Remains of a castle atop the hill of “Agiannis” north of the village Adriani of Drama prefecture.

This is an ancient castle with signs of medieval use. We know nothing specific about its history, since it is not mentioned by any source and there are no findings that could help with a chronology.

A reasonable hypothesis is that the castle of Adriani was one of the so called “Thracian Castles” built by the king Philip of Macedon after 340 BC following his victory against the Odrycians, a union of Thracian tribes.

The type of construction of the walls complies with this theory. No mortar was used except from some parts. That means that it was ancient, but there have been some repairs in the early Middle Ages, possibly in the 6th century like in some other Thracian castles. In any case we cannot be sure.

Most of the early fortifications in the region (western Thrace and Eastern Macedonia) were abandoned after the 6th century, possibly because of raids by Slavs or other barbaric tribes.

The church of Agios Ioannis which still stands among the ruins of the castle, was obviously built with materials taken from the fortification. The church is a remnant of what seems to have been a monastery of the Turkish period.

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