Remains of a fortification of the byzantine Makri on a land plot next to the post-byzantine (but old) church of Saint Anastasia.
Today, the remains occupy a small area, less than an acre, but in the byzantine period the fortress must have encircled the whole hill where the modern village of Makri is built.

History

Judging from the few surviving remains, it is believed the the castle of Makri was built in the middle Byzantine period, before the 10th century.

Byzantine Makri was next to Via Egnatia and most probably was at the location of the ancient city Orthagoreia. It must have been the Egnatia station which is reported with the name Micolito or Milolito or Mytolito.

Makri appears in historical sources for the first time in the reports about the 879 synod in Constantiniopole where a bishop from Makri participated. The city remained a bishop seat from the 9th until the 14th century.

After the 10th century, Makri is mentioned often by Byzantine and Frankish sources: In 1097 Norman raiders passed from Macra in a failed attempt to march against Constantinople. In 1195 the dethroned emperor Isaac II was arrested in Makri and later was blinded. In 1206 the castle was desrtoyed by the Bulgarian tsar Ivan II (or Skylogiannis) who had destroyed many other castles in Thrace during his war against the Latins. In 1208, the Latin emperor of Constantinople Henry stopped in Machre moving toward Thessaloniki.

In the 14th century, Makri appears also in nautical maps. In 1361 Makri was captured by the Turks and its castle was destroyed.