History of the city of Struga

Struga is an ancient settlement where traces of an old civilization dating from the Neolithic period can be found. The archaelogical records demonstrate that there was a community in this area in prehistoris times, when on the shores of the lake were built the first Neolithic settlements dated from the year 3000 BC. The first Neolithic settlement, which is assumed to have been a fishing area, was built on the place where the river Crn Drim flows out of the Lake Ohrid. It is a pile dweller, an ancient fisherman community. Many archaelogical objects were found there that date from the early stone age, such as different tools made of stone and bones as well as weapons.It is considered, according to some relevant sources, that the first inhabitants of this area were the Briges and the Enheleians, and later came the Desarets. With the passing of the centuries this fishing settlement grew into a town-like village which was called Enhalon (eel). The name is accidental. Namely, here on the outflow of the river Crn Drim from the Lake Ohrid, the longest journey of the eel starts, which leads to the Sargasso Sea in the Caribean region of the Atlantic ocean where the fish satisfies its biological needs for continuing its kind. The ancient historian Polibius says that in the year 334 BC, king Philip II of Macedon, conquered Enhalon in addition to Lihnidos and the other towns on the shores of Lake Ohrid. There is an important monument from that period with inscription in classical Greek, discovered by the monastery of St. Bogoroditsa (the Virgin Mary). Enhalon was part of the Macedonian state until the year 148 BC when it was conquered by the Romans. The connection of this area and Rome grew closer with the construction of the strategic road Via Ignatia, which connected Rome, through the town known today as Drach and through Thessalonica, to Istanbul and Asia Minor. The road was passing close to Enhalon.