Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with it recording a population of over 38,000 inhabitants as of 2021. Ohrid is known for once having 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as the "Jerusalem of the Balkans"."The Mirror of the Macedonian Spirit, Zlate Petrovski, Sašo Talevski, Napredok, 2004, , page 72: "... and Macedonia in the Cathedral Church St. Sofia in the Macedonian Jerusalem — Ohrid..." The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola. In 1979 and in 1980, respectively, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Ohrid is one of only 40 sites that are part of UNESCO's World Heritage that are Cultural as well as Natural sites.Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region
Name
In antiquity the city was known under the ancient Greek name of Λυχνίς (Lychnis), Λυχνιδός or Λύχνιδος (Lychnidos) and the Latin Lychnidus,Lychnĭdus, Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), on Perseus probably meaning "city of light", literally "a precious stone that emits light",λυχνίς, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus from λύχνος (lychnos), "lamp, portable light".λύχνος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Polybius, writing in the second century BC, refers to the town as Λυχνίδιον - Lychnidion.
The evolution of the ancient toponym Lychnidus into Oh(ë)r(id) required a long-standing period of Tosk Albanian–Eastern South Slavic bilingualism, or at least contact, resulting from the Tosk Albanian rhotacism -n- into -r- and Eastern South Slavic l-vocalization ly- into o-. (pp. 44–45).
It became capital of the First Bulgarian Empire in the early medieval period, and was often referred to by Byzantine writers as Achrida (Ἄχριδα, Ὄχριδα, or Ἄχρις).Anna Komnene, Alexiad, 13; Cedrenus, Synopsis historion, vol. ii. p. 468, ed. Bonn; John VI Kantakouzenos, History, 2.21. By 879 AD, the town was no longer called Lychnidos but was referred to as Ohrid.Evans, Thammy, Macedonia, Bradt Travel Guides, 2012, p.173
In Macedonian and the other South Slavic languages, the name of the city is Ohrid (Охрид). In Albanian, the city is known as Ohër or Ohri and in modern Greek Ochrida (Οχρίδα, Ωχρίδα) and Achrida (Αχρίδα). The name of the city in Aromanian is .Grailu Armãnescu. Nr. 1 (43). p. 15.
History
Antiquity
The earliest inhabitants of the wider Lake Ohrid region were the Illyrian tribes of EncheleAufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung, Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase, Walter de Gruyter, 1983, , p. 537 and Dassaretii. According to a tradition the town was founded by Cadmus, the Phoenician king of Thebes, who fled to Enchele after being banished from Boeotia. In addition to Ohrid, called Lychnidos () in classical antiquity, he is said to have founded Budva in Montenegro.Greek Anthology Book 7, § 7.697 Lychnidos was the capital city of the Illyrian Dassaretii.
According to recent excavations, this was a town as early as of the era of king Philip II of Macedon. They conclude that Samuil's Fortress was built on the site of an earlier fortification, dated to the 4th century BC. In 210 BCE, Philip V of Macedon raided a number of southern Illyrian communities. He maintained a garrison at Lychnidos but lost control of the settlement in 208 BCE, when its commander joined local leader Aeropus and invited the Dardani in the region.
During the Roman conquests, towards the end of 3rd and the beginning of 2nd century BC, Lychnidus is mentioned as a town near or within Dassaretia. In Roman times, it was located along the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic port Dyrrachion (present-day Durrës) with Byzantium. Archaeological excavations (e.g., the Polyconch Basilica from the 5th century) prove an early adoption of Christianity in the area. Bishops from Lychnidos participated in multiple ecumenical councils.
Middle Ages
The South Slavs began to arrive in the area during the 6th century AD. By the early 7th century, it was colonized by a Slavic tribe known as the Berziti. Bulgaria conquered the city around 840.Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Scarecrow Press, 2009; , pg. xx.
The name Ohrid first appeared in 879. The Ohrid Literary School, established in 886 by Clement of Ohrid, became one of the two major cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire. Between 990 and 1015, Ohrid was the empire's capital and stronghold.Old Hermit's Almanac by Edward Hays, 1997;, pg. 82: "... He sent word to Samuel, the ruler in the Bulgarian capital of Ohrid, that he was returning 15,000 of his prisoners of war. ..."
From 990 to 1018, Ohrid was also the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate.Paul Robert Magocsi, Historical Atlas of Central Europe, (University of Washington Press, 2002), pg. 10. After the Byzantine reconquest of the city in 1018 by Basil II, the Bulgarian Patriarchate was downgraded to an Archbishopric of Ohrid, and placed under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
The higher clergy after 1018 was almost invariably Greek, including during the period of Ottoman domination, until the abolition of the archbishopric in 1767. At the beginning of the 16th century, the archbishopric reached its peak, subordinating the Sofia, Vidin, Vlach and Moldavian eparchies, part of the former medieval Serbian Patriarchate of Peć, (including Patriarchal Monastery of Peć itself), and even the Orthodox districts of Italy (Apulia, Calabria and Sicily), Venice and Dalmatia.
As an episcopal city, Ohrid was a cultural center of great importance for the Balkans. Almost all surviving churches were built by the Byzantines and by the Bulgarians, with the rest dating back to the short time of Serbian rule during the late Middle Ages.Ohrid, worldheritagesite.org. Accessed 3 September 2022.
Bohemond, leading a Norman army from southern Italy, took the city in 1083. The Byzantines regained it in 1085. Albanian ruler Golem of Kruja (~1250) likely had had control over Ohrid but it was later ceded to the Byzantine Empire by negotiation.Macrides, Ruth (2007). George Akropolites: The History – Introduction, Translation and Commentary. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. , p. 259: "As Ochrid is mentioned [...] it may be that Ochrid was also under Petraliphas' control or, more likely, Goulamos (see §49.30) and was ceded to the emperor by negotiations with these men [...]." In the 13th and 14th century, the city changed hands between the Despotate of Epirus, the Bulgarian, Byzantine and Serbian Empires, and Albanian rulers. In the mid-13th century, Ohrid was one of the cities ruled by Pal Gropa, a member of the Albanian noble Gropa family. In a text by Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, there is mention of nomadic Albanians present in the vicinity of Ohrid at around 1328.http://albanianhistory.net/1328_Cantacuzene/index.html, "While the emperor was spending about eight days in Achrida (Ohrid), the Albanian nomads living in the region of Deabolis (Devoll) appeared before him, as well as those from Koloneia (Kolonja) and those from the vicinity of Ohrid." This meeting was estimated to have taken place at around February 1328 The presence of the Turkish community dates from their settlement in Ohrid during 1451–81.
In 1334, the city was captured by Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and incorporated in the Serbian Empire. After Dusan's death, the city came under the control of Andrea Gropa. After his death, Prince Marko incorporated it in the Kingdom of Prilep.
In the early 1370s, Marko lost Ohrid to Pal II Gropa, another member of the Gropa family, and unsuccessfully tried to recapture it in 1375 with Ottoman assistance.
In 1395, the Ottomans under Bayezid I captured the city, which became the seat of the newly established Sanjak of Ohrid. Some time after Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg had liberated Krujë to begin his rebellion, his troops—in coordination with Gjergj Arianiti and Zaharia Gropa (of the local Albanian Gropa noble family)—liberated Ohrid and the castle of Svetigrad.
From 14–15 September 1464, 12,000 Albanian troops of the League of Lezhë and 1,000 of the Republic of Venice defeated a 14,000-man Ottoman force near the city in the Battle of Ohrid. When Mehmed II returned from Albania after his actions against Skanderbeg in 1466, he dethroned Dorotheos, the Archbishop of Ohrid, and expatriated him—together with his clerks and boyars and considerable number of citizens of Ohrid—to Istanbul, probably because of their anti-Ottoman activities during Skanderbeg's rebellion amid which many citizens of Ohrid, including Dorotheos and his clergy, supported Skanderbeg and his fight.
Ottoman period During the 16th century, Ohrid was located in the Sanjak of Ohrid. In the years 1529–1536, Sanjak of Ohrid had 33,271 households (32,648 Christians and 623 Muslims), with 1331 widows and 3392 unmarried singles. There were 859 settlements and 10 cities, with an average of 28.7 houses per settlement. Ohrid itself had 337 Christian families, 44 unmarried singles, 12 widows and 93 Muslim families. In 1583, the Sanjak of Ohrid was made up of several Kazas, including the Kaza of Ohrid, which were in turn made of Nahiyes; the Ottoman Defter recorded, within the Nahiya of Ohrid, 2,920 Christian homes, 627 unmarried singles and 465 Muslim families within a total of 107 settlements.
In 1889, according to a French research, the city had 2.500-3.000 houses and approximately 12.000 individuals, of which 2/3 were Bulgarians and Vlachs and the rest 1/3 were Albanophone Muslims with 20-25 Slavophone Greek families.G. A. Mano, Résumé géographique de la Grèce et de la Turquie d'Europe, «Collection des Résumés géographiques», Paris 1826, t. 5, p. 545. The Christian population declined during the first centuries of Ottoman rule. In 1664, there were only 142 Christian households. The situation changed in the 18th century when Ohrid emerged as an important trade center on a major trade route. At the end of this century it had around five thousand inhabitants.
Towards the end of the 18th century and in the early part of the 19th century, Ohrid region, like other parts of European Turkey, was a hotbed of unrest. In the 19th century the region of Ohrid became part of the Pashalik of Scutari, ruled by the Bushati family.
After the Christian population of the bishopric of Ohrid voted on a plebiscite in 1874 overwhelmingly in favour of joining the Bulgarian Exarchate (97%), the Exarchate became in control of the area.Църква и църковен живот в Македония, Петър Петров, Христо Темелски, Македонски Научен Институт, София, 2003 г. In 1889, Gustav Weigand discovered in Ohrid the important Codex Dimonie, a collection of Aromanian-language religious texts. In statistics gathered by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the city of Ohrid was inhabited by 8000 Bulgarians, 5000 Turks, 500 Muslim Albanians, 300 Christian Albanians, 460 Vlachs and 600 Romani.Vasil Kanchov (1900). Macedonia: Ethnography and Statistics. Sofia. p. 252. The Bulgarian researcher Vasil Kanchov wrote in 1900 that many Albanians declared themselves as Turks. Ohrid, the population that declared itself Turkish "was of Albanian blood", but it "had been Turkified after the Ottoman invasion, including Skanderbeg", referring to Islamization.Salajdin SALIHI. "DISA SHËNIME PËR SHQIPTARËT ORTODOKSË TË REKËS SË EPËRME". FILOLOGJIA - International Journal of Human Sciences 19:85-90.