41°07′01″N 20°48′06″E / 41.11694°N 20.80167°E / 41.11694; 20.80167

Ohrid (Macedonian: Охрид [ˈɔxrit] ^ⓘ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with it recording a population of over 38,000 inhabitants as of 2021. Ohrid is known for once having 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as the "Jerusalem of the Balkans". The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola. In 1979 and in 1980, respectively, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Ohrid is one of only 40 sites that are part of UNESCO's World Heritage that are Cultural as well as Natural sites.

In antiquity the city was known under the ancient Greek name of Λυχνίς (Lychnis) and Λυχνιδός (Lychnidos) and the Latin Lychnidus, probably meaning "city of light", literally "a precious stone that emits light", from λύχνος (lychnos), "lamp, portable light". Polybius, writing in the second century BC, refers to the town as Λυχνίδιον - Lichnidion.

The evolution of the ancient toponym Lychnidus into Oh(ë)r(id) required a long-standing period of Tosk Albanian–Eastern South Slavic bilingualism, or at least contact, resulting from the Tosk Albanian rhotacism -n- into -r- and Eastern South Slavic l-vocalization ly- into o-.

It became capital of the First Bulgarian Empire in the early medieval period, and was often referred to by Byzantine writers as Achrida (Ἄχριδα, Ὄχριδα, or Ἄχρις). By 879 AD, the town was no longer called Lychnidos but was referred to as Ohrid.

In Macedonian and the other South Slavic languages, the name of the city is Ohrid (Охрид). In Albanian, the city is known as Ohër or Ohri and in modern Greek Ochrida (Οχρίδα, Ωχρίδα) and Achrida (Αχρίδα).^{[citation needed]} The name of the city in Aromanian is Ohãrda.

Illyrians (Enchele Dassaretii) 8th century BC-5th century BC
Illyrian kingdom 5th century BC-358 BC
Kingdom of Macedonia 358 BC- 300BC
Illyrians(Dassaretii) 3rd century BC-250 BC
Illyrian kingdom 250 BC-228 BC
Kingdom of Macedonia 228 BC-208 BC
Kingdom of Dardania 208 BC-170 BC
Kingdom of Macedonia 170 BC-148 BC
Roman Republic 148 BC - 27 BC
Roman Empire 27 BC – 395
Byzantine Empire 395–842
First Bulgarian Empire 842–1018
Byzantine Empire 1018–1083
Bohemond I 1083–1085
Byzantine Empire 1085–1203
Second Bulgarian Empire 1203–1208
Strez 1208–1214
Epirus and Thessalonica 1214–1230
Second Bulgarian Empire 1230–1263
Byzantine Empire ~1250–1334
Serbian Kingdom 1334 - ~1336
Gropa family ~1336 – ???
Lordship of Prilep ??? – ~1373
Gropa family ~1373–1395
Ottoman Empire 1395–1464
League of Lezhë 1464-1466
Ottoman Empire 1466–1912
Kingdom of Serbia 1912–1915
Kingdom of Bulgaria 1915–1918
Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1918–1941
Kingdom of Bulgaria 1941–1944
SFR Yugoslavia 1944–1991
Macedonia/North Macedonia 1991–present

The earliest inhabitants of the wider Lake Ohrid region were the Illyrian tribes of Enchele and Dassaretii. According to a tradition the town was founded by Cadmus, the Phoenician king of Thebes, who fled to Enchele after being banished from Boeotia. In addition to Ohrid, called Lychnidos (Ancient Greek: Λυχνιδός) in classical antiquity, he is said to have founded Budva in Montenegro. Lychnidos was the capital city of the Illyrian Dassaretii.