Pydna (archaeological site)
Near the place Pydna ( Greek Πύδνα ) took place in the year 168 BC. The decisive battle between Macedonians and Romans took place. In addition to Dion , Leibethra , Makrygialos and Louloudies , Pydna is an important archaeological site and a witness to the history and archeology of Pieria .
location
Pydna is located in northern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea, 16 km northeast of Katerini and 2.5 km from Makrygialos. Nearby are two Macedonian tombs that the French archaeologist Heuzey discovered during his travels to Greece in the mid-19th century. Furthermore, the fortress-like bishopric of Louloudies is a few kilometers south of Pydna.
history
Pydna was first mentioned by the Greek historian Thucydides and gained importance during the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians besieged Pydna in 432 BC. King Archelaus I of Macedonia besieged the city around 410 BC. From the land side, while the Athenian fleet took over the siege from the sea side. After the city was taken, Archelaus had the city relocated 20 stadiums inland, to the present day Kitros . After Archelau's death, the people of Pydna moved back to their old seaside town. Pydna was conquered by the Athenians but fell in 357 or 356 BC. To King Philip II , the father of Alexander the Great . Philip's wife, the mother of Alexander, Olympias, was killed after a siege by Cassander in 317 BC. Killed. On June 22nd, 168 BC The battle between the Roman general Aemilius Paullus and the last Macedonian king Perseus took place near Pydna . On this day the Macedonian rule ended and in the course of the Roman victory Macedonia became a Roman colony.
Pydna first coined in the late 6th century BC. BC coins. Further coins were found from the period between 389 and 379 BC. Chr.
Between the 6th and 7th centuries, Pydna was renamed Kitros and was Pieria's most important city until the 14th century. In the 11th and 12th centuries Kitros was the seat of a Katepanikion .
In 1204, Kitros was taken by the Franks after a siege. They turned the episcopal church into a castle and built a tower in which their commander-in-chief resided. In the 14th century the residents left the place and settled in what is now Kitros, in the interior of the country.
The excavation site
No intensive excavations have yet been carried out at the site of ancient Pydna. The visible remains of the building date from the Byzantine era. The remains of the ancient polis from the classical, Hellenistic and possibly pre-Greek times are partly under the Byzantine walls. The entire complex measures 320 m by 130 m.
Settlements in the hills north of the archaeological site have already been identified from the Mycenaean period (1400 BC). From 1000 to approx. 600 BC The area was inhabited by Thracians . However, the settlement is no longer completely preserved because the eastern part has slipped into the sea. So only the western half of the settlement has survived, but has not yet been excavated.
The city wall was built in the 5th century BC. Erected, parts of it are 500 m north of the excavation site. The exact course of the city wall is still unknown. So far, parts of the excavation have repeatedly been discovered. The wall was not made of stone but of clay. After taking the city, Philip II had the city wall destroyed.
The Christianization of Pydna began in the 4th century. At this time the first basilica was built. A second basilica was built at the beginning of the 6th century. Both basilicas were dedicated to the city's patron saint, St. Alexander. The second basilica was burned down after an attack by the Bulgarians. At the end of the 10th century a much larger basilica was built in its place. It measured 23.20 m by 16.60 m. It was decorated with frescoes and the floor was covered with mosaic. During the Frankish period the basilica was turned into a fortress. A well has been drilled and supplies have been made. This is evidenced, among other things, by a clay pot sunk into the earth outside the building in which olive oil was stored. Inside the basilica there is a 22 meter deep well with a stone well socket. There was also a cistern next to the well. An underground corridor was dug to enable the castle's crew to escape outside in an emergency.
In the apse facing the sea there was a device, Fryktoria, to exchange light signals with the opposite peninsula of Chalkidiki . In this way, torches were used to transmit light signals over greater distances, so messages could be transmitted over hundreds of kilometers within a short time.
Spolia (remains and fragments of columns and other stone carvings) were worked into the wall surrounding the site . The wall was built in two phases. In the 6th century, at the time of Justinian I , the first phase of construction took place. In the 10th century the wall was reinforced and some of the gates were bricked up. The wall is around 1.40 m thick and has been reinforced by rectangular towers. Some of the wall remains of the complex date from the 16th century, the time of the occupation of Greece by the Ottomans .
To the west of the street that used to connect Pydna with Dion, remains of the city walls and a city gate can be seen. The current course of the road is largely identical to that of the ancient road.
Excavations
So far, mainly the surrounding necropolises have been exposed. They are of considerable size. The northern necropolis contains more than 3,300 graves. They date from the late Bronze Age , around 1400 BC. Until the beginning of the Hellenism, beginning of the 3rd century BC. These are very large pits in which numerous grave goods were found. Many of them are kept in warehouses at the Archaeological Museum in Thessaloniki. Two other necropolises are in the west and south of Pydna. The western was created during the classical period, in the 5th century BC. BC, created and used until the Hellenistic period. The southern grave complex dates from the Hellenistic period and was cared for until Roman times. The size of the graves and the valuable grave goods indicate that wealthier people were buried here. The southern and western necropolis are not as well researched archaeologically as the northern one.
A pottery kiln and an inn with a bath have been excavated near the port.
literature
- Matheos Besios: Pierídon Stefanós. Pýdna, Methóni ke i archeótites tis vórias Pierías (Πιερίδων Στεφανός. Πύδνα, Μεθώνη και οι αρχαιότητες της βόρειας Πιερίας). Εταιρεία Ανθρώπων και Φύσεως Έργα, Katerini 2010, ISBN 978-9-6099-3080-2 .
- Léon Heuzey, Honoré Daumet: Mission Archéologique de Macédoine. Paris 1876.
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 1,137.
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.61.
- ↑ Diodor , Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 13:14.
- ↑ Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 19.50 f.
- ↑ PYDNA MACEDONIA, GREECE .
- ↑ FRYKTORIA-1 .
- ↑ FRYKTORIA-2 . Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
Coordinates: 40 ° 23 ′ 40 ″ N , 22 ° 36 ′ 58 ″ E