Harry Gouvas / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0A small Hellenistic town on a hilltop near Ammotopos, with the only two-storey houses from Greek antiquity still standing, some with walls up to roof level.
About Ancient Orraon
Orraon (Horreum) sits on a hill that guards the route from the Ambracian Gulf up to the Ioannina basin. It was founded in the 4th century BC and is mentioned by the Roman historian Livy. The Romans destroyed it in 167 BC, it was rebuilt soon afterwards, and its people were moved to Nikopolis after the Battle of Actium.
What makes Orraon special is how much of it survives. The town had about 100 houses, built of local limestone along twelve narrow parallel streets crossed by two wider ones. Each house filled the full width of its block. Many walls still stand two storeys high, with door and window frames in place. They are the only two-storey houses of Greek antiquity preserved this well. In the best-preserved house the walls rise to roof level, and the layout of the ground-floor rooms is still clear. A large public cistern lies near the main gate, at the highest point of the town.
The site was opened to visitors in 2005.
Good to know
- You reach it from the hamlet of Kastri (Gorgomylos, Preveza), then by a dirt road up the hill.
- It's a remote, little-visited site with few facilities. Bring water and good shoes.
- The hill lies just over the border in the Arta regional unit, about an hour's drive from Preveza.
Photos
Last updated 12 October 2026. Information checked against travel.gr. Spotted something out of date? Use “Suggest a place” in the footer.
More archaeological sites in Preveza
Ancient Nikopolis
The 'City of Victory' Octavian founded after the Battle of Actium: Roman and Byzantine walls, the Nymphaeum, the Odeon and Early Christian basilicas famous for their mosaics, 7 km from Preveza.
Ancient Kassope
A whole Hellenistic city on a mountain terrace above the Ambracian Gulf: grid streets, agora, an inn for travellers, two theatres and houses, abandoned when Nikopolis was founded.
Necromanteion of Acheron
The legendary Oracle of the Dead by the river Acheron, where tradition places Odysseus' journey to Hades: a Hellenistic stone complex with a vaulted underground crypt, beside Mycenaean Ephyra.