Oinoussa (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Οινούσσα) is a village in Serres regional unit of Central Macedonia, Greece, located 7 km east of the city of Serres. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Serres. It has a population of 524 inhabitants and until 1928 was named “Dervesiani”.
South of Oinoussa, on the hill of "Prophet Elias", was revealed the necropolis of a Roman settlement,[1] where three inscriptions had been found (two of them in Latin).[2] Also, northeast from Eptamyloi and about 2 km north of Oinoussa, on the steep rocky hill of “Phaneromeni”, the place of another fortified Roman settlement was located.[3] At the top of the same hill, an ancient rural sanctuary of "Hero Avlonitis" (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Ήρως Αυλωνίτης) had previously been discovered.[4] It is the "Thracian Horseman" (or "Hero") that received this adjective from the toponym "Avlon" (= gorge, ravine) in which its sanctuary was located. So it is concluded that the ancient settlement here was probably called "Avlon" (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Αυλών). This view is reinforced by the earlier name of the settlement "Dervesiani", which is inherited from the Indo-European root "derven" meaning a narrow passage (= Avlon).[5]