Lake Doirani

Lake Doirani is a cross-border, fish-pond lake and a great wetland on the border of Greece with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Its name is probably derived from the ancient Doveres, which was a Peonian gender, established in the area. It is a remnant of ancient Paionia Lake, which occupied a much larger area. Herodotus reports it under the name of Prasia and as inhabitants around this “Dervers, Agrarians, and Odoms”. (Herodotus Historias, Terpsichore, 16). The abundance of the fish of the lake during the historical times, according to Herodotus, must have been astonishing.

It is located in the eastern part of the homonym valley, formed at the southern foothills of Mount Kerkini and at an altitude of 150 m. Its total area is estimated at 43.1 square kilometers. Given the boundary bounded by a straight bearing from the south of the lake at the top of Beles, this clearly divides the lake into the west and east. Thus the western area of ​​27.3 sq. km is from FYROM and 15.8 sq. km. east is from Greece.

The battle between Greek and Bulgarian troops in the area was held in 1913. The lake was also the southernmost line of the Macedonian Front of the First World War, and its southern coast was the scene of another battle, this time between Allied Greek and British troops attacked from the south and the Bulgarian troops on the east of the lake. Today, on a hill a few hundred meters south of the lake, there is a monument to the battle and two cemeteries for Greek and British soldiers.