Philippi
Philippi, a historic city located in eastern Macedonia, Greece, was initially known as Crenides, meaning "Springs," and was inhabited by Thracians until its colonization by Thasos in 360 BC. It was later fortified and renamed by Philip II of Macedonia. The city thrived due to its proximity to gold mines on Mount Pangaeum and became strategically significant as a stop on the Via Egnatia, the route connecting the Adriatic to Byzantium. In 42 BC, Philippi was the site of a pivotal battle during the Roman civil wars, where Antony and Octavian confronted the assassins of Julius Caesar, ultimately leading to significant changes in Roman power dynamics.
Following the battle, Antony established a settlement for veterans, enhancing Philippi's status as Colonia Victrix. The city features impressive archaeological remains, including a theater, temples, and parts of ancient walls, reflecting its rich history. Philippi also played a notable role in early Christianity, as St. Paul visited in AD 49, influencing the local Christian community. The remains of several churches from different periods highlight the city’s religious importance, revealing a fluctuating prosperity influenced by various historical events, including invasions and natural disasters. Today, Philippi stands as a testament to its multifaceted heritage, attracting interest for its archaeological and historical significance.
Philippi
Philippoi, formerly Crenides (Krenides)
A city in eastern Macedonia, nine miles from the Aegean Sea, overlooking the proverbially fertile inland Datos plain. The site, known as Crenides (`Springs’), was inhabited by Thracians until 360 BC, when colonists from Thasos, led by an exiled Athenian politician Callistratus, founded a new settlement under the name of Daton, which was captured, recolonized and fortified four years later by Philip II of Macedonia. Possessing an acropolis 1,020 feet above sea level, and enjoying access to the sea at the port of Neapolis (Cavalla), Philippi—as it was henceforward called—became a center for the king's gold-mining activities on the adjacent Mount Pangaeum (qv), which gained him a massive revenue.
About 130, under Roman rule, the city gained new importance as a station (together with Neapolis) on the Via Egnatia which linked the Adriatic to Byzantium; the road ran through the middle of Philippi, and constituted its main street (decumanus maximus). Two miles away, in 42, one of the decisive battles of history was fought during the Roman civil wars that followed the death of Julius Caesar. For it was here that Antony and Octavian (the future Augustus), who had recently formed the Second Triumvirate with Lepidus, confronted Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius. In the first of two successive engagements, each army captured the other's camp, whereupon Cassius, under the mistaken impression that the battle and the war were lost, committed suicide. After a pause of twenty days the army of Antony and Octavian, which had by now run out of food, renewed the attack, and in the face of defeat, Brutus sought death at the hands of a friend. The Roman world was now in the hands of the Triumvirs—until Octavian asserted his supremacy eleven years later. After the battle, Antony established a settlement for ex-soldiers at Philippi, under the name of Colonia Victrix, and its administration issued coins with his portrait. Further coinages under the name of Augusta Julia testify to a refoundation by Augustus; their reference to a praetorian cohort indicates the unit in which the veteran colonists had served.
Parts of the wall of Philip II, together with later sections, survive, mainly on the acropolis but also round the city below. Cut into the hillside is a theater, dating back to the same period and reconstructed and enlarged in Roman times; it could accommodate about 8,000 spectators. Also to be seen are remains of temples of Apollo Komaios and Artemis (dated by inscription to the later fourth century BC), two heroa (shrines in honor of heroes) of the second century BC, and open air shrines of Artemis Bendis, Cybele, Bacchus and Silvanus. A sanctuary of a group of Egyptian gods, too, is cut into the rock of the acropolis hill. Beside the principal street (Via Egnatia), the imposing architectural complex of the forum, dated by inscriptions to the reign of Marcus Aurelius (AD 161–80), has now been cleared, and its detailed plan reconstructed. A market, athletics school (palaestra), small amphitheater and large underground lavatory are also uncovered, while a structure of cAD 250 containing a bathing establishment has been found to be a much larger building (with a colonnaded courtyard) of which the baths only form a part.
St. Paul's visit to Philippi in AD 49, and his subsequent Letter to the Philippians written from his prison at Rome, bore ample fruit much later in the importance of local Christianity after the empire's conversion by Constantine I the Great (306–37). The bishop of Philippi was housed in elaborate and imposing premises, in which three phases of construction have now been identified, and four important early churches are identifiable. The oldest, an apsed basilica, was apparently destroyed, and replaced by a huge sixth-century enclosed building. It has also been discovered that an octagonal shrine enclosed within a square exterior in the mid-fifth century, and further altered in the sixth, is superimposed on a smaller church that was in turn built over a demolished basilica of St. Paul, dating from Constantine's epoch. A further edifice, containing elaborate water installations, has yielded reliefs bearing numerous Christian symbols. The fortunes of Philippi during this whole later period evidently underwent fluctuations. Coin finds show a high level of prosperity during the fourth and fifth century AD, interrupted perhaps by an earthquake and by barbarian incursions in the 370s, and again in c 474 under Theoderic the Ostrogoth. Meanwhile, however, the industrial revival persisted, until it was brought to an end by Slav invasions c 600.