The city owes its name to the nymph Amphissa, daughter of the Mythical king Makar, son of Aeolos. Built on a strategic location at the feet of Mt. Giona, Amphissa is mentioned by Strabo and Pausanias. This Locrian city has thrived in the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman period.  
The habitation of the city started in the Geometric period. The acropolis and its fortifications are evident and dominating the modern city. In antiquity, Amphissa was known for its rivalry against the Delphic Amphictyony for the control and cultivation of the Krissaean plain; in the Peloponnesian War it sided with the Spartans. 
In the 4th century B.C. the region became the focus of clashes because of the wealth accumulated at the Delphic sanctuary. The Fourth Sacred War resulted in the destruction of the city by Philip II in 338 B.C. The city was rebuilt, regenerated and it fought along with the other cities of the Aetolian League against the Galatians (279 B.C.) and the Romans who besieged it to no avail in 190 B.C. 
After Octavian's victory at Actium, Amphissa received a number of Aetolian refugees and continued to thrive up to the Frankish period. Then, it became part of the kingdom of Thessaloniki and see of the Barony of Salona (La Sole) under the rule of French noblemen (of the D'Autremencourt family) and then of the Catalan Society. Under the Ottoman period Salona was the seat of a kaza, i.e an administrative district. When the Greek War for Independence broke out in 1821, the Greek Orthodox inhabitants revolted and killed the Ottomans who dwelled within the castle.  In the region were activated important Revolution leaders, such as Panourgias, Dyovouniotis, Gouras, Athanasios Diakos and the Bishop of Salona, Isaias.  In 1826 Salona was reconquered by Kütahi Pasha, who handed it over to Dimitrios Ypsilantis three years later. After the liberation, many Ottoman buildings were demolished. The town planning and architecture of the city was further affected by the earthquake of 1870. However, there are still some houses and fountains to remind us of the Ottoman past of the city. 
In Amphissa have taken place many excavations, some of which salvage ones, which have revealed parts of the classical, Roman and Late Roman city. The finds are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Amphissa. 
Text - Translation: Dr. Aphrodite Kamara, Historian