page_title: Philippi
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Philippi / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Phillippi, Macedonia, Greece
context_page_description: Philippi was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides after its establishment by Thasian colonists in 360/359 BC. The city was renamed by Philip II of Macedon in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest. The present municipality, Filippoi, is located near the ruins of the ancient city and is part of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace in Kavala, Greece. It was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.
context_section_description: Thasian colonists established a settlement at Krenides (meaning "springs") in Thrace in 360/359 BC near the head of the Aegean Sea at the foot of Mt. Orbelos, now called Mt. Lekani, about 13 km (8.1 mi) north-west of Kavalla, on the northern border of the marsh that, in antiquity, covered the entire plain separating it from the Pangaion Hills to the south. In 356 BC, King Philip II of Macedon conquered the city and renamed it to Philippi.
  The Macedonian conquerors of the town aimed to take control of the neighbouring gold mines and to establish a garrison at a strategic passage: the site controlled the route between Amphipolis and Neapolis, part of the great royal route which runs east-west across Macedonia  and which the Roman Republic reconstructed in the 2nd century BC as part of the Via Egnatia. Philip II endowed the city with important fortifications, which partially blocked the passage between the swamp and Mt. Orbelos, and sent colonists to occupy it. Philip also had the marsh partially drained, as the writer Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC) attests. Philippi preserved its autonomy within the kingdom of Macedon and had its own political institutions (the Assembly of the demos). The discovery of new gold mines near the city, at Asyla, contributed to the wealth of the kingdom and Philip established a mint there. The city became fully integrated into the kingdom during the reign (221 to 179 BC) of Philip V of Macedon.
  The city contained 2,000 people.
  When the Romans destroyed the Antigonid dynasty of Macedon in the Third Macedonian War (168 BC), they divided the kingdom into four separate states (merides). Amphipolis (rather than Philippi) became the capital of the eastern Macedonian state.
  Almost nothing is known about the city in this period, but archeological remains include walls, the Greek theatre, the foundations of a house under the Roman forum and a little temple dedicated to a hero cult. This monument covers the tomb of a certain Exekestos, is possibly situated on the agora and is dedicated to the κτίστης (ktistēs), the foundation hero of the city.
caption: The ancient theatre
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