Built on the Thracian plain, near the foothills of the Rhodope Mountains, Komotini is one of the main administrative, financial and cultural centers of northeastern Greece and also a major agricultural and breeding center of the area. It has existed as a settlement since the 2nd century AD, and during the Roman age it was one of the several fortresses along the Via Egnatia. During most of the Byzantine period, the settlement was overshadowed by the larger town of Mosynopolis to the west, and by the end of the 12th century, the place had been abandoned. In 1207 following the destruction of Mosynopolis by the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan, the remnant population fled and established within the walls of the abandoned fortress.
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