Philippi

Philippi was founded in the fourth century BC on a ridge above a marshy plain, then rebuilt as a Roman colony astride the Via Egnatia, the paved road that carried traffic between the Adriatic and the Bosphorus. Long stretches of that road are still visible, rutted and wide. The site reads in layers: a Greek theatre cut into the acropolis hill, a formal Roman forum with its paving intact, and above it the enormous arches of Basilica B, which collapsed during construction and left piers standing like a ruined cathedral. Philippi is also where the apostle Paul first preached in Europe, which explains the density of early churches here.

History

Colonists from Thasos founded Crenides, the fountains, in 360/359 BC at the foot of Mount Orbelos, and in 356 BC Philip II of Macedon took it, renamed it Philippi and fortified it to control the nearby gold mines and the royal road that the Romans later rebuilt as the Via Egnatia, also partly draining the marsh. In October 42 BC Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius on the plain west of the city, settled veterans here and refounded it as a Roman colony, which Octavian later reorganised with more settlers. The city was abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest, and in 2016 the site became a World Heritage Site for its Roman architecture, its urban plan reflecting Rome itself and its importance in early Christianity (Wikipedia, Philippi).

What you'll find

• Basilica B - the towering brick and stone piers of a church that fell before it was finished.
• The forum - a complete Roman civic square with paving, podium and shop foundations.
• The theatre - a Greek auditorium on the acropolis slope, still used for summer performances.
• The Via Egnatia - a wide paved stretch of the Roman trunk road running through the site.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the only comfortable options, because the site is broad, flat and treeless and the Macedonian plain gets very hot from late June. Mornings are best, and the museum makes a decent midday break. The summer festival programme in the theatre runs mainly in July and August, when parts of the auditorium may be occupied by staging.

Practical notes

The main road cuts the archaeological area in two, and crossing it on foot is genuinely unpleasant. Much of what survives is low foundation work that needs the plan in hand to make sense. Distances between the theatre, forum and basilicas add up in the heat. The museum is good but small, and the whole visit rewards preparation more than most sites of its rank.

Nearby

Kavala's old town and aqueduct are twenty minutes away, and the coast road runs east toward the Nestos delta.

Key facts