Located 2 km south from the city of Bitola at the foot of Mount Baba. Heraclea Lyncestis is an ancient Macedonian city, founded in the middle of the 4th century BC. by King Philip II of Macedonia and ruled later by the Romans.

It was named in honor of the mythological hero Heracles, the mythical hero and the founder of the Macedonian royal dynasty Argeadi. The epithet Lyncestis, meaning "Lincestid", comes from the name of the Lincestida region in which the city was located, and in which the ancient Macedonian tribe Lincestidi lived

When the Romans conquered Macedon Heraclea survived and developed into a major crossroads on the Via Ignatia road, which linked Durres and Bosphorus. From Heraclea the road diagonally stretched towards Stobi, and then towards Serdika (nowadays Sofia).