Dráma

Dráma lies at the foot of Mount Falakro in Macedonia, northeastern Greece, in a well-watered area that has supported settlement since the classical era. Ancient Greeks knew a settlement there as Hydrama or Dyrama, names associated with abundant water. During the Byzantine period Drama became a fortified city with a castle and walls. Under the Komnenian emperors it flourished as a junction for commerce and military movement. The tenth-century church of Hagia Sophia, probably erected over an early Christian basilica, belongs to this older townscape and became a mosque during Ottoman rule.

The Ottoman conquest of 1383 brought Drama into the administration of Rumelia. A 1519 register recorded 116 Muslim and 153 Christian households, revealing a mixed urban population. In the nineteenth century it became the centre of a sanjak. Tobacco cultivation and trade strengthened its role as an economic centre. Drama’s history grew from water, fortified roads and the productive mountain hinterland.