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Toroni (, Toróne, modern pronunciation Toróni) is an ancient Greece city and a former municipality in the southwest edge of Sithonia peninsula in Chalkidiki, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sithonia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 193.973 km2.
When the Peloponnesian War broke out, the Athenians, fearing a revolt against them, placed a garrison in the city but that did not stop Brasidas, the general from seizing the city with a surprise attack during the night, before he came to an understanding with the Toronaeans in 423. He then tried to expand the city's walls by including the harbour suburb (Προάστειον Proasteion), before leaving to attack Amphipolis. However, the Athenians recaptured Toroni under Cleon, just before the return of Brasidas, who was 2 miles away.Thucydides iv. 110-116,v 2-3 When war ended, Toroni, a leading member of the Olynthus synoecism, became part of the Chalcidian League, which included most of the peninsula's cities. It was besieged by the Athenian General Timotheus by means of cutters attached to the top of masts made to cut open sandbags used in the city's defence. After 348, and the abolition of the league by Phillip, Toroni became part of Macedon.
In 168 BC the Romans invaded and the city decayed, but did not cease to exist, as indicated by the harbour fort, Lecythus, which was rebuilt during the Byzantine era. It was also a bishopric, and is still a titular see in the Roman Catholic Church. The site continued to be occupied up to the 17th century, when the population abandoned the old city and moved to the modern town of Toroni, about 1 km north of the ancient city. Its strong walls and other buildings were destroyed in 1903, when the Ottomans used the city's granite stones to cover some central roads of Constantinople and Thessaloniki.
In the Acropolis and the main city, parts of the fortification are clearly visible along with dispread stone blocks, ancient pantiles and broken pottery which are found everywhere. Unfortunately, most of the city's buildings were destroyed in the beginning of the 20th century, when the Ottoman Empire authorities hired an Italian engineer in order to collect the stone blocks to use them as paving in roads. The Lecythus fort, next to the harbour, was rebuilt during the Byzantine era, along with and a small early Christian temple.
Parts of the ancient city, including most of the Proasteion, the agora and the ancient harbour are nowadays sunk 35m from the coast, as the underwater surveys have proven, since a large 60m long and 2m wide foundation was found, probably the ancient seawall. The whole area between this foundation and the modern coastline is scattered with stoneworks and large amounts of pottery, which indicate the presence of large buildings. All these are concluding that this is the area that the Athenaean garrison fortified when Brasidas seized the city, according to Thucydides' accounts.
Special emphasis was given by the excavators to the cemetery during the inhabitance of the Iron era. Its duration is approximated to be from the end of the 2nd century till the middle of the 9th century. In this cemetery 134 tombs were discovered with 118 being cremated and 16 simple burials. There were 500 pots discovered which were used either as burials or as cremators for the dead.
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