The re-establishment of the town

In contrast with neighbouring Veroia and Edessa, which have a continuous presence, a significant time gap may be observed in the Naoussa area's inhabitancy in the form of an organized settlement. The decomposition of the most ancient residential formations must be sought for in rather earlier eras, starting from late Roman domination and the dark times that followed. Local tradition and other indirect historical testimony place the settlement of contemporary Naoussa a few years after the occupation of Veroia by the Turks (1385-1386) and a little while before the fall of Constantinople (1453). This occurred in the context of an operation for the resettlement of the inhabitants, who, fearful from older, but also more recent raids, had found refuge in forests and at mountainous inaccessible points on Mount Vermio, where they remained under difficult living conditions. Local historian E. Stougiannakis preserves an interesting tradition on this settlement, with clear allusions to the myth of Dido and the ox-hide which, cut into thin strips, encompassed and defined the city limits.